Getting a Quick Start with NerveCenter - Where To Go from Here - Expanding on What You've Learned -
Viewing the Online Documentation Event Correlation

Expanding on What You've Learned

The preceding chapters of this book described the simplest configuration and procedures. Before you begin working with NerveCenter, you should familiarize yourself with some of the NerveCenter features not detailed in the this book. This section summarizes those features and indicates where you can find more information.

This section describes the following:

Configuration Options

NerveCenter's client/server architecture supports distributed polling across large networks. The NerveCenter Server runs as a daemon on UNIX systems or as a service on Windows systems, enabling NerveCenter to operate remotely. You can configure NerveCenter so that all polling is accomplished on local area networks rather than across a wide area network. Using this capability, you can minimize bandwidth and increase scalability by limiting the information to be monitored for each subnet and the nodes to be polled.

The size and complexity of your network are important factors in determining how to configure NerveCenter. Following is a high-level look at several options:

Configuration Options

Option	Description
Single NerveCenter	If you are managing a small network, NerveCenter can discover the workstations and network devices on the network, detect network conditions, respond automatically to conditions, and display information about active alarms.
Multiple NerveCenters	For larger networks, several NerveCenters can communicate with each other and forward important messages to a central site.
NerveCenter integrated with a platform	NerveCenter can be integrated with a network management platform, such as Hewlett Packard's OpenView Network Node Manager. The platform typically discovers nodes and maps network topology. NerveCenter might monitor a subset of the nodes managed by a single platform and then forward noteworthy events to that platform.
NerveCenter working with multiple platforms	You can configure one or more NerveCenters to operate with multiple platforms. You can specify which information NerveCenter sends to each platform.

For complete information about configuring NerveCenter to operate independently or with a network management platform -- along with the platforms supported by NerveCenter -- refer to the Managing NerveCenter and Integrating NerveCenter with a Network Management Platform books.

Node Management

Earlier in this book, you added nodes by manually defining or copying each node's attributes. Two other methods are commonly used to manage nodes:

The typical configuration integrates NerveCenter with a network management platform -- such as Hewlett Packard's Network Node Manager -- which performs node discovery, draws a graphic map containing your network topology, and provides a browser with messages about network status. Through a process called synchronization, the platform refreshes NerveCenter's node list with information about nodes that are added, changed, or removed.
NerveCenter monitors the nodes retrieved from your platform, forwards noteworthy events back to the platform, and changes the color of node symbols in your platform's map to reflect changes in network conditions.
Refer to the Integrating NerveCenter with a Network Management Platform book for details about integrating NerveCenter with a platform.
As an alternative to using a network management platform, you can configure NerveCenter to discover nodes when they send SNMP traps to the NerveCenter Server. You can also customize NerveCenter's IPSweep behavior model, which uses an IP sweep program to populate your node list.
Node discovery using the IPSweep behavior model must be configured in both the NerveCenter Administrator and NerveCenter Client before it can be used. This configuration is described in the Managing NerveCenter and Designing and Managing Behavior Models books.

Viewing the Online Documentation	Event Correlation
	29 July 2003