[68325] in North American Network Operators' Group
[ralden@ralden.com: FW: Web Based tool for tracking circuits]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Marius Strom)
Mon Mar 8 17:09:28 2004
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 16:08:10 -0600
From: Marius Strom <marius@marius.org>
To: nanog@merit.edu
Mail-Followup-To: nanog@merit.edu
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
----- Forwarded message from "Roland H. Alden" <ralden@ralden.com> -----
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 10:04:13 -0800
=46rom: "Roland H. Alden" <ralden@ralden.com>
To: Marius Strom <marius@marius.org>
Subject: FW: Web Based tool for tracking circuits
Return-Path: ralden@ralden.com
I guess I'm not allowed to post but here is something I sent for your info.
-----Original Message-----
=46rom: Roland H. Alden=20
Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 8:37 AM
To: nanog@merit.edu
Subject: RE: Web Based tool for tracking circuits
> If there is, let me know. I started to work on one a couple=20
> of years ago, I could dust off the project.
Same here.=20
I haven't got time to dust off my project but I would gladly contribute wha=
t I have to someone else; basically a complex SQL schema with some queries,=
constraints and triggers done and/or partially baked.=20
My model was as follows:
A location hierarchy tunable to whatever resolution was of interest; i.e., =
City:Facility:Floor:Rack etc.
A very complex model for pieces of equipment; i.e. chassis, blades within c=
hassis, physical ports on blades. Ports themselves are modeled with data ab=
out their connectors (i.e., RJ45 male/female, DB9 male/female, etc.).
A model of special "ports" which are status indicators like LEDs, what thei=
r exact equipment labeling is, and what colors and what not they might norm=
ally be. I.e., information of value when walking some remote hands through =
a troubleshooting procedure.
A model for port-specific configuration so that the database can "know" tha=
t port x13 on such an such an ethernet switch is connected to VLAN 3, etc.
A model for what ports should be physically connected to what ports. A nece=
ssary list of cables can then be generated automatically; connector specs a=
nd unique cable ID's are generated. A database of common connectors and the=
ir "opposite sex" is part of the model. The system does not take advantage =
of any understanding of how far apart ports are to suggest a cable length, =
but once a cable table is generated that can be added by hand so that the i=
nformation is captured.
A "fanout" cable model accomodates single cables that connect more than two=
ports.
A power model that records how much heat is generated by each device and ho=
w much power of what flavor it consumes.
A circuit model similar to the cable model (port:circuit:port) but accomoda=
tes "tunnels" such as a ds1 inside a ds3, or a VPN tunnel. A "noc contact" =
record can be associated with a particular circuit and the contractual deta=
ils of a circuit (such as SLA) can also be recorded. A unique circuit ID is=
generated and a vendor's circuit ID can be recorded as well.=20
Equipment configurations (and history of them) is stored within each item o=
f equipment. However, there is no sophisticated linkage or syntax checking =
between the equipment model and the configuration and there is no way to au=
tomatically push a configuration to its equipment.
Documents such as PDF files of equipment manuals or contracts can be attach=
ed to various items like equipment records, circuit records, etc. However t=
his does require "blob" support and in my implementation is all MSFT specif=
ic code.
A somewhat badly implemented fine-grained security model so that various vi=
ews show only the rows a person was allowed to see and/or edit. My notion w=
as that the system would be used across handoff boundaries but I didn't exa=
ctly get that far.
FWIW.
----- End forwarded message -----
--=20
/------------------------------------------------->
Marius Strom | Always carry a short length of fibre-optic cable.
Professional Geek | If you get lost, then you can drop it on the
System/Network Admin | ground, wait 10 minutes, and ask the backhoe
http://www.marius.org/ | operator how to get back to civilization.
\-------------| Mike Andrews |-------------------->
