AutoNOC 2.5 User Guide
Preface
Acknowledgements
System Requirements
Legal
Part 1 - Introduction
1.1 The Ideal Difference
1.2 Automated Operations
1.3 Services & Scaler
1.4 Acquisition Stacks
1.5 Portal Deployment
1.6 Discovery and Crawler
1.7 Monitoring Agents
1.8 Recoiling Database
1.9 Multiple Languages
1.10 Security
Part 2 - NOC Views
2.1 Investigate
2.2 Observe
2.3 Visualize
2.4 Alarms
2.5 Analyze
2.6 Design
2.7 Configure
Part 3 - Model Design
3.1 Object Model
3.2 Devices
3.3 Sets
3.4 Set Criteria
3.5 Probes
3.6 Logs & Events
3.7 Alarms
3.8 Actions
3.9 Reports
3.10 Users
3.11 Polling
3.12 Service Levels
3.13 Dependencies
3.14 Performance
Part 4 - Developer Features
4.1 Adding SNMP MIBs
4.2 Variables
4.3 OSP API
4.4 Probe Template
4.5 Log Template
4.6 Device Template
4.7 Interface Template
4.8 Rebranding
Part 5 - Troubleshooting
5.1 General Issues
5.2 Linux
5.3 Windows
Appendix
A.1 OSP API Functions
A.2 Variables
A.3 Object Reference
A.1 Operations Interpreter Functions
The command line functions are accessed via the OI Command Prompt. To read more about the interpreter, see 4.3 - OI API.

A.1.1 Standard and Arithmetic Operators
The following standard mathematical operations can be used in expressions:

  (  )  +  -  *   /  %   .  0  1  2  3  4  5   6  7  8  9

These operators work as any standard infix operators work. For instance, the following expression:

  (5+3)/10*100%5-3^10

evaluates to -9.

Additionally the comma , operator is used to separate multiple arguments to be evaluated and the quote " operator is used to declare specific strings as in the following example:

  "John" + " " + "Smith"

Evaluates to the string "John Smith".

A.1.2 Mathematics Functions
The AutoNOC OSP Command Prompt includes full support for the majority of mathematical functions in standard use. A list of these is shown below:

  sin(x)  cos(x)  tan(x)  asin(x)   acos(x)  atan(x)  sinh(x)  cosh(x)  tanh(x)  exp(x)
  log(x)  log10(x)  sqrt(x)  floor(x)  ceil(x)   abs(x)  hypot(x,y)  deg(x)  rad(x)  pow(x,y)

These functions evaluate according to their standard rules and AutoNOC makes use of the reference C++ standard library implementations of these functions. If you need a more detailed description of how they work, see any C++ reference manual.

A.1.3 Bitwise Operators
AutoNOC also implements the complete set of bitwise C++ operators including the following operators:

  << >> &  |  ^ 

These operators, like bitwise shift left ( 128<<1 evaluates to 256 ) and bitwise & ( 16 | 256 evaluates to 272 ) can be useful for extracting information out of incoming data that may be bitwise encoded.

A.1.4 Logic
The interpreter implements a robust set of expression logic operators including the following operators:

  <>  <  >  <=  >=  !=  =  !  ||  &&   NOT  OR  AND

These operators work in the standard manner. For instance <> is greater or less than. The ! operator is the same as NOT, the || operator is the same as OR, and the AND operator is the same as &&.

Additionally, AutoNOC provides some more sophisticated logic functions as described below.

Function   if(Condition,Then,Else)
Parameters  
Condition If this evaluates to a non-zero value (when cast to an integer) than this expression will return the parameter provided for Then. If the condition is zero (0), then the parameter provided for Else will be returned.
Then Parameter returned when Condition is non-zero.
Else Parameter returned when Condition is zero.
Return Value   Returns either the Then paramemter (when Condition is non-zero) or the Else parameter (when Condition is zero).
Description   Performs a logical operation on the parameters to selectively choose one value over another.
Example(s)   if(1<3,4,5)     Returns 4
if(1==3,4,5)     Returns 5

A.1.5 Acquisition Functions
Acquisition functions go out and query data over the network. AutoNOC supports a variety of acquisition functions that are utilized by the software in a variety of ways.

Function   Agent_List(IP, AgentPW {, Keyword})
Parameters  
IP IP Address for the client to be queried.
AgentPW The password currently enabled for the AutoNOC agent.
Keyword Optional text to search the agent probe list for.
Return Value   Returns a carriage return delimited list of all probes available on the remote agent.
Description   This function queries a remote AutoNOC agent and grabs the list of probes that the device and agent currently support querying of.
Example(s)   Agent_List(192.168.1.1,"public")
Agent_List(%IP,%AGENTPW)
 
Function   Agent_GetPerfmon(IP, AgentPW, Probe)
Parameters  
IP IP Address for the client to be queried.
AgentPW The password currently enabled for the AutoNOC Agent.
Probe The name of the probe to query.
Return Value   Returns the value of the ocunter for the probe, or ? if unable to query the value.
Description   This function performs an AutoNOC Agent query to query the remote agent for the specified probe (as provided by Agent_List).
Example(s)   Agent_GetPerfmon(192.168.1.10,"public","\Memory\Available Bytes")
Agent_GetPerfmon(%IP,%AGENTPW,"\SMTP Server("+String(%EMAILSERV)+")\Bytes Sent Total"
 
Function   ICMP_GetResponseTime(IP)
Alternative Syntax: Ping(IP)
Parameters  
IP IP Address for the client to be queried.
Return Value   Returns either the amount of time in milliseconds it takes for the device to respond or "X" indicating that the device did not respond.
Description   This function is virtually identical to the normal ping command that most administrators are familiar with.
Example(s)   ICMP_GetResponseTime(%IP)
ICMP_GetResponseTime(192.168.1.10)
Function   SNMP_Get(IP, Community, OID)
SNMP_Get(IP, Community, Version, OID)
Parameters  
IP IP Address for the client to be queried.
Community SNMP read community string to use.
Version SNMP Version, can be "1", "2", "2c", "3".
OID Absolute (numerical) SNMP Object ID to query on the device.
Return Value   Returns the value queried, or ? if unable to query the value.
Description   This function performs a normal SNMP Get Next operation on the target client device.
Example(s)   SNMP_Get(192.168.1.1,public,".1.3.6.1.4.1.311.1.7.3.1.7")
SNMP_Get(%IP,%COMMUNITY,".1.3.6.1.4.1.311.1.7.3.1.7")
 
Function   SNMP_GetRowCount(IP, Community, OID)
SNMP_GetRowCount(IP, Community, Version, OID)
Parameters  
IP IP Address for the client to be queried.
Community SNMP read community string to use.
Version SNMP Version, can be "1", "2", "2c", "3".
OID Absolute (numerical) SNMP Object ID to query on the device.
Return Value   Returns the number of rows returned by SNMP walking the device on the specified OID or "?" if it received a failed response.
Description   This function performs an SNMP walk on the target device and counts the number of rows. It is useful for computing counts of entries, such as the number of cable modems active on a given CMTS transmission.
Example(s)   SNMP_GetRowCount(192.168.1.1,public,".1.3.6.1.4.1.311")
SNMP_GetRowCount(%IP,%COMMUNITY,".1.3.6.1.4.1.311")
 
Function   SNMP_GetByOIDIndex(IP, Community, OID, Index)
SNMP_GetByOIDIndex(IP, Community, OID, Version, Index)
Parameters  
IP IP Address for the client to be queried.
Community SNMP read community string to use.
Version SNMP Version, can be "1", "2", "2c", "3".
OID Absolute (numerical) SNMP Object ID to query on the device.
Index The object ID index to grab.
Return Value   Returns the value queried, or ? if unable to query the value.
Description   This function performs a normal SNMP Walk operation on the target client device and returns the value that has an object ID index of Index. This function is useful when looking up specific values in tables with indexes.
Example(s)   SNMP_GetByOIDIndex(
    %IP,%COMMUNITY,
    ".1.3.6.1.2.1.10.127.1.1.4.1.5",
    %IFINDEX)
 
Function   SNMP_GetByIndex(IP, Community, OID, Row)
SNMP_GetByIndex(IP, Community, OID, Version, Row)
Parameters  
IP IP Address for the client to be queried.
Community SNMP read community string to use.
Version SNMP Version, can be "1", "2", "2c", "3".
OID Absolute (numerical) SNMP Object ID to query on the device.
Row Row number to retrieve.
Return Value   Walks the object ID and returns the value stored at row number Row or "?" if the walk has too few rows.
Description   This function performs a normal SNMP Walk operation on the target client device and then returns Row-th value beginning with zero.
Example(s)   SNMP_GetByIndex(
    %IP,%COMMUNITY,
    ".1.3.6.1.2.1.25.3.3.1.2",
    %SNMPROW)
 
Function   SNMP_GetByRowMatch(
    IP, Community, OID,
    LookupOID1, Value1,
    LookupOID2, Value2,
    ...
    LookupOIDN, ValueN)
SNMP_GetByRowMatch(
    IP, Community, OID, Version,
    LookupOID1, Value1,
    LookupOID2, Value2,
    ...
    LookupOIDN, ValueN)
Parameters  
IP IP Address for the client to be queried.
Community SNMP read community string to use.
Version SNMP Version, can be "1", "2", "2c", "3".
OID Absolute (numerical) SNMP Object ID to query on the device.
LookupOID? The same table corresponding OID to try to match.
Value? The value to match the lookup OID with.
Return Value   Returns the matching value queried, or ? if unable to find the value.
Description   This function provides a sophisticated table searching capability that can dynamically adapt to tables. It will first walk OID, and then walk LookupOID1. It will search the lookup OID for Value1 and if it finds it, it will return the corresponding row in OID. If it doesn't find it, it proceeds to the next lookup OID and pair to try to find a match.
Example(s)   SNMP_GetByRowMatch(
    %IP,%COMMUNITY,
    ".1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.10",
   ".1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.2",
    %SNMPNAME,
   ".1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.1",
    %IFINDEX)
 
Function   SNMP_HasItem(IP, Community, OID, Item)
SNMP_HasItem(IP, Community, OID, Version, Item)
Parameters  
IP IP Address for the client to be queried.
Community SNMP read community string to use.
Version SNMP Version, can be "1", "2", "2c", "3".
OID Absolute (numerical) SNMP Object ID to query on the device.
Item Value to find in response set.
Return Value   Returns TRUE (1) or FALSE (0) depending on the text of the item queried is available.
Description   This function performs an SNMP walk on the provided object-ID and searches the result to see if it contains Item. If it does, then the function returns TRUE and if not it returns FALSE.
Example(s)   SNMP_HasItem(%IP,%COMMUNITY,
        ".1.3.6.1.4.1.77.1.2.3.1.1",%SERVICE)
 
Function   SNMP_Walk(IP, Community, OID)
SNMP_Walk(IP, Community, Version, OID)
Parameters  
IP IP Address for the client to be queried.
Community SNMP read community string to use.
Version SNMP Version, can be "1", "2", "2c", "3".
OID Absolute (numerical) SNMP Object ID to query on the device.
Return Value   Object-IDs, descriptions, and values returned from the query in the following form:
.1.3.6.1.4.1.77.1.2.3.1.1.6.83.101.114.118.101.114:
.iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprises.lanmanager.lanmgr-2.server.svSvcTable.svSvcEntry.svSvcName.6.83.101.114.118.101.114
  ="Server"
Description   This function performs an SNMP walk on the provided object-ID and returns all of the results in a "\r\n" delimited string.
Example(s)   SNMP_Walk(%IP,%COMMUNITY,".1.3.6.1.4.1.77.1.2.3.1.1")
 
Function   SNMP_GetTable(IP, Community, OID)
SNMP_GetTable(IP, Community, Version, OID)
Parameters  
IP IP Address for the client to be queried.
Community SNMP read community string to use.
Version SNMP Version, can be "1", "2", "2c", "3".
OID Absolute (numerical) SNMP Object ID for the table to query on the device.
Return Value   Returns an integrated table with columns deliminated by tabs (\t) and rows delimited by carriage returns (\r\n). The resultint table is suitable for parsing and breaking information down into composite parts using other functions.
Description   This function performs an SNMP walk and then creates a delimited table that can be used to extract different parts of the table.
Example(s)   SNMP_GetTable(192.168.1.10,anocpublic,.1.3.6.1.2.1.25.2.3)

2 iso.3.6.1.2.1.25.2.1.2 Real Memory 1024 1036980 839548
3 iso.3.6.1.2.1.25.2.1.3 Swap Space 1024 1060272 0
4 iso.3.6.1.2.1.25.2.1.4 / 4096 18969143 5824243
5 iso.3.6.1.2.1.25.2.1.4 /sys 4096 0 0
6 iso.3.6.1.2.1.25.2.1.4 /backup 4096 19230104 6863612
 
Function   Mkdir(Name)
Parameters  
Name Name of the folder to create.
Return Value   Returns a 1 (TRUE) if successful in creating the folder and a 0 (FALSE) if unsuccessful.
Description   This function creates a new folder of named Name as a child of the current object if allowed.
Example(s)   cd("/Devices")
MkDir("Lancaster")
 
Function   SOCK_IsListening(IP, Port)
Parameters  
IP IP Address for the client to be queried.
Port Port number to connect to.
Return Value   Returns either the amountof time in milliseconds it takes for the socket port to respond or an "X" indicating that the device did not respond.
Description   This function performs a TCP/IP socket connect to the specified port to determine if it is listening.
Example(s)   SOCK_IsListening(%IP,5190)
SOCK_IsListening(192.168.1.1,5190)
 
Function   HTTP_GetErrorCode(URL)
HTTP_GetErrorCode(URL, Port)
Parameters  
URL The URL for AutoNOC to query.
Port The port number to connect to.
Return Value   The error code as specified by the HTTP return header from the query. Additionally, it supports several additional AutoNOC provided error codes including:
100000 Malformed HTTP URL request.
100001 Bad server name specified.
100004 Could not connect to port.
100005 Send failed.
100006 Receive error.
100007 Binary Size mistmatch.
100008 Request timed out.
Description   This function uses HTTP to query a URL page and return the error code, either the web server response provided code, or an AutoNOC specified code as listed above..
Example(s)   HTTP_GetErrorCode("http://www.autonoc.com")
200

HTTP_GetErrorCode("http://192.168.1.44",70)
10004
 
Function   HTTP_Query(URL)
HTTP_Query(URL, Port)
Parameters  
URL The URL for AutoNOC to Query.
Port Port number to connect to.
Return Value   The data from the web page or object that is a result of this query.
Description   Resolves and queries the specified URL, requests the information, transfers the information, and returns it as a string to the interpreter. Note that this function can be used to see if web pages have changed (in case of a hacker).
Example(s)   Length(HTTP_Query("http://www.autonoc.com"))
4392
 
Function   HTTP_GetResponseTime(URL)
HTTP_GetResponseTime(URL, Port)
Parameters  
URL The URL for AutoNOC to Query.
Port Port number to connect to.
Return Value   Returns the amount of time, in milliseconds, that it took to query and receive the requested URL or 'X' indicating the request failed.
Description   This function uses the HTTP protocol to request and receive an object using HTTP. It times how long the request takes and whether or not the request worked. AutoNOC marks any request that does not return a "200 - OK" response as a failed request in the case of this function.
Example(s)   HTTP_GetResponseTime("http://www.autonoc.com")

A.1.6 Intermediate Look Up Functions

Function   Previous(Index)
Parameters  
Index IP Address for the client to be queried.
Return Value   Returns the previous value for the function in this expression with Index or "?" if no previous value is available.
Description   If you have two SNMP_Get calls in an expression and the index is 0, then the previous value of the first SNMP_Get call will be returned. If the index was 1, then the previous value for the second SNMP_Get call will be returned.

This function makes handling SNMP counters easy by allowing an expression to refer only to the amount of difference between the current value and the previous value. If the function returns a counter and there is an overflow, then AutoNOC will adjust for the overflow.
Example(s)   Previous(0)
 
Function   Elapsed(Index)
Parameters  
Index IP Address for the client to be queried.
Return Value   Returns the time in seconds since the last acquisition for the function with Index.
Description   Looks up the time in seconds since the last acquisition for the function with Index.

If you have two SNMP_Get calls in an expression and the index is 0, then the time since the last acquistion for the first SNMP_Get call will be returned. If the index was 1, then the time since the last acquisition for the second SNMP_Get call will be returned.

This function makes it easy to handle expressions that need to know how much time has elapsed since the prior acquisition. This is useful when trying to determine rates of flow, such as when analyzing SNMP and other counters.
Example(s)   Elapsed(0)

A.1.7 Data Processing and Parsing

Function   Length(Value)
Parameters  
Value Input string or number to be analyzed.
Return Value   Returns the number of characters in the input string.
Description   Examines the input string and returns the number of characters it contains.
Example(s)   Length("Boston")
Evaluates to 6.
 
Function   String(Value)
Parameters  
Value Input string or number to be processed.
Return Value   Returns the provided Value with it's internal type idenfitier set to String.
Description   This function is commonly used to cast a number to a string in certain cases, such as in concatenating values into a string with the + operator.
Example(s)   String(55)+String(55)
Evaluates to "5555"
 
Function   Number(Value)
Parameters  
Value Input string or number to be processed.
Return Value   Returns the provided Value with it's internal type identifier set to Number.
Description   This function is commonly used to cast a string to a number in certain cases, such as when adding values arithmetically.
Example(s)   Number(55)+Number(55)
Evaluates to "110".
 
Function   Grep(Expression,String)
Grep(Expression,String,Delimiter)
Parameters  
Expression The specified input string to be scanned.
String The string to find within the text.
Delimieter The string to find within the text.
Return Value   When processing the regular Expression, if it finds values in String then it will either return TRUE (1) or FALSE (0) based on the results, or, if a delimiter is provided, it will return each individual record containing the results.
Description   Processes the regular Expression using String as an input and returns either a boolean value if the string contains the expression, or the current entire record if it is delimited.
Example(s)   Grep("c[a-z]at","czatskills")
Evaluates to TRUE (1)

Grep("J[o,e]","John,Jerry,Julius,Gary,Larry",",")
Evaluates to "John,Jerry"

Grep("\w",%OBJNAME)     (When used in a set).
Finds all Objects with Names Containing White Space
 
Function   Contains(String,Find)
Parameters  
String The specified input string to be scanned.
Find The string to find within the text.
Return Value   TRUE (1) or FALSE (0) if String contains the text Find.
Description   Scans String for the text Find and returns TRUE if the text is in the string and FALSE if it is not.
Example(s)   Contains("Boston New York","New")
Evaluates to TRUE (1)
 
Function   Strip(String,Characters)
Parameters  
String String to analyze.
Characters Characters to remove from the string.
Return Value   Returns String with the Characters removed.
Description   This function scans String and creates a new string that does not have any of the characters contained in the string Characters.
Example(s)   Strip("A-B-C","A-")
Evaluates to "BC"
 
Function   Get(Index,String,Delimiter)
Parameters  
Index The index of the string to get.
String The source string to extract a sub-string from.
Delimiters The delimiter to use to separate the original strings in the string.
Return Value   Returns the sub-string as broken down into records bounded by Delimiters.
Description   This function is designed to extract specific sub-strings out of delimited strings. It first breaks the string down into individual strings as bounded by Delimiters and the returns the string with the zero-based Index.
Example(s)   Get(2,"A;B;C;D",";")
Evaluates to "C"
 
Function   Replace(String,Find,Replace)
Parameters  
String Text to scan and analyze.
Find Text to search String for.
Replace Text to replace every occurrence of the string Find with.
Return Value   Returns the new string with the replaced text.
Description   This function scans the text in String for the string Find and replaces every instance of it with the text Replace.
Example(s)   Replace("The lazy brown dog walked down the street.","own","iwn")
Evaluates to "The lazy briwn dog walked diwn the street."
 
Function   Find(String,Find)
Parameters  
String Text to scan and analyze.
Find Text to find in String.
Return Value   Returns the zero-based index to the first character of the text Find in the string.
Description   Scans the provided String for the text Find and then returns the index of the location for the text.
Example(s)   Find("A22;B;C;D","B")
Evaluates to "4"
 
Function   Sort(Ascending,String,Delimiter)
Parameters  
Ascending TRUE (1) or FALSE (0) indicating whether sorting should be ascending or descending.
String String containing records to sort.
Delimiter Delimiter that separates each record for sorting order.
Return Value   Returns a new reconstituted string containing String sorted as separated by the delimiters.
Description   This function takes String, breaks it down into separate strings as bounded by the Delimiter, sorts the strings in either ascending or descending order depending on if Ascending is true, and the reconsitutes a new, sorted string list.
Example(s)   Sort(TRUE,"john, jerry,steve,larry",",")
Evaluates to "jerry,john,larry,steve"
 
Function   Count(String)
Count(String,Delimiter)
Parameters  
String String containing records to sort.
Delimiter Delimiter that separates each record.
Return Value   Returns an integer indicating the number of elements in the provided string.
Description   This function takes String, breaks it down into separate strings as bounded by the Delimiter, counts them, and returns the count. If no delimiter is specified, then it will return the number of characters in the string.
Example(s)   Count("john, jerry,steve,larry",",")
Evaluates to "4"
 
Function   Delete(Index)
Parameters  
Index Specify the index of the record in the string to remove.
String IP Address for the client to be queried.
Delimiter IP Address for the client to be queried.
Return Value   Returns a new reconstituted string with the delimited record at zero-based Index removed.
Description   This function scans String, breaks it down into specific records bounded by Delimiter, removes the zero-based record at Index and then creates a newly reconstituted string.
Example(s)   Delete(2,"john,jerry,steve,larry",",")
Evaluates to "john,jerry,larry"

A.1.7 Data Processing and Parsing

Function   Length(Value)
Parameters  
Value Input string or number to be analyzed.
Return Value   Returns the number of characters in the input string.
Description   Examines the input string and returns the number of characters it contains.