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Metadata Quick Start Guide

SevOne Documentation

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About

Metadata is data that provides information about other data, but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. With Microsoft Word, metadata makes it easy to find details about the author's user name, when a file was created and last modified, the file size, the total editing time, etc. For MP3 files, metadata allows you to view and edit information about tracks, such as the song title, artist's name, album title, release year, and track number. Social media also uses metadata.

SevOne NMS also uses metadata for device names, names of peers polling devices, number of objects, and object names. SevOne NMS allows you to create custom metadata attributes for your devices, objects, device groups, device types, and object groups.

This document discusses the following topics.

Create namespaces and metadata attributes
Populate metadata attributes
Create a report on metadata attributes

SevOne Metadata

SevOne's Metadata features give you flexibility to specify exactly what information you would like to include. You can say just about anything you want about a given device, object, device group, device type, or object group. You can use metadata attributes to provide site locations, software version information, IP addresses, MAC addresses, local contact information, and serial numbers, along with other details. You can even create a metadata attribute to describe the color of your devices!

The following are just a few examples of information you can include for all your company's routers, switches, servers, etc., using metadata.

Location
Contact person
Contact phone
Clickable link to service records
IP address
MAC address
Serial number
Installation date
Software version

Another great benefit of SevOne Metadata is instant access to important information. If you notice a problem with a router, you can instantly view all the essential information for it. If the router is at a remote location, and you need a reset, you immediately know where the router is located. You also know who to call and how to reach them. The information is readily available and there is no need to open a separate application for this.

Configuration

Please refer to SevOne NMS System Administration Guide > section Metadata Schema for details on how to create metadata namespace(s) and attributes.

After creating attributes for metadata namespace(s), the attributes need to be populated with meaningful data so that a report can be created based on the metadata attributes.

Populate Metadata Attributes

This section describes how to populate the metadata attributes created with meaningful data.

From the navigation bar, click Devices and select Device Manager.
Select one or more devices and click to display the Edit Metadata pop-up for it.

You can edit metadata values for multiple devices at the same time. First, select the check boxes for the devices. In the upper left corner of the table, click and select Tools, then Edit Metadata. The Edit Metadata pop-up appears, enabling you to edit metadata values for all of the selected devices.
Under the namespace, locate the attribute name you created. For example, in section Metadata Schema (in SevOne NMS System Administration Guide), the example shows that namespace, ns, has an attribute Site Location.
Click to edit the values for Site Location.
In the Latitude field, you must enter a decimal value between -90.00 and 90.00. For our example, 32.7833.
In the Longitude field, you must enter a decimal value between -180.00 and 180.00. For example, 79.9333.
Click Update to apply the changes.
Locate the Site Contact Phone attribute and click to edit the value for it. For example, 843-555-5309.
Click Update.
Locate the Service Record attribute and click to edit the values for it.
In the Link display text field, enter a name for the link. For example, Service Record for localhost.
In the URL field, enter a URL for the link. You can enter any working URL for the example.
Click Update.
Before continuing, click the link for the URL (for example, Service Record for localhost) to confirm that the URL is correct.
Click Save.

Create a Report on Metadata Attributes

Create a report for example, TopN, for the device populated in the section above. The report results will show the Most utilized Interfaces along with metadata information for the device.

From the navigation bar, click Reports and select Create Report.
The Sources page is set to TopN by default. That's what we want. Click Next.
On the Resources page, click the Type drop-down and select Device.
Click the Device drop-down and select the device that you edited metadata values for in the previous section. For example, localhost.
On the left side of the page, click Visualizations to jump ahead to the Visualizations page.
The Table visualization should be selected by default. Click to view the Table settings.
To the right of Columns, you will see two lists of columns - Available and Using. Under Available, scroll down until you see the namespace you created earlier. For example, namespace ns. Below the namespace, you will see the namespace's attributes available as columns.
Select all of the rows under your namespace: Service Record, Site Contact Phone, and Site Location.
Click to add the rows to Using.
Click Finish.
Your TopN report results will include the Site Contact Phone and Site Location coordinates for the device along with a link to the device's Service Record.

Terms

Attribute	In the context of SevOne NMS metadata, a piece of information that specifies the expected input for a field.
Metadata	Data that describes other data.
Namespace	In the context of SevOne NMS metadata, a grouping or collection of metadata attributes. In the context of SevOne NMS metadata, an area or category where a specific attribute can be used.