When you need to expand your sphere of resource monitoring, consider Robot/TRAPPER

Robot/TRAPPER adds another facet to the many ways the Robot products allow you to monitor resources. Robot/TRAPPER allows you to use the reliability of the System i to monitor any device with an IP address. This can include such varied equipment as automated teller machines (ATMs), Windows servers, hubs, environmental monitors, and more!

Check resources at predefined intervals
Robot/TRAPPER allows you to proactively ping (check the status of) any device that has an IP address at predefined intervals to ensure availability. It keeps track of the pulse of your network.

The Maintain Devices panel displays a device’s description, IP address, ping priority, and status. You can search the list of devices by device description or IP address.

You can use this panel to add, delete, and modify device records. When you select a device on the Maintain Devices panel, you can modify its description, message queue, library, or ping interval. You also can use the Maintain Devices panel to check the status of devices, place devices on hold so they are not pinged, and ping devices on demand.

If the device doesn’t respond to a ping, Robot/TRAPPER uses Robot/CONSOLE to notify you. You should assign your critical resources the highest ping priority so they are pinged more frequently than less important resources. When a critical device becomes unavailable, you have the full power of Robot/CONSOLE at your disposal to respond to the problem. Your Robot/CONSOLE message set might:

* Run OPAL code to attempt a recovery when a ping fails.

* Notify you immediately so that you can begin to monitor the situation and take corrective action. (If you want to notified by pager or e-mail message, you need Robot/ALERT.)

* Use the interface to Robot/ALERT to escalate the problem through a chain of people, or notify a whole group at the same time.

Listen for messages
Robot/TRAPPER also has the ability to receive SNMP traps (event notifications) from these devices. Devices can be added manually or Robot/TRAPPER can add them dynamically as traps are received.

Robot/TRAPPER running on the System i works with Robot/CONSOLE to let you know when your network devices have security breaches, completion messages, or application errors. This is accomplished by using a Management Information Base (MIB). The MIB tells Robot/CONSOLE what a message from a specific device means.

If you’ve defined a message set for that message, Robot/CONSOLE takes the action you have specified. Robot/TRAPPER ships with a number of common MIB source files that can be compiled to translate events from network devices. If the MIB you need is not supplied, you can usually download it from the equipment vendor’s Web site and compile it.

If you are doing (or would like to do) System i-based enterprise management, you should consider Robot/TRAPPER.

Interface to enterprise monitors
If you are not doing System i-based enterprise management, Robot/TRAPPER also acts as an interface for Robot/NETWORK and Robot/CONSOLE that allows two-way communications with an enterprise monitor such as Netcool or Remedy. Help/Systems supplies MIBs that you can compile on the enterprise monitor to enable it to translate the SNMP trap events sent by the System i.

When an SNMP trap (message) is sent to the enterprise monitor by a Robot product, the operations staff at the enterprise monitor console can review the event and reply to it directly. Robot/TRAPPER picks up the reply and directs it to its source, so the reply is applied to the correct System i message.

Every day, your network of devices grows bigger and becomes more complex. The job of network monitoring has also grown considerably—whether your monitoring efforts center on the System i or on a large enterprise. In fact, your network may have grown so complex that it’s scary. Robot/TRAPPER can help take the fear and confusion out of the equation. But, you’ll only know if you give it a try. Help/Systems invites you try it for 30 days for free!

Contributed by Terri Preston, Technical Consultant