Index

Example Configurations

Overview

Grouping is a fundamental feature in the Statseeker product, it is a core mechanic utilized by:

  • Reporting
  • Thresholds
  • Alerting
  • Visibility and access control
  • Filtering response data when utilizing the API

Auto-Grouping can also be used to assist with infrastructure maintenance, as well as highlighting poorly configured hardware or hardware that is mis-representing its actual configuration.

All enabled Auto-grouping rules are run as a component of the discovery process, and during Statseeker’s daily rewalk of the network.

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Creating Automatic Grouping Rules

You can add your own automated grouping rules from the Administration Tool:

  • Select Administration Tool > User Profile/Grouping > Auto Grouping

    • To create new rule:

  • Select Add
  • Enter a Rule Name
  • Specify the groups to be populated by the rule
    • Enter text into the Groups to populate field and you will be provided the options to either create a new group or select an existing group based on that text
    • Use the (+) link to add additional groups in to populate multiple groups from a single rule

The rules used to populate the nominated groups are created via a combination of Group Type and Filters.

  • Specify the Group Type – the type of entity that the rule will add to the group/s. Only a single Group Type can be specified per Auto-Grouping rule, but multiple Auto-Grouping rules can be configured to populate a single group.
  • Specify one or more Filters
  • Use Test Rule to preview the effects of the rule being applied
  • Select Run Now to process rule, creating and populating groups
  • Select Save Rule to save the configuration for future application

Important Notes on Filters:

  • Configuring a device group and an interface filter will select the parent device of any interface matching the filter
  • Configuring an interface group and a device filter will select all interfaces on matching devices
  • The Clear checkbox will remove all contents of the specified groups before re-populating them, useful when refining a rule or updating a group in response to changes within your network. The Clear setting:
    • May be undesirable when multiple rules populate a single group, a single Clear will remove the output of all rules
    • Will remove content that has been manually added to the group outside of any auto-grouping configuration
  • Multiple filters for the same attribute will conflict, instead use a regular expression e.g. swt|switch|Switch
  • The ipaddress filter requires one or more scan ranges, the following syntax rules apply:
    • Can be specified using a similar syntax to IP Address Ranges, simply prefix the entry with include or exclude as necessary
      Example: include 10.2.45.*
    • Filter values without an include or exclude prefix are treated as an include e.g. 10.2.1.[4,6,10-12] = include 10.2.1.[4,6,10-12]
    • Multiple rules can be supplied in the filter e.g. include 10.2.1.0/24 exclude 10.2.1.[4,6,10-12]
    • When specifying multiple rules, the prefix is applied to all values until the next prefix is encountered e.g. include 10.2.1.0/24 10.2.[4-6].* exclude 10.2.1.[4,6,10-12]
  • Multiple group filters are OR’d together, an entity existing in either group is considered valid
  • Multiple attribute filters are applied in an AND fashion, all must be satisfied for an item to be added to the specified group/s
  • An AND operator exists between the Group filters and the Attribute filters when both are supplied – an entity must satisfy both the group filters (as a block) and the attribute filters (again, as a block) to be considered valid for the grouping rule.

    Group and Attribute Filter Logic: (group_filter1 OR group_filter2 OR group_filterN) AND (attribute_filter1 AND attribute_filter2 AND attribute_filterN)

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Editing Automatic Grouping Rules

The list of Auto grouping rules can be filtered:

  • By Name by typing in the search field (case-insensitive RegEx enabled)
  • By Status via the Show All drop-down above the column

To edit existing automated grouping rules:

  • Select Administration Tool > User Profile/Grouping > Auto Grouping
  • Click either the rule name or the associated checkbox to select the rule

This will populate the rule configuration pane with the selected rule.

  • Modify the rule as required, optionally click Test Rule to preview the effects of the rule being applied
  • Select Run Now to process the new rule
  • Select Save Rule to save your changes for future discovery/rewalking processes


Copying an Existing Rule

Existing rules can be copied and edited to produce a new rule configuration. To copy a rule:

  • Select Administration Tool > User Profile/Grouping > Auto Grouping
  • Click either the rule name or the associated checkbox to select the rule
  • Click Copy

A new rule configuration will be created, but not saved, amend the configuration as needed (optionally test the rule) and be sure to save the rule prior to leaving the configuration screen.

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Enabling/Disabling Automatic Grouping

To enable/disable user-created automatic grouping rules:

  • Select Administration Tool > User Profile/Grouping > Auto Grouping
  • Click to select the rule/s and click Enable/Disable

The rule will no longer be applied but will remain in the Auto Grouping Rules list for future reference.



To disable user-created automatic grouping rules from within the rule configuration:

  • Select Administration Tool > User Profile/Grouping > Auto Grouping
  • Click to select the rule, populating the configuration panel
  • Set Status to Off
  • Click Save Rule

The rule will no longer be applied but will remain in the Auto Grouping Rules list for future reference.

By default, Statseeker also creates hidden auto-grouping rules for every interface speed and type encountered during discovery, the output of these rules can be seen in the Console.

To disable a default Statseeker Automatic Grouping rule:

  • Select Administration Tool > Network Discovery – Advanced Options > Advanced Options
  • Scroll down to the Grouping section
  • Toggle the status for select rules or all automated grouping rules (both default and user-created rules)

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Ordered Automatic Grouping

Automatic grouping rules are applied to your discoverable network in a defined order. This is important because you have the ability to create automatic grouping rules which affect the actions (or available targets) of another rule, further down the chain. Rules are applied from the top of the Auto-Grouping rules list, downward. By default, newly created rules are added to the bottom of the list. This order can be adjusted the order at any time, with the changes going into effect on the next discovery/rewalk.

To adjust the Auto Grouping Rules order:

  • Select Administration Tool > User Profile/Grouping > Auto Grouping
  • Click and drag a rule as required to reorder the listing
  • The buttons can be used to move selected rules to the top/bottom of the list

Changes to the Auto Grouping Rules order are applied immediately, there is no requirement to save the configuration.

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Note: all auto-grouping rules can be configured to be self-pruning. i.e. if the device configuration or the grouping rule is updated, then the group contents are likewise updated to reflect these changes. To configure an auto-grouping rule to be self-pruning, ensure that the Clear checkbox is ticked. This setting empties the group prior to running the rule during discovery/rewalk.

Example Auto-Grouping Rule Configurations

Note:

  • Beware of using the Clear setting when multiple rules are populating the target group
  • The Clear setting removes all content, including entities that have been manually added to the group

Grouping all Switches by Device Name

Grouping select Switches by Parent Group and System Location

Grouping Devices by Subnet

Grouping Devices by Subnet with an Exception Filter

Note: an exception filter is as useful as an inclusion filter. The content of the filter fields is simply a valid regex string (with the exception of IP ranges, which take an IP range), and the following syntax can be used to exclude select entities from your grouping.
^((?!(stringToExclude)).)*$
– where stringToExclude defines the string to match, such as seen in the example above.

Multiple exclusions strings may be supplied with:
^((?!(stringToExclude1)|(stringToExclude2)|(stringToExclude3)).)*$

Combining Include and Exclude Terms

A combination of include/exclude can be submitted with something like (stringToInclude1|stringToInclude2).(?!(stringToExclude1)).*$. A filter of (Lisbon|Madrid).(?!(rtr)).*$ would return instances of Lisbon or Madrid, except for any instance of Lisbon-rtr or Madrid-rtr.

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Group UPS devices by Device Name – Case Insensitive

Using a case-insensitive search to group UPS devices.

Note:

  • (?i) – start case-insensitive matching
  • (?-i) – end case-insensitive matching
Example

(?i)ups(?-i)-Commerce

  • Matches UPS-Commerce and UpS-Commerce – any case instance of ‘ups’, but only proper-case ‘Commerce’
  • Will not match ups-commerce or UPS-COMMERCE

Use Group Ordering with a ‘Catch-All’ Rule to identify devices not catered to by other rules

Because auto-grouping rules are applied from the top of the list down, you can create a rule to run last which identifies all network devices not currently grouped. This is a simple, automated method of identifying all devices that existing auto-grouping rules do not cater to:

  • If you utilize a good device naming convention, and group by this convention, then this type of rule will identify mis-named devices
  • If you have added new devices or updated device configurations on existing devices, this type of rule will identify devices not being catered to by your grouping rules


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Group by Device/Interface Event Fields

Statseeker v5.5 introduced the ability to reference interface level ifOperStatus and ifAdminStatus event fields when constructing auto-grouping rules.

When selecting these fields for an attribute filter, you choose whether to filter against:

  • Poll = on/off – whether or not that interface has ifOperStatus/ifAdminStatus polling enabled
  • Current State – the current value for the specified field, see Working with Filters for possible values

Group Interfaces with ifAdminStatus Polling Enabled


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Group Interfaces with ifOperStatus set to Dormant


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Use Auto-Grouping to Apply Bulk Configuration Changes

Auto-Grouping rules can also be used to apply bulk device/interface configuration changes on the Statseeker side. These configuration changes apply to Statseeker configuration fields for the entity, nothing is written back to the device.

To view the fields necessary to apply these sorts of changes:

  • Click Show Advanced Options

Note: in the examples shown below, the rules are not being used to group any entities (Groups to populate is blank), rather only to apply configuration changes. There is no reason that both grouping and configuration changes cannot both be applied in a single rule.

Updating Device Latitude/Longitude


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Enable ifOperStatus Polling


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