N-View
Your
network at a glance
Tutorial (Version 2.9)
I apologize for my poor English!
All dialogs in N-View are in English only. Nevertheless some functions depend on the language version of its host operating system, when running on Windows (See 1.4 below). Up to now the language versions German, English, Czech, Polish, Dutch, Finnish, Danish, Italian, French, Swedish, Norwegian and Japanese are supported and tested. If You want to support my work including further language versions or if You experience problems discovering hosts in Your Network, please send me the "PingDiscover.log" file, created by N-View.
N-View is Java based and can be deployed on all Java supporting operating systems. Therefore it needs a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) of version 1.4 or above. Java versions below 1.4 are in the current version of N-View no longer supported! This current JRE can be downloaded for free at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html for nearly all operating systems. You can also download N-View itself for Linux or Windows each in two versions (with or without JRE). The N-View "with JRE" version installs a JRE for use with N-View only and does not change the Java environment of the operating system it runs on. But it needs much more download capacity (about 20 MB) and more disk space for installation (about 40 MB).
So it is recommended, to check the Java environment of the current operating system before downloading N-View. You can find out, whether You have the required JRE version already installed by typing "java -version" on a command prompt. Check the output, given by the command, for a line containing the version of Your Java environment. In case You are not sure, simply download and install the "with JRE" version.
Download one of the Linux versions:
Unpack this file in an empty directory of Your choice (use "tar"). Change to this directory. You must have "root" privileges to install N-View. Start the script "Install.sh". The script creates a new directory "/opt/NView/" and copies all required files there. If You have KDE installed on Your system, the script copies a link to the N-View start script onto root's desktop. Please copy this link into the "KDesktop" directory in all user home directories, who may use N-View. If You have no KDE installed, You can start N-View by calling the script "/opt/NView/StartNView.sh" in a terminal window.
Download one of the Windows versions:
Start the automatic installation by double clicking this file and follow the given instructions. On Windows NT or Windows 2000/Xp You need Administrator rights to install N-View. The installation creates a new directory "\Program Files\NView\" in Your system drive and puts a shortcut "N-View" onto Your desktop. Please change its icon to the "32x32.ico" from the N-View program directory (right click, Properties, Choose File "32x32.ico") and copy this shortcut to the desktop directories of all users, who may use N-View. You can start N-View by double clicking the N-View icon.
There is currently no download "with JRE" available. Please download and install a Java runtime (JRE) from http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html. Then check by invoking the command: "java -version" in a command line whether Java is in the path and it's version is above 1.4. Please also check whether You have a program "ping" in Your system and You are permitted to start it.
If this is successful, download the file "NView.zip" from the N-View download site. Create a new directory in Your system and unpack NView.zip there. To start N-View open a command line, change to this directory and type "java -jar NView.jar".
N-View recognises not supported operating systems on start and creates a file "OsDiscover.log" in the current users home directory, containing the needed OS parameters. Please attach this file to an e-mail and send it to w.ullrich@n-view.de. I will take care of Your OS and send to You a new version of N-View as soon as possible.
Depending on the language version of Your OS, arguments and output of Your "ping" program can differ. In this case it's possible, N-View doesn't discover any hosts in Your subnet. N-View recognises an empty hosts table on closing the Subnet Properties Dialog. In this case N-View asks, if it should create a file "PingDiscover.log", containing the required parameters of Your "ping" in Your home directory. Pleas answer "yes", attach this file to an e-mail and send it to w.ullrich@n-view.de. I will take care of Your "ping" and send to You a new version of N-View as soon as possible.
In case You have a proper running version of N-View installed and want to upgrade, it's not necessary to download the whole installation. Please download the file "NView-Update.zip" only and extract it into the installation directory of Your N-View, overwriting older files.
If You wish to uninstall N-View, start the N-View uninstall script ("UnInstall.bat" on Windows or "UnInstall.sh" on Linux) on a command prompt in the N-View program directory. This will remove all N-View files from Your system. Alternatively You can simply delete this directory and possible shortcuts to N-View completely. N-View does not change or create any registry settings or other config files of Your operating system.
After start-up, N-View opens two windows: A terminal window for debug outputs and error messages and the GUI window. The terminal window maybe minimized in normal operation.
N-View uses the program "ping" of the operating system to send ICMP packets. Please note, that all users need execution access to "ping" for using N-View. In Windows this is by default enabled. In Linux or Unix systems You may need to use "setuid" on "ping".
Start N-View and open the "Network Properties"
dialog by choosing "View | Settings" or clicking the icon .
First You should give a name to Your network. (field "Main Window
Label").
N-View provides automatic e-mail messages, if a host in Your network fails to respond. Configure at "Smtp server", "Sender (From)", "Recipient (To)", "CC" and "BCC" Your e-mail connection and click "Send Test Message". If Your configuration is correctly, the recipients will get a test e-mail.
N-View will show an icon for each configured subnet in its main window. This icons can be dragged to any position on the screen. You can load any graphic file to be displayed as a background picture of the main window. Check "Enable Background Picture" and choose an image file (*.gif or *.jpg). You can also test this feature by loading the "Germany.gif" file from the N-View program directory.
N-View uses MSIE on Windows or Netscape on Linux for displaying HTML pages. If You want to use another browser, please enable "Custom Command" and fill in the start-command into the text field.
If "Generate HTML Pages" is checked, N-View creates a graphic file "Sub_<n>.gif" for the main window and each subnet window, containing their current screen content. For displaying this information in a browser, additional simple HTML frame pages with links to this pictures are generated. In the field "Destination Path" the destination of these files can be chosen.
N-View provides no HTML server. To enable users in Your network to access this information with their browsers, You should install a HTML server and choose its document root as the destination path for N-View's dynamic pages. It's not important, on which host this HTML server is running in Your network. But You may ensure, N-View has write permissions to the document root of this server.
On the second tab of "Network Settings" the output of log information can be configured. In the top section has to be chosen, whether log information should be created and where it has to be put out to. In the middle section the events to be logged can be chosen. In the bottom section the fields for output and a field separator are chosen. The field separator character can be chosen from a menu or created as an individual string, containing an arbitrary number of characters.
Log files, created this way, can be imported into any database or table calculator program, using a text file import function there, and can further being computed in any kind.
On the third tab of "Network Settings", advanced settings can be made. Unlike all other settings, these become already effective during program startup before loading a stored network configuration (*.nvw file).
Under "Set Look&Feel to" the appearance of the program can be selected. Which Look&Feels are selectable, depends on the operating system and the current Java version. On Windows systems the Look&Feels "Windows", "Metal" and "CDE/Motiv" are available. On Linux systems "Metal", "CDE/Motiv" and off Java version 1.4.2 "GTK+" are selectable. The selected Look&Feel can be tested with "Apply". Please note: Due to a bug in JRE1.4.2 the background color of text fields is corrupted with GTK+ Look&Feel.
A configuration file to automatically be loaded at program startup can, be setup in the next section.
With the "Debug Mode" check box, a verbose debug output to the terminal window at startup can be forced. This setting shall help to fix problems with program startup. This output is subject to be changed to the current requirements in future versions without any announcement. Please use this only for fault localization in cooperation with the N-View support.
The check box "Startup with Fullscreen" forces the program to start always in maximized window mode.
Please click on "Apply Settings to next Startup" for the current settings to take effect at next program startup.
For each monitored subnet N-View displays a subnet window
and an icon in the main window. Create a subnet by choosing "Subnet | New
Subnet" or clicking the icon
on the toolbar. You will get a "Subnet Properties Dialog".
In the "Subnet Properties" dialog You can put in a name for Your subnet in the "Subnet Label" field. You can also choose an icon for Your subnet to be displayed on the main window.
In the Icon Chooser You can find a "Custom" button. You can choose arbitrary more icons there. By double clicking this button, a file dialog appears, where any image files in GIF, JPG or PNG format can be chosen. Also "animated GIFs" are possible.
Please choose 3 pictures for the 3 possible states of the subnet or host (green, yellow, red -- see 6.6 below) and click OK. By one click on the "Custom" button the chosen picture is used as an icon in the display.
This way chosen pictures are displayed in their original size up to a format of 160x120 pixel. Larger pictures are automatically resized to fit this format, while their original aspect ration is kept.
Please note:
Resizing pictures requires significant additional CPU load. If You want to use many "Custom" icons, it is recommended to resize them with a picture editor to fit 160x120 pixel, before usage.
Like in the main window, You can display a background picture in any subnet window. Check "Enable Background Picture" and choose an image file (*.gif or *.jpg). You can also test this feature by loading the "Floorplan.gif" file from the N-View program directory.
Now put in an IP address and a subnet mask (number of bits of the network part) of a network that can be reached from Your PC under "Subnet Address / Mask".
N-View discovers hosts in Your subnet by sending ICMP packets (ping) and listening for responses. From "Discovery Timeout" depends, how long N-View waits for a response. If "Resolve Hostnames" is checked, N-View resolves hostnames with a reverse DNS lookup. If no DNS is available at Your network, please uncheck this box, to avoid N-View waiting for DNS timeouts. "Check Interval" means how often host responses will be checked.
In the second tab of the Subnet Properties Dialog ("Host Defaults") you can choose the default settings, that will be predefined to all discovered hosts. "Default Warn Delay" is the response delay after that a host icon will change from "green" to "yellow" and, if enabled, a warn mail will be sent. "Default Timeout" is the maximum delay for a host response. If exceeded the host icon will change to "red" and, if enabled, a fault mail will be sent. The "Default Mail Recipient" will be predefined as the recipient for this messages and can be changed in the "Host Properties" dialog. With the check boxes "Signaling", "Auto Hide" and "Auto Remove" these settings will be predefined in the "Host Properties" (see there) of all new discovered hosts. Under SMNP You can setup the default-values "read community" and "write community" for the SMNP-access to hosts.
Now click "Start" (in the "Settings"-tab). You can watch the progress of the scan in the progress bar. In the table You get an entry for each discovered host.
By checking the box "Auto Arrange Icons", You can arrange all host icons automatically as circle in the subnet window.
Now click "OK". You get a new window for Your subnet with an icon for each discovered host and if chosen a background picture in it. You get also an icon for Your new subnet in the main window.
If You have unchecked "Auto Arrange Icons" in Your "Subnet Properties", host icons can be dragged to any position. Otherwise they are automatically arranged as a circle. By double clicking the subnet icon (in the centre of the subnet window or in the main window) You can get the "Subnet Properties" dialog again.
All hosts, belonging to that subnet, are listed in the hosts table of "Subnet Properties". Here can be manipulated the behaviour of host icons individually. With the entry in column "Fault Mail" You can decide, whether or not on timeout a mail message for this host is sent. The column "Signaling" activates or deactivates the change of the subnet icon colour, when this host times out. The column "Hidden" decides whether or not a host is displayed in the subnet display. Also "Autohide" and "Autoremove" (See 5.4) can be enabled/disabled in the table.
In the third tab of the Subnet Properties Dialog ("Remarks") you can achieve an editable text field. An arbitrary text can be registered here. The registered text will appear as popup window next to the subnet icon, when the mouse pointer is positioned over the subnet icon. By deactivating the "Popup on Display..." check box, this automatic popup can be disabled. Under "...after X Seconds" a value between 1 and 10 may be entered, that determines the delay of the popup after positioning the mouse pointer over the icon.
By double clicking a host icon, You can get its "Host Properties" dialog.
In the "Host Properties" dialog You can choose a host icon and put in a host label ("Label Text"). If You check "Show Hostname", the DNS name or the IP address will be displayed below the hosts icon.
With the "Custom" button one can choose arbitrary image files to be used as icons for a host in the same way, like described in the "Subnet" section (see 4.1).
If "Warn Delay" is exceeded, the hosts icon will change to "yellow" and if enabled a warn mail will be sent. If "Timeout" is exceeded, the hosts icon will change to "red" and if enabled a fault mail will be sent.
In the "Last Check" and "Last
Seen" fields you can find the date and time, when this host was last time
"pinged" and when the last response was received.
Check "Send Mail on Warnings", if You want warn mails to be sent. Check "Send Mail on Timeouts", if You want fault mails to be sent. In the "Email Address" field You can give an individual mail recipient for each host.
Is "Autohide" checked, this host will be set to "hidden", if it doesn't respond for a defined amount of time. This means, it will not be displayed until it responses again. The delay for "Autohide" can be set from 1 minute to 30000 minutes. This should be applied to "unimportant" hosts, that are often down. This way You get a better overview in the subnet display. Displaying of "hidden" Hosts can be enabled/disabled with the check box "Show hidden Hosts" in the Toolbar of N-View.
"Autoremove" removes this host from the subnet display completely after a delay, if it doesn't respond. The delay can be set from 1 hour to 30000 hours. This feature is useful in subnets, where the address assignment is done by a DHCP server. If the delay is set according to the "lease timeout" of the DHCP server, hosts will be automatic removed from the subnet, if they get a different address. If You set "Discover new Adresses" in the "Subnet Properties", such hosts will automatic being displayed with their new address, if they appear again.
In the second tab of the Host Properties Dialog You can reach a port scanner. It scans the current host for open TCP- and UDP-ports. Choose a range for the port numbers to scan, choose a protocol (TCP and/or UDP) and click "Start".
PLEASE NOTE: Some system admins don't want their hosts to be scanned for open ports! They see it as an attack against their security. So don't be nasty. Scan Your own hosts only!
In case You scan against a host, that is secured by a firewall, the port scanner has to wait for a timeout of some seconds for each protected port. This procedure can take a while!
If You choose "Cyclic Check open Ports", at each "Scan Intervall" (Subnet Properties) all ports, listed in the table, are checked to be still open. If You check "Send Mail on Changes" a mail message to "E-Mail Address" (1st Tab) will be sent on port status changes.
The Column "Signaling" determines, whether a port is included into the port status signaling procedure. This column is editable. When "Signaling" is checked, each status change of this port is reported by mail (when enabled) and a message "Port(s) fail" is shown next to the host icon and the subnet icon, when this port is closed. When "Signaling" is unchecked, the status of this port is ignored in port status signaling.
By right clicking into the table, a context menu is reached. By this menu, ports can be manually included, removed from the table or edited. This way ports can be added, even if they were not open, when portscan was performed, but should be watched in the future. By double clicking a port entry, a "Port Properties" dialog will open. There can be some port properties be changed. Specially the "Service" field can be changed to an individual string this way.
If configured, You can make Telnet- or HTTP connections to hosts directly from N-View. So it's possible to manage network printers, switches, hubs or Linux/Unix machines. The configuration menu for host connections is available on the third tab of the "Host Properties" dialog. You can configure, activate and test telnet- and HTTP connections. Also You can choose, which action by double clicking a host icon should be taken. By default, start of the "Host Settings" dialog is checked, so the "Host Properties Dialog" will be started. If You check "Telnet Client", the telnet client with the configured settings will be started by double clicking the host icon. Also You can activate "Http Browser", so the default browser of Your System is started by double clicking the host icon.
Under "Host Connections" also for each host a call to an arbitrary external program can be configured. This way You can configure a SSH connection to that host and start it by double clicking the host icon. Include the full path to the external program (with all necessary arguments) into the field "Command line" and activate "Enable external Command".
If You provide a username and password in the telnet configuration, You will be automatic logged on into the host after connecting per telnet. Please note: Passwords are stored as plain text in N-View configuration files (*.nvw)!
In the fourth tab of the Host Properties Dialog You can get the SNMPv1 client. It provides functions for sending SNMP requests to this host. In the "Community" field must be entered an available community name. If a SNMP agent on the host is running and answering requests, the results are displayed in the "Object Identifier", "Object Type" and "Value" fields. If You click "Description", You can get a description of the chosen Object. Click "Get all" for requesting all available SNMPv1 objects of this host.
The received Mib-2 objects can be selected in the tree structure in the window below. If "Store Object IDs" is checked, this tree structure (not the values) will be saved, when the Host Properties Dialog is closed. On opening this dialog again, the tree structure will be restored. Depending on the number of entries, this can take a very long time. While restoring the tree structure, the OK button and Cancel button are disabled.
If "Receive SNMP Traps" in the N-View main window is checked, SNMP traps from hosts can be received. Check "Popup Trap Messages", if You want to get a popup window on receiving a trap from this host. If You check "Send Mail on Trap Messages", an e-mail message will be sent to the chosen recipient, if a trap message from this host arrives.
Please note: You must be permitted for receiving SNMP traps (listen on UDP port 162) in Your operating system. If this permission is denied, the check box "Receive SNMP Traps" in the N-View toolbar will be disabled. The trap sending host has also to be configured for sending traps to Your N-View host as a trap receiver.
SNMP functions of N-View are based on IBM's freeware SNMP protocol bean (SNMPProtocol.jar).
In the fifth tab of the Host Properties Dialog You can set up "Traffic Graphs" for all network interfaces of this host. Please note: This feature requires a SNMPv1 agent running on this host. If You check "Sample traffic for this host" a list of the host's network interfaces will be displayed in the table, provided the host responds to SNMP requests and the "Community" is set properly.
The "Sample interval" can be set from 1 minute to 60 minutes. Because the total number of samples is fixed to 288, the displayed time range (in the graph) can vary between 4 hours 48 minutes (1 minute interval) and 12 days (60 minute interval). The default value of sample interval is 5 minutes. This means, the traffic graph will show 288 samples with the 5 minute average traffic over the last 24 hours.
Each entry in the table represents a network interface of this host. The column "Interface" contains the interface name provided by the SNMP agent. The column "Label" is generated from the first 20 characters of this name and can be arbitrary edited by double clicking into the field and typing an interface name of Your choice (it will be displayed in the traffic graph). Check "Display Traffic Graph" to display a graph for this interface. This graph will be displayed on the Subnet Window. If You want the graph to be displayed on the Main Window instead, check "On main Window" too.
By closing the "Host Properties Dialog" an empty traffic graph will be displayed for each configured interface (vertical arranged on the right edge of the chosen window). You can drag these graph to any position on the screen, left click to zoom in or right click to zoom out.
PLEASE NOTE: The first sample will be displayed after 2 sample intervals. So, if You have configured the sample interval to be 60 minutes, the first sample will be displayed AFTER 2 HOURS.
The traffic is displayed as blue line (for outgoing) and green area (for incoming), linear in bits per second. Incoming and outgoing are defined to be seen from the view of the host the interface belongs to. In case of missing samples (host could not be reached or SNMP agent was down), a vertical red line is displayed for each missing sample.
In the sixth tab of the Host Properties Dialog ("Remarks") you can achieve an editable text field. The functions for input and displaying of this text are analogously to the subnet as described under 4.8.
If "Discover new Addresses" is chosen, in each check interval the subnet address range will be scanned for new hosts. If "Check Response" is chosen, only known hosts responses will be checked.
If You want all hosts of a subnet to be removed and new
scanned, choose "Delete and Discover New" and click
"Start". In normal operation (cyclic scanning), this is identical to
"Check Response".
If You want a host not to be displayed, check "Hide This Host" in the "Host Properties". To display this host again, open "Subnet Properties", right click this hosts entry in the table, open its "Host Properties" and uncheck "Hide This Host".
By right clicking a hosts entry in the table
("Subnet Properties") You can get a context menu, witch allows You
to remove that host or add a new host.
Text lines for mail messages can be configured in the "Subject" fields in the "Host Properties" dialog.
Click with the right mouse button on any icon, so You will get a context menu. Here You can remove all lines to this icon or draw new lines to other icons. This way You can adapt the subnet-display or the main-window to You real network structure.
By menu "Window | Cascade" or clicking at the
icon You can choose the main window and all subnet windows to be displayed as
cascaded windows. The windows can be moved and resized. By menu "Window |
Tabbed" or clicking at the
icon the
standard (tabbed windows) will be displayed.
By menu "File | Save" or "File | Save
As" or clicking the or
icon You can save Your settings in an file. This way saved settings can be
restored by menu "File | Open" or clicking the
icon.
N-View checks host responses cyclic with the "Check Interval" (Subnet Properties). If a host responds in less than "Warn Delay" time, its icon will be displayed "green". If "Check Interval" is exceeded, the icon changes to "yellow". If the host sends no response until "Timeout", the icon changes to "red". If at least one host has a timeout, the subnet's icon changes to "yellow". If no hosts of a subnet sends a response, the subnet's icon changes to "red". If You want a host to have NO effect (timeout or delay) to subnet status signaling (colour change of subnet icon), uncheck "Include this Host in Subnet Signaling" in Host Properties.
In case You have checked "Cyclic Check open Ports" in a hosts port scanner, the string "PORTS OK" or "PORT(s) FAIL" is displayed beside the host's and the subnet's icon, depending on the port status.
With menu "File | Print"
or clicking the icon
network diagrams can be printed. One page for each window (main window and
subnet windows) is put out on the chosen printer, in the same view, they are
shown on the screen. The diagrams are scaled and rotated automatically for
best fitting the printed page format.
The results depend on window size, screen resolution and chosen view (tabbed or cascaded windows) of N-View. Best results can be attained with maximized N-View on a screen resolution 1024 x 768 with "tabbed" view.
In case You have registered for a 30-day evaluation license or purchased a permanent license, You will get an e-mail, containing an activation number and a license file "NViewLicense.nvl". To activate Your license, do the following:
1. Save the attached license file "NViewLicense.nvl" to any location on Your hard disk.
2. Start N-View and choose "Help | Licensing".
3. Activate the box "Activate License".
4. Fill in the "Activation Number" (13 digits), You've got with the mail.
5. Choose the file "NViewLicense.nvl", You have stored to Your hard disk.
6. Click "OK".
If N-View now shows Your name and e-mail address in its status bar, activation has be done.
If You experience any problem with activating Your license, please contact support@n-view.de for help.
Please provide Your name, the e-mail address and the activation number of Your N-View license.
Please note: Support questions are answered only to e-mail addresses, the N-View license is generated for.
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