System information

FAQ Introduction
This FAQ is built from the combined musings of the many good folks on the NMIS User
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nmis_users
mailing list . When a question comes up more than once I
try to put it in here. If your question is not answered here, then the mailing list is your next best option.
The FAQ is maintained erratically and is completely arbitrary in nature. This means that you can send
me things and we can put them in.
I can be contacted on [e-mail]
If you have documented your install, please send us a copy, it would sure help a lot of people.
Tips: A couple of things to check before you start to panic !!
Always check your file permissions, the files should be in the right group and the HTTP Daemon should
be able to read the files as well as write some directories.
Did you check your config against the nmis-sample.conf?
Did you run "nmis.pl type=config" to make sure the config was right?
Have you run a "nmis.pl type=update debug=true"?
Have you been running NMIS for more then 1 hour?
File Sizes:
NMIS creates lots of rrd's Round Robin Databases for each device it manages. The current statistics options
make the file sizes as follows:
health rrd 2.5megabytes
reachability rrd 756kilobytes
interface rrd 568kilobytes.
All of these RRD's make up the database and for a few routers could become quite large quite quick.
Q. What is the format for the "interfaces" file?
A. The interfaces file is automatically generated by the NMIS system. You don't need to manually make these
interface files. There is also an interfaces.dat which is all the interface data for all the devices put together
also generated automatically by the update process.
Q. There are problems with the loadoids_file subroutine?
A. This is a modification to the SNMP Simple package, SINS has made up a distribution of SNMP_Simple
availble here SNMP_Simple_NMIS.tar.gz
Q. How do I add support for my "name of box" to NMIS ?
A. NMIS was written to support Cisco routers and switches. Well, thats not quite true. NMIS can and does use
the standard MIB-II SNMP statistics that are available on modern equipment. So if you want to monitor a
server, printer or some other brand of equipment just identify it as a "server" in the nodes.csv.
Of course, you aren't going to get the cool graphs that NMIS does for CPU, Memory or Buffers. This is
because they are not standard info and moust be hardcoded into the Perl code. So if you want to monitor a
Nortel router or a Cabletron switch you will have to get the MIBs and read which ones you want, then code into
NMIS. This is not difficult but you do need some Perl skills and you would have to be able to read a MIB and
generate an OID file. (Of course, networking knowledge would also be required to configure the SNMP agent
on the device).
NMIS - Network Management Information System http://www.sins.com.au/nmis/
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