Q: I want to emulate some network devices to use with System Center Operations Manager 2012 network monitoring capability--what can I use?

A:System Center Operations Manager 2012 (OpsMgr) offers several new features. Two of the major ones are Application Performance Monitoring (formallyknown as AviCode) and network device discovery and monitoring.

To test the network monitoring feature, I originally scouted around eBay and bought a Cisco 1600 series router for around $30. However, Irecently found a free network device simulator at Jalasoft,  which, once running, allowsseveral devices to be simulated. They can then be discovered and monitored with Operations Manager 2012.

Once the network simulator is downloaded and installed, there are a few steps to get it running. First, don't run it on theOperations Manager server; run it on a spare virtual machine (VM). Next, for every simulated network device, add a new IP address to the networkadapter on the OS.

I have four simulated network devices, so I added four additional IP addresses. Open Network Connections, select your network adapter, selectProperties, then select Internet Protocol Version 4. Select Advanced, and under IP addresses, click Add; enter the additional IP addresses, then clickOK to all dialog boxes (see screen shot below).

Next, you need to add a host record and reverse PTR record for each IP address with a unique name (this seems to help Operations Manager cope withmultiple devices on the same MAC). This is done in DNS, and you need a reverse Lookup Zone for the reverse PTR to be created in (see screen shotbelow).

Now the simulator can be started, and you can add multiple instances of devices, each using one of the new IP addresses you added. Select a Categoryfrom the drop-down menu, then select a Model, and select Load. Then right-click the device in the Loaded dumps section, and select Simulate Device, andselect the IP address. The devices can then be started using the Start or Start All action (see screen shot below).

Within Operations Manager 2012, create a new Discovery Rule under Administration workspace, Network Management, Discovery Rules, and configure it forthe right IP addresses and community string (public). After a period of time, the new devices should show, and their health reporting should displayunder Monitoring, Network Monitoring, Network Devices. The Network Node Dashboard gives a nice view, as the screen shot below shows. I have seen thatsometimes a device doesn't show, but the majority should. 

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