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2 - Cooperative Consoles Configurations

Cooperative Consoles (CC) provides the flexibility to implement a variety of possible cooperative relationships between multiple Site/SunNet/Domain Manager Consoles. Three possible configurations are described in this chapter.

2.1 Peer-to-Peer Forwarding

A peer-to-peer relationship exists among Domain Manager consoles when the Domain Manager machines both send and receive event and topology information to each other. The peer-to-peer configuration implies that each Domain Manager Console machine has both a Sender and Receiver software installed, and thus functions as both a receiving and sending station. The following example illustrates peer-to-peer forwarding relationships.

NOTE - Because the CC_Receiver is supported with Domain Manager only, the Peer-to-Peer relationship solely exists between Domain Manager consoles.
Company PQR has separate Domain Manager consoles to manage regional networks. A network management station in San Francisco is responsible for managing a west coast region and a station in New York is responsible for an east coast region. The network manager in New York wants to know about all changes to PQR's backbone network (routers, WAN link) and critical servers (financial database server) in the west coast region. Events are filtered by the Sender on the San Francisco machine on the basis of host name (selecting the servers) and component type (selecting the routers) and forwarded to the Domain Manager machine in New York. The relevant elements reside in a view on the San Francisco machine called "WestNet." The Receiver process on the New York machine places forwarded topology information under a view also called "WestNet" on the New York machine.

The network management station in San Francisco also wants to receive this type of information from the network management console in New York. The Receiver process on the San Francisco machine places forwarded topology information under a view called "EastNet," mirroring the view name on the New York machine. A Sender and a Receiver are therefore installed on both machines to implement this peer-to-peer relationship. Figure 2-1 illustrates this example.

Figure  2-1 Example of Peer-to-Peer Relationship Between
Regional Stations
NOTE - Peer-to-Peer configuration is not supported on the same machine.

2.2 Periphery-to-Center Forwarding

In a periphery-to-center configuration, the flow of forwarded alarm and topology information is from distributed Site/SunNet/Domain Manager consoles to a central Domain Manager Console. For example, an organization can have multiple Site/SunNet/Domain Manager consoles responsible for regional components of its network while also having a Central Domain Manager Console that needs to display and monitor the global network topology and state of critical devices. The flow of information, in this configuration, is one-directional, from the regional management stations to the central management station. This configuration is illustrated in Figure 2-2 .

NOTE - Because the CC_Receiver is supported with Domain Manager only, the central console must be a Domain Manager Console machine so that it can receive information.
In this configuration, the Sender daemon needs to be installed only on the regional Site/SunNet/Domain Manager Console machines. The Receiver needs to be installed only on the central Domain Manager Console machine. Start-up and shutdown of CC is initiated from the central Domain Manager Console.

Figure  2-2 Forwarding of Information to Central Management Station

2.2.1 Distributed Management with Functional
Specialization

 A variation on periphery-to-center forwarding of information is a situation where regional Domain Manager consoles have management responsibility for a type of network link (for example, X.25, Frame Relay, ISDN) or type of network device (routers, database servers, T1 links) for the enterprise-wide network. In this configuration, illustrated in Figure 2-3 , no central Domain Manager Console machine functions as a single network management center. Rather, each Domain Manager Console receives topology and event information from other Domain Manager consoles about devices of a particular type it is responsible for, in addition to managing its own regional network. Each Domain Manager Console functions as the center only for a particular type of network link or type of network device.

As in a peer-to-peer configuration, both a Sender and Receiver are needed on each Domain Manager Console machine in this configuration. The Sender daemon is required to forward information that pertains to the types of devices the other Domain Manager consoles are interested in. The Receiver application functions as a receiving station, to receive information about the particular device types the local Domain Manager Console manages for the enterprise-wide network.

In the example in Figure 2-3 , the Receiver process on Domain Manager#2, which manages the western regional network, registers with the Sender daemons on each of the other Domain Manager Console machines to receive information about X.25 links. Each of the sending stations must have a filter table available that forwards only X.25-related event and topology information. The Receiver process on Domain Manager#2 passes the name of this filter file when it registers with the Sender daemons on the other stations. Domain Manager#2 functions as the central Domain Manager Console only in regard to the X.25 network links.

Figure  2-3 Functional Specialization in Multiple SNM Consoles

2.3 Center-to-Periphery Forwarding

In a center-to-periphery configuration, topology changes and alarms are propagated from one or more central Site/SunNet/Domain Manager consoles to distributed Domain Manager consoles to off-load responsibility for managing particular regions, type of network, or type of device. This scenario is illustrated in Figure 2-4 .

NOTE - Because the CC_Receiver is supported with Domain Manager only, the peripheral consoles must be a Domain Manager Console machine so that it can receive information.
In this configuration, the central Site/SunNet/Domain Manager Console requires a Sender daemon but not a Receiver. Each peripheral Domain Manager console machine has a Receiver installed but does not require a Sender daemon.

Figure  2-4 Forwarding of Information from Center to Periphery

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