VCF Network Insight: Introduction
VCF Network Insight is a VMware Aria Operations (VCF Operations) Management Pack that monitors enterprise LAN switches and routers. It builds on the existing VCF Network Insight family - the Cisco Prime, Juniper Junos Space and Check Point packs - by adding the two campus and data-centre switching platforms that the customer estate runs next to them.
It is built as one multi-vendor product: a single adapter kind and one shared object model, in which the producer is distinguished only by the vendor property.
| Vendor | Product families | Management API |
|---|---|---|
| H3C | Core and aggregation switches, routers | SNMP v3, NETCONF over SSH, or the vendor management system API |
| Huawei | CloudEngine CE 8800, CE 6800, CE 6700, CE 5800, CE 5700 | SNMP v3 and NETCONF over SSH, selectable per adapter instance |
The object model is vendor-neutral: network managers, devices and ports map onto the same object kinds for both vendors, so the dashboards, alerts, custom groups and relationships are shared and the vendor is selected per adapter instance.
How does it work?
The adapter connects to each network device over SNMP v3 or NETCONF, reads the device identity, the health and resource metrics and the per-port state and counters, maps them onto the shared object model and rebuilds the relationship tree on every collection cycle. The objects appear in VCF Operations next to the virtual infrastructure, so a switch port can be followed to the IP addresses configured on it and to the devices reachable through it.
Features
- Inventory of network devices with vendor, model, platform, operating system and serial number
- Availability and administrative state per device, with a reachability status that distinguishes reachable from unreachable rather than reporting a missing value as zero
- Resource metrics: CPU, memory and disk utilisation, restart time and temperature
- Per-port state, speed, MTU, MAC address and duplex mode
- Power supply and fan health on platforms that expose them
- Relationships to IP address objects and to the rest of the monitored estate
- Dashboards, custom groups, alerts, symptoms and reports
Supported vendors and models
| Vendor | Models | Protocol | Verified with |
|---|---|---|---|
| H3C | Core switches and routers | SNMP v3, NETCONF, management API | to be confirmed in the deployment card |
| Huawei | CloudEngine CE 8800, CE 6800, CE 6700, CE 5800, CE 5700 | SNMP v3, NETCONF | to be confirmed in the deployment card |
The exact firmware or VRP release coverage is defined in the deployment card of each vendor support and confirmed against the device before the adapter is offered for that release.
Benefits
- One view of the LAN - H3C and Huawei measured with the same dashboards, alerts and groups as the existing Cisco Prime, Juniper and Check Point packs
- Faster fault isolation - a port that is administratively up but operationally down is visible as an alert, not as a value an administrator has to interpret
- Capacity and health in one place - CPU, memory, disk, temperature, power supply and fan state per device, with the ports underneath
- Honest data - a value the device does not expose stays empty instead of becoming zero