WhatsUp Gold Technology

Discovery & Mapping Features:

WhatsUp Gold Layer 3 Network Discovery

WhatsUp Gold’s automated and rapid Layer 3 device discovery uses wizard-based tools to simplify and make network discovery fool-proof, no matter the size or complexity of the infrastructure. It can leverage multiple types of discovery options including - SNMP SmartScan, IP address range scan, single device scan or host file import.

Once discovered, a more detailed scan using SNMP credentials is executed. The depth of collected information enables WhatsUp Gold Discovery to automatically assign a role to the device through intelligent matching against pre-defined templates. Pre-defined templates include the likes of router, switch, email server, web server etc. - and are automatically set up as relevant active, passive or performance monitors on discovered devices. Role attributes can be easily changed or new roles created if required. Devices can also be assigned multiple roles with a combination of monitors running on them.

WhatsUp Gold Layer 3 Network Mapping

WhatsUp Gold provides hierarchical maps of the Layer 3 view of the network. This includes a complete and accurate representation of the real network and application environment with drill downs to subnets and virtual LANs. Drag and drop device icons make it easy to change device positions and attributes and create relationships. Automatic correlation of monitors, alerts and actions to devices on the topology maps ensures that if an event is occurring, it can be located, understood and controlled quickly.

Welcome Center

The new Welcome Center available in the WhatsUp Gold console enables first time users to launch discovery with minimal configuration (via the Quick Setup Assistant) and reap immediate results. It also provides one-stop access to all WhatsUp Gold information including product documentation, instructional videos and forum posts and even external RSS feeds.

Discovery Console

The Discovery Console provides Network managers real time visibility on the configuration and status of the discovery process within WhatsUp Gold. Discovered device counts and their status, attributes discovered per device, current discovery session metrics, list of scheduled discovery processes and a summary of saved results are all provided. The Discovery console is available as part of the Windows client interface as well as the WhatsUp Gold web portal.

Flexible Discovery Process

After WhatsUp Gold discovers and identifies the role of devices, they can be immediately added to a device group and monitored without waiting for the entire discovery process to be complete. Running discovery processes can also be halted at any time and the information already gathered is saved. Any halted discovery can be restarted and resumes from the point where it was stopped. Discovered devices can be easily found from the database through a search capability that supports full or partial matches across multiple attributes. These capabilities make WhatsUp Gold Discovery an easy to use and powerful tool for network management.

Discovery & Mapping Benefits:

WhatsUp Gold Discovery accelerates the identification and monitoring of new network devices and related services. It provides continuous visibility into the discovery process enabling the management of infrastructure changes as they happen.

Fast and Automated Discovery

WhatsUp Gold Discovery is engineered to get up and running immediately after installation with only minimal configuration. It takes advantage of multi-CPU environments to process multiple discovery tasks in parallel thereby reducing the time it takes to run a complete scan of the infrastructure. WhatsUp Gold Discovery automatically assigns roles and monitors and sorts infrastructure into subnet and device groups making monitoring simple and hassle free. It can also automate gateway discovery eliminating the need for specifying an IP address range.  The level of automation and embedded intelligence saves considerable time and effort otherwise required in a manual discovery process. With the repeated need for discovery to keep in tune with infrastructure changes, this amounts to substantial cost savings over time. 

Accurate Identification of Devices and Relationship Mapping

WhatsUp Gold Discovery offers an extensive database of pre-defined templates that cover the most commonly occurring types of infrastructure. Intelligent matching of discovered profiles based on degree of similarity and relative weights of attributes in the role templates enables the accurate identification of devices and running services. For example, a device such as an American Power Conversion (APC) Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) may have several discoverable attributes beyond its core function, including a web server for configuration and management as well as UPS specific OIDs. The primary role assigned to the device by discovery process would be as a UPS. This capability for accurate and automated identification and Layer 3 topology based relationship mapping eliminates the need for costly modifications for each device and service.

Multiple Discovery Scan Options to Fit Any Network

WhatsUp Gold Discovery provides multiple scan options to fit any network or need. It interrogates discovered devices with multiple protocols – starting with ICMP (Ping) or TCP port scans followed by deeper probing using SNMP.  SmartScan options are highly automated and need nearly no information to start with. They are most useful to find out all network connected infrastructure and create a verified list of monitored IT assets. IP range based scans can help limit the discovery to only a portion of the network if desired. The capability for host file imports can provide even more targeted scans especially when monitored infrastructure is scattered across many subnets.

Powerful Flexibility and Ease of Use at All Levels

With all the automated capabilities, WhatsUp Gold Discovery and mapping is extremely easy to customize or extend to fit any kind of monitored infrastructure or environment. For example, if an application environment uses a non-standard port for HTTP communication (say port 8080, instead of the standard port 80) individual role templates can be extended with this specific attribute to easily identify web servers using that port. Once discovered each system or device can be added to multiple groups or even assigned multiple roles. Moreover, the ability to make changes, add or drop devices and attributes directly from the topology map further makes WhatsUp Gold Discovery highly flexible and easy to use at all levels.