An attribute is a tag that can be added to a device to help further identify it and for the system to track additional workflows. Attributes can be added automatically by the system through device template configuration or added manually later by the user. Please note, other plugins/modules other than discovery, such as Configuration Management and Wireless, can also assign attributes to a device to track or identify it. While creating or editing a role or Sub Role, it is possible to assign device attributes that may contain four types of variables and a constant value which will be visible in the Attributes section of Device Properties once the role or sub role has been assigned.
  • Discovery Variables
  • InfoSet Variables
  • WMI Variables
  • SNMP Variables
  • Constant Value

To assign an attribute to a role or sub role, users can create a new, or edit an existing role or sub role. Then, it's possible to add a new attribute to the role or sub role from the Attributes tab.

Discovery Variables

Discovery Variables are predefined variables within WhatsUp Gold that are comprised of data collected during the discovery process

Discovery % variables can be selected from a pre-defined list and are based on information collected during the discovery process

Example: %Discovery.Device.OS will return the Device Operating System that was determined during the discovery scan

Discovery % variables consist of information collected from the device from many different sources

InfoSet Variables

An InfoSet is information already collected from devices during discovery and stored in the database. We can use this information to add InfoSet variables to devices so that devices do not need to be rescanned or reduce the number of times data needs to be requested.

Base Format: %Discovery.InfoSet[InfoSetName/InfoSetPath] where InfoSetName is the data grouping name for the data and InfoSetPath is the path within the xml data grouping for the data.

Example: %Discovery.Infoset[system/system/system-oid] will return the system OID

Additional InfoSet Examples:

  • detected-oids/detected-oids/oid
  • device-details/device-details/brand-name
  • device-details/device-details/ip
  • system/system/system-name
  • system/system/system-up-time
  • virt-vc-machine /virt-vc-machine/guest-state
Note: InfoSet variables are advanced variables, and more are available upon request.

WMI Variables

Users can write custom WMI queries that retrieve device specific information over WMI protocol

Base format: %Discovery.WMI[NameSpace,WMIQuery] where NameSpace and WMIQuery is the value to be retrieved from the device.

Example: %Discovery.WMI[\ROOT\CIMV2 select Name from Win32_ComputerSystem]

where \ROOT\CIMV2 is the NameSpace and Select Name from Win32_ComputerSystem is the query that will retrieve the ComputerName from the Provided NameSpace.

Please note, WhatsUp Gold will not be able to validate these queries. WMIQuery should only return one value

SNMP Variables

Users can utilize SNMP variables that will retrieve values based on OID’s

Base format: %Discovery.SNMP[OID] where OID is the object ID value to be retrieved from the device.

Example: %Discovery.SNMP[1.3.6.1.4.1.12196.13.0.10.0]

This example will populate the given OID, if a value has been collected

Note: WhatsUp Gold will not be able to validate these queries. SNMP OID should only return one value (not a table)

Constant Value

Users can define their own attributes by giving the attribute a name and a value of their choosing i.e. You do not have to use the variable types mentioned previously.

This attribute will then be applied to all devices that match the role or sub role on which the attribute has been created on.

Note: Its also possible to tell the system NOT to create the attribute, if the attributes value, once evaluated, returns an empty value.

For example, if you attempt to add an SNMP attribute to a Windows device that does not support SNMP, without the check box ticked the attribute will be added with an empty value.

Note: Once the attribute has been added, it will never be deleted, even on a re-scan if it is no longer applicable.