Configuration of POPs and links

Permission settings

To be able to use all the necessary pages, you need to have the appropriate permissions:

• Ideally, all the permissions from the Rights for POP card section. However, as a start, you can get by with the Information / Read and Edit permissions.
• Rights for Main menu / Hardware / POPs: All the permissions from this section.
• Also: Hardware / Settings / Link types.

POPs

What is a POP?

In ISPadmin, a POP is considered to be a place in which some of your technology/equipment is located. It may be a section of a block of flats, house, roof, chimney, mast, data center, cellar, etc. The important thing is that a POP aggregates all network as well as non-network devices in that place. These devices have the same address, GPS coordinates and location as the relevant POP.

List of POPs

A list of all POPs can be found in Hardware / POPs / All. The information displayed includes location, address, note, open POP tasks as well as the number of online/offline devices (if they have IP addresses). To make work with this list easier, it is possible to use filters above some of the columns.

Add a POP

POPs can be added in two different ways: You can click on the Add new POP button in the All tab, or you can add a POP directly in the map (Hardware / POPs / Overview).

How to proceed:

1. Click on the Edit icon to go to the Edit mode.
2. Click on the Add POP icon.
3. Pick a particular place in the map to specify the POP location.
4. Fill in the basic information.

This way, you can gradually add a large number of POPs to the map and fill in the rest of the details later on.

Assign a device to a POP

You can assign devices to individual POPs in two different ways:

• You can go to the Edit mode of a given device and select a particular POP in the relevant field. This way, the device is assigned to the POP selected.
• You can go to the relevant POP card and then to the Devices section. There you can choose one of the options for device import into the POP. The Assign new device to POP button allows you to quickly add one single device at a time. The Bulk assign devices to POP button allows you to add more than one device at a time.

Links

What is a link?

Links represent logical as well as physical connections between POPs and devices. They make it possible to generate a vizualization of the real network structure. Links can be UTP cables, optical fibres, wireless links as well as other existing and virtual link types. Links have directions. The primary side specifies the “to the Internet” direction and the secondary side the opposite direction (“into the depth of the network”). Links have their own line color, style and width. It is also possible to display different link types (wireless, metallic, optical, …).
For links to work as substitutes for Nagios, it is necessary to specify devices on both sides of the links. If you do not specify them, you will not be able to mark these links as active.

Add a link

Links can be added to the system in Hardware / POPs / Links, in Hardware / POPs / Overview (using the map) and also directly in the POP card (where you can create a link between devices in the POP).

Add a link using the Links page

A link can be added to the system by clicking on the Add new link button. You need to fill in its name, the primary and secondary POP and the devices on both sides of the link.

Add a link using the map on the Overview page

How to proceed:

1. Click on the Edit icon.
2. Click on the Link icon.
3. Click on the bottom part of the POP that is supposed to be the secondary POP.
4. Click on the bottom part of the POP that is supposed to be the primary POP (the arrow will point to this place).
5. Fill in the data and save the form.

Add a link in the POP card

How to proceed:

1. Click on the Create link between devices button.
2. Choose two devices between which you want to create a link.
3. Click on the Go to the link creation page button.
4. Fill in the rest of the link details and save the form.

Edit a link

A link can be edited any way you want. You can add further points to create the link route you need. You can drag and drop the individual points to change the link route. When you click on the white point, the point is removed.

What is currently forbidden

• Create multiple links between identical POPs and devices
• Create circular dependencies

Replacement for Nagios

The network map created in the aforementioned ways is used by ISPadmin to generate the network tree structure and to monitor devices with the active Report outages for Nagios setting (The Nagios part will be removed from the description in due course.). The system takes into account only active links; that is, links with devices on both sides. Ideally, the network structure should be continuous. Otherwise, several “island” networks get created. That can have have an impact on the reporting of larger network outages. The system needs to know the logical connections between devices to be able to report (ideally) only the one specific device that caused the outage, not all the other devices behind the device (those are to be marked as unavailable). If the network structure is not continuous, it might lead to multiple notifications because ISPadmin does know whether and how the individual network branches are connected or dependent upon each other.