Topology Nodes Classified as Unidentified or Unknown

Last Modified

Mon Nov 30 16:48 GMT 2020

Description

  • Unknown or unidentified nodes are nodes for which the Topology Map found some data (IP address, MAC address, or sysName) in CDP, LLDP, or routing tables.
  • These nodes are 'unknown/unidentified' because they have no 'real data'.
  • In the map you can choose to show all unidentified spokes (one connection), unidentified nodes that connect two or more normal nodes (more than one connection), both or neither.
  • Cases that produce 'unknown/unidentified' nodes:
    • Device provides Next Hop IP address (routing table) which was not known (does not match with known IP addresses),
    • Device provides CDP or LLDP record with a "new" (previously unknown) device id (sysname, mac, serial, combination of those),
    • Device provides Bridge table records which indicate several different connections on the same port.
      • If NTM cannot determine which connection is physical it generates a virtual node with this naming convention: 'Unidentified_{nodeid}'.

Environment

  • N-able N-central with Topology Mapping

Solution

  • Topology can promote an unknown/unidentified node to an identified node via the following:
    • If you verify that the node is within the discovery range and can be polled correctly.
    • If you re-scan the range and the rediscovery includes a match with the unidentified node.