Switch Port Mapper Tool

    The Switch Port Mapper utility of OpUtils software discovers the devices plugged into each port of a specified switch. The tool is useful for system and network engineers to gain visibility into the IP, MAC, status and availability of ports. Since this is a real-time discovery you can also view the operational status and port speed of each port. The advanced port scanning functionality of OpUtils helps you in,

    Schedule scanning of switches

    Click Scheduler link to schedule periodic scanning of switches. While you schedule scanning, you can logically group the switches to a task and scan them separately. A switch cannot exist in more than one task.

    1. Click the Switch Port Mapper -> Settings -> Add Scheduler. Add new scheduler task here and this lists all the tasks that have been already created.

    2. Provide a name for the task and choose the switches to be added to this task. The "Available Switches" will list all the switches that have been added in the Switch Port Mapper tool.

    3. Select Enable from the scheduler combo and specify the interval to perform the scan:

      1. Hourly - to update every 6, 8, or 12 hours from the specified time

      2. Daily - to update everyday. You need to specify the starting time.

      3. Weekly - to update on specific day(s) in a week. You need to specify the starting time and the day(s) on which the update should happen.

      4. Monthly - to update on a specific day every month(s). You need to specify starting time, select a day and select a month/months.

      5. Once Only - to run the tool only once at the scheduled time.

    4. Click Save to save the changes.

    Adding Custom Columns to the Switch Port Mapper

    Switch Port Mapper allows you to add custom columns both at the port-level and at the switch-level for adding user-defined inputs. These columns can be used to store any specific information about the switch/device connected to that port. To add a custom column, follow the steps below:

    1. Click the Settings -> Switch Port Mapper -> Custom Columns.

    2. This will list all the columns that have been added already.

    3. Click the Add Custom Column.

    4. Specify the following:

      1. Column Name: Name for this column

      2. Column At: Specify whether this column is for the port level or at the switch level.

      3. Data Type: Specify what type of data you wish to store in this column. It can be String for text, Integer for numbers, Boolean for true or false, or File for adding a file input. You can also define your own data type by clicking the Custom Datatype link.

      4. Size: The size for this column

      5. Default Value: The default value for this column

      6. Description: A brief description about this column.

    5. Click Add Column

    6. The new column gets added to the port/switch-level as defined.

     

    Viewing switch port mapping results

    Once you have added all the switches, the mapping will be automatically performed by the network port scanner and the status of the mapping is displayed. Click the Switch Name / IP Address link from the Switches View or from the Summary Info View to view its details. The following details are shown:

    1. IfIndex: Refers to the port number in the switch.

    2. IfName: The name of the port/interface.

    3. IfDescr: The description of the port/interface.

    4. ifAlias: The user-defined name of the port/interface.

    5. IfType: The port type.

    6. IfSpeed: The maximum speed of the port.

    7. Status: The operation status of the port.

    8. Admin Status: The administrative state of the port/interface.

    9. Availability: Indicates whether the port is Available or Used. Ports that are continuously down for more than 10 days are shown as Available. If the ports are currently down and/or down for less than 10 continuous days, the ports are shown as Transient. You can configure the number of days of inactivity beyond which a port has to be declared as Available from Switch Port Mapper Settings.

    10. Physical Location: The physical location of the connected devices. Refer to Mapping Devices to Physical Location for details.

    11. Connected MAC: The physical address of the connected devices.

    12. IP Address: The IP Address of the connected device.

    13. DNS Name: The DNS name of the connected device.

    14. VLAN ID: The VLAN number of the port.

    15. Device Type: The type of the connected device as Windows, Linux, Switch etc.

    16. VLAN Name: The name of the Virtual LAN.

    17. IfMtu: The size of the largest packet which can be sent/received on the interface, specified in octets.

    18. Duplex: The duplex state of the port as half-duplex, full duplex, etc.

    To Scan the Switches again, use the Scan link.

     

    To view the alerts generated by the Switch Port Mapper tool, click the Alarms tab. Alerts are generated whenever the status of the port changes from "Available to Used" or from "Transient to Available". The Alerts can also be notified through Email. This can be configured from the Switch Port Mapper Settings.

    Viewing switch port mapping history

    Whenever a switch is scanned using the Switch Port Mapper, the mapping results are published automatically as a csv file and is stored in the file system. You can change the location to publish or to disable this feature from Switch Port Mapper Settings.

     

    When you have chosen to auto-publish the results, you can view the previous mapping results from the History tab as below:

    1. You can view the History from the Switch details page available under Switch Port Mapper -> Port History.

    2. This will list the summary of all the switches scanned using Switch Port Mapper. 

    Disabling/enabling the switch interfaces

    Switch Port Mapper provides an option to administratively disable or enable the switch ports.

    1. From Switch Port Mapper -> Ports, select the ports that you wish to disable or enable.
    2. Move the mouse over the More action icon and select "Administratively Disable Interfaces" or "Administratively Enable Interfaces" to disable or enable a port respectively.
    3. This will open the block/unblock dialog showing the selected ports.
    4. Specify the SNMP Write Community of the switch and click Block Port / Unblock Port

    Modifying ifAlias name of the switch interfaces

    1. From Switch Port Mapper -> Ports, select the ports for which you wish to update the ifAlias Name.
    2. Move the mouse over the More Actions icon and select Modify ifAlias Name. This will open the Modify ifAlias Name dialog showing the ifAlias Names of the selected ports.
    3. Change the names as required.
    4. Specify the SNMP Write Community of the Switch and click Update.

    Viewing switch usage reports

    The Switch Port Mapper provides the following reports based on the switches added in the tool. The reports can be drilled down to get the complete details and can be exported to PDF, XLS, and CSV formats.

    • Switches by Usage: Provides the details of the used and available ports in each of the switches along with the usage percentage.

    • Switches by Task Name: Provides the details of the used and available ports in each scheduled tasks along with the usage percentage.

    • Switches by Vendor Name: Provides the usage details based on the switch vendors.

    • Switch Ports by ifSpeed: Provides the details of the switch ports based on the speed of the ports.

    • Switch Ports by ifType: Provides the details of the switch ports based on the type of the ports.

    • Device with Virtual IP: Provides the details of the switch ports where more than one IP Address is detected for the same device.

    • Stacked Port Details: Provides the details of the stacked/trunk ports available in the switches.

    • Administratively Disabled Ports: Provides the details of the ports that have been administratively disabled.

    Import switch port details

      OpUtils users can import switch port details from CSV files using the 'Import Port Details' option available. To import switch port details,

      1. Go to the Switch Port Mapper module and click on Port Details.
      2. Click on the Import Port Details option available under Port Details.
      3. In the Import Port Details tab that opens, select fields from the Available Columns list that you wish to import.
        Note: Switch Name and ifIndex are mandatory import fields. The order of the selected fields should match with the order of the columns in your CSV file.
      4. In the Import file field click on the Browse button to select the CSV file you wish to import.
      5. Click on Import.
      OpUtils imports the port details from the CSV file to your OpUtils console.