Mapping Link Lines

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Mapping link lines provide a quick map view that allows you to easily determine which map objects are connected by a service, as well as the polling result (up or down) of the service. The SNMP SmartScan will create both stubs (non-connected links) and connected links as appropriate, based on the information it has available. It only creates stubs and connected lines for "Interface" services.

There are three ways to create link lines

• Manually using "Link to" on the context menu for a host. ("Disconnect link" to remove them). The map must be in Edit Mode to do this.
• Automatically during map discovery when using SNMP SmartScan.

Note: Service scanning must be enabled and the "Interface" service must be included in the scan.

• Automatically when you choose the "Auto Discover" button in the device properties (Services dialog) when editing a map.

Mapping link lines can be rendered in one of two ways: stubs and connecting lines.

• Stubs represent a service that is not connected to some other host, for instance an unused interface on a router. They are drawn as short lines extending out from the host. The first unconnected interface is drawn straight up (12 noon) and the rest are evenly distributed around the host in a clockwise fashion. Optionally, you can choose to display or not to display the stubs.
• Connecting lines represent a service connecting two map objects. They are drawn as lines from one map object to another. If two map objects have "mutual" links, the single line can consist of more than one color (if one object is up and the other is down). The center-point of the line back to the up object is green, while the other half of the line going to the down object is red. In essence, the color of the line represents the state of the service on the host that the color touches. Example: If the red part of the line touches "System A" and the green part of the line touches "System B", then we know that some service on "System A" has a problem.

Note: Mapping Link lines should not be confused with "attaching lines." To learn about this, see "Attached Lines".

Colors of Link Lines

Links can be rendered in one of three colors: green, red and gray.

• Green indicates a service on a host which is UP. This includes services that have not yet been polled.
• Red indicates a service which is down.
• Gray indicates a service listed in the hosts' services list, but not currently monitored.

Manually connecting and disconnecting colored link lines

• When creating links manually, you are always creating a connected link. If there already was a stub for that service, it will be replaced by the connected link.
• When disconnecting links manually, connected links will become stubs, and then stubs will disappear entirely. Therefore, if it is currently connected, it takes two steps to completely get rid of a link.

Note: You can multi-select in the service list when disconnecting, so you can quickly disconnect all links from a host.

• Both connect and disconnect skips the dialog if there is only one service on the host, it assumes you intend to disconnect that service. Otherwise the connect/disconnect of links works like "Attach to" and "Disconnect" functionality does when editing a map.

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