Re: Controls Network Monitoring Tools

[Ralph Lange <Ralph.Lange@gmx.de>]

Hi Martin,

for our accelerators (BESSY II, MLS, test setups) we decided to go 
different paths for monitoring the machine and monitoring the controls 
infrastructure, as we found the target audience was quite different: 
while the machine alarms go primarily to the operators and machine 
physicists, the infrastructure alarms are more directed to the controls 
and IT/network people. In many cases these groups would not even be able 
to assess alarm messages of the remote kind and anticipate effects 
correctly. Of course, there's an intersection that shows up in both systems.

The machine is connected through EPICS, and the common EPICS tools (alh 
with SMS notification, etc.) are used.

For the controls infrastructure we use a Nagios based system to run 
checks, collect and organize the results. Browser plugin and email 
notification are the main notification mechanisms. Nagios originates 
from the IT sector, so network components and services are extremely 
well supported with little extra effort. To support EPICS-integrated 
components, there are active (caget) and passive (camonitor daemon) 
check plugins available.

While the SNMP device support allows to monitor network component 
statistics through Channel Access, it is very hard under EPICS (and very 
easy under Nagios) to monitor the health of web and network based 
services: Is the "Operator Help" Wiki running? Is the web server for the 
panels up? Does the trouble ticketing system work? Is the mail server up 
and accepting mails for the local domain? Is a certain machine SSH 
accessible? Are the archive engines working and connected to their 
channels? These things are hard to convey through EPICS, but very 
important for successful operation.

Just my 2 cents...
~Ralph


On 27.07.2011 19:43, Martin Pieck wrote:
> Hello,
>
> We are in process of installing new single mode fiber optics cable in our LANSCE User Facility and
> have the
> opportunity to invest in some network monitoring soft and hardware.
>
> So, I was wondering what people are using to monitor their fiber and twisted pair controls network
> from the switch and
> router level all the way down to the device level?
>
> What are the pros and cons of that system?
>
> Any feedback is appreciated!
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Martin