Test/Demo OpsMgr 2012 network monitoring with Jalasoft’s network device simulator

Testing the functionality of the network monitoring components of OpsMgr is pretty simple, when you have access to a lot of switch, router, and firewall equipment, and can get past the SNMP strings and access lists.  But what if you have this in a lab, and don’t have full access to all that equipment?

Simple – use the Jalasoft Xian SNMP Simulator V2 from https://www.jalasoft.com

 

The installation is simple, just run setup.  Soon you have the UI:

image

 

The trick is to install this application on some server or desktop that isn't your OpsMgr server.  Then you will need to add an additional IP address for each network device you want to simulate (if you want multiple running at the same time)

image

 

Then – in DNS – add a static A record and a reverse PTR record for each IP, with a name:

 

image

 

Once you have these working (verify with a ping and ping –a) you can configure jalasoft.

Under Repository – select the device class, then the model, and click LOAD.

image

 

Right click under “Loaded dumps” – for the category and model you want to fire up, and choose “Simulate Device”

Pick the IP address for this device that you created a DNS entry for, and click OK.

 

image

 

Now right click the device, and choose START.  It will switch from “stopped” to “running”

 

At this point the device is up and running with SNMP.  It isn't a full blown simulator that supports telnet, or running a fake OS, it is simply supporting SNMP capabilities similar to the actual device.  Now you can follow my walk-thru of discovering this network device using the name or IP:

https://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2011/07/21/opsmgr-2012-discovering-a-network-device.aspx

 

image

 

image