IP Availability Manager diagnoses connectivity failures in multivendor, switched, and routed networks by discovering and monitoring Layer 2 (data-link) and Layer 3 (network) systems. Switches are examples of Layer 2 systems, and routers are examples of Layer 3 systems.
When included in a Network Protocol Manager deployment, IP Availability Manager:
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Discovers and monitors through SNMP the underlying physical-transport domain in the managed network.
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Analyzes the network connectivity to identify the root-cause problems and impacts of connectivity failures.
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Exports network topology, problem, and impact information to the Global Manager.
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Exports routing-enabled (BGP-enabled, EIGRP-enabled, IS-IS-enabled, OSPF-enabled) device topology and status information to Network Protocol Manager.
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Exports command line interface (CLI) device-access objects to Network Protocol Manager.
Routing-enabled device topology includes routers and switches (that house router cards) that are running BGP, EIGRP, IS-IS, or OSPF services. Device status information consists of status changes that are associated with the routing-enabled device topology.
CLI device-access objects are required by Network Protocol Manager when performing CLI discovery or CLI polling. The CLI device-access objects carry the login credential information needed by Network Protocol Manager to access the devices in the managed network that cannot be discovered or monitored by using SNMP. Upon logging into a device, Network Protocol Manager invokes CLI commands to query the device for discovery or status information.
A Network Protocol Manager deployment may contain one or more IP Availability Managers. An IP Availability Manager instance may consist of just an IP Availability Manager process, or may consist of an IP Availability Manager and an IP Performance Manager or IP Server Performance Manager that are running together as a single process.
