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Conference netcad::hub_mgnt

Title:	DEChub/HUBwatch/PROBEwatch CONFERENCE
Notice:	Firmware -2, Doc -3, Power -4, HW kits -5, firm load -6&7
Moderator:	NETCAD::COLELLADT

Created:	Wed Nov 13 1991
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	4455
Total number of notes:	16761

150.0. "help with communities" by WOTVAX::HATTOS (I think, Therefore I'm paid less) Fri Feb 05 1993 14:34

    Hi,
    
    I have a customer who is very confused and in his confusion, has
    confused me!
    
    He has a DECAgent and has added a community. He then gets the message
    'If a bridge will be part of this community, adding it now will enable
    the auto-discovery mechanism to discover other modules in the
    community'
    
    The question is, what is defined here as the community. Does this mean,
    the HUB or does it mean something else.
    
    How can it auto discover, say, another bridge on the network if that
    bridge is not part of the community. And if that bridge has been added
    as part of the community, it is hardly auto-discovering is it?
    
    
    On a second point about communities. Why should a second bridge have
    to go into a new community? Why can't it go in the same community as
    the first agent? Surely if it has a unique IP address it should be able
    to go in the same community. My customer says that if he tries to add a 
    second bridge he finds he cannot add it into the same community as the
    first . He says he is required to enter a unique community string.
    
    
    Regards,
    Stuart

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
150.1	Please pardon my ramblings, but...	KALI::GAUDET		`Mon Feb 08 1993 20:08`	33
	Stuart, the concept of "community" is equivalent to a "group of one or more manageable entities" on the network. For example, a standalone DECserver 90L+ (I guess that's now called a DEChub ONE Server 90L+) can be powered up, plugged into the network, and managed via MOP over the network. Similar for a DECbridge via RBMS. Each of those (in their standalone configuration) can be considered a community. But if you want to manage repeaters, you need a backplane (enter: the hub). So you plug your agent, bridge and repeaters into a hub. You now have a community of modules in a hub (which is one community). With V1.0 of the DECagent 90, if you add the bridge first, the DECagent's poller comes along every 20 seconds and checks if it knows of a bridge it can talk RBMS to so it can find out who else is in the hub. So if you add the bridge first and sit back for 20 seconds or so, you'll see the repeaters appear on the agent's console display (if you're in the Show Community screen). In the DEChub 90, the DECagent will not auto-discover another bridge on the network. They must be entered manually, and in different communities. Believe me when I tell you that it's a long story, but suffice it to say that they're not discoverable. And please don't plug more than one bridge into a hub. Strange things will happen. However, since the DECagent can talk RBMS to a bridge in another community, it can get information about that bridge's community (like if there are any repeaters plugged into that bridge's backplane). Furthermore, it can manage those repeaters. BTW, bridges don't have IP addresses (at least none that I know of). They do, however, have a unique MAC address. Hope this helps. ...Roger...
150.2	Thanks, but one more question!	WOTVAX::HATTOS	I think, Therefore I'm paid less	`Tue Feb 09 1993 06:52`	13
	Thank you. I am sure this will help my customer. I understood about communities, but was totally confused around the Auto-Discovery feature. >> In the DEChub 90, the DECagent will not auto-discover another bridge on >> the network. Forgive me, but does this imply that a standalone Agent WILL discover other bridges? Regards, Stuart
150.3	Show me a bridge, and I'll show you a community!	KALI::GAUDET		`Tue Feb 09 1993 11:54`	5
	No. The agent must be told about every bridge that you want the agent to manage. The agent (whether standalone or in a hub) cannot auto-discover bridges anywhere on the network. ...Roger...
150.4	ramblings on auto-discovery	EMDS::SEAVER	Bill Seaver, HUBwatch Mktg	`Fri Feb 26 1993 13:17`	15
	The agent does not auto-discover anything. The bridge auto-discovers repeaters that are in the same hub. The agent only manages communities you specify. Auto-discovery is more of a Network Management System (NMS) function. Both MCC and MSU do auto-discovery based on searching thru a range of addresses. This will find you all devices with an address, but it will not tell you if they are all in one hub and will not find devices like repeaters that do not have an address. In the DEChub 900, the Hub Manager is used to help define who is where in the hub. It uses the hub MIB to define what module is in each slot. HUBwatch puts these various bits of information all together in one simple picture.