Managed Objects Concepts

Sun Management Center objects represent parts, or nodes, of a network. These objects include hardware and software components such as hosts (workstations and servers), printers, routers, modules, and so on. Even a segment of the network itself can be an object.

For additional information, refer to your hardware supplement. The supplement contains important hardware-specific information about creating an object.

To monitor or manage an object, you create a node in the topology database to represent the object in an administrative domain or group. If the group does not yet exist, you must first create the group.

You can create and one or more administrative domains that contain nodes for multiple objects, such as the workstations and other devices that are connected to the server. Once these administrative domains exist, you can monitor or manage them. For information about administrative domains, see Chapter 2, Using Sun Management Center Administrative Domains.

Managed Object Categories

Sun Management Center supports the following object categories:

• Node – A node object generally refers to a hardware component, such as a workstation or server, printer, or router. See To Create a Node.

• Composite – A composite object refers to a collection of related objects that you want to monitor as a single entity. A composite object can also be a service object. A service object is a specific type of composite object that enables you to monitor services. An example of a composite object could refer to a hardware system on which multiple instances of the Solaris operating environment are running. See To Create a Composite Object.

• Group – A group object refers to a collection of objects that fall into one of two categories: General or IP-based. General groups are based on geography, such as a building, whereas IP-based groups are based on networks or subnets. See To Create a Group.

• Segment – A segment object refers to portions of the network that link together the nodes or groups. See To Create a Segment.

• Module – A module object refers to a collection of modules for the purpose of enabling a common monitoring method. See To Create a Module Object.

Agents and Monitors

When you create a node, you can choose from the following types of monitoring approaches.

Sun Management Center Agent – Host

Monitor and manage a host that has an active agent that is installed and running. The status of the agent on the host can be monitored. The Details window of the Sun Management Center agent host contains tabs such as Info, Browser, Alarms, and so forth. The Entity Polling Type in the Info tab is ahost.

Sun Management Center Agent – Platform

For more information, see your platform supplement.

Sun Management Center Agent - Module

Monitor and manage a module that has an active Sun Management Center agent that is installed and running. The status of the Sun Management Center module on the agent host can be monitored. The Details window contains Info, Module Browser, and Alarms tabs. The Entity Polling Type in the Info tab is amod.

SNMP Proxy

Monitor and manage the device through a Sun Management Center agent that is running a Sun Management Center proxy module for that device. (The proxy module must have been previously loaded into the agent. See To Load a Module.) Communication between the Sun Management Center Topology manager and the agent is SNMPv2 usec. Communication between the Sun Management Center agent and the remote device is SNMPv1, SNMPv2, or SNMPv3, depending on the proxy module. The Proxy Monitoring module data are displayed. The Details window contains the Info and Browser tabs. The Entity Polling Type in the Info tab is aprox.

SNMP Ping

Monitor the device by using the SNMP ping command. The Sun Management Center Topology manager communicates with the device using SNMPv1. No management capabilities are provided for devices that are monitored by the SNMP ping command. The availability of the SNMP agent on the device can be monitored. The Details window contains only the Info tab. The Entity Polling Type in the Info tab is snmp.

ICMP Ping

Monitor the device by using the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) ping command. No management capabilities are provided for devices that are monitored by the ICMP ping command. The accessibility of the device can be monitored. The Details window contains only the Info tab. The Entity Polling Type in the Info tab is ping.

Non-Monitored

Created node is for display only. The node status is not monitored. No aspects of the device are monitored. The Details window contains only the Info tab. The Entity Polling Type in the Info tab is dummy.