Monitoring Your Network - Understanding NerveCenter - Main NerveCenter Components - The NerveCenter User Interface -
Previous: The NerveCenter Database     Next: Role in Network Management Strategy

The NerveCenter User Interface

The principal clients of the NerveCenter server are:

• The NerveCenter Administrator
• The NerveCenter Client
• The NerveCenter Web Client
• The NerveCenter command line interface

The NerveCenter Administrator is used to configure NerveCenter once it has been installed. The NerveCenter Client and the NerveCenter Web Client are used to monitor a network for problems. The NerveCenter Client is also used to create new behavior models. The command line interface can be used to perform a limited number of operations on NerveCenter objects.

For additional information on these interfaces, see the following sections:

• The NerveCenter Administrator
• The NerveCenter Client
• The NerveCenter Web Client
• The Command Line Interface

The NerveCenter Administrator

The figure below shows the graphical user interface (GUI) for the NerveCenter Administrator.

NerveCenter Administrator

Users with NerveCenter Administrator privileges can use this interface to:

• Configure NerveCenter's discovery mechanism
• Configure the number of retries and the retry interval for SNMP polling
• Configure NerveCenter's mail and paging actions
• Manage NerveCenter log files
• Configure NerveCenter to work with a network management platform

The NerveCenter Client

The figure below shows the GUI for the NerveCenter Client.

NerveCenter Client

Two types of users run the NerveCenter Client. Users with NerveCenter User privileges can run the client to:

• Monitor active alarms
• Filter alarms for the alarm summary windows
• View an alarm's history
• Reset alarms
• Monitor the state of managed nodes
• Generate reports

Users with NerveCenter Administrator privileges can perform all the tasks that users with User privileges can. In addition, they can use the client to:

• Create new behavior models
• Customize the predefined behavior models
• Modify, copy, or delete any object in the NerveCenter database

The NerveCenter Web Client

The following figure shows the GUI for the NerveCenter Web Client.

NerveCenter Web Client

The NerveCenter Web Client, unlike the NerveCenter Client, is meant to be used only for monitoring a network, not for creating behavior models. It enables you to:

• Monitor active alarms
• View an alarm's history
• Reset alarms
• Monitor the state of managed nodes

The Command Line Interface

You can use NerveCenter's command line interface (CLI) to delete, list, or set (enable or disable) alarms, trap masks, nodes, and polls from a Windows NT Command Prompt or a UNIX shell. You can also connect to, display the status of, and disconnect from NerveCenter servers using the CLI. You can issue commands manually or from a script.