One of the things I have been working on in between the important stuff is a graphical way to represent the status of modular switches, i.e., 4507, 6509, Nexus, etc... I thought that maybe someone else in the community has thought of this idea and/or done some work on it. This is in the very early stages. Here's my idea and what I have so far:
These drawings were built using standard templates. The modules and the chassis are all individual objects. I am sure everyone here is familiar with Visio.
I have added all the necessary OIDs into Solarwinds as UnDPs to poll the status of all the various modules, including power supplies. The idea is to run a script in the background using something like Image Magick that dynamically builds this image (from the individual modules) along with an image map for tooltips or hyper-links based on the currently polled data. Module status would be represented by color shading as well as tooltips.
The biggest value here is eye candy for management. But, this is also a quick way to see the full status of a loaded switch chassis. Plus, it provides a way for lower level techs who may not have access to login to these devices an alternative to "show module".
Any thoughts, ideas, criticisms, or funny limericks?
Romeo