WOW! The pressure is on
me now.
I may not be seeing the forest for the trees, but let me start with the 10,000 foot (3048 meter, for those outside the USA) view.
I envision this mapping function to be a layered approach, presenting, at the highest level, a global 'push pin' map indicating sites that are being monitored. This map
could be dynamic, using color coded push pins indicate a site in distress. You could even have the pin 'grow' based on the number and type of alarms present.
All this woud start by associating each site router and it's associated VLANS to a specific location on the map - determined by street address or manually selected.
Any site level map would begin with a user supplied campus siteplan or building floorplan. This could be either a vector based drawing file (dwg/dxf) or raster file (jpg/gif) that can be 'overlayed' with site specific device data/graphics. In absense of a plan, drawing a default 'box' would be substituted. A vector based drawing file has it's advantages in that it makes it easier to pinpoint based on distance, x/y coordinates, block or layer attributes, etc. (I used to work for an Architectural firm & did some CAD automation, so I'm a bit familiar with this)
I'm envisioning this tying directly into the device discovery tool you're working on for v8
.
In that regard, tests that will go a long way in identifying candidates for mapping - ping, snmp (allow user to include OIDs/MIBs for their own devices), standard services/ports (SQLServer, IIS, DNS Server, DHCP Server - ports 80,21,25,1433,etc. - maybe also an edittable list). Of course you could present the discovery list in a sortable table, with specific device types/services grouped, and the administrator can select devices to include on the map from that list. There may even be a need for an exclusion list based on IP, range, or test result, such as port, OS, or service.
And for existing tests maybe included in a test's properties, a checkbox to include/exclude a specific test on the map. This way, later, I could include a manually added test or take a device/test off the map.
Of course this all begs for a strong, host-centric object oriented model, where tests are associated with device profiles, (sometimes multiple ) device profiles are associated with hosts, and hosts are linked to sites.
Am I on the right track, or are you seeing this differently?
BTW - I did a quick search for free/opensource delphi based mapping libraries and came up with a few.
Also, I'm just one user. Let's get these other respondants back in the hunt. I'm sure you have a way to email them from your extensive customer database without appearing to 'spam' them.
After all this did begin a few years ago, some may have forgotten about this thread, or have come up with alternatives like what
Stoltze and his company are/were doing. We can learn from his/their experience.
And if you're ready to put me on the payroll I'll even learn Delphi well enough to help.
