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App-Netdisco-2.039028
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/ App::Netdisco

NAME

App::Netdisco - An open source web-based network management tool.

DESCRIPTION

Netdisco is a web-based network management tool designed for network administrators. Data is collected into a PostgreSQL database using SNMP.

Some of the things you can do with Netdisco:

  • Locate a machine on the network by MAC or IP and show the switch port it lives at

  • Turn off a switch port, or change the VLAN or PoE status of a port

  • Inventory your network hardware by model, vendor, software and operating system

  • Pretty pictures of your network

App::Netdisco provides a web frontend with built-in web server, and a backend daemon to gather information from your network, and handle interactive requests such as changing port or device properties.

We have several other pages with tips for alternate deployment scenarios, understanding and troubleshooting Netdisco, tips and tricks for specific platforms, and all the configuration options.

You can also speak to someone in the #netdisco@freenode IRC channel, or on the community email list. Before installing or upgrading please always review the latest Release Notes.

Dependencies

Netdisco has several Perl library dependencies which will be automatically installed. However it's strongly recommended that you first install DBD::Pg, SNMP, and a compiler using your operating system packages.

On Ubuntu/Debian:

root:~# apt-get install libdbd-pg-perl libsnmp-perl libssl-dev libio-socket-ssl-perl build-essential

On Fedora/Red-Hat:

root:~# yum install perl-core perl-DBD-Pg net-snmp-perl net-snmp-devel openssl-devel make automake gcc

On BSD systems please see our BSD tips.

With those installed, please check that your system's clock is correct.

Create a user on your system called netdisco if one does not already exist. We'll install Netdisco and its dependencies into this user's home area, which will take about 250MB including MIB files.

root:~# useradd -m -p x -s /bin/bash netdisco

Netdisco uses the PostgreSQL database server. Install PostgreSQL (at least version 8.4) and then change to the PostgreSQL superuser (usually postgres). Create a new database and PostgreSQL user for the Netdisco application:

root:~# su - postgres
 
postgres:~$ createuser -DRSP netdisco
Enter password for new role:
Enter it again:
 
postgres:~$ createdb -O netdisco netdisco

The default PostgreSQL configuration isn't well tuned for modern server hardware. We strongly recommend that you use the pgtune Python program to auto-tune your postgresql.conf file:

Installation

The following is a general guide which works well in most circumstances. It assumes you have a user netdisco on your system, that you want to perform an on-line installation, and have the application run self-contained from within that user's home. There are alternatives: see the Deployment documentation for further details.

To avoid muddying your system, use the following script to download and install Netdisco and its dependencies into the netdisco user's home area (~netdisco/perl5):

su - netdisco
curl -L https://cpanmin.us/ | perl - --notest --local-lib ~/perl5 App::Netdisco

Link some of the newly installed apps into a handy location:

mkdir ~/bin
ln -s ~/perl5/bin/{localenv,netdisco-*} ~/bin/

Test the installation by running the following command, which should only produce a status message (it's just a test - you'll start the daemons properly, later on):

~/bin/netdisco-backend status

Configuration

Make a directory for your local configuration and copy the configuration template from this distribution:

mkdir ~/environments
cp ~/perl5/lib/perl5/auto/share/dist/App-Netdisco/environments/deployment.yml ~/environments
chmod 600 ~/environments/deployment.yml

Edit the file ("~/environments/deployment.yml") and change the database connection parameters to match those for your local system (that is, the name, user and pass).

In the same file uncomment and edit the domain_suffix setting to be appropriate for your local site. Change the community string setting if your site has different values.

Have a quick read of the other settings to make sure you're happy, then move on. See Configuration for further details.

Initialisation

The database either needs configuring if new, or updating from the current release of Netdisco (1.x). You also need vendor MAC address prefixes (OUI data) and some MIBs if you want to run the backend daemon. The following script will take care of all this for you:

~/bin/netdisco-deploy

If this is a new installation of Netdisco 2, answer yes to all questions. If you wish to deploy without Internet access, see the Deployment documentation.

Startup

Run the following command to start the web-app server as a backgrounded daemon (listening on port 5000):

~/bin/netdisco-web start

Run the following command to start the job control daemon (port control, etc):

~/bin/netdisco-backend start

You should take care not to run this Netdisco daemon and the Netdisco 1.x daemon at the same time. Similarly, if you use the device discovery with Netdisco 2, disable your system's cron jobs for the Netdisco 1.x poller.

Whenever you upgrade your operating system, you should also delete the ~netdisco/perl5 directory and re-run the curl command above, to update Netdisco's C library bindings.

We have several other pages with tips for alternate deployment scenarios, understanding and troubleshooting Netdisco, tips and tricks for specific platforms, and all the configuration options.

You can also speak to someone in the #netdisco@freenode IRC channel, or on the community email list. Before installing or upgrading please always review the latest Release Notes.

Upgrading from 2.x

If you're running a version of Netdisco prior to 2.x then you should follow the full installation instructions, above. This process is for upgrading version 2.x only.

Before upgrading please review the latest Release Notes. Then the process below should be run for each installation:

# upgrade Netdisco
~/bin/localenv cpanm --notest App::Netdisco
ln -sf ~/perl5/bin/{localenv,netdisco-*} ~/bin/

# apply database schema updates, update MIBs and Vendor MACs
~/bin/netdisco-deploy

# restart web service (if you run it)
~/bin/netdisco-web restart

# restart the backend workers (wherever you run them)
~/bin/netdisco-backend restart

Tips and Tricks

Searching

The main black navigation bar has a search box which is smart enough to work out what you're looking for in most cases. For example device names, node IP or MAC addreses, VLAN numbers, and so on.

Command-Line Device and Port Actions

Most significant Device jobs and Port actions, as well as several troubleshooting and housekeeping duties, can be performed at the command-line with the netdisco-do program. For example:

~/bin/netdisco-do -D discover -d 192.0.2.1

See the netdisco-do documentation for further details.

Import Topology

Netdisco 1.x had support for a topology information file to fill in device port relations which could not be discovered. This is now stored in the database (and edited in the web interface). To import a legacy topology file, run:

~/bin/localenv nd-import-topology /path/to/netdisco-topology.txt

Database API

Bundled with this distribution is a DBIx::Class layer for the Netdisco database. This abstracts away all the SQL into an elegant, re-usable OO interface. See the Developer documentation for further information.

Plugins

Netdisco includes a Plugin subsystem for customizing the web user interface and backend daemon. See Web Plugins and Backend Plugins for further information.

Extensions

Using the Plugins mechanism, it's also easy to write new commands (or actions) for Netdisco. For example, an action has been added to generate RANCID configuration.

Developing

Lots of information about the architecture of this application is contained within the Developer documentation.

AUTHOR

Oliver Gorwits <oliver@cpan.org>

CONTRIBUTORS

Netdisco was created at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), Networking and Technology Services (NTS) department. UCSC continues to support the development of Netdisco by providing development servers and beer.

Original development by Max Baker, with significant contributions from Mark Boolootian and Jim Warner (through whose ideas Netdisco was born and shaped), Bill Fenner, Jeroen van Ingen, Eric Miller, Carlos Vicente, and Brian de Wolf.

Other contributions (large and small) by Mike Hunter (UCB), Brian Wilson (NCSU), Bradley Baetz (bbaetz), David Temkin (sig.com), Edson Manners (FSU), Dmitry Sergienko (Trifle Co, .ua), Remo Rickli (PSI, Switzerland), Jean-Philippe Luiggi (sagem.com), A.L.M Buxey (Loughborough University, UK), Kevin Cheek (UMICH), John Bigrow (bnl.gov), George Pavel (llnl.gov), Charles Goldsmith (wokka.org), Douglas M. McKeown (saintmarys.edu), Revital Shvarzman (York U, Ontario), Walter Gould (Auburn U), Lindsay Druet and Colin Palmer (U of Waikato, Hamilton NZ), Dusty Hall (Auburn U), Jon Monroe (center pointe), Alexander Barthel, Bill Anderson, Alexander Hartmaier (t-systems.at), Justin Hunter (Arizona State U), Jethro Binks (U of Strathclyde, Glasgow), Jordi Guijarro (UAB.es), Sam Stickland (spacething.org), Stefan Radman (CTBTO.org), Clint Wise, Max Kosmach, and Bernhard Augenstein.

We probably forgot some names - sorry about that :-(.

Deep gratitude also goes to the authors and communities of all the other software that Netdisco is built upon.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2011-2018 by The Netdisco Developer Team.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
    * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
      notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
    * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
      notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
      documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
    * Neither the name of the Netdisco Project nor the
      names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
      derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE NETDISCO DEVELOPER TEAM BE LIABLE FOR ANY
DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.