Inventory Menu: Hardware Inventory

When a network is loaded, the Hardware Inventory window can be opened by selecting Inventory > Hardware Inventory. This window contains reports and information about the hardware at each individual node in the network. When viewing hardware information at a specific node, the Hardware Inventory window is split into two panes. The left pane displays a tree listing all existing hardware (routers) and summary reports. The right pane displays the content of the item selected in the left pane.

Devices List

Selecting Devices in the left pane displays a Device List report in the right pane. The saved report’s filename starts with “ROUTER_LIST.” Clicking on the small icon to the left of Devices in the left pane will expand the tree to show a list of routers in the left pane. These devices can then be individually selected to display a detailed Equipment View in the right pane for the selected router. See Equipment View for more information

Figure 2: Device List

Various actions can be executed by right clicking on a row and selecting an item from the popup menu. The items in this popup menu are available for many reports in the Hardware Inventory window, though not all reports will contain all items.

Node Detail: Brings up a Node window with detailed information about the node in the selected row.
Highlight: Highlights the relevant node in the Map window.
Show Config: Opens the router configuration file for the relevant node if such a file is available.
Show Equipment: This will open the Equipment View window for the relevant node.

The Table Options window can be opened by right clicking on a row in a report and selecting Table Options. This is useful for customizing the type of information displayed in the report.

Figure 3: Hardware Inventory Table Options

Selecting Use image icons or checkbox if applicable displays image icons in vendor and status cells that make the reports more visually pleasing and easier to comprehend at a glance. The Autofit to window option will, when selected, automatically resize the column widths to fit the width of the report window. In the bottom half of the Table Options window, specific columns can be either included are excluded from the report.

Columns	Description
Name	Device name converted into NorthStar Planner format
Hostname	Device hostname
Vendor	Device vendor (for example, Cisco, Juniper Networks)
IP Address	Loopback IP address of the Device, typically the first one listed
Source	Filename of collected configuration file
Chassis Type	The type of chassis, for example, WS-C6509-E (similar to SNMP chassisType)
OS Version	Operating System Version, for example, 12.2(53)SE
Contact*	SNMP sysContact
Description	Device description
Location*	SNMP sysLocation
System Name*	SNMP sysName
Boot Image	The boot image, e.g, a string starting with flash:, bootflash:, disk0:
Configuration Memory	Non-volatile configuration memory (bytes)
Configuration Memory in Use*	Non-volatile configuration memory in use (bytes) SNMP nvRAMUsed
Configuration Register*	SNMP configRegister, for the configuration register value
Hardware Id	Equivalent of SNMP chassisId, which defaults to the chassis serial number
Hardware Version	Equivalent of SNMP chassisVersion, which defaults to the chassis hardware revision level
Last Update by CLI	The last time this file was updated by CLI collection
Memory	Equivalent of SNMP processorRam, based on RAM available to CPU (bytes)
Mgmt IP Addr	The Management IP Address is the IP addressed used by NorthStar Planner to discover the device.
Model	The Hardware model can provide additional detail not known from the vendor, for example, by distinguishing JUNIPER and JUNIPER_EX
OS Family	The operating system family (for example, IOS, Junos OS)
Processor	The device processor, for example, PowerPC405
ROM System Version*	SNMP romSysVersion, which contains the ROM system software version
ROM Version	SNMP romVersion, which contains the ROM monitor version

Note:

SNMP fields will not be populated if hardware inventory is collected by CLI.

Line Cards

Selecting Line Cards in the left pane displays a Card List with information on all the cards in the network. The saved report name starts with CARD_LIST. This list is useful for managing aspects of a network related to card capacity, such as keeping track of how many ports of a specific type are available in the network. The Table Options (right-click a table header for this menu option) can be used to add additional columns such as the Version.

Figure 4: Hardware Inventory: Line Cards

Column	Description
Hostname	Device hostname
Name	Line card name, for example, WS-X6704-10GE
Device Name	Device name converted into NorthStar Planner format
Device	Vendor Hardware vendor (Cisco, Juniper Networks)
Card Id	Slot information, for example, S-0/1
Connected	Ports Number of ports that (a) have a corresponding link in the model, (b) are operationally up, or (c) have an IP address defined on the interface
No. of Ports	Number of physical ports
Part	Line Card Part number
S/N	Line Card Serial number
Version	Line Card Version information, for example, rev A0 ver 4
Controller Mem.*	Controller memory (Cisco-specific field)
Cost (Estimated)	Estimated hardware cost
Description	Line Card Description
Device IP Addr.	Loopback IP address of the Device, typically the first one listed
Device Mgmt IP Addr.	The Management IP Address is the IP addressed used by NorthStar Planner to discover the device.
FRU Line Card FRU Packet Mem. FRU Route Mem.	Details related to the Field Replacement Unit (Cisco)
L3 Engine L3 Engine Type	Details related to the L3 Engine (Cisco)
Reserved Ports	Number of Reserved ports, based on customizable keywords found in the description.
Shutdown Ports	Ports that have operational or admin status down
TAN	Top Assembly Number (Cisco ordering number)

Note:

NMP fields will not be populated if hardware inventory is collected by CLI.

Physical Interfaces

Selecting Physical Interfaces in the left pane displays an Interface List report listing all interfaces, their status, and additional information in the right pane. The saved report’s filename starts with “INTF_LIST.” The rows in the report can be sorted by clicking on the column header for the property to sort by.

Figure 5: Hardware Inventory: Physical Interfaces

Column	Description
Name	Physical Interface Name, for example, TenGigE0/2/0/2
Hostname	Device hostname
Device Name	Device name converted into NorthStar Planner format
Device Vendor	Hardware vendor (Cisco, Juniper Networks)
Card Id	Slot information, for example, S-0/1
Description	Physical interface description
IP Address	IP address of physical interface, if assigned
Device IP Addr.	Loopback IP address of the Device, typically the first one listed
Device Mgmt IP Addr.	The Management IP Address is the IP addressed used by NorthStar Planner to discover the device.
Admin Status	Interface Administrative status (active, down, or unknown)
Physical Address	The address of the physical interface, based on intfmap NorthStar Planner file.
Aggregated Link	Any associated aggregated link, such as PortChannel or Bundle-Ether
Bandwidth T	he physical interface bandwidth, for example, 100.0M
IPv6	IPv6 address information (based on NorthStar Planner intfmap file)
MTU	MTU information (based on NorthStar Planner intfmap file)
Media Type	The Physical interface media type, for example, ATM,BRI,BVI,Cable,Channelized E1,DS,E1,Ethernet,FE,GE,OC3/STM1,T1,T3
Operational Status	Interface Operational Status (active, down, or unknown)
Switchport Mode	Switchport mode for layer 2 interfaces, for example, access or trunk
VLAN	List of VLAN’s for this physical interface, for example, “22 100-102 105-108”

Transceivers

Selecting Transceivers in the left pane displays a Transceivers List with information on all the transceivers or small form-factor modules of devices in the network. This report can be filtered and sorted by clicking on the appropriate column headers. The saved report’s filename starts with TRANSCEIVER_LIST_LIST.

Figure 6: Hardware Inventory: Transceivers

Column	Description
Name	Transceiver name, for example, SFP-10GBase-ER
Hostname	Device hostname
Device Name	Device name converted into NorthStar Planner format
Device Vendor	Hardware vendor (Cisco, Juniper Networks)
Device IP Addr.	Loopback IP address of the Device, typically the first one listed
Index	Slot information, for example, S-0/1
Part	Part number
S/N	Serial number
Cost (Estimated)	Estimated hardware cost

Miscellaneous Parts

Selecting Misc Parts in the left pane displays a Miscellaneous Parts List with information on all the power supplies and fans of devices in the network. This report can be filtered and sorted by clicking on the appropriate column headers. The saved report’s filename starts with MISC_PART_LIST.

Figure 7: Hardware Inventory: Misc Parts

Column	Description
Name	Name of miscellaneous part, for example, “Power Supply 1”
Hostname	Device hostname
Device Name	Device name converted into NorthStar Planner format
Device Vendor	Hardware vendor (Cisco, Juniper Networks)
Device IP Addr.	Loopback IP address of the Device, typically the first one listed
Description	Description of miscellaneous part
Part	Part number
S/N	Serial number
Cost (Estimated)	Estimated hardware cost

Hardware Integrity

The Hardware Integrity report window provides a summary check of possible errors in the hardware configuration as represented by the Hardware Model. This report can be sorted by clicking on the appropriate column headers. This report is useful when, for example, checking to make sure that all links have connected interfaces. The saved report’s filename starts with “HW_IC_REPORT.”

Figure 9: Hardware Inventory: Hardware Integrity

Column	Description
Device Name	Device name converted into NorthStar Planner format
Severity	Severity level of integrity check: Info,Severity,Warning
Description	Description of the integrity check finding

Device Usage

The Device Usage report provides an estimate of the degree to which all the cards and ports in the nodes of the network are being utilized. The report lists total numbers of cards and ports side by side with the number of utilized cards and ports, sorted by node, to give you an idea of where the network stands in terms of hardware capacity and usage at each node. You can also choose to show interface usage through the table options window (by right-clicking on the column headers). The saved report’s filename starts with “HW_DEVICE_USAGE_REPORT.”

Figure 10: Router Inventory Reports: Device Usage

Column	Description
Hostname	Device hostname
Device Name	Device name converted into NorthStar Planner format
Occupied Line Cards	Number of line cards which are used
Available Line Cards	Number of line cards which are empty
Total Line Cards	Total number of line cards
Connected Ports	Number of ports that (a) have a corresponding link in the model, (b) are operationally up, or (c) have an IP address defined on the interface
No. of Ports	Total Number of physical ports
Reserved Ports	Number of Reserved ports, based on customizable keywords found in the description.
Shutdown Ports	Ports that have operational or admin status down

Line Card Usage

The Line Card Usage report lists all the cards in the network sorted by card type and provides usage information for these cards. This is useful when searching for capacity information, such as the number of port vacancies in a particular type of card in the network. The saved report’s filename starts with “HW_LINECARD_USAGE_REPORT.”

Figure 11: Hardware Inventory: Line Card Usage

Column	Description
Card Name	Name of line card
Device Name	Corresponding device name converted into NorthStar Planner format
Card Id	Slot information, for example, S-0/1
Connected Ports	Number of ports that (a) have a corresponding link in the model, (b) are operationally up, or (c) have an IP address defined on the interface
No. of Ports	Total Number of physical ports
Reserved Ports	Number of Reserved ports, based on customizable keywords found in the description.
Shutdown Ports	Ports that are operationally or administratively down

Customer Usage

The Customer Usage report displays network usage on a per customer basis. Customer names are parsed from the interface comments in the imported configuration files. The regular expression used to parse the customer names can be customized by selecting a device from the Hardware Inventory window, going to the Logical View panel, selecting Actions > Options, and going to the Misc tab. There, you will see a section called Customer Identifier with a field called Use regular-expression in interface description. Enter your custom regular expression here.

The parser looks for customer names within parenthesis. For example, to match a number sequence in interface comments of the format, cust####..., use the expression, cust([0-9]+).* There is currently no way to define customers other than parsing them from interface comments in the imported configuration files.

Figure 12: Hardware Inventory: Customer Usage

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