In June, 2020 the Network Management System (NMS) based on open source Zabbix software became available for ELVA-1 customers. This tool is provided free-of-charge to ELVA-1 customers upon request by email.
NMS, a Network Management System, is an important tool for network admins to collect information about network devices (which are called Nodes). Modern NMS presents nodes in an easy to understand and accessible graphical manner to help admin quickly identify and remediate problems.
Zabbix is a popular tool within the telecom industry to facilitate discovery, monitoring and tracking the status of network equipment, including wireless radio links. Zabbix software is an open-source and allows to develop add-on features to expand the basic set of Zabbix capabilities.
ELVA-1 developers have prepared add-on software modules for Zabbix that allow centralized management of PPC-10G mm-wave links for all bands. Thus, a network management system based on open source Zabbix software is now available for ELVA-1 customers.
The NMS allows to perform the following actions for a network containing PPC-10G mm-wave links:
- Auto-discovery of the network
- Upgrade the PPC-10G firmware remotely
- Change device parameters, such as name, IP address, admin login & passwords
- Generate network reports
- Display live operational statistics of the radios
- Set up network alarms based on specific parameters
- Backup and restore PPC-10G configuration
A pre-configured ISO image with Linux operating system and Zabbix NMS with ELVA-1 add-ons specific for PPC-10G wireless links are provided for operators, suitable for deployment on a virtual server. To integrate Zabbix-based NMS into another NMS deployed at the operator side, the Northbound interface (NBI) is used. The NBI allows the application to aggregate the details of the low-level parameters and events within the hierarchical NMS system and to present these data to the higher-level architecture.
The PPC-10G family has built-in support for SNMP v2 with MIB, allowing these radios to connect to Zabbix monitoring system without Zabbix agent. SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is a protocol used to manage devices on an IP network. Each management or monitoring object (OID) in the network device is assigned with a unique number. All information is stored in the form of OID numbers and descriptions in the MIB file (Management Information Base), which is compatible with all PPC-10G models. Zabbix templates were developed to configure PPC-10G nodes. These templates come with pre-configured elements, such as event triggers and low-level discovery rules on the network.
The Zabbix-based NMS system significantly improves the usability of all PPC-10G models. Network administrators can configure the parameters of each radio using intuitive Zabbix tools, without accessing the web interface of individual radios, and without using other utilities, such as FTP or Telnet. The Zabbix-based NMS offers a convenient way to update the PPC firmware and perform other mass actions on networks with multiple ELVA-1 radios.
In addition to monitoring traditional network devices, Zabbix is widely used for monitoring and managing various IoT devices, such as IP cameras, sensors, smart parking systems, traffic control, street lighting, etc. IoT devices are actively used in security, transport, agriculture, and other industrial applications. All these IoT devices can be accessed by means of wireless, so managing ELVA-1 PPC-10G radio links would be simple and easy to do within such networks.
Zabbix-based network monitoring and management tools are provided free-of-charge to ELVA-1 customers upon request by email to support@elva-1.com. For customers requiring extensive and dedicated assistance in deployment and configuration of Zabbix system for PPC-10G, such support service is provided on a paid basis.
