nate wrote: > >> OK, but if I have to write the script, why wouldn't I just write the >> script my way and automate it over ssh which already works instead of >> learning some new language and having to install some new agent >> everywhere to run it? > > If your just interested in doing one thing then you wouldn't.. the > thread seemed to dive into broader topics than one particular issue. Yes, but if you have to manage the details anyway I'm having trouble seeing the value of an abstraction - and having to understand both the details and the abstraction. Do the tools give you an easy way to reliably repeat someone else's detailed process without having to understand it? >> It's next to impossible to get or set a duplex setting via snmp. And >> non-trivial to figure out what switch port is connected to what device - >> OpenNMS does a reasonable job but if you activate all of its checks it >> can kill things that have full bgp routes. > > LLDP is supposed to address that, or CDP if your Cisco, EDP if your > Extreme etc. I haven't had the need to go to this level myself, > though a former co-worker of mine who is a former amazonian said they > used CDP all the time on their systems to detect what switch/port/etc > their systems were on(5+ years ago, not sure what they do now) > > http://openlldp.sourceforge.net/ I think scaling is the general topic here. I don't scale well enough to deal with learning a new language/protocol/toolset for every single configuration setting - and especially with variations per vendor. But those are the real-world configuration problems. -- Les Mikesell lesmikesell at gmail.com