Transcript
Use probe groups to simplify your Intermapper maps. Here's how.
If a number of device icons on your map test the same IP address, you can group them together so they appear on the map as one device icon. A probe group is literally a group of probes all pulling the same physical device, represented by one device icon. You can create a probe group in several ways.
Here are six device icons each using a different probe and each pulling the same IP address. Notice that I've set the label for each one to use its probe type. You'll see why in a moment. First, select the device icons you want to group. Click and drag a box around them. Then from the Insert menu, choose Group. You can also choose Group from the Context menu.
And here you see the devices grouped together as a single device icon. This counts as one device against your device license count. Double-click the icon to show the probes in the group. Notice that each probe uses the label from the original device icon. You can set info for each probe individually. You do this in a couple of different ways. Double-click the probe whose info you want to set. The info window for that probe appears. Click the label link for the info you want to change. As you can see, you can change the label, probe type, pole interval, kind, retention policy, or you can add a comment.
You can also use the context menu to set the info for a probe. You can add probes or remove them from the group. To add a probe, click the plus button. Then choose the probe type from the set probe window. To remove a probe, open the probe groups info window. Click to select the probe you want to remove and click minus. The probes are removed from the group and are returned to the map as individual device icons.
To remove all probes from the group, click the probe group device icon, and then choose Ungroup from the Insert menu or the Context menu. The group is removed and all the probes are returned to the map as individual device icons.
You can also insert an empty probe group and then add probes to it. First, choose Empty Probe Group from the Insert menu. Enter an IP address or domain name. Then select the empty group and any devices you want to add to it. Then choose Group from the Insert menu.
When you view the status window for a probe group, you see summary information for each probe. Click the triangle to the left of the probe summary to expand the detail for that probe. Click the triangle again to collapse the detail.
When you look at the info window for probe group, notice the star to the left of each probe. A gold star to the left of the probe indicates that the probe is set as the control probe. Any available interfaces for the control probe are displayed for the probe group. When the control probe is down, notifications are suppressed for the remaining probes. When no control probe is defined, each probe sends notifications on its own. When you create a new probe group, the first detected SNMP probe is set as the control probe.
You can also view and edit probe groups in the list view. Notice the plus sign which expands the probe group to show its probe set. While in the list view with the map editable, you can drag and drop probes into the group as long as the IP addresses match. You can set notifiers for each probe in the group individually, or you can set notifiers for the whole group.
Once you've created a probe group that you find useful, you can copy it and apply the same group to a different IP address. In this example, I want to monitor a number of websites, each with an HTTP server, incoming and outgoing mail server, and an FTP server. I've created a group with one probe for each service I want to monitor and have pointed it at local hosts where I have an Apache server running. I've made a copy, and now I'll set the address to a different server. So, in-depth monitoring of many sites is as simple as copying a probe group and assigning.
