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Inventory Menu Overview

The Hardware Model, accessed through Inventory > Hardware Inventory, allows you to view details about the equipment in a network. There are two ways to view Hardware Model information: through the Hardware Inventory window, or through the Equipment Cost window. The Hardware Model feature can be very helpful to the network planner who is concerned about equipment cost and availability. This feature can also be used to keep track of equipment in an existing network, including information such as number of available ports, operating system versions, part numbers, serial numbers, and other inventory related operations. Link and card failure simulations can also be launched.

Components of the Hardware Model

  • Hardware Inventory deals with detailed equipment reporting, equipment utilization view, hardware capacity management, and hardware CapEx.

  • Hardware Equipment Costs is used to associate costs with specific hardware equipment, and is the major financial input table for the Hardware Inventory Capex report. For information on how to assign costs to hardware, refer to Hardware Equipment Cost.

Collecting Hardware Inventory

Hardware inventory information can be derived from CLI commands, which can be either automated in from the Network Config Data Collection task or Scheduling Live Network Collection task, or collected through a third-party tool.

Importing CLI Output Commands

Hardware information can be imported from text files containing CLI output commands. The following is a partial list of currently supported CLI output commands:

Juniper Networks Junos OS

  • show version

  • show chassis hardware

Cisco IOS

  • show version

  • show hardware

  • show diag

  • show env all

  • show idprom backplane

Cisco XR

  • show version

  • show hardware

  • show diag

Cisco Catalyst

  • show module

Nortel Passport

  • show config

Alcatel SR

  • show mda

Riverstone

  • show version

Configs Collected by Rancid

  • Cisco IOS

  • Juniper Networks Junos OS

  • Tellabs

Importing and Saving

Hardware information from a live network can also be imported on-demand via real-time SNMP and CLI outputs. Previously saved SNMP, CLI, and CSV data can also be imported for an offline network. To do this, open the Hardware Inventory window by selecting Inventory > Hardware Inventory. Then, at the bottom of the window, there is a toolbar with Load and Save buttons.

Clicking on the Load button displays several options.

Field

Description

Collect Inventory

Collect real-time SNMP and CLI data from a live network.

SNMP Output

Load previously saved SNMP output.

CLI Output

Load previously saved CLI output.

Node/Shelf/Card Descriptions

Load previously saved CSV data.

Clicking on the Actions > Save button displays several options.

Field

Description

Current Report

This saves the current report displayed in the right pane. Different reports can be selected via the tree in the left pane.

All Node/Shelf/Card Descriptions

Saves node/shelf/card descriptions for all devices in the network to a CSV file.

All Hardware Information for Comparison

Save the current complete hardware profile for future comparison.

Hardware Inventory File Format

When using CLI to collect the hardware information, the raw data files are saved into directory /u/wandl/data/collection/.LiveNetwork/equipment_cli. The file naming convention is “<Router Profile Name>.equipment_cli”.

When using SNMP to collect the hardware information, the raw data files are saved into directory /u/wandl/data/collection/.LiveNetwork/equipment. The file naming convention is “<IP>.iftable” and “<IP>.snmp”.

From the raw data, hardware inventory files are generated into XML format in directory /u/wandl/data/livenetwork_output_directory/swconf.x. The file naming convention is “<hostname>.xml”. Each collection method may have slightly different raw data values which is dependent on the device vendor. Also, SNMP may not be able to collect certain data fields that CLI can collect and vice versa. If both SNMP and CLI collection methods are used, the combined data collected will compliment each other in the hardware inventory files.

From the hardware inventory files, hardware inventory reports in CSV format can be generated by running Task Manager > Hardware Inventory Reports. The output directory of the reports can be specified along with options to timestamp the file names and save the reports to the Web. The CSV reports created are listed in the table below.

Filename

Description

ROUTER_LIST

Device, IP, Vendor, OS, Chassis, Hardware ID, Boot Image, ROM, Memory, Processor

CARD_LIST

Card ID, Part #, Serial #, Port count

INTF_LIST

Interface, IP, Status, Physical Address

TRANSCEIVER_LIST

Transceiver

MISC_PART_LIST

Miscellaneous parts: power supply, fan, display

HW_CAPEX_REPORT

Cost, Part Type, Component Name grouped by Device

HW_PARTS_REPORT

Cost, Part Type, Component Name grouped by Part Type

HW_DEVICE_USAGE_REPORT

Card Usage, Port Usage grouped by Device

HW_LINECARD_USAGE_REPORT

Card Usage, Port Usage grouped by Card

HW_IC_REPORT

Integrity Check report for unknown or unsupported data