Netonix Manager / Control Software

[slimey]

Ah, that's better. It took a while for all the switches to report online again (I'd set the new "Count before offline" to 5 as I was getting quite a few drops reported for just a single poll. Does it count this many polls before reporting it up again, too?

[Stephen]

No it doesn't, the internal count for each switch is only incremented on a failure and set back to 0 upon a successful connection. Each update cycle is a little more than 10 seconds. Depending on how many switches you have, it might slow it down a bit.

[rodrayner]

HI,
Just come across this post when looking for some way to manage our switches. We currently have several hundred WS6 switches deployed all around the UK and i'm looking for some kind of central management system to mainly monitor FW versions and any errors.

Is it possible to run this in the cloud and monitor switches in several networks ?

[sirhc]

Yes you could run it on a hosted virtual server but warning if your switches accessible from the web MAKE SURE your running the latest code as we include security patches in releases, older version are vulnerable to the point the can gain access to write files through the web service (web UI) fill up the flash and cause the switch to crash.

I would also definitely use the Access Control List.

[rodrayner]

Thanks @sirhc

I haven't installed the application yet as it will take some setting up for us in the cloud so one more question if i may.

Does the switch initiate the connection to the management app or the other way round, what i'm trying to get to is if there are specific firewall rules needed for port forwarding because if so some of our sites will have 30 - 40 switches and i dont want to set up ports for each one. Or does it work in a similar way to UBNT's airControl where you have a gateway device that the server communicates with and that then in turn connects to all other devices.

Re firmware, we tend to run one version behind the current unless there is a specif reason not to. There a lot of switches and in all honesty its a pain having to update them all ( last update took 6 days to complete every switch ) hence why i'm looking into this application. Access Control, totally agree and we woudl have no requirement for anything other than our IP at head office as thats where our help desk is located.

[rodrayner]

bump...

[Stephen]

Thanks @sirhc

I haven't installed the application yet as it will take some setting up for us in the cloud so one more question if i may.

Does the switch initiate the connection to the management app or the other way round, what i'm trying to get to is if there are specific firewall rules needed for port forwarding because if so some of our sites will have 30 - 40 switches and i dont want to set up ports for each one. Or does it work in a similar way to UBNT's airControl where you have a gateway device that the server communicates with and that then in turn connects to all other devices.

Re firmware, we tend to run one version behind the current unless there is a specif reason not to. There a lot of switches and in all honesty its a pain having to update them all ( last update took 6 days to complete every switch ) hence why i'm looking into this application. Access Control, totally agree and we woudl have no requirement for anything other than our IP at head office as thats where our help desk is located.

The Netonix Manager initiates the connection to the switches.
It uses ssh to gain access initially and then http in order to gain specific information it needs to monitor them.

[rodrayner]

So, not really got an answer. If i have a LAN with 30 - 40 switches does every switch on the same network need its own dedicated port forwarding rule to communicate with a cloud based manager?

[mike99]

Seem pretty obvious. If connection is initiated from the server and your switchs are behind NAT, then you automatcly need a port forward by devices you want the manager to access. If IPv6 can be use, then no ports forward.

[rodrayner]

Or does it work in a similar way to UBNT's airControl where you have a gateway device that the server communicates with and that then in turn connects to all other devices.

Not obvious at all, hence my question above

But i guess i got my answer. Not suitable for a network with multiple switches when you want a cloud based manager.