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The network recorder allows to easily create simulations of actual devices on your network. It enables users to automatically simulate the behavior of actual devices on their network, by capturing a 'snapshot' of the device MIB in actual operation. Any number of target devices can be recorded simultaneously by providing the starting and ending IP address.
The recorded network can be saved and replayed instantly in the Network Designer. Any variation on the recorded data can be created for use with the Network Designer tool to recreate problems or to test configuration variations. Network recorder is supported both in UI and command line.
Start the Network Recorder by invoking NetworkRecorder.bat/sh from <SimulatorHome>/bin directory.
Enter the following details in the UI.
IPv4 or IPv6 address: Select the IPv4 option if the devices to be recorded are IPv4 addresses or select the IPv6 option to record the IPv6 addresses.
IsIn Range or OutOf Range: Select
the IsIn range option to record the devices with continuous IP
addresses or select the OutOf range option to record the multiple
devices(with comma separated) with specific IP addresses.
From IP
address and To IP address: Specify the starting and ending ip address of
the devices to be recorded. All the SNMP devices in the
specified range running at the specified port number will be recorded. This appears only if IsIn range option is selected.
Add More IP addresses: Specify the single or multiple IP Addresses as comma separated of the devices to be recorded. All the SNMP devices in the specified range running at the specified port number will be recorded. This appears only if OutOf range option is selected.
MIBs directory: Specify the MIBs directory which contains all the MIBs implemented by the devices with the specified IP address. You can browse and select the required directory.
Port number: The network recorder talks to the standard SNMP port 161 on the target device. If the device is configured to use a non-standard port, you can specify it in this option. If the device with the specified IP address does not exist or is not running at the specified port number, the device will not be recorded.
Community name: Specify the community name to be assigned to the recorded devices. The default community name is public.
Network name: Specify the name of the network to be recorded. The network will be recorded in <Simulator_Home>/networks/<network name> directory.
Timeout: The minimum time to wait for a reply from the agent (in seconds).
Retries : Specify the number of retries to be made while discovering the devices.
Version : Specify the SNMP version of the devices in the network. The support versions are V1, V2c and V3. The selected version will be applicable for all the devices in the network.
If the selected version is v3, specify the v3 user details like user name, context name, security level, auth / priv protocol values and password in the v3recording.conf file available in <SimulatorHome>/conf directory. The specified v3 details will be applicable for all the devices in the network.
The recorder connects to the PostgreSQL bundled with the product with the default settings as specified in the database_params.conf file in <SimulatorHome>/conf directory. The details of the database server, port, user name, password and server path is stored in this conf file.
Click Record to record the SNMP devices running at the specified port with the specified IP address. When recording is completed, the following message is displayed.
The log file snmp_network_recorder_<num>.log in <SimulatorHome>/logs directory captures the log messages like details of the devices not recorded and the possible reasons. For example : "The device is not a snmp device or may be out of service 192.168.1.41.
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Note: The DeviceOid.prop file in <SimulatorHome>/conf folder contains the sysObjectId variable and the name of the device. During network recording, the network device is assigned a name, based on the sysObjectId value specified in this file for the specific device. |
Recording a Network from Command Line
Start the command line network recorder by executing NetworkRecorder.bat/sh from <SimulatorHome>/bin/cmdline directory, with the following options. The recorder connects to the PostgreSQL bundled with the product with the default settings as specified in the database_params.conf file in <SimulatorHome>/conf directory. The details of the database server, port, username, password and server path is stored in this conf file.
Mandatory Options:
Options |
Explanation |
|---|---|
-start <starting IP address> |
The starting IP address of the network to be recorded |
-end <ending IP address> |
The ending IP address of the network to be recorded |
-p <port number> |
The port number at which the real devices of the network are running. The default port is 161 |
-dir <MIBs dir> |
The absolute path of the directory containing all the MIBs implemented by the devices in the network. |
-name <network name> |
The name of the network to be recorded. The network will be recorded in <Simulator_Home>/networks/<network name> directory. |
Optional Options:
Options |
Explanation |
|---|---|
-c <community> |
The community of the SNMP device |
-timeOut |
The minimum time to wait for a reply from the agent (in microseconds). |
-v <v1 | v2c | v3> |
The version of SNMP agent running in the device. The v3 options will be taken from <SIM_HOME>/conf/v3recording.prop file |
-retries |
The number of retries to be made while discovering the device in the network. |
Example
NetworkRecorder.bat -start 192.168.1.40 -end 192.168.1.50 -p 161 -dir C:\WebNMS\simulator4\mibs -name sampleNetwork -c public -retries 3
Directory Structure of the Recorded network
When you record a network, the following folders will be created in <Simulator_Home>/networks directory, with the following structure :
<Network Name> : Consists of the main file with filename <network name>.net .
<mibs> : Contains all the MIB files implemented by the SNMP agents in the network.
<device name> : For each device recorded in the network, a folder is created with the device name.
<snmp> : If the device implements an SNMP agent, the main file <device name>_main.xml will be generated in this folder.
The database tables will be generated in <Simulator_Home>/pgsql/data/<network name>_1 directory. If the data exceeds 500 tables, a new database will be created for the same network in <Simulator_Home>/pgsql/data/<network name>_2 directory.
Loading the Network in Simulator
The recorded network can be loaded in the network designer and any variation on the recorded data can be created in the network designer tool to recreate problems or to test configuration variations.
To load the recorded network,
Start the Network Designer by invoking NetworkDesigner.bat/sh from <Simulator_Home>/bin directory.
To load the recorded network, select Network -> Load option from the menu bar . The Load Network dialog appears. Browse and select the <network name>.net file from <Simulator_Home>/networks directory.
Click Open to Load the Network, along with its configuration.
The log messages are captured in snmp_network_recorder_<num>.log and error messages are captured in the snmp_network_recorder_<num>.err in <SimulatorHome>/logs directory. Some of the error messages are given below :
Problem in loading the MIBs in the directory provided
This message is displayed if the MIB file contains the .cmi and .cds extensions or if the required MIB file does not exist.
The database server is not started with specified values
This message is displayed if the database server is not started at localhost with user name as root and empty password at port 3306. The database path is <SimulatorHome>/pgsql/bin directory.
No device discovered in the network
This message is displayed if the recorder is unable to discover any device specified in the starting and ending ip address range, at the specified port number.
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