The Large IP Map Restructure application is provided as an installp package (lipmar-2.bff). The installp program creates the necessary files for the application to run. There are no install-time options. When reinstalling you should backup your IP subnet lists and any other files customized to prevent their loss.
After successfully completing the installation of the installp package you need to create lists of the IP subnets for which you want to create submaps. These lists must be placed in files which are named in the Application Registration File (ARF). The next section, "the application registration file" therefore provides an overview of the contents of the ARF. The section "specifying subnets" then describes how to make subnet specifications.
When you have created your subnet lists you can start the NetView EUI and activate the application. You can also use the Describe Map dialog in NetView to disable the application on certain maps or to request more or detailed logging of the application's activities. These topics are discussed in "map dependent parameters" .
If your network consists of several more or less independent parts you might want to create separate IP Subnet hierarchies for them. The final section of this chapter, "drawing multiple IP subnet hierarchies", describes how to do this.
After installing the IP Subnet application, you need to edit the application registration file (ARF). The ARF is located in /usr/lipmar/etc/lipmar.reg (symbolic link in /usr/OV/registration/C/lipmar.reg). Part of this file is reproduced here.
Application "Large IP Map Restructure"
{
Description {
"",
"Product Name : IBM Nways Manager for AIX",
"Product Version : V2.0",
"Component Name : Large IP Map Restructure",
"Component Version: V2.0",
...
}
Copyright {
" IBM Nways Manager for AIX Version V2.0",
"",
...
}
Version "V2";
Command -Initial -Shared
"/usr/lipmar/bin/lipmar \
-l \"LIPMAR\" \
-b /usr/lipmar/etc/lipmar.backbone \
-n /usr/lipmar/etc/lipmar.subnets \
-x /usr/lipmar/etc/lipmar.exclude";
Enroll Configuration {
Field "Large IP Map Restructure Enabled" {
Label "LIPMAR enabled for this map?";
EditPolicy Edit;
DefaultValue True;
}
Field "Large IP Map Restructure Logging Level" {
Label "Log messages up to this level";
EditPolicy Edit;
DefaultValue Notice;
}
}
MenuBar "Tools" {
<2> "Refresh Large IP Map Restructure (LIPMAR) submap" f.action "LipmarRefresh";
}
Action "LipmarRefresh" {
CallbackArgs "-r";
}
}
Among other things this file specifies the startup options for the application. This is done with the
Command statement.You can specify values for six parameters (-l and -n are required. -b, -x, -m, and -s are optional).
The -b and -n flags each provide the path name of a file containing subnet specifications. The -x flag also provides the path name of a file. However, this file does not contain a list of subnet specifications but rather, a list of icon labels. The format of these specifications will be explained later.
The –m and –s flags can be added to provide the symbol type name for the icons created by the Large IP Map Restructure application.
The next part of the registration file "enrolls" two fields in the "Describe Map" dialog box. NetView binds an instance of each field to each map. The user can view or update the values of the fields through this dialog box. This will be explained in more detail later.
The final part of the file adds a menu option to the NetView EUI to trigger the generation of the Large IP Map Restructure submap. With the values shown, the option will be labeled "Refresh Large IP Map Restructure submap" and placed in the "TOOLS" group. You can change this if you wish, but do not change the name of the action ("LipmarRefresh") since this is a literal value used by the application.
You can specify up to three lists of subnet specifications to control how the Large IP Map Restructure application groups symbols. These lists are called the subnet, backbone, and exclusion lists. Each list appears in its own file. The subnet and backbone files share a common format which is different from the exclusion file. Both formats are described later in this section. Only the subnet list is mandatory, the other lists are optional.
You must first decide which subnets you want to appear on your restructured submaps. These subnets must be listed in the subnet file, which is specified on the -n flag.
If some of the subnets in your network serve as a logical backbone which interconnects the other subnets, you can list these subnets in the backbone file, which is specified on the -b flag. Backbone subnets typically have many more interconnections than ordinary subnets. In order to keep the submaps for these subnets from becoming too crowded the Large IP Map Restructure application shows less detail for backbone subnets.
Finally, NetView's IP Map application sometimes gets confused about the connections it finds, causing it to draw peculiar symbols that seem to interconnect everything. The exclusion file, specified on the -x flag, allows you to list the labels of these icons. The Large IP Map Restructure application skips any symbols that have a label matching any entry in this file.
The subnet and backbone lists allow you to specify IP subnets as IP address, subnet mask pairs. Each subnet specification must be contained on a single line and may be followed by an optional alias. The address and mask parts must be separated by a forward slash ("/"). If an alias is present, it is separated from the subnet specification by whitespace. The address must appear in standard dotted-decimal form. The mask is specified as a single number which indicates the number of significant bits, counting from the left. The following are all valid examples:
9.49/16
subnet 9.49.0.0, mask 255.255.0.0The values are normalized internally by the Large IP Map Restructure application and then reordered from most to least specific. When trying to find a matching subnet specification for a symbol, the application will therefore always find the "most relevant" subnet. The four specifications shown above result in this internal list:
9.49.11.0 / 255.255.255.0
9.49.0.0 / 255.255.0.0
9.0.0.0 / 255.0.0.0
and, for example, the addresses 9.49.11.45, 9.49.12.90, and 9.48.11.50 will be placed in subnets 9.49.11, 9.49, and 9, respectively.
You can optionally specify an alias for each subnet specification. The Large IP Map Restructure application uses the alias instead of the subnet specification when constructing icon labels and submap names. Below is an example of a subnet list which defines an alias for each subnet:
9.20/16 9.20: Raleigh
9.21/16 9.21: RTP
9.22/16 9.22: Austin
9.24/16 9.24: New York
For example, the final line specifies the subnet "9
.24/16" with alias "9.24: New York". Including the subnet address in the alias causes both the address and the name to appear in the subnet's submap name and icon label, which is often very convenient.The exclusion file allows you to list specific symbols to be excluded from the restructured map. Note that this is different from the subnet and backbone lists where you specify subnet addresses and masks. When considering icons to be drawn on the restructured map, the application performs a textual comparison between the icon's label and the values specified in the exclusion file. If it finds a match, the icon is not drawn. Otherwise, the placement of the icon is governed by the subnet and backbone lists.
The Large IP Map Restructure application works in the NetView EUI on the open map. Its behavior is controlled by a number of attributes of the map: the user's access rights, whether or not the application has been enabled, and the logging level. The access rights are determined by NetView. In general, users can have read/write access only to the default map and to maps they have created themselves, and only one user can get read/write access to a given map at a time. The other two attributes are map specific and can be modified by the user through the Describe Map dialog.
The user's access rights and the value of the map's "
Large IP Map Restructure Enabled" field determine whether the application can be activated:While running the application writes messages to the log file (/var/tmp/lipmar.log). Each message has a severity level, which can have one of the following values, from most to least severe:
The user specifies the logging level to be used in the Describe Map dialog. Messages less severe than that level are suppressed (not logged). Logging levels Debug and Trace are normally used during program debugging and tend to produce a large volume of output, while Information might be used for problem determination. Logging levels Notice and Warning produce a limited amount of messages relevant to the application user.
The default logging level is specified in the
Enroll Configuration section of the ARF.You can configure multiple copies of the
Large IP Map Restructure application, each with separate subnet, backbone and exclusion lists. To accomplish this, you need to create additional copies of the application and field registration files (ARFs and FRFs) in the appropriate directories.For each additional copy of the application, you need to: