Chapter 5: Working with Devices

WhatsUp Gold needs basic information about a device in order to monitor it. When you create a map using any of the "discover and map" tools, WhatsUp Gold automatically determines the device's display name, host name, and IP address. This section describes why you might edit the default device properties that WhatsUp Gold assigns.

The Polling Method

By default, WhatsUp Gold uses the ICMP polling method for Service only devices, IPX for IPX devices, and NetBIOS for NetBIOS devices. You can change the default polling method at the bottom of the General dialog box of the device properties.

• ICMP sends packets (echo requests) to a device and tracks the responses.
• Services only can be used to monitor a service on a device that does not allow ICMP packets (as in the case of some firewalls). The setting uses either TCP or UDP to poll the service. To use this method of monitoring a device, at least one service must be monitored on that device.
• NetBIOS is the polling method to use for Windows networks.
• IPX is the polling method for Novell NetWare networks.

Note: To scan and poll IPX devices, the system on which WhatsUp Gold is installed must have Microsoft NWLink IPX/SPX Compatible Transport Protocol installed and running. For more information, see "System Requirements".

If the polling method for a device is NetBIOS or IPX, you will not be able to monitor TCP/IP services on this device.

Defining General Properties

On the General dialog box, you can make any changes to general properties, change the icon type for the device, and set the method used by WhatsUp Gold to poll the device.

To view or change device properties:

1. Right-click the device and select Properties from the pop-up menu. Click General.
   
2. In the Display Name text box, enter a name. This is the name displayed on the network map.
3. In the Type box, select the desired device type. This selection determines which icon is displayed on the network map.

Note: The subnet icon is a special type that is used to link a subnet map to a parent map. For more information, see "Creating a Subnet" .

4. Under Polling Method, select the method to use for polling this device. For detailed information, see "The Polling Method" .
5. Poll Using will either be IP Address or Host Name.

Note: You can toggle between Host Name and IP Address.

6. Host Name. If the polling method is ICMP or Services only, enter either the Host Name here or the IP address in Step 5. If you enter a host name, it must be a name that can be resolved to an IP address. In other words, the host name must be in your system's host file or in your network's DNS server.

   If the polling method is NetBIOS or IPX, you must enter a valid NetBIOS or IPX name.

7. In the IP Address text box, enter a valid IP address.

   If the polling method is ICMP or Services only and you entered a Host Name in Step 5, you can leave this blank and WhatsUp Gold will use the Host Name to look up the IP address.

   If the polling method is NetBIOS or IPX, leave the address blank; WhatsUp Gold displays the hardware Ethernet address of the device after it completes one poll.

8. In the Info Line 1 and Info Line 2 text boxes, enter any additional information about this device. This information can be included in notification messages. For example, you can enter a "point of contact" for a device or location. This information is also displayed on the Host Summary page in the web interface.
9. Click OK to apply the changes and exit the dialog box.

Setting Up Monitoring

You use Monitor to turn monitoring on or off for a device, to specify how often to check the device, the number of seconds to wait for a response, and any up or down dependencies.

1. In the device properties, click Monitor.
   
2. Make sure Monitor This Device is selected.
3. In the Poll Frequency text box, enter a value to determine how often this device should be checked. The Poll Frequency determines if this device is checked on every poll (value = 1), every second poll (value = 2), every third poll (value = 3), and so on. The default value is every poll (1), but you can use this property to poll a particular device less frequently.
4. In the Poll Timeout text box, enter the number of seconds to wait for a response from a monitored device.

   You can enter a value from 1 to 30 seconds. The default value is 5 seconds. This timeout should be set to the smallest practical value. For a local network, a timeout of 2 seconds is usually sufficient. For a long-distance (or slow-path) network, this timeout may need to be as high as 10 seconds.

Note: For information on setting the default Poll Frequency and Poll Timeout for all devices in the map, "Setting Map Polling Properties".

5. Set the Time Period options to specify when you want to monitor this device. Click the Change button to change the default setting of 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

   Select the Day of Week options: 7 days a week is the default. You can clear the 7 days a week option and then select the specific days of the week that you want to monitor this device.

   Select one of the three Time of Day options: Use 24 hours a day to monitor all day. Use Between to set the start and end time for monitoring. Use Not between to set the hours that monitoring is turned off.

Note: When using Between and Not Between, the start time must be less than the end time. To set the period between an AM time and a PM time, you must use the 24 hour clock (0000 to 2400) or use the options together to set the hours.

Click OK to save your changes and exit the "Time Period" dialog box.

6. To make this device an "up dependency" for another device (meaning it gets checked only if the other device is up), select the other device from the Check only if this device is up list.
7. To make this device a "down dependency" for another device (meaning it gets checked only if the other device is down), select the other device from the Check only if this device is down list.

Note: If item A is "up dependent" on item B, then item A is only checked if item B is reachable. If item B is not reachable, then item A will automatically be assumed to be down, will not be checked and will take on the same down count as item B. If item A is "down dependent" on item B then item A is only checked if item B is not reachable. If item B is reachable, then item A will automatically be assumed to be up. If item B is not reachable, then item A will be checked. This is useful when you want to poll intervening routers only if the end point is not reachable. An easy way to set this up is to use the Traceroute tool to automatically map a path to an address and tell it to Set Dependencies. Look at the result in the Dependencies Window after doing this.

8. Click OK to apply the changes and exit the dialog box.

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