Description of user-defined-connections.conf

You use the user-defined-connections.conf file to add your own Layer 2 and Layer 3 connections to the managed topology. Doing so might be useful in cases where these connections are not discovered because of incomplete information in the MIB. If you know the necessary information, create these connections by specifying them in this file. The types of connections that are created include NetworkConnection, Cable, and TrunkCable.

The user-defined-connections.conf file is shown in Figure on page.

# This is a sample user-defined connections for the InCharge Server.
#
# A connection must contain FOUR fields separated by |
# - The first field is the local network device.
#   You can specify either a name or an IP address.
# - The second field is the network adapters on the local device.
#   It can be ifIndex or ifDescr or ifName as defined in MIB2.
#   It can also be n/m or n.m where n is the module number and m is 
#   port number.
# - The third field is the remote network device.
#   You can specify either a name or an IP address.
# - The fourth field is the network adapters on the remote device.
#   It can be ifName or ifDescr or ifIndex as defined in MIB2.
#   It can also be n/m or n.m where n is the module number and m is 
#   port number.
#
# The search for network adapter is performed in the order of
# ifName, ifDescr, ifIndex. If it fails to return a network adapter
# object, the specified string is used as interfaceKey/PortKey to 
# find interface/port objects.
#
# To make your file more readable, you can
# include blank and comment lines.
# A comment line is one whose first character is "#".
#
# Following are a few examples. NOTE - the lines are commented, so the 
# discovery won't really try to make these connections.
#
# 192.168.1.200|Serial0|router2.smarts.com|5|
# 10.64.1.1|2.4|Core-switch.smarts.com|2/4|
#

As indicated in Figure on page , a user-defined connection contains the following four fields, each separated by a pipe character (|):

The first field is the local network. You can specify the local network by name or IP address.
The second field is the network adapter on the local device. You can specify the network adapter by its ifIndex, ifDescr, or ifName, as defined in RFC 1213. You can also use the < n>/< m>or < n>.< m>syntax, where < n>is the module number, and < m>is the port number.
The third field is the remote network device. You can specify the remote network device by name or IP address.
The fourth field is the network adapter on the remote device. You can specify the network adapter by its ifIndex, ifDescr, or ifName, as defined in RFC 1213. You can also use the < n>/< m>or < n>.< m>syntax, where < n>is the module number, and < m>is the port number.

Any object that is specified in these four fields must be in the managed topology.

The IP Managersearches for the network adapter in the order of ifName, ifDescr, and ifIndex. If a network adapter is not found, the specified string is used as InterfaceKey/PortKey to find the network adapter.

The following are two examples of user-defined connections:
```
192.168.1.200|Serial0|router2.smarts.com|5|
10.64.1.1|2.4|Core-switch.smarts.com|2/4|
```
The network adapter field for the remote device must end with a pipe character (|). As with changes to the partition.conf file, you do not need to restart the IP Managerafter making a change to the user-defined-connections.conf file. The IP Managerautomatically loads the user-defined-connections.conf file each time that it performs post-processing.