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Mapping a Hierarchical Network (SNMP)

If your network has a router with an SNMP agent, SmartScan is a powerful way to discover and map your network, as it can create maps and subnet maps that reflect your network's hierarchy. SmartScan discovers and maps devices by reading SNMP data on a device (preferably a router) in your network. Based on the information it finds, SmartScan will continue to scan your network until it has mapped all devices.

To make sure you scan only those devices in your own network, you can use the Scan Depth and Limit scan to IP class of root device options. Also, the scan will stop if it comes to a network for which it does not know the SNMP Communities name.

Note: Do not scan devices on someone else's network without their permission!

You can also enable the scan so that it identifies particular device types. For information on how to do this, see "Customizing Device Types".

A SmartScan can also identify network services (such as FTP, HTTP, SMTP) on each network device.

Using SmartScan

SmartScan maps and displays the devices according to your network's hierarchy. If your network is divided into subnets, SmartScan creates a parent map of the top-level network and also creates a map for each subnet. The parent map will show links to its subnets, and any subnet map can have links to lower-level subnets.

To discover and map devices on your network using SmartScan:

  1. If you are not already in the "SNMP SmartScan" dialog box, you can start a scan in either of the following ways:
    • To create a new map, from the File menu, select New Map Wizard. In the New Map, select the Discover and Map Network Devices option on the first screen and select Discover your network with SNMP SmartScan on the next screen.
    • To add devices to an existing map or a blank map, select the map, then from the Tools menu, select Discover Devices, select Discover your network with SNMP SmartScan on the next screen.

Note: If you are performing this action on a map that was previously created using SNMP SmartScan, make sure that you select the top-level map prior to beginning.

  1. Edit any of the SmartScan options. Click Help for a definition of each option. Click Next to continue.

  1. Select the Services you want to scan for. Click Help for a definition of each option.
  2. If you select Filter by Device Type, you can control which device types you want or do not want on your map. This will limit the scope of a smart scan depending on the device types specified. For example, you could elect to scan for only printers on the network (include), or you could exclude all web servers. Also, if you have Active discovery set during the scan, the Device Type filter will propagate to the Active Discovery settings, so that you will not get the entire network the next time active discovery runs.
  3. Click Next.

  1. The scan begins and when it has completed, it provides you the opportunity to finalize which devices you want to appear on the map. Click Finish to complete the wizard.
  2. From the File menu, select Save or Save As to save the map.

Note: The default settings limit the scan to your network. WhatsUp Gold provides control over these settings so that you can further limit or change the scan to reflect your unique network topology.

See "Active Discovery of Devices".

Results of the SmartScan

SmartScan creates a map hierarchy that reflects your network and its subnets. It creates a separate map for each subnet and creates a parent map with links to the subnets.

Note: A map created by SmartScan may show other networks connected to your network as a gray subnet icon. This means the scan was unable to map the devices in that subnet because the scan settings would not allow it.

Under the right conditions, the Scan can also recognize particular device types. For more information, see "Scanning and Mapping a Device".

SNMP Manageable Devices

Under the right conditions, the Scan can also recognize particular device types. For more information, see "Scanning and Mapping a Device".


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