Network Administration Visualized 4.2.2

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Project:
Network Administration Visualized
Series:
4.2
Version:
4.2.2
Released:
 
Registrant:
Morten Brekkevold
Release registered:
Active:
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13 John-Magne Bredal, 10 Morten Brekkevold
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Bugs:
23 Fix Released

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download icon nav-4.2.2.tar.gz (md5, sig) NAV 4.2.2 source code tarball 103
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Release notes 

=================================================
 Network Administration Visualized release notes
=================================================

Please report bugs at https://bugs.launchpad.net/nav/+filebug . To browse
existing bug reports, go to https://bugs.launchpad.net/nav .

If you are upgrading from versions of NAV older than 3.7, please refer to the
release notes of the in-between versions before reading any further.

Known problems
==============

The recommended SNMP library for use with ipdevpoll is `pynetsnmp`. If you
choose to go with the original TwistedSNMP, the latest version (0.3.13)
contains a bug that manifests in table retrieval operations. Timeouts and
retries aren't handled properly, and this may cause slow or otherwise busy
devices to be bombarded with requests from NAV. The `contrib/patches`
directory contains a patch for TwistedSNMP that solves this problem. The
patch has been submitted upstream, but not yet accepted into a new release.

NAV 4.2
========

To see the overview of scheduled features and reported bugs on the 4.2 series
of NAV, please go to https://launchpad.net/nav/4.2 .

Dependency changes
------------------

There are none :-)

Rename some of your Whisper files to keep your statistics
---------------------------------------------------------

The 4.2.2 release adds commas to the list of characters escaped in Graphite
metric names; commas cause problems when constructing target names for
graphite-web, when rendering graphs and retrieving metrics. An out-of-place
comma will cause Graphite render requests to fail.

If your Graphite storage directory contains Whisper files with commas in
their filenames (under the `nav` hierarchy), and you want to keep your data
history, you will need to rename these files by replacing the commas with
underscores. Something like this should do the trick::

    cd /opt/graphite/storage/whisper/nav
    find -name '*,*' | xargs rename --verbose 's/,/_/g'

Multicast listener stats from IGMP snooping
-------------------------------------------

NAV 4.2 will use HP's STATISTICS-MIB to sum up the number of known multicast
group subscribers per HP switch (i.e. from each switch's IGMP snooping data).
Each multicast group address seen is logged to Graphite under the
`nav.multicast` hierarchy.

We wanted to support similar functionality for Cisco devices, but it seems
support for Cisco's own proprietary CISCO-IGMP-SNOOPING-MIB is very poor among
Cisco switches.

Graphite storage schema changes
-------------------------------

Be aware that the example Graphite storage schema
:file:`etc/nav/graphite/storage-schema.conf` has added a section for multicast
statistics. Be sure to update your running Carbon configuration.

Rewritten Status tool
---------------------

The Status tool has been rewritten from scratch.

The old Status tool hardcoded table listings for specific alert types, and not
all alert types were supported - meaning some alerts were never actually
displayed in the Status tool. This also made it very difficult to dynamically
add new alert types from plugins or third party software, without modifying
the Status tool code.

The new tool offers an in-page status filtering form, which can also be saved
as your personal status page filter preference.

Any filter configuration can also be saved as a new front-page status filter,
meaning you can have multiple status widgets, each with a different
configuration. When modifying the default/anonymous user's front page widgets,
this means you can also decide which types of alerts, if any, will be
displayed to unauthenticated users.

Alert acknowledgement
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With the new Status tool comes the ability to acknowledge open alerts, with
comments. An acknowledged alert is not displayed under the default Status tool
filter configuration (but can be added by checking the "Acknowledged"
checkbox).

Stateless alerts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Status tool normally displays stateful alerts, i.e. states that have a
starting time and, eventually, an ending time. The can be actual problems, or
more information states, such as a device being on scheduled maintenance.

However, NAV will at times also issue stateless alerts (warnings). Before,
these were normally only accessible in the Device History tool, and through
alert subscriptions in Alert Profiles.

The Status page tool can now be configured to include recent stateless alerts,
within a set threshold (the default is 24 hours). The default is still to
leave them out.

New status widget
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A widget version of the new Status tool is also introduced. Users who have the
old Status widget on their NAV front pages will see their widgets replaced
with a Status tool widget filtering for *boxState* events.

By default, NAV places a status widget on the front page of anonymous users.
With the new widget, you can also control what kind of alerts anonymous users
can see on the front page.

.. TIP:: To configure, remove or add more Status widgets to the front page of
         anonymous users, go to the User Admininstration tool, select the
         *default* user and click the button :guilabel:`Operate as this user`.

         While operating as the *default* user, configure the widgets on the
         front page to your liking. Click :guilabel:`Log back in as ...` to
         return to normal operation.

Netmap redesign
---------------

There was never time to clean up the Netmap tool's complicated user interface
during the design changes released in NAV 4.0. This has now been rectified.

The map portion of the page has been given more space, and the view options
are now contained in a hideable panel above the map. Your saved views should
still work.

SeedDB IP device form redesign
------------------------------

The form for adding and editing an IP device has been redesigned. It no longer
requires connectivity to add or edit an IP device, but you have the option to
verify the connectivity if you want. As a result of this, only one step is
required to complete the form. Should you go ahead and save a router with the
wrong SNMP community, NAV will shortly raise an *snmpAgentAlert* for this
device.

In addition to this, IP address verification has been added to the form. When
adding an IP device by its hostname in NAV versions prior to 4.2, if this
hostname resolved to multiple IP addresses, NAV would select an arbitrary IP
address from these as its management address for the device. The new form will
ask the user to choose one of the resolved IP addresses from a list.

Custom attributes on IP devices and locations
---------------------------------------------

You now have to option to add custom attributes to your IP devices and
locations. In NAV 4.1 this was only available for rooms and organizations. The
custom attributes are added in the respective SeedDB forms.

The attributes added for IP devices are displayed on the IP Device Info page.
The attributes for locations are currently not visible outside of SeedDB, as
there are no canonical Location-pages in NAV (yet). The *location* report can
be amended locally to include those attributes you want displayed, in the same
way as commented on the *organization* and *room* reports.

New command line utilities
--------------------------

NAV 4.2 introduces three new command line utilities for advanced users:

navdf
~~~~~
::

    Usage: navdf [filter]

    Lists and filters IP devices monitored by NAV

    Options:
      -h, --help show this help message and exit

    The filter expression must be a method call applicable to the Django-based
    Netbox model's manager class. Example: "filter(category__id='GSW')"

navoidverify
~~~~~~~~~~~~
::

    usage: navoidverify baseoid < sysnames.txt

    Verifies SNMP sub-tree support on a set of NAV-monitored devices

    positional arguments:
      baseoid The base OID for which a GETNEXT operation will be performed

    optional arguments:
      -h, --help show this help message and exit

    Given the root of an SNMP MIB module, a bunch of devices can be queried in
    parallel whether they have any objects below the given BASEOID - effectively
    verifying MIB support in these devices.

naventity
~~~~~~~~~
::

    usage: naventity device

    Outputs entity hierarchy graph from a device's ENTITY-MIB::entPhysicalTable
    response

    positional arguments:
      device The NAV-monitored IP device to query. Must be either a sysname
    prefix or an IP address.

    optional arguments:
      -h, --help show this help message and exit

Files to remove
---------------

Many files have been removed or moved around since NAV 4.0 and 4.1. Unless you
upgraded NAV using a package manager (such as APT), you may need/want to
remove some obsolete files and directories (here prefixed by /usr/local/nav)::

    /usr/local/nav/doc/hacking/netmap.rst
    /usr/local/nav/doc/hacking/using-vagrant.rst
    /usr/local/nav/doc/hacking/vagrant.rst
    /usr/local/nav/doc/html/hacking/netmap.html
    /usr/local/nav/doc/html/hacking/using-vagrant.html
    /usr/local/nav/doc/html/hacking/vagrant.html
    /usr/local/nav/doc/html/_sources/hacking/netmap.txt
    /usr/local/nav/doc/html/_sources/hacking/using-vagrant.txt
    /usr/local/nav/doc/html/_sources/hacking/vagrant.txt
    /usr/local/nav/lib/python/nav/web/api/auth.py
    /usr/local/nav/lib/python/nav/web/api/helpers/
    /usr/local/nav/lib/python/nav/web/api/serializers.py
    /usr/local/nav/lib/python/nav/web/api/views.py
    /usr/local/nav/lib/python/nav/web/netmap/forms.py
    /usr/local/nav/share/htdocs/static/js/src/netmap/app.js
    /usr/local/nav/share/htdocs/static/js/src/netmap/collections/
    /usr/local/nav/share/htdocs/static/js/src/netmap/main.js
    /usr/local/nav/share/htdocs/static/js/src/netmap/models/
    /usr/local/nav/share/htdocs/static/js/src/netmap/order.js
    /usr/local/nav/share/htdocs/static/js/src/netmap/resource.js
    /usr/local/nav/share/htdocs/static/js/src/netmap/router.js
    /usr/local/nav/share/htdocs/static/js/src/netmap/templates/
    /usr/local/nav/share/htdocs/static/js/src/netmap/views/
    /usr/local/nav/share/templates/netmap/admin_list_mapviews.html
    /usr/local/nav/share/templates/netmap/backbone.html
    /usr/local/nav/share/templates/netmap/graphml.html

Changelog 

View the full changelog

Version 4.2.2
(released 08 Jan 2015)

 Important note:

  This release adds commas to the list of characters escaped in Graphite
  metric names, which may change the name used for some of your existing
  metrics after an upgrade. If you want to keep your data, the underlying
  files need to be renamed manually in your Graphite installation. See the
  updated release notes for more.

 Bugfixes:

  * LP#1169559 (Print button for Netmap)
  * LP#1394522 (Netbox and Location bulk import formats must be changed to
                include data attributes)
  * LP#1396913 (Status page, filter on Device Group)
  * LP#1396920 (NAV 4, Internet Explorer Compatibility mode)
  * LP#1396924 (NAV 4.2 does not work with SASS 3.4 or newer, but the install
                docs do not specify this)
  * LP#1397255 (Subject text of psuDown alerts in status tool is non-
                descriptive)
  * LP#1397886 (device history script timeout on many results)
  * LP#1398382 (AssertionError prevents Netmap from loading any graph/map)
  * LP#1398791 (Maintenance system stops working when an IP device on
                maintenance is deleted)
  * LP#1398815 (Rooms, hyperlink inconsistensies between report and seeddb)
  * LP#1399558 (portadmin tries to write to memory for each change)
  * LP#1400307 (Need easier way to remove services)
  * LP#1401114 (dropdown for ipdevice when adding a service is fubar)
  * LP#1401470 (ipdevpoll TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +:
                'NoneType' and 'float')
  * LP#1403066 (Some routers fail to expand in Network Explorer)
  * LP#1403432 (report.conf, wrong url for netboxinfo)
  * LP#1403797 (Geomap is insanely slow after migration to Graphite in NAV 4.0)
  * LP#1403803 (Geomap "loading data" indicator is missing)
  * LP#1403884 (geomap sends data request on every tiny movement)
  * LP#1404207 (Intermittent ValueErrors thrown from pynetsnmp causes ipdevpoll
                jobs to fail)
  * LP#1404222 (Conflicting sysnames cause ipdevpoll jobs to crash)
  * LP#1404225 (Multiple DNS PTR records for the same IP address causes sysname
                to swing back and forth in NAV)
  * LP#1407625 (/search/devicegroup takes too long)

0 blueprints and 23 bugs targeted

Bug report Importance Assignee Status
1398791 #1398791 Maintenance system stops working when an IP device on maintenance is deleted 2 Critical Morten Brekkevold  10 Fix Released
1394522 #1394522 Netbox and Location bulk import formats must be changed to include data attributes 3 High Morten Brekkevold  10 Fix Released
1403797 #1403797 Geomap is insanely slow after migration to Graphite in NAV 4.0 3 High Morten Brekkevold  10 Fix Released
1403803 #1403803 Geomap "loading data" indicator is missing 3 High John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
1396924 #1396924 NAV 4.2 does not work with SASS 3.4 or newer, but the install docs do not specify this 4 Medium John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
1397255 #1397255 Subject text of psuDown alerts in status tool is non-descriptive 4 Medium Morten Brekkevold  10 Fix Released
1397886 #1397886 device history script timeout on many results 4 Medium John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
1398382 #1398382 AssertionError prevents Netmap from loading any graph/map 4 Medium Morten Brekkevold  10 Fix Released
1399558 #1399558 portadmin tries to write to memory for each change 4 Medium John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
1401114 #1401114 dropdown for ipdevice when adding a service is fubar 4 Medium John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
1401470 #1401470 ipdevpoll TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'NoneType' and 'float' 4 Medium Morten Brekkevold  10 Fix Released
1403066 #1403066 Some routers fail to expand in Network Explorer 4 Medium Morten Brekkevold  10 Fix Released
1403884 #1403884 geomap sends data request on every tiny movement 4 Medium John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
1404207 #1404207 Intermittent ValueErrors thrown from pynetsnmp causes ipdevpoll jobs to fail 4 Medium Morten Brekkevold  10 Fix Released
1404222 #1404222 Conflicting sysnames cause ipdevpoll jobs to crash 4 Medium Morten Brekkevold  10 Fix Released
1404225 #1404225 Multiple DNS PTR records for the same IP address causes sysname to swing back and forth in NAV 4 Medium Morten Brekkevold  10 Fix Released
1407625 #1407625 /search/devicegroup takes too long 4 Medium John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
1169559 #1169559 Print button for Netmap 5 Low John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
1396920 #1396920 NAV 4, Internet Explorer Compatibility mode 5 Low John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
1400307 #1400307 Need easier way to remove services 5 Low John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
1403432 #1403432 report.conf, wrong url for netboxinfo 5 Low John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
1396913 #1396913 Status page, filter on Device Group 6 Wishlist John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
1398815 #1398815 Rooms, hyperlink inconsistensies between report and seeddb 1 Undecided John-Magne Bredal  10 Fix Released
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