FAQ - Installation and Startup

1. What is an Agent?

Network management system contains two primary elements: a manager and agents. The Manager is the console through which the network administrator performs network management functions. Agents are the entities that interface to the actual device being managed. Bridges, Hubs, Routers or network servers are examples of managed devices that contain managed objects.

These managed objects might be hardware, configuration parameters, performance statistics, and so on, that directly relate to the current operation of the device in question.

2. What are the tools provided by AdventNet Agent Toolkit? Can each tool function as a separate application?

The tools provided by AdventNet Agent Toolkit are as follows:

MIB Editor: This tool is used to create, edit and instrument MIB files.
JMX Compiler: This tool generates stub files for building Multi-Protocol Agent taking the MIB file as input.
MIB Compiler: This tool generates stub files for building SNMP agents taking the MIB file as input.
SNMP V3 Agent Configuration Tool: This tool can be used for configuring USM user tables and VACM entries for SNMPV3 agent
MIB Browser: This tool is used to view and operate on data available through an SNMP agent in a managed device.
MBean Browser: This tool is used for testing JMX compliant agent using various protocols such as RMI, CORBA and HTTP.
TL1 Browser: This tool allows the user to view and operate on data available through a TL1 agent in a managed device.
TL1 Message Builder: This tool can be used for defining the TL1CommandSet (.tcs file) for a TL1 agent.
TL1 Compiler: This tool that can be used to develop a TL1 agent. It takes the tcs file as input and generates code for it to form a TL1 agent.

Yes. Each tool can function as a separate application. You can use the .bat/.sh file to load each application separately.

3. What are the different types of agent developed using Agent Toolkit?

The AdventNet Agent Toolkit allows you to develop SNMP Agent, JMX Compliant agent and a TL1 agent.

4. What are the basic steps involved in developing an agent?

The basic steps involved in developing an agent are as follows:

Define the MIB/TCS file using MIB Editor/TL1 Message Builder.
Load the MIB/TCS file defined or an existing MIB/TCS file into the MIB Compiler/JMX Compiler/TL1 Compiler.
Generate source files by choosing the appropriate options in the Compiler.
Instrument the Stub files.
Compile stub files.
Start Agent.

5. What Operating systems does it run on?

Since the product is developed in Java it is platform independent. You can use the product in any Operating System with the JDK port of that particular OS. On our part we have tested the product in Windows95, Windows98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Linux and Solaris.

6. What are the areas of Management where the Agent Toolkit Java Edition agent is best suited?

This product is well suited for the following market segments :

Application management
OEM vendors
Enterprises
System management
Middleware ISV's
Service Providers

7. What are the Hardware and Software requirements for running the Agent Toolkit Java Edition?

To know about the minimum hardware and software requirements for running the Toolkit, please refer to the topic System requirements.

8. What are the technologies used by the Agent Toolkit Java Edition?

The technologies used by the Agent Toolkit Java Edition are :

JMX
XML
SNMP
HTTP
TL1

To know more about each of these technologies, please refer to the Technology Overview section.

9. What are the JDK versions supported by the Agent Toolkit Java Edition?

The toolkit supports the following JDK version :

Runtime Agent: Version 1.1.6 and higher.
Tools in Agent Toolkit Version 1.2 and higher.

Note: Tools have been tested in SUN JDK's from JDK1.2 to JDK 1.4

10. How do I choose which type of Agent is best suited for my application?

The Agent which is best suited for your application depends upon the protocol support which you want to provide for the management of the agent. Please refer to the topic Agent Toolkit Java Edition Architecture, to know more.

11. What are the standards to which the Agent Toolkit complies ?

Please refer to the topic Standards Compliance in each Building the Agent section to know about the standards supported by the toolkit.

12. What third party tools are bundled with your product?

Please refer to the topic Third party tools to know about the Third party tools bundled with the product.

13. Does your agent support Thread ? 0r Is your agent thread safe ?

Yes, the java agent supports multi-threaded processing and is thread safe.

14. Does your agent supports database ?

Yes, the toolkit provides database support for storing the data and accessing this database table. For more information on Database support, please refer to the topic Supported Storage Types.

15. Is there any tool bundled with your product, to install a patch? Does the latest patch include the bug fixes done in previous patches?

The tool "Update Manager" , bundled with the toolkit, is used for updating patches/service packs to the base version of the product. Please refer the topic Update Manger to know more about using the tool.

16. Is there any difference between the evaluation version and the permanent version of the Java Agent Toolkit?

No, the evaluation version and permanent version are the same.

17. Is code merging supported in your toolkit?

Yes, code merging is supported to merge two different versions of java files. Please refer the topic Code Merging to know more about this feature.

18. I know that AdventNet has both C and Java products. When would I, as a developer of an SNMP agent for a Network Interface Card (NIC), choose one over the other?

The C agent has less footprint, will execute faster and the end customer will not be required to install a JVM on their server to use the agent, but has some porting issues.The Java agent needs JVM on the target platform but has less porting issues.

Architecture wise, both AdventNet C agent and Java agent follow the same modular approach. So the choice will be based on where the agent is going to reside. For example, if the agent runs on Linux and makes JNI calls to NIC , then Java could be preferred. If the agent is intend to run in the card, then JVM could not be affordable, hence C agent.

19. Using Agent Toolkit can I manage special devices other than SNMP standard devices like switch and router ?

To manage special line, network, dial, etc. you have to define your own enterprise MIB or you have to find out some standard MIBs if they are available. To write new enterprise MIB use our MIB Editor Tool. Once MIB is ready then you can use MIB Compiler for the code generation . During agent instrumentation you have to modify the generated code to retrieve data from your device.

Please refer to the Tutorials topic in each "Building the Agent" section of the help documentation to know more.

20. How does your toolkit help us rapidly develop, test and deploy Agents ?

Our product provides more powerful and intuitive visual development and test tools for developing the Agent of your choice. Since our product has all types of tools required for agent development, the agent deployment will be much easier.

21. Can an agent have multiple clients (e.g., EMS + direct SNMP monitoring access)?

Yes, any number of Manager can access the Agents. There is no restriction as to how many managers can access an agent.

22.How do you run the Agent Toolkit using Visual Cafe?

Edit < Visual Cafe's Installation Directory >/bin/sc.ini and modify the CLASSPATH value as given below

CLASSPATH =<the>;%CLASSPATH%

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