An organized inventory for monitoring using ManageEngine OpManager is essential for resolving network issues and optimizing performance. Configuring and updating monitoring settings is easier and more efficient when devices and interfaces are organized into subgroups and supergroups.
For instance, say you’re monitoring 500 or more devices. As a network administrator, you’re tasked with accomplishing two things:
- Investigating dropped-calls and poor network quality faced by the customer support team over the past 24 hours.
- Changing the monitoring interval from 15 minutes to 5 minutes for the devices used by the team to ensure that similar issues are detected faster in the future.
To perform both tasks, you need to isolate the network devices that are used by the customer support team. Let’s review the screenshots below. In which of the following two monitoring inventories can you do this faster and more conveniently?
Clearly, a well-organized inventory grouped network elements is easier to monitor and manage.
Grouping monitored devices: The basics
To group devices, you have to identify devices based on contexts like location, hardware details, network segment, etc. This helps satisfy grouping requirements.
As an example, if you need to respond to network issues from critical departments in the organization, a group based on device departments would be beneficial. On the other hand, if you need to perform firmware updates faster, grouping devices based on their vendors and model numbers would be best.
The point is, based on your requirements, you’d need to manually identify devices and create groups. When things change, you have to manually update the device identities and the groups. This manual configuration can be cumbersome, especially given the dynamic nature of modern networks, converged infrastructure, and frequent changes to the network due to growth, migration, or maintenance. A better method is utilizing OpManager.
How does grouping work in OpManager?
OpManager is a comprehensive IT infrastructure monitoring solution that empowers IT teams to proactively detect, resolve, and optimize network performance. With a powerful AI/ML engine and automation features, OpManager streamlines network troubleshooting and management through intelligent configuration and grouping features.
Let’s see how grouping works in OpManager.
Identifying devices with Custom Fields: Custom Fields are notes that you can associate with a device or an interface to identify it in a particular context: For each monitored device or interface, OpManager will have a set of default Custom Fields that includes Country, State, Building, Floor, SerialNumber, etc. You can add up to 50 Custom Fields.
Creating groups: You can create groups by adding devices, interfaces, and other groups manually. You can also filter devices and interfaces based on criteria like IP Addresses or Ranges, Device Type, Interface speed, and Custom Fields to add them to groups.
Updating groups: Once a group is created based on criteria, any new devices or interfaces that satisfy them are automatically added to the group.
Group availability distribution: Group availability distribution is a representation of the health of the members of a group and focuses on three factors: the percentage availability of the devices in the group, a timeline detailing availability at different times, and the fraction of devices with differing levels of availability. You can also set group alarms specific to the health of a group so that they represent the status of all the members of a group, or a few critical components.
What is smart grouping?
Smart grouping is an automated grouping mechanism in OpManager that analyzes device and interface Custom Fields to suggest potential groups. If a certain count of devices or interfaces share similar Custom Field values, OpManager will prompt with a suggestion to group them. When you approve it, a group will be created automatically.
Once a group is created for a custom field, the group is also automatically updated. Every time Custom Fields are updated for a device or interface, they’re removed from their existing groups. In case another group exists for the updated custom field, they are added to the new group.
Essentially, this cuts down on a large chunk of your manual effort. Instead of creating and updating different groups for your devices, you can just add relevant Custom Fields. OpManager will detect and suggest groups automatically.
Organizing devices in bulk with smart grouping
You can combine OpManager’s auto-discovery features with smart grouping to discover and organize thousands of devices in minutes. This can be particularly helpful if you’re planning to deploy OpManager into your network, or if you’re expanding the network.
Using CSV file import: OpManager supports a CSV file import process to associate Custom Fields in bulk to devices. You can either discover new devices while specifying Custom Fields in the CSV file, or import Custom Fields using CSV files to the devices already discovered in your inventory.
Using discovery rule engine: Discovery rule engine is a post-discovery automation engine in OpManager that uses criteria to filter discovered devices and perform certain actions on them. You can create a discovery rule to assign Custom Fields to devices that pass certain criteria. Once enough Custom Fields are associated, OpManager will suggest groups for them.
Using SNMP/WMI discovery: Custom Fields can also be discovered and updated from the SNMP OID response and the WMI class response of devices after discovery is completed. These metrics will be monitored and updated in regular intervals by OpManager.
OpManager helps retailer simplify grouping: A case study
A prominent retail company operating seven branches, a main office, and a warehouse across three major cities needed a network monitoring solution to monitor their servers, databases, billing counter devices, printers, display screens, and CCTV cameras.
Their previous monitoring vendor had limitations when it came to grouping and organizing the IT systems. This was compounded by the rapid growth experienced by the retailer, which meant that new devices were constantly added to the network.
OpManager helped simplify discovery and grouping
The retailer turned to OpManager to address its expanding network needs and the complications for the IT team that came with the organization’s growth.
-
Auto-discovery: OpManager discovered the retailer’s IT infrastructure from IP Subnets. Discovery rules were used to associate Custom Fields to devices based on their Vendor and Device Type.
-
Assigning additional Custom Fields: Additional Custom Fields like location, branch, and contact numbers were associated using CSV file import.
-
Smart grouping prompts: Once enough data was available, OpManager suggested potential groups for devices based on different fields. The IT team approved the relevant groups and disapproved those that weren’t required.
-
Groups of groups: The IT team added devices from a branch to a branch group, and further added branches from the same cities to a city group.
Grouping ensures monitoring efficiency
OpManager delivered several benefits for the retailer:
-
Managing for scalability: Every time new devices were discovered, OpManager assigned Custom Fields using discovery rules and groups that were automatically updated.
-
Incident detection: Group availability charts provided visibility into the health of devices across each city and branch at a glance. Group alarms provided better context regarding where the fault originated and what branches were affected.
-
Incident response: The IT team created automated workflows to execute troubleshooting steps for different device types. The workflows were associated with particular device groups, and this also expedited troubleshooting for critical systems like servers and databases.
-
Reporting and auditing the network: The organization streamlined its preparation for IT compliance audits by leveraging Custom Fields and groups to generate reports on its IT systems, availability, network performance, and more.
-
Performing bulk configuration actions: Whenever the IT team wanted to change any monitoring settings like device template and alarm notification changes, it was able to use groups to perform these actions in bulk, saving time and effort.
-
Visualizing the IT infrastructure: The IT team used OpManager’s Google Maps integration to add groups to an interactive map of the world. This enabled it to drill down from a city group location to the respective branch groups and the devices within the branch.
With OpManager discovering, inventorying, mapping, and organizing their network, the IT team was able to focus its efforts on monitoring and troubleshooting. This helped it prevent unexpected business disruptions and revenue loss.
Organize better, monitor better. Try smart grouping today!
OpManager’s smart grouping feature is available from version 128398 and higher. Update your OpManager installation to the latest version to start using this feature if you’re an existing user. If you haven’t started using OpManager yet, you can try a fully functional product trial for 30 days for free! Or, you can schedule a free personalized demo at a time convenient for you to see how OpManager can benefit your organization.
