I've mentioned before that you can use the SNMP system OID for a device to classify it more accurately. Today I'll run through an actual example. At right is a screen shot of a printer in the CMDB, as it was after being discovered by our out-of-the-box Discovery product. This is an actual printer, a Minolta "document center" tucked away in a hidden recess of the Wooden Spaceship here in Solana Beach. You can see that discovery knew it was a printer, and captured all sorts of good information about it (including 14 different supplies, most of which are below the part I captured at right). But the manufacturer is misspelled, and the model id is missing. Can we fix that?
Well of course we can, and easily. The key is the System OID, which Discovery captured and put in the short description field. The first step is to copy the system OID (that long, funny-looking number: "1.3.6.1.4.1.18334.1.1.1.2.1.20.3.3") into your clipboard. Got it? Good. Now go to Discovery Definition → SNMP System OIDs. For the Go to box, select OID. Paste in the captured system OID from your clipboard and hit enter — and voila! Your system OID is already in the list (see at left) — but it's wrong!
At this point, there are two possible paths. In our case, the system OID is already in the table, but it's wrong — so we're going to go fix it. The other path is when the system OID is not there at all, in which case you just need to create a new entry in the table. In both cases, the next step is in the SNMP OID Classification form.
In our case, I drilled into the existing record. Then I set the manufacturer and model to the correct values (see form at right), and clicked update. At this point, we've told Discovery how to classify this printer — but we haven't actually done it yet. Nothing will change on the printer until after it is discovered again.
Being an impatient sort of fellow, I didn't want to wait for Discovery to run tomorrow — so I started a manual discovery. A couple of minutes later, shazzam!: the printer now has the correct manufacturer and model number (see form at left).
Most likely your organization has a manageable number of different makes and models of printers and network gear. You can have every one of them classified accurately by following these simple steps for each make and model you have. Once you've got 'em all in, then the only time you'll need to visit this again is when you first start using a new make and model...
