Re: [netdisco-devel] Implementing "extended ifType" methods

[<j.v...@ut...>]

>> Just wanted to get some of your opinions... there's a patch on SF for
>> SNMP::Info to override the i_type() data in the HP class with data
>> from hpSwitchPortType (tracker id: 2599795).
> 
> The "expected" place for this kind of extended info is the
> device_module table (which we haven't taken enough advantage of).  For
> some reason, store_modules() doesn't use e_port() to get this mapping,
> but I think if it just calls e_port() and stores that in the table
> that's sufficient information.

OK, for Netdisco that sounds like a good idea. I didn't like the idea of
adding such a config option anyway.

For the SNMP::Info part: would there be anything against adding a
generic "vendor_i_type()" method? That suggestion from the patch
submitter still sounds good to me, because it would give a consistent
vendor-independent way to retrieve extra type information for a port.

 
> Do your devices have this extended info in the ENTITY-MIB, and can I
> convince you to move in this direction?

Well, I checked an ancient HP 4000 and a new HP 5406; the results from
both tables aren't identical but they convey pretty much the same
information.

For example, the same SX port in both tables:
ENTITY-MIB::entPhysicalVendorType.123 = OID:
HP-ICF-OID::hpicfSwitchPort1000SX
CONFIG-MIB::hpSwitchPortType.48 = INTEGER: gigabitEthernetSX(117)

Currently entPhysicalVendorType returns "zeroDotZero" for certain
interface types on our switches, such as 1000BaseBX-[U|D] and 10GBase-*.
The BX types are incorrectly reported in both tables. So I'll try to
convince HP to change this in a newer software version.
 

> BTW, this is what this looks like for a Cisco 1252 access point:
> 
> select device_port.ip, device_port.port, device_module.description,
> device_module.type from device_port, device_module where
> device_port.ip = device_module.ip and device_port.port =
> device_module.port;
>      ip      |       port       |      description      |      type
>
-------------+------------------+-----------------------+---------------
-
>  172.18.0.35 | Dot11Radio1      | 802.11N 5Ghz Radio    |
>  cevPortUnknown 172.18.0.35 | Dot11Radio0      | 802.11N 2.4Ghz Radio
>  | cevPortUnknown 172.18.0.35 | GigabitEthernet0 | PowerPC 8349
> Ethernet | cevPortGEIP 

In the device_module table, I don't see a "port" column yet, so I assume
you added it for this example?

All in all, you did convince me to use this solution for Netdisco. I'll
try to implement it within the next couple of weeks.


Regards,

Jeroen van Ingen
ICT Service Centre
University of Twente, P.O.Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands