Setting up Network Glue for an IT Glue organization

This article will show you how to set up Network Glue for an IT Glue organization.

Prerequisites

  • Network Glue Collector setup is only accessible by IT Glue Managers and Administrator users.
  • Enable SNMP v2c or 3 on Routers and Switches for Network Glue to discover connections properly. 

NOTE  IT Glue Lite users or above can navigate to a list of networks documented by Network Glue by accessing Organization > Networks. From there, they can view the Network Glue Collector key.

Instructions

Configure network information

  1. Navigate to Admin > Network Glue and click + New.

  2. Click the General tab and enter the following information:
    • Network name
    • Organization name
    • Location
    • IP Ranges - Enter multiple IP ranges by clicking the plus (+) button.
    • VMware Host (optional) - Enter VMware host DNS name or IP address and VMware host login credentials. Complete this for every VM host device on the network by clicking the plus (+Add) button. For more information on this field, read our notes here.
      • Notes on VMware hosts (if applicable)

        • We support VMWare version 5.5 and higher. Versions below this may work, but are not officially supported.

        • We strongly recommend that you enter a DNS name if your IP addresses are constantly changing and not static. If you use a dynamic IP address and a host machine’s IP is changed, your diagram will no longer show VMware.

        • You will not require additional credentials to automate the discovery of Hyper-V hosts or guests if your Active Directory credentials match the Hyper-V hosts’ credentials.

        • To collect VMware information, you can choose to add Admin or read-only credentials. If you choose to add read-only credentials, you must ensure that this user has access to all clusters. If the user does not have access to some clusters, they will not be discovered.

        • In addition to adding host credentials, you use your vCenter credentials to log into individual hosts.

        • A network with VM hosts will include all VM guest endpoints on that host, regardless of whether the endpoints are in the specified IP scan range.

  3. Scan Active Directory toggle switch - By default, Network Glue Collector will leverage Active Directory to detect additional information. To turn off this feature, turn off the toggle switch.

  4. Enter the following information:

    • Domain Controller Hostname

    • Admin User FQDN (read-only access required)

    • Select the password in the Admin Password field.

      NOTE  You should have added the password to IT Glue to select it here. You can only select a password that belongs to the organization you had set up a network.

    • Active Directory Users - Select the user types (Active, Disabled) that you want to sync to IT Glue. You can further select whether you want to select all disabled users, or only disabled users from a specific last logon date using the calendar picker.
      Notes on Active Directory

      • The use of Active Directory (AD) and data from WMI queries and Remote Registry allows a richer and more complete picture of the network to be formed. The Network Glue Collector access to the Active Directory is read-only and is only used for discovery purposes. AD data can also help you easily create new IT Glue Contacts automatically, or enrich existing Contacts by automatically matching them with AD data. This allows you to easily automate and manage your AD user documentation directly within IT Glue.

      • In Network Glue, AD collects the below information:

        • All computers in AD in the domain

        • Computer attributes such as operating system, IP address, network configuration information

        • Printers and other related devices

        • AD users (you will need to specify which AD user types you want to sync to IT Glue)

      • A network that has a domain controller hostname and valid credentials will discover all endpoints in the Active Directory hosted on that domain controller, regardless of whether the endpoints are in the specified IP scan range.

      • Host names are retrieved from DNS servers. For entities with the same hostname but different IP addresses, they will be treated as one network device, with multiple interfaces (IP addresses). Besides, entities with the same IP address or MAC address will also be treated as one network device.

  5. Click Create. A popup window is displayed to confirm the creation.

  6. Click View SNMP Settings.

  7. Click Add to add SNMP credentials.

  8. In the Add Credential window, configure the following fields:

    1. Name – Enter the name of the SNMP credential.

    2. Type – Select the SNMP type option (SNMP V3 or SMP V1/V2)

      1. If you have selected SNMP v1/V2, the SNMP Community Strings field is displayed. The SNMP Community Strings field is defaulted to "Public". SNMP v1 and v2c credentials are supported. You can enter multiple SNMP strings by pressing enter after each one. We recommend activating SNMP on your network devices so that the Network Glue Collector can collect maximum information about your network.
        The Collector agent does not support SNMP for Windows Workstations.

      2. If you have selected SNMP V3, configure the following fields:

        • Username

        • Authentication Protocol Options (MD5 or SHA)

        • Authentication Paraphrase

        • Primary Protocol Options

        • Primary Paraphrase

  9. Click Add.

    NOTE  SNMP V3 also supports SHA1 authentication algorithm.

View SNMP Credentials

In the Manage SNMP credentials page, you can view the list of SNMP credentials that are applied on devices.

The statistics on the number of devices to which the credentials were successfully applied or not applied are specified on the page as shown below.

To initiate a network sync, click Start Manual Sync.

NOTE  The SNMP credential will not run until the next sync or manual sync. This is indicated by a red colored dot in the table on the new credentials to show that the credentials did not run.
A red colored dot will also show on the “Start Manual Sync” button to indicate that there are credentials have not been synced.

Network show page

Collector key

The collector key displayed is the unique key that connects the Network Glue Collector to the IT Glue organization. You can copy the collector key by clicking the Copy to clipboard icon beside the key. If desired, you can also generate a new collector key by clicking the Generate button.
Setting_up_Network_Glue_for_an_IT_Glue_organization_-_REVISION_5_-_Google_Docs.png

If you choose to generate a new collector key, you will receive a warning that the current key shall expire. You can use this feature if you want to deploy the Network Glue Collector to another device.
Happy_Frog_HQ_Level_5_Network___IT_Glue__1_.png

Status bar

The bar at the top left corner of the page shows the status of the Network Glue Collector for the network. There are three possible statuses: Active, Awaiting Data, or Error.

NOTE  Network Glue scans the IP ranges of all available devices. If there are more than 600 devices in the range specified, an error "Your network could not be processed due to a high volume of devices. Please consider adding an additional collector." will be displayed and your network diagram will not load. If you have more than 600 devices on your network, you can install additional collectors per subnet to identify all of your devices. Network Glue allows you to install an unlimited number of collectors.

Status Description Actions
Michael_LAN_1___IT_Glue.png Collector is active. No issues have been reported. 
  •  N/A
Happy_Frog_HQ_Level_5_Network___IT_Glue__2_.png

 

 

Awaiting Data status is displayed in the below two situations:

Situation 1 - The parameters of the Network Glue Collector have been set up and the Network Glue Collector is ready for download and installation.

Situation 2 - Network Glue has been installed and is awaiting network information to be synced to IT Glue.
  • Network Glue automatically syncs information to IT Glue once a day. If you would like to manually update the network diagram, click the Start Manual Sync button to update the diagram right away.
Office_Network___IT_Glue.png Error 1 - No network data retrieved in the past 24 hours
  • Ensure your Collector is online during the automatic sync and the Network Glue services are running. If you would like to manually update the network diagram, click the Start Manual Sync button to update the diagram right away.
Error 2 - Network data could not be retrieved

Sync information box

To activate a manual sync, click on the Start Manual Sync button. If the Collector is "Online", that means manual sync is available. If the status of the Collector is "Offline", manual sync is currently not available. When syncing, a "Sync in progress" status will appear. If you added VM host data in the Configure network information section above, then you will see the status of each VM host device you entered during the setup.

There are four possible statuses:

Status Description
Found

The host and VMs were found. The credentials are valid.

NOTE  Networks with VM hosts will include all VM guest endpoints on that host as well. Networks that have a domain controller hostname and valid credentials will discover all endpoints in the Active Directory hosted on that domain controller. In both cases, this occurs regardless of whether the endpoints are in the specified IP scan range.
Not discovered (four scenarios)
  • Not Found – IP not found or is not in the specified scan range. The IP was not found or, the IP was not in the scan range (the IP may or may not exist).
  • Not Found – Host not found. The host was not found but the credentials are valid.
  • Not Found – Credentials not found. The host was found but the credentials were not valid.
  • Not Found – VM guests not found. The host was found and the credentials were valid, but there were no VMs.
Awaiting data
  • There is a new network with no scans yet, or
  • A scan is active, but manual sync was not yet triggered to add VM data collection.
Scan in progress The scan is still in progress.

If you did not add VM host data during the Collector setup, the VM Hosts section will indicate “Not selected”. You can add this data at any later time by navigating to Account > Network Glue > [Network Name] > Edit and completing step 2 in the Configure network information section above.

Next, please see our Deploying Network Glue Collector for an IT Glue organization KB article to get started with Network Glue.

Related Items

Check out our Guide to successful Network Glue deployment KB article for more information on the Network Glue deployment process.