Index



How can I retire a device in Statseeker?

  • Single devices can be retired from the Console
  • Multiple devices can be retired from the Administration Tool

To retire a device via the Console:

  • Click to select the device from the Device Filter
  • From the Report List select General > Device Details

    • This will open the Device Details Report.

  • Click the device name

    • This will open the NIM Edit Device dialog.

  • Click Retire

To retire multiple devices from the Administration Tool:

  • Open the Administration Tool
  • Select Network Discovery > Delete/Retire Devices
  • Click to select a device from the list provided. Hold Shift while clicking to select groups of devices and Ctrl to add an additional device to the selection
  • Click Retire

When a device is retired, Statseeker takes the following actions:

Action Details
Rename the device
  • All polling and data collection for the device will be disabled
  • A retired device will no longer count towards licensing limits
  • All historical and configuration data relating to the device is retained
  • The device is renamed, prepended with ~ and appended with -retired.
    • e.g. Melb-Router-1 becomes ~Melb-Router-1-retired

    This pushes all retired devices to the bottom of the devices list and allows a replacement device to take the same name as the old device.

Stop polling ping and SNMP polling are set to off
Stop Mac/IP and inventory data collection Inventory reporting and discovery will be disabled for the device
Regroup the device
  • Remove the device from all groups
  • Add the device to the Retired Devices group
Filter status reports The device will not appear in any current device status reports
Edit Hosts File If the device appeared in the Hosts File, remove it
Edit SNMP Conf If the device appeared in the SNMP Conf file, remove it

Note: it is not possible to un-retire a device.

[top]



How do I create diagnostics file on the command line?

  • Login into the Statseeker server via ssh as the Statseeker user
  • Run base-server-diagnostics | gzip -c > /tmp/diag-report.html.gz

[top]



Does Statseeker support a basic configuration only backup mechanism?

Currently this is not possible via the built-in backup mechanism, however we are investigating adding this option to a future version of Statseeker.

[top]



What backup options does Statseeker’s built-in backup mechanism support?

Statseeker supports Local, FTP, SFTP, and SSH.

[top]



Can I use a custom agent to back up the Statseeker server?

Yes, but a Statseeker installation can only be restored via the built-in backup/restore functionality.

[top]



Does Statseeker support network interface fail-over or link aggregation?

Currently Statseeker does not provide an administration tool to configure the network interfaces for fail-over or link aggregation, however many customers have successfully used the standard FreeBSD link aggregation. See FreeBSD Network aggregation for details.

[top]



Why does my SNMP walk not return any results?

There are a number of possible reasons as to why your SNMP Walk is not returning results, the following items may help diagnose the cause:

  • Is the device up? Can you ping it?
  • Is SNMP configured and enabled on the device?
  • Check the community string being used, does it match a string configured on the device?
  • Does Statseeker have SNMP read access to the device?
  • Is Statseeker’s access to the device blocked by access lists or firewalls?

[top]



What is the backup cycle count?

The backup cycle defines the number of backups you wish to keep.

[top]



What is included in Statseeker backup?

The whole /home/statseeker directory. This includes all configuration and historical data that would be required to restore operations in the event of a critical failure.

[top]



How much space is required for a backup?

From the web interface:

  • Select Console > Report List > Configuration Details
  • Locate the Home entry

The value of the Home entry will specify the space required for a backup of your current installation. Disk space is needed to write the new backup prior to the old backup being deleted, therefore (cyclecount+1)*homesize GB will be required.

[top]



What is the importance of FQDN?

The Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) is required for mail configuration and SSL configuration. FDQN details can be confirmed and edited from:

  • The Administration Tool
  • The ssadmin utility
  • The command line interface (CLI)
From the Administration Tool
  • Select Statseeker Administration > Network Configuration
  • Click Edit
  • Supply the FQDN in the Hostname field, and click Save
From ssadmin
  • Log in to your Statseeker server via ssh or directly
  • From the command prompt enter ssadmin and enter the root user password if prompted
  • From the ssadmin menu select 4. Network Configuration
  • Select 7. Set hostname.domainname
  • Provide the FQDN and enter y to set the configuration
From the CLI
cat /etc/hosts
vi /etc/hosts

[top]



How can I upload a Statseeker script/hotfix?

You can upload Statseeker related scripts and hotfix via Admin tool.

  • NIM console > Administration Tool > Manage Scripts

[top]



How can I prune the Database?

You can prune the database via the Administration Tool:

  • Administration Tool > Network Discovery – Advanced Options > Advanced Options
  • Click File Edit Mode, located at the bottom of the form

    • This will display a list of attribute::value pairs.

  • Scroll to the bottom and append ‘max_history_ts’ ‘<Number of days>’
    e.g. ‘max_history_ts’ ‘365’, this will allow you to keep 365 days’ worth of data

The action is taken as part of a daily database tuning process which occurs at 00:30 server-time so in order to prune the database as a onetime action, comment out/remove the command the following day.

[top]



How do I use RegEx to exclude a device/interface in Auto-grouping?

Use a ‘negative lookahead assertion’ to exclude a device or interface.

^((?!(exclude_entries_containing_this_string)).)*$

Scenario:

  • We want to populate a group with all the monitored devices in the subnet 10.100.54.*
  • We want to exclude any Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) devices from this group
  • The UPS devices in this subnet include the string -ups in the device name

To create an populate a group satisfying these requirements:

  • Select Administration Tool > User Profile/Grouping > Auto Grouping and click Add
  • Enter a Rule Name
  • For Groups to populate, click Add and enter a name for the new group
  • Set Group Type = Device
  • Set an Attribute Filter for the subnet:
    • From the dropdown select Device Attributes > ipaddress
    • Set the value to 10.100.54.*
  • Click (+) to create a second filter for our exclusion string
    • Set Attribute Filter = Device Attributes > Name
    • Set the value to ^((?!(-ups)).)*$
  • Click Test Rule to confirm potential group contents
  • Click Run Now to create and populate the group

[top]



Configure Statseeker to be polled by other monitoring software?

Your Statseeker server can be monitored by other services via ICMP and/or SNMP. When taking this route you may want to consider the following options:

Editing snmpd.config

  • Log in to your Statseeker server as the root user
    Note: if you are using SSH to access the CLI you will need to login as the statseeker user and then switch to the root user with

    su

  • Make a copy of the snmpd.config file with

    cp /etc/snmpd.config /etc/snmpd.config_original

  • Edit snmpd.config with

    vi /etc/snmpd.config

  • To update the default SNMP community string for accessing the Statseeker server:
    • Locate the line read := “public” and change the word public to a community string of your choice
  • To disable the SNMP read community string while leaving the write community string active:
    • Add a hash (#) to the beginning of the line begemotSnmpdCommunityString.0.1 = $(read)
  • To disable both read and write strings but leave the SNMP agent running for V3 access:
    • Locate the entry begemotSnmpdCommunityDisable = 1 and update to begemotSnmpdCommunityDisable = 0
  • Save the file with:

    wq!

  • Restart SNMP services with:

    service bsnmpd restart

Editing rc.conf

  • Log in to your Statseeker server as the root user
    Note: if you are using SSH to access the CLI you will need to login as the statseeker user and then switch to the root user with:

    su

  • Make a copy of the rc.conf file with:

    cp /etc/rc.conf /etc/rc.conf_original

  • Edit rc.conf with:

    vi /etc/rc.conf

  • To disable the SNMP service from starting:
    • Locate the entry bsnmpd_enable=”YES”) and update to bsnmpd_enable=”NO”
  • Save the file with:

    wq!

  • Stop the current bsnmpd instance with:

    service bsnmpd stop

[top]



How can I increase the ping timeout value?

Ping configuration can be viewed and edited from the NIM Config Tool or the Statseeker server command-line using the same commands detailed below.

Note: if using the command-line, be sure to use the statseeker user account.

To check the current settings, go to:

  • Administration Tool > Expert Tools > Config Tool to open the NIM Config Tool
  • Run get *::ping_outage:0 to view ping timeout for all devices/interfaces
  • Run get <device_name>::ping_outage:0 to view ping timeout for the specified device

To set the ping timeout for discovered devices/interfaces (will not apply to new devices) via the NIM Config Tool:

  • Run setvalue *::ping_outage:0 <new_ping_timeout> to set ping timeout for all devices
  • Run setvalue <device_name>::ping_outage:0 <new_ping_timeout> to set ping timeout for the specified device

To set ping timeout and have the specified value applied to all new devices as they are discovered:

  • Create a device Autogroup for the devices to be altered:
    • Administration Tool > User Profile/Grouping > Add / Edit Groups
    • Enter a new device group and click Add
  • Administration Tool > User Profile/Grouping > Auto Grouping
  • Click Add
  • Enter a Rule Name
  • Groups to populate, click Add
  • Click in the text field to display a drop-down of existing groups and select the previously created group
  • If the Configuration section isn’t displayed, click Show Advanced Options
  • Set Items to ping_outage and the value to an increment of 15

    • Note: do NOT set ping_outage < 45.

  • Click Test Rule to preview the changes
  • Click Run Rule to apply the changes to the currently discovered items
  • Click Save Rule to have the rule applied at every discovery/rewalk

[top]



How do I add SNMP v2 devices via the command-line?

Note: to edit Statseeker configuration via the command-line, ensure that you use the statseeker user account.

Adding a single device to Statseeker via the command-line
  • Ensure the community string for the device in is the community list:
    • Administration Tool > Network Discovery > SNMP Communities
  • From the command-line, run nim-discover -i
Adding multiple devices to Statseeker via the command-line
  • Update the hosts file:
    • Located at /home/statseeker/nim/etc/hosts.cfg
    • Syntax: <ipaddress> <hostname>, e.g.10.1.2.3 Melbourne-Router1
  • Sync hosts with nim-cfg-sync-hosts
  • Launch discovery with nim-discover -h

[top]



How can I disable/enable Inventory?

  • Select Administration Tool > Network Discovery – Advanced Options > Advanced Options
  • From the Reports, set Inventory Report as required
  • Click Save
  • Run discovery/rewalk from Administration Tool > Network Discovery > Discover My Network

[top]