4Chapter 4
Configuring Distributed Pollers

Distributed pollers are configured by the administrator on the master station. A poller is a computer in the network which can talk to local devices and report the result to the master station. A distributed poller can be any machine capable of communicating with the local nodes via an interface.

4.1 Understanding Distributed Pollers

When configuring Distributed Pollers, a strong understanding of how pollers and poller packages are built will help reduce configuration time and eliminate errors.

4.1.1 Understanding Poller Packages

Poller packages are ways to organize configuration information into reusable containers of information. A poller package contains four basic items:

Ranges

defines the boundaries of the discovery domain. Devices not listed in a range will be ignored by the distributed poller.

Filters

defines the types of devices to discover. Filters are rules which are evaluated TRUE or FALSE when a device is interrogated. If the rule evaluates TRUE, the device will be added to the database of the distributed poller. If the rule evaluates FALSE, the device will be ignored. Filters are combined with ranges to define the boundaries of the management domain and the interesting devices within that domain.

Services

defines the types of services to probe on a device. Services include icmp, http, smtp, or any currently supported protocols.

Calendars

defines the hours of operation for the package; both one-time and repeating calendars. Periodic backup, preventative maintenance and other scheduled outages are flagged here. (This functionality is curently disabled).

4.1.2 Poller Packages and Pollers

A Distributed Poller can have one or more poller package assigned to it. When a poller package is assigned to a poller, the poller uses the information in the package to control the behavior, parameters and methods of the poller. The package is downloaded to the poller at initialization time. This architecture allows several kinds of configurations:

Overlapping Pollers

If a poller package is assigned to more than one poller (currently not supported), the domains defined in that poller package overlap. Should one of the pollers fail, the other poller will continue to operate. Overlapping pollers will generate multiple traffic since both pollers operate against the same set of devices.

Independent Pollers

If a poller package is assigned to only one poller, then that poller is solely responsible for polling services. Traffic is minimized in this configuration, however, a single poller has a single point of failure.

4.2 Running the Configure Distributed Pollers Panel

The administrator builds new pollers, assigns poller packages and (in the near future) sets calendars of operation. To launch the configuration panel for the distributed pollers:

  1. Log in as the administrator. The Administrator Main Panel appears:
    Figure: Administrator Main Panel

  2. Select the "Configure Distributed Pollers" icon from the Administrator Main Panel. The Configure Distributed Pollers panel appears:
    Figure: Configure Distributed Pollers Panel

4.3 Using the Configure Distributed Pollers Panel

The "Configure Distributed Pollers" panel is used to build or modify distributed pollers, poller packages, and assign packages to pollers. The panel has a menu bar at the top, icon bar for tools, configuration areas and a status bar.

4.3.1 Configure Distributed Pollers Configuration Areas

The Configure Distributed Pollers panel is divided into 3 separate areas:

Poller Packages

Defines the packages configured on the system. Each package has four branches below it representing the ranges, filters, services and calendars assigned to that package. Packages are dragged onto pollers using drag and drop operations.

Services

The services area contains all of the supported services which a poller could potentially probe. Since a service requires poller code specific to that service, additional services can only be added to the list by adding new service modules to Bluebird.

Distributed Pollers

Pollers are shown in this area of the panel. If a poller is not listed here, it is not polling. Pollers must have at least one poller package assigned to them. Packages are dragged from the Poller Package area and dropped onto a Distributed Poller.

4.3.2 Icon Bar

The icon bar holds the more commonly used tools for configuring pollers. Icons exist for copy, paste, expand/contract, wizards and adding new pollers.


Figure: Distributed Poller Icon Bar

- Save the current configuration. Allows the changed configuration to be make permanent. As changes are made, they are stored in a temporary location until a save if performed. Exiting the panel without saving changes will generate a confirmation message warning about the loss of data.

- Copy the selected item to the copy buffer. A paste is necessary to insert the copied information.

- Paste the last copied information into the selected item. Pasting one type of information into a different type of information is not allowed and will be ignored or generate an error message.

- Expand all the folder icons to view the contents.

- Expand the selected folder icon and show all the contents. Double clicking on the folder icon will accomplish the same task.

- Collapse all folder icons. All contents of folder tabs will be hidden.

- Collapse the selected folder icon. Double clicking on an open folder icon will accomplish the same task.

- Add a new poller icon. This function is disabled until distributed management capability is enabled.

- Add a new poller package. Selecting this icon will pop up a panel allowing the poller information to be configured.

- Add a one-time calendar. This function is disabled until calendar functionality is available.This

- Add a repeating calendar. This function is disabled until calendar functionality is available.

- Launch the Wizard. Currently disabled until distributed management capability is available.

4.3.3 Menu Bar

The menu bar allows menu operation of basic functions such as copying and pasting. In addition to mouse clicks, keyboard accelerators allow keyboard operation of basic functions. The various menu bar options are shown below:

File Menu Bar

The file menu allows the current configuration to be saved and the application to be exited. If modification to the distributed poller configuration has not been saved, a warning message will appear allowing the configuration to be saved or discarded.
Figure: File Menu Bar

Edit Menu Bar

The Edit menu allows basic delete,copy and paste functions. The selected item in the node tree is either deleted, copied into the copy storage area or pasted from the copy storage area.
Figure: Edit Menu Bar

View Menu Bar

View allows the look and feel of the panel to be chosen. Personal attributes of the panel are saved on a user by user basis, including look and feel.
Figure: View Menu Bar

Help Menu Bar

The Help menu bar provides basic "About" functionality and entry point into the help subsystem.
Figure: Help Menu Bar

4.3.4 Right Click Functionality

The right mouse click is used extensively for changing the properies of the various configurations in the poller packages and pollers. Right click functionality is sensitive:

Ranges Properties

Right clicking on the Ranges branch in the Poller Packages section allows ranges to be copied, pasted and properties changed.
Figure: Right click on "Ranges"

Filters Properties

Right clicking on the Filters branch in the Poller Packages section allows filters to be copied, pasted and properties changed. Under Properties, the graphical rule builder is used to define the rules for that filter.
Figure: Right click on "Filters"

Services Properties

Right clicking on the Services branch in the Poller Packages section allows services to be copied, pasted and properties changed.
Figure: Right click on "Services"

4.4 Defining Ranges

Ranges defined the "responsibility domain" of a poller package. This domain is bounded by the start and stop IP addresses of devices within it's responsibility. If a device is not defined within a range, Bluebird will not manage it. Ranges are additive and subtractive; i.e. you can define multiple ranges and all the ranges are added together to form a superset. In addition, ranges can be excluded to never manage devices within a range.

Careful definition of ranges can allow multiple distributed pollers to overlap responsibility. Packages should be defined to be reusable by different pollers.

4.4.1 Default Range Properties Panel

When the "Properties" option is selected from a right click on a ranges folder, the following panel appears:
Figure: Ranges Default Panel
The Ranges Default panel defines the defaults used by the various other panels in the Ranges configuration. If a value is defined as <default>, then the values from this panel are used.

Fields defined within this panel include:
Timeout

The timeout determines how long Bluebird will wait for a device to respond to an ICMP message before considering the device unreachable.

Retries

The retries determine the number of times Bluebird will retry a node which has timed out (see Timeout above) and is unreachable. After the "Retries" number of retries, the node is considered unreachable.

4.4.2 Include Range Properties Panel

When the "Include Ranges" folder tab is selected, the following panel appears:
Figure: Include Ranges Panel
The "Include Ranges" panel starting and stopping addresses in the management domain. As many ranges as necessary can be added to define the bondaries of this domain. Wildcards are not allowed in the from and to fields. The timeout and retries fields define the timeouts for devices within that range.

Fields defined within this panel include:
From IP Address

The beginning IP address in the management range.

To IP Address

The ending IP address in the management range.

timeout

The timeout determines how long Bluebird will wait for a device to respond to an ICMP message before considering the device unreachable.

retries

The retries determine the number of times Bluebird will retry a node which has timed out (see Timeout above) and is unreachable. After the "retries" number of retries, the node is considered unreachable.

4.4.3 Exclude Range Properties Panel

When the "Exclude Ranges" folder tab is selected, the following panel appears:
Figure: Exclude Ranges Panel
The "Exclude Ranges" panel defines the range of devices to ignore within the management domain. A range of excluded devices allows for blocks to be ignored.

Fields defined within this panel include:
From IP Address

The beginning IP address to be excluded from the management range.

To IP Address

The ending IP address to be excluded from the management range.

4.4.4 Specific Node Properties Panel

When the "Specific Nodes" folder tab is selected, the following panel appears:
Figure: Specific Node Panel
The "Specific Nodes" panel allows individual devices to be entered and the attributes assigned.

Fields defined within this panel include:
IP Address

The IP address to be specifically included from the management range.

timeout

The timeout determines how long Bluebird will wait for the device to respond to an ICMP message before considering the device unreachable.

retries

The retries determine the number of times Bluebird will retry the node which has timed out (see Timeout above) and is unreachable. After the "retries" number of retries, the node is considered unreachable.

4.4.5 URL Properties Panel

When the "URLs" folder tab is selected, the following panel appears:
Figure: URLs Panel
The "URLs" panel provides the same functionality as specific nodes, however, the addresses of the specific nodes as contained in a file located at that URL location. This allows files to be build with desired nodes and the file referenced here.

Fields defined within this panel include:
File Name

The URL of a file containing a list of nodes to be included in the management domain.

...

A file browser allowing you to pick the URL.

timeout

The timeout determines how long Bluebird will wait for a device to respond to an ICMP message before considering the device unreachable.

retries

The retries determine the number of times Bluebird will retry a node which has timed out (see Timeout above) and is unreachable. After the "retries" number of retries, the node is considered unreachable.