Introduction
NMIS is a complete management system which collects fault, performance and basic inventory/configuration data from routers, switches, servers, firewalls, facilities (UPS, AC/CRACK, Sensors), and anything which has an SNMP agent. NMIS is highly extensible, using device models to define what is collected from devices, and how events are handled.
In summary, NMIS supports any device which supports SNMP with "Default" models, this is called standard support, this includes Default models for SNMPv1 only devices and newer SNMP agents which support the High Capacity agent. Standard support includes performance and fault collection and alerting of interface statistics and IP packet activity. Device support NMIS has been extended for various vendors and products, this includes performance and fault collection, alerting and thresholding on additional information like CPU, memory, disk, services, storage, sessions, packets, temperature, and many other things.
To accomplish this, several timestamps are collected and saved to document and manage the current device status, and the success and/or failure of the collection process. Timestamps can be updated through polling, or by incoming events.
Timestamps used by NMIS
Below are the important timestamps used by NMIS and their meanings.
Contact FirstWave for information on support for any timestamps of interest which you do not understand.
| Timestamp | Purpose | When set |
|---|---|---|
| catchall.last_poll | To document the last successful poll without regard to the polling method | Following a successful query without regard to the polling method NB in versions of NMIS prior to NMIS 9.4.4 this was only for collect polls. |
| catchall.last_poll_attempt | To document the last attempted poll without regard to the polling method | Following an attempted query whether it was successful or not and without regard to the polling method |
| catchall.last_update | To document the last successful update of a Node | Following an update, either via the scheduled (usually daily) update, or through a detected change made in the configuration, or through a user command |
| catchall.last_update_attempt | To document the last attempted update of a Node | Following an attempted update whether it ws successful or not |
| catchall.last_poll_snmp | To document the last successful SNMP query | Following a successful SNMP query |
| catchall.last_poll_snmp_attempt | To document the last attempted SNMP query | Following an attempted SNMP query whether it was successful or not |
| catchall.last_poll_wmi_attempt | To document the last successful WMI query | Following a successful WMI query |
| catchall.last_poll_wmi_attempt | To document the last attempted WMI query | Following an attempted WMI query whether it was successful or not |
| catchall.last_node_config_update | To document the last configuration update of a Node | Updated any time the Node has been saved through an update, or a collection |
| catchall.ping_successful | To document the last successful ping | Following a successful ping |
| catchall.status_updated | To document an update in the status of the device | Following an update in the status of the device, whether through an event, a poll, or a ping |