Chapter 7 - Network Management
Banyan has developed seven different Network Management services over the last several years. Grouped by product version, these services are:
Version 6.0 and 7.0 Banyan servers - SNMP service, Event Management service (EVS), History Collector Service (HCS)
VINES 5.5 - Alert Management Service (AMS)
VINES 5.00 - SNM, SNMP Proxy Agent
VINES 3.0 - Network Management service (NM)
VINES 7.0 Network Management Services
The current version of Banyan networking software includes:
SNMP service Event Management service (EVS) History Collector service (HCS)
The sections that follow describe these services and summarize the contents of the service directories.
To provide backward compatibility for applications that use APIs from earlier Banyan software revisions, Version 7.0 also includes the Network Management service (NM) and the Network and Systems Management service (SNM). These services are described in "Earlier Banyan Network Management Services," later in this chapter.
SNMP service
The VINES SNMP Service handles SNMP requests from Banyan clients and communicates with the various services. Each service on the server has a portion dedicated to communication with the SNMP service. SNMP MIBS are available to define what management statistics are available from each Banyan service.
Figure 7-1 illustrates the handling of SNMP requests and responses.
/disk1/banyan/snmp
The /disk1/banyan/snmp directory contains the Banyan SNMP service and its support files. The files in this directory are as follows:
snmpdm (Executable)
The SNMP service executable.
snmpd.cnf (ASCII)
Sample SNMP service configuration file.
SNMP0.log, SNMP1.log (ASCII)
Rolling log files for the SNMP service.
acl.def (ASCII)
Contains SNMP service configuration data. It is periodically flushed to StreetTalk attribute <35:250000>.
agt.def (ASCII)
Contains SNMP service configuration data. It is periodically flushed to StreetTalk attribute <35:250001>.
context.def (ASCII)
Contains SNMP service configuration data. It is periodically flushed to StreetTalk attribute <35:250002>.
snmpd.def (ASCII)
Contains SNMP service configuration data. It is periodically flushed to StreetTalk attribute <35:250003>.
view.def (ASCII)
Contains SNMP service configuration data. It is periodically flushed to StreetTalk attribute <35:250004>.
*.pty (Data)
Copies of the *.def files. They are maintained on disk for caching purposes.
cleanup (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
create (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
startup (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
svccdLog (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
svclog15 (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
SvcLogs (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
The Banyan Event Management Service (EVS) manages Banyan service events. An event is any noteworthy occurrence within the operation of a Banyan server. Some of these are defined by the service developer, who decides what events are noteworthy, and assigns them a type depending on how important they are. There are five event types.
Alarm - A high-priority event demanding immediate attention. For example, if a failure causes a service to go down, the event should be considered an alarm. EVS collects alarms.
Warning - An event that demands attention and is important enough so that the system manager should know about it. A warning typically signals that a system threshold has been exceeded, such as when the service is running out of disk space, I/O information, or communications stack space. EVS collects warnings.
Audit - Information required for system monitoring and accounting. EVS collects audits.
Info - Informational messages that are useful to the developer. Info messages are recorded in the rolling log files of the service.
Debug - Information used for system debugging. Debug messages are recorded in the rolling log files of the service.
The EVS service replaces the AMS service and enhances the logging technology. AMS was distributed on Banyan server Versions 5.5x.
/disk1/banyan/evs
The /disk1/banyan/evs directory contains all of the files for the Event Management service. The files in this directory are as follows:
*.map (ASCII)
Used to translate events into traps. These files are produced by EVCOMP, the Banyan event compiler. They are named according to the service's MIB numbers. They contain the SNMP Object IDs that correspond to each event. For more information on EVCOMP, see the Banyan Applications Toolkit documentation.
ALERTS.db, ALERTS.db# (Database)
Stores the registrations for applications requesting AMS alerts. These files contain the same information as /disk1/banyan/evs/evs.fil.
data (Directory)
Contains EVS data files. See the next section for more information.
EVS (Executable)
Executable for the EVS service.
evs0.log, evs1.log (ASCII)
Rolling Banyan service log files for EVS.
Evsend0.log (ASCII)
Stores messages from the logdemon. These messages are stored in this file until they can be sent to EVS.
cleanup (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
dumpscript (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
startevs (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
startup (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
svclog7 (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
SvcLogs (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
SvcTable (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
The /disk1/banyan/evs/data directory contains the Event Management service data. The files in this directory are as follows:
ALERT0.log, ALERT1.log (ASCII)
Used for AMS compatibility purposes. If an event received by EVS was an AMS alert in VINES 5.5, it is stored in one of these files in AMS format as well as in the /disk1/banyan/evs/data/EVSn.dat in EVS format. This way, the information can be retrieved through either the AMS APIs or the EVS APIs.
EVSn.dat (Database)
Database files in which EVS stores events. The files are numbered from 0 to 6, according to the day of the week. EVS keeps these files for up to seven days.
evs2.conf (Database)
Configuration file used by EVS at startup. It stores configuration information that is set through SNMP so that EVS maintains the values upon restart. In this file are the audit list, the number of days to store the database files, and the maximum and threshold sizes for the database.
evs.fil (Database)
Stores real-time filters configured through SNMP.
The History Collector service (HCS) collects data about SNMP MIB-defined objects. An object is a unit of management information maintained by an SNMP service on the Banyan server.
You can configure the HCS to collect data, and specify how long to store the data on the server. For example, you can collect the load average for a server every 15 minutes for one day. After one day, HCS still collects its data, but it discards any data that is older than one day.
To collect data from the local server, you must have the Banyan SNMP Service installed on that server. HCS can also be configured to collect data from other servers.
HCS Directory Structure
The directory structure of the HCS service is shown in Figure 7-2.
/disk1/banyan/hcs
The /disk1/banyan/hcs directory contains the HCS service executable and all of its support files. These files are as follows:
HCS (Executable)
HCS service executable.
hcsdef.txt (ASCII)
Default table that HCS always collects. HCS collects the number of users currently logged in, and the number of active StreetTalk sessions.
cleanup (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
create (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
dumpscript (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
hcs0.log, hcs1.log (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
startup (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
svccdlog (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
svclog14 (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
SvcLogs (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
SvcTable (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
/diskn/HCS
HCS data files are stored in /diskn/HCS. These files are as follows:
hc_cfg.dat (Database)
HCS configuration database. After reading the file hcsdef.txt, and the administrator's configuration information, HCS writes this file. The administrator's information is from StreetTalk attribute <35:200> of the HCS service.
hcsdef.dat (Database)
This file is created when HCS begins collecting information for the table hcsdef.txt.
*.dat (Database)
Data files created according to the configuration established by the administrator.
hcs.conf (Database)
Configuration file used by HCS at startup. It stores configuration information that is set through SNMP so that HCS maintains the values upon restart. This file contains maximum and threshold sizes for the database.
Earlier Banyan Network Management Services
The sections that follow describe the network management services that were included in previous versions of Banyan software and are supported on Version 7.0 Banyan servers.
Network Management service Network and Systems Management service (SNM) SNMP Proxy Agent Alert Management service (AMS)
In VINES 3.0, the first Banyan Network Management service was developed. This was called NM. The VINES 4.11 Applications Toolkit APIs were published so that developers could write applications that retrieved information from the NM service. This service is included with Version 7.0 Banyan servers to provide backward compatibility for applications that use these APIs.
/disk1/banyan/nm
The NM service resides in /disk1/banyan/nm. The files in this directory are as follows:
NM (Executable)
VINES 4.xx Network Management executable.
NMtester (Executable)
API test program for the NM service.
amsevents.map (Database)
Contains a mapping between an alert id and the text string human-readable alert. The file is used by the VnsTranslateAlert function. The Banyan Alert Management service (AMS) compiler, bantup, automatically generates a file like this in the data directory of every service that issues alerts to AMS.
This file is a map for the SNM service. The NM service does not support alerts. (The location of this file is due to a mapping of service type 16 to this directory.)
NM*.db (Database)
Temporary cache files created by NM so that it can rapidly respond to consecutive requests for the same data.
cleanup (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
cores (Directory)
Standard Banyan service directory, as described in Table 1-2.
dumpscript (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
startup (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
svclog7 (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
Version 5.xx Banyan servers include SNM, a superset of the NM service that offered many additional features. The older NM service was also released under VINES 5.xx to maintain compatibility for VINES 4.xx application developers.
/disk1/banyan/snm
The SNM service resides in /disk1/banyan/snm. The files in this directory are as follows:
SNM (Executable)
VINES 5.xx Network Management service executable.
SNM0.log, SNM1.log (ASCII)
Rolling log files for the SNM service.
THOLDS.DB (Database)
AMS threshold database. The SNM service monitors 16 different system parameters. When the thresholds established in this database are exceeded, alerts are sent to services that have registered to receive them.
THOLDS.DB# (Database)
Backup copy of the threshold database.
tkapitester (Executable)
Program that tests the Banyan Applications Toolkit Interface to the SNM service.
*.DB (Database)
Temporary files, created by SNM, containing cached system information. The service uses these files to store information so that it can quickly respond to consecutive requests for the same information.
evs.err (ASCII)
Error text for the EVS service.
hcs.err (ASCII)
Error text for the HCS service.
nms.err (ASCII)
Error text for the NMS service.
snm.err (ASCII)
Error text for the SNM service.
cleanup (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
destroy (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
dumpscript (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
startup (Script)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
SvcLogs (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
svclog8 (ASCII)
Standard Banyan service file, as described in Table 1-2.
The Alert Management Service (AMS) collects alerts generated from services. These services send alert messages to services whenever the service determines that certain system thresholds have been exceeded. This functionality has been absorbed by the Event Management service on Version 7.0 Banyan servers. Version 7.0 supports the AMS APIs to provide backward compatibility.
A Banyan-developed third-party application, the SNMP Proxy Agent, was released with Version 4.10 of VINES. The SNMP Proxy Agent takes industry-standard SNMP requests and translates them into Banyan Network RPC packets. This allows an SNMP client application to communicate with Banyan network management services.
On Version 7.0 Banyan servers, SNMP functions are performed by the SNMP service. The SNMP Proxy Agent is supported to provide backward compatibility.
Figure 7-3 illustrates the SNMP Proxy Agent architecture.
