ISPPlanet Network Management System Series - SNMP ToolChest

An Extensible SNMP ToolChest

 

Here's a collection of task-specific network management tools that can easily be customized—or augmented—via Tcl scripting. It's not a comprehensive NMS, but it can flexibly supplement such a system.

by Lisa Phifer VP Core Competence, Inc. [July 19, 2000]

Any software vendor will tell you: Users come in all shapes and sizes. Some users prefer shrink-wrapped software; others like to "roll their own" from home-grown or open source software. ISP network admins often straddle both ends of this spectrum. In this fast-paced world, successful tools increase productivity without requiring development effort. But many admins like to tweak, adapt, and extend their favorite tools and avoid rigid software that can't be customized.

In part three of our entry-level NMS series, we evaluate SNMP ToolChest Silver Edition, a collection of real-time network monitoring and trouble-shooting utilities. Developed by Dave Zeltserman, co-author of "Building Network Management Tools with Tcl/Tk," SNMP ToolChest provides both turnkey applications and a platform for refinement using Tcl, a simple scripting language.

SNMP ToolChest Silver Edition $399 The SNMP ToolChest Company Brookline, Mass. 02446 http://www.snmptoolchest.com

Getting Started
SNMP ToolChest's developer bent is evident from the get-go: you start by selecting a Tcl/Tk platform. The Silver Edition ($399) uses Scotty (freeware) to support 5 tools under Windows NT. The Gold Edition ($899) uses TickleMan/Lite ($599, SNMP Research) to support 8 tools under NT or *NIX. To keep our installed price under $1K, we evaluated the Silver Edition on a PIII 500 running Windows NT4 SP5.

Silver Edition installation involves several discrete steps described in a README file. To deploy Scotty, install Tcl 8.0.5 and Tkined 1.5.0a, then set a pair of NT environment variables (Below, left). Next, execute the self-expanding ToolChestSilver zip file. Invoke scottypatch.scotty and associate this file extension with tcl/bin/wish80.exe. Finally, customize default SNMP community strings by editing CommStringVars.itcl (Below, right). After installation, five ToolChest applications can be found in the installed directory: DiscoverPlus, IPScope, NetDelayPlus, RouterScope, and SmartBrowser.

Those familiar with NT administration will have no trouble following instructions to complete installation; a setup file to automate these steps and add Start Menu entries would be nice. Each application has its own Help file, but overall Help would be useful to understand relationships between applications and features common to all applications. In short, a little superficial glue could pull these largely stand-alone tools together into an integrated toolset.

Go to Part 2: Network Discovery