ITEM: AT9028
NetView - Seed File - Introductory information:
˙Question:
Problem:
Please explain seed files:
Answer:
Seed File Usage:
There are two ways that a seed file can give netmon discovery instructions:
1) A seed file can tell netmon which nodes to discover
A seed file can be used to tell netmon which nodes should be
discovered. This is done by placing specific IP addresses and/or
hostnames in the seed file. If a specific IP address is placed in a
seed file, then the node that has that IP address will be discovered.
Here are a few important things to remember about putting specific
IP addresses and hostnames in your seed file:
a) If New Node Discovery is turned OFF, netmon will still discover
the nodes whose IP addresses are listed in the seed file.
b) If New Node Discovery is turned ON, netmon will discover all of
the nodes in the seed file, and then it will go on discovering
additional nodes as it normally would. In other words, with the
New Node Discovery Switch ON, netmon will not try to limit itself
to only the IP addresses listed in the seed file.
c) netmon always discovers the node on which netmon resides, regardless
of New Node Discovery switch settings, and regardless of whether
or not that node's IP address(es) are listed in the seed file.
d) once netmon discovers a node, it will discover all IP addresses on
that node, even if some of those IP addresses are not specifically
listed in the seed file.
2) A seed file can tell netmon which nodes *not* to discover
A seed file can be used to tell netmon which nodes should *not*
be discovered. This is done by placing one or more IP address
ranges in the seed file. By placing IP address ranges in the
seed file, you are instructing netmon to ignore all IP addresses
*outside* those ranges (with a few exceptions, listed below). In
that respect, a range is very much like a "filter".
Here are a few important things to remember about putting specific
IP address ranges in your seed file:
a) Specifying IP address ranges does not guarantee that nodes within
those ranges will be discovered. It merely guarantees that IP
addresses outside the ranges will NOT be discovered. To *guarantee*
that nodes within a range are discovered, you must specifically
list the IP addresses of those nodes in the seed file.
b) netmon always discovers the node on which netmon resides, regardless
of New Node Discovery switch settings, and regardless of whether
or not that netmon's node lies within IP address ranges in the seed
file.
c) Once netmon discovers a node, it will discover all IP addresses on
that node, even if some of those IP addresses lie outside the
ranges specified in the seed file.
d) Specifying a range in a seed file has no effect if New Node
Discovery is turned off.
e) Individual IP addresses and hostnames in a seed file will
be discovered even if they lie outside the ranges specified
in the seed file.
Some Examples of Seed File setup and Usage:
1) Telling netmon where to start looking for nodes without limiting discovery
If you want NetView/6000 to use your seed file as a starting
point, and then go on to discover anything else it can find,
follow these directions:
a) Create a seedfile that contains only a list of individual
IP addresses (do not use wildcards)
b) smit nv6000,
Configure,
Set options for AIX NetView/6000 daemons,
Set options for topology, discovery, and ....
Set options for netmon daemon
Load seed file from:
Add the seed file name to field.
Press DO button.
c) Now restart NetView/6000 using either Smit or nv6000 command.
In this case, netmon will not limit itself to discovering only the
nodes in the seedfile. This option is often used to ensure that
certain nodes are discovered. It also used to ensure that nodes
more than one "hop" beyond the management station are discovered.
2) Limiting discovery to the nodes individually listed in the seed file
If you want NetView/6000 to discover only the nodes in the seed file,
follow these directions:
a) Create your seedfile.
b) Clear topology database.
c) Run "ovstart ovtopmd", this starts topology database.
d) Run "ovw", this starts the NV6000 application interface.
e) Select "Options" from Menu
Select "Topology/Status Polling Intervals: IP...
Turn the "New Node Discovery Switch" to OFF.
Press "OK" button.
f) Select File from Menu and Exit application.
g) smit nv6000,
Configure,
Set options for AIX NetView/6000 daemons,
Set options for topology, discovery, and ....
Set options for netmon daemon
Load seed file from:
Add the seed file name to field.
Press DO button.
h) Now restart NetView/6000 using either Smit or nv6000 command.
3) Limiting discovery to a range of nodes using seed file wildcards.
If you want to limit discovery to the nodes within a certain
range or ranges of IP addresses, follow these directions:
a) Create your seedfile. At least one of the lines in the
seed file must contain a wildcard (the "*" or the "-"
character).
b) Clear topology database.
c) smit nv6000,
Configure,
Set options for AIX NetView/6000 daemons,
Set options for topology, discovery, and ....
Set options for netmon daemon
Load seed file from:
Add the seed file name to field.
Press DO button.
d) Now restart NetView/6000 using either Smit or nv6000 command.
You may notice that specifying a range in a seed file does not
guarantee that anything within the range will be discovered. When you
specify ranges, all you are doing in effect is telling NetView/6000
*not* to discover anything *outside* the ranges. So, to ensure that
nodes within the range get discovered, it is best to explicity list a
few specific IP addresses in the seed file that fall within the range.
It is important to understand that a range is like a *filter*, and
specifying a range by itself does not "help" the netmon daemon discover
nodes.
Note that an IP address range in the seed file could be used to
limit discovery to a list of specific IP addresses without turning
new node discovery off. To do this, you simply create a seed file
that is a list of IP addresses, and then include a range that you
know would have no IP addresses in it. For instance, if
you just want to discover IP addresses 1.1.1.1 and 1.1.1.2, and
you know that you do not have any IP addresses in the range
3.*.*.*, then you could create a seed file that looked like this:
1.1.1.1
1.1.1.2
3.*.*.*
This would limit the discover to just the two IP addresses, and it
would not require that you turn off New Node Discovery.
------------------------------- Referenced Note ---------------------------
Support Line: NetView - Seed File - Introductory information: ITEM: AT9028
Dated: January 1996 Category: N/A
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