Simple Polling Doesn’t Give the Whole Story
Polling for single objects and then applying a simple threshold or basic if/then logic to the resulting data is something many network monitoring tools can do. However, this doesn’t provide the complete picture of the true condition (or “state”) of the devices or services being managed. For network operators to more effectively manage their own unique network environment, data from multiple SNMP objects (or other management protocols) is required for the complete story. In addition, the data required from multiple sources needs to be collected in real time and kept in a “state-ful” way to be useful.
NerveCenter’s “Cross Table Polling” Can Help
NerveCenter’s unique finite-state architecture can help, especially with the new enhanced Cross Table Polling feature that allows for multiple objects to be queried in a single poll. As always, NerveCenter makes it easy to do custom designed polls and logic built to your specific business needs.
As a simple example:
- Via a poll or trap, an operator receives a notice that a link is down.
- To manage the network effectively, the operator must next quickly determine the severity of the condition (Is this an active link? Is it important to a customer?)
- With NerveCenter, an operator can poll basic interface data to determine if a link is down and then in that same poll look at the extended link table to get a description of the use or customer associated with that link.
- Leveraging NerveCenter’s unique finite-state architecture, this can all be done “on-the-fly” – i.e. not via a database query after the fact.