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7 Using Network Integrity to Review Discrepancies

This section describes how to use Oracle Communications Network Integrity to review discrepancies.

About Discrepancy Resolution

Discrepancy resolution is the process of addressing discrepancies reported by Network Integrity. For more information about how Network Integrity discovers discrepancies, see "About Discrepancy Detection".

You can configure import scans, discovery scans, and assimilation scans to automatically resolve discrepancies. See "About Automatic Discrepancy Resolution" for more information.

You can manually review, correct (in the network or inventory), ignore, and edit discrepancies manually. When manually working with discrepancies, see the following topics:

About Automatic Discrepancy Resolution

If your system administrator has enabled automatic discrepancy resolution, you can configure a manual or scheduled scan to automatically resolve discrepancies. Your system administrator has already pre-configured the types of discrepancies that can be resolved.

You can configure automatic discrepancy resolution on any scan with the Discrepancy Detection option selected.

To configure a scan to automatically resolve discrepancies, create or configure a scan and select the Detect Discrepancies and Auto Resolve Discrepancies options when defining the scan properties. The automatic discrepancy resolution process will start after discrepancy detection is complete. See "Defining Scan Properties" for more information.

Searching for Discrepancies

You can search for discrepancies using the Search pane on the Review Discrepancies page. The Search Results pane on the Review Discrepancies page displays a list of discrepancies generated by a search operation.

The default text operator is Equals. The default date condition is On or After.

To search a scan run for discrepancies:

  1. Expand the Search pane.

  2. In the Match section, select whether to generate a response that matches all of the search criteria, or a response that matches any of the search criteria by clicking All or Any.

  3. In the Restrict to Previously Selected Results section, check the box to search the set of scan results already selected on other pages, or uncheck the box to ignore them. The default is checked.

    Note:

    This option is presented only if you navigate to this page by selecting Review Discrepancies on the Manage Scans or Scan Results pages.

  4. In the Last Completed Result Only section, check the box to return information using only the most recent scan run or uncheck the box to return information using all scan results. The default is unchecked: return information using all scan results.

  5. In the Tag section, select the required tags as follows:

    1. Expand the tag group

    2. Select a single tag, or multiple tags, as required. Multiple tag selections are combined in an OR condition when the query is generated (even when Match All is selected in the Match section above). When a parent tag is selected, the children are automatically selected.

  6. In the Severity section, select the required severity as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Choose from Critical, Major, Minor, Warning.

  7. In the Status section, select the required status as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Choose the discrepancy status from:

    • Failed: This status indicates that the discrepancy resolution operation has failed.

    • Ignored: This status indicates that the discrepancy should be ignored.

    • Not Implemented: This status indicates that the operation was delivered to a scan action that did not handle it.

    • Opened (blank): This status indicates that the discrepancy has been raised. This is the default state for newly detected discrepancies.

    • Processed: This status indicates that the discrepancy resolution operation has been successfully processed.

    • Ready: This status indicates that a corrective operation has been identified for this discrepancy.

    • Received: This status indicates that the discrepancy resolution scan action has received the resolution operation, but has not yet determined the outcome.

    • Submitted: This status indicates that the discrepancy has been submitted for resolution.

  8. In the Resolution Action section, select the required resolution as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Choose the action; for example: Correct in UIM.

  9. In the Owner section, select the required owner as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the name of the discrepancy owner if known.

  10. In the Priority section, select the assigned priority as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the name of the priority if known.

  11. In the Entity Name section, select the required discrepancy name as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the name of the object on which the reconciliation has been carried out. This defaults to the object on which the scan run was done.

  12. In the Scan Result Detail Name section, select the required discrepancy name as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the name of the discrepancy result.

  13. In the Scan Name section, select the name of the required scan as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the scan name.

  14. When you have completed the configuration, carry out one of the following:

    • Click Search to carry out the search.

    • Click Reset to revert to the default search options and clear all input fields.

    • Click Save to display the Create Saved Search dialog. Enter the name of the search. Check the Run Automatically field to run the search on saving. Click OK to confirm the search creation or click Cancel to exit the dialog without saving the search.

The result of the search is displayed in the Search Results pane on the Review Discrepancies page.

Using an Advanced Search

It is possible to enhance the criteria used to search a scan run by using the Advanced search option or by adding custom fields. See "Adding Search Fields" for more information.

To use advanced features to search a scan run:

  1. Expand the Search pane on the Review Discrepancies page.

  2. Click Advanced.

  3. In the Type section

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Choose from the list of types:

      Assoc +: indicates an extra association

      Assoc -: indicates a missing association

      Assoc Order: indicates an association ordering error

      Attribute: indicates an attribute value mismatch

      Entity +: indicates an extra entity

      Entity -: indicates a missing entity

      Order: indicates an ordering error

  4. In the Attribute/Relationship section:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the attribute/relationship name.

  5. In the Submitted Time section, set the time at which the discrepancy was submitted

    1. Select the operator for the submitted time.

    2. Use the calendar to set the time.

  6. In the Last Status Change Time section, set the time at which the discrepancy status was last changed:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Use the calendar to set the time.

  7. In the Entity Type section, select the entity type as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the type of entity on which the reconciliation has been carried out.

  8. In the Corrected by section:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the name of the person who corrected the discrepancy.

  9. In the Submitted by section:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the name of the person who submitted the discrepancy.

  10. In the Parent Entity Name section, select the name of the parent entity as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the name of the parent entity.

  11. In the Parent Entity Type section, select the parent entity type as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the parent entity type.

  12. In the Discovery/Import Value section:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the inventory or discovered scan value name.

  13. In the Discovery/Import Source section:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the inventory source or discovered scan source.

  14. In the Scan Result Detail Category section, select the type of the required scan result detail as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the scan result detail type.

  15. In the Scan Start Time section, set the time at which you want to start the search of the scan results:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Use the calendar to set the time.

  16. In the Scan End Time section, set the time at which you want to end the search of the scan results:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Use the calendar to set the time.

  17. In the Discrepancy Detection End Time section, set the time at which you want to end the search of the discrepancy detection process:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Use the calendar to set the time.

  18. In the Discrepancy Detection Start Time section, set the time at which you want to start the search of the discrepancy detection process:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Use the calendar to set the time.

  19. In the Scan Type section, select the type of the required scan as follows:

    1. Select the operator.

    2. Enter the scan type.

  20. When you have completed the configuration, carry out one of the following:

    • Click Search to carry out the search.

    • Click Reset to revert to the default search options and clear all input fields.

    • Click Save to display the Create Saved Search dialog. Enter the name of the search. Check the Run Automatically field to run the search on saving. Click OK to confirm the search creation or click Cancel to exit the dialog without saving the search.

    • Click Add to define custom fields to enhance the search functionality. See "Adding Search FieldsAdding Search Fields" for more information,

The result of the search is displayed in the Search Results pane on the Review Discrepancies page.

Adding Search Fields

To add fields to enhance the search functionality:

  1. Expand the Search pane on the Scan Results page.

  2. Click Advanced.

  3. Click Add Fields.

  4. Add any required fields. Save the choices made.

  5. Carry out a new search.

Viewing Discrepancy Details: the Search Results Table

The Search Results pane on the Review Discrepancies page displays a list of discrepancies generated by a search operation.

To view the discrepancies detected during a scan, search for discrepancies. See "Searching for Discrepancies" for more information.

From the Search Results pane on the Review Discrepancies page, you can edit discrepancies, correct discrepancies, and submit discrepancy resolutions.

Related Topics:

The Search Results pane on the Review Discrepancies page displays the following information about discrepancies:

  • Scan Result Detail Name displays the name by which the scan result detail is recognized in the network and on the Entity Tree.

  • Scan Result Detail Category displays the scan result detail category.

  • Entity Name displays the name by which the object is recognized in the network and on the Entity Tree.

  • Entity Type displays the type by which the object is recognized in the network and on the Entity Tree.

  • Entity Attribute/Relationship denotes the relationship between the entity and its attribute. The attribute/relationship field is blank when the discrepancy is one of the following types:

    • Extra Entity

    • Missing Entity

    • Ordering Error

    As you can define new attributes and relationships when creating discovery and inventory cartridge packs, any values are possible. Examples might include:

    • Subnet Mask

    • Duplex

    • Serial Number

  • Discovery Value/Entity displays the value of the attribute or entity named by the Attribute/Relationship.

  • Import Value/Entity displays the value of the attribute or entity named by the Attribute/Relationship.

  • Type displays the discrepancy type:

    • Assoc +: indicates an extra association. This is equivalent to Entity +, but for a relationship not owned by the parent entity., that is, the target entity is not a dependent child. The inventory entity may or may not exist; the relationship is missing in inventory.

      this graphic shows the assoc plus discrepancy type icon

    • Assoc -: indicates a missing association. This is equivalent to Entity -, but, but for a relationship not owned by the parent entity, that is, the target entity is not a dependent child. The network entity may or may not exist; the relationship is missing in network.

    • Assoc Order: indicates an association ordering error. In some cases, ordering of associated entities is significant. This discrepancy is applied to the parent entity and indicates that matched associations appear in a different order in network and inventory.

    • Attribute: indicates an attribute value mismatch. For a given entity present in both network and inventory, a specific attribute does not have the same value. This can include the case where one or the other value is missing. Where multiple attributes on the same entity do not match, multiple discrepancies are generated.

      this graphic shows the Attribute Discrepancy Type icon

    • Entity +: indicates an extra entity, that is, an entity (and any dependent children) is present in network but not in inventory.

      this graphic shows the Entity plus discrepancy type icon

    • Entity -: indicates a missing entity, that is, an entity (and any dependent children) is present in inventory but not in network.

      this graphic shows the Entity minus discrepancy type icon

    • Order: indicates an ordering error. In some cases, ordering of child entities is significant. This discrepancy is applied to the parent entity and indicates that matched entities appear in a different order in network and inventory.

  • Severity lists discrepancies in decreasing order of color-coded severity:

    • Critical (C)

      this graphic shows the critical severity icon

    • Major (M)

      this graphic shows the major severity icon

    • Minor (m)

      this graphic shows the minor severity icon

    • Warning (w)

      this graphic shows the warning severity icon

  • Priority displays the priority for a particular discrepancy in this field.

  • Resolution Action indicates where the discrepancy has been resolved:

    • In inventory

    • In the network

    • In an external system

  • Status displays discrepancy status:

    • Failed: This status indicates that the discrepancy resolution operation has failed. You take no action with a discrepancy of this status.

    • Ignored: This status indicates that the discrepancy should be ignored. Right-click the discrepancy and select Ignore.

    • Not Implemented: This status indicates that the operation was delivered to a scan action that could not resolve it because resolution for this type of entity is not supported. You take no action with a discrepancy of this status.

    • Opened (blank): This status indicates that the discrepancy has been raised. This is the default state for newly detected discrepancies. You take no action with a discrepancy of this status.

    • Processed: This status indicates that the discrepancy resolution operation has been successfully processed. You take no action with a discrepancy of this status.

    • Ready: This status indicates that a corrective operation has been identified for this discrepancy. Right-click the discrepancy and select one of the following:

      • Correct Inventory

      • Correct Network

      • Send to External System

    • Received: This status indicates that the discrepancy resolution scan action has received the resolution operation, but has not yet determined the outcome. You take no action with a discrepancy of this status.

    • Submitted: This status indicates that the discrepancy has been submitted for resolution. You take no action with a discrepancy of this status.

  • Owner identifies the person responsible for the discrepancy.

  • Discovery Source displays the name of the discovery source in which this discrepancy is present.

  • Import Source displays the name of the import source in which this discrepancy is present.

Editing Discrepancies

The actions available when editing discrepancies depend whether you are:

Editing a Single Discrepancy

To edit a single discrepancy:

  1. Select the discrepancy you wish to edit in the Search Results table.

  2. From the Actions menu at the top of the table, select Edit, or right-click the discrepancy and select Edit.

  3. Carry out the following:

    1. Assign the person responsible for the discrepancy in the Owner field.

    2. Edit the Priority field for the discrepancy.

    3. Edit the Notes field to add extra information about the discrepancy.

      When you create a note, a note icon is added to the Notes field for the discrepancy, indicating the presence of Notes text.

      this graphic shows the notes icon

      The tooltip shows the content of the note.

  4. Click Save and Close to commit the revised discrepancy, or click Cancel to exit without changes.

Editing Multiple Discrepancies

When there are multiple selected discrepancies, you can only take an action that can be applied to all selected discrepancies, based on all of their status values.

For example, if there are three selected discrepancies, and one discrepancy has a status of Ignored, and two discrepancies have the status of Identified/Ready, then the actions you can take are:

  • Correct Import System

  • Correct Network System

  • Send to External System

  • Cancel Resolution

That is, you can take any action except Ignore. If the three selected discrepancies have status of Submitted and Opened, then you can take no action.

To edit a number of discrepancies at the same time:

  1. Select the rows corresponding to the discrepancies you wish to edit in the Search Results table. Multiple rows may be selected using the mouse and the Ctrl button.

  2. From the Actions menu at the top of the Search Results table, select Edit, or right-click the discrepancy and select Edit.

  3. Carry out the following:

    1. Assign the person responsible for the discrepancies in the Owner field.

    2. Edit the Priority field for the discrepancies.

    3. Edit the Notes field to add extra information about the discrepancies.

      When you create a note, a note icon is added to the Notes field for the selected discrepancies, indicating the presence of Notes text.

      this graphic shows the notes icon

      The tooltip shows the content of the note.

  4. Select Overwrite to overwrite previous values, or select Append to add to the existing information.

  5. Click Save and Close to commit the revised discrepancies, or click Cancel to exit without changes.

Correcting Discrepancies

To correct discrepancies on the network, or in inventory:

  1. Select a discrepancy or a number of discrepancies on the Search Results pane on the Review Discrepancies page.

  2. Carry out one of the following options:

    • From the Actions menu, select one of the following options:

      • Correct Inventory

      • Correct Network

    • Right-click the discrepancy, and select one of the following options:

      • Correct Inventory

      • Correct Network

Sending Discrepancies to an External System

To send discrepancies to an external system:

  1. Select a discrepancy or a number of discrepancies on the Search Results pane on the Review Discrepancies page.

  2. Carry out one of the following options:

    • From the Actions menu, select Send to External System.

    • Right-click the discrepancy, and select Send to External System.

Ignoring Discrepancies

To ignore discrepancies:

  1. Select a discrepancy or a number of discrepancies on the Search Results pane on the Review Discrepancies page.

  2. Carry out one of the following options:

    • From the Actions menu, select Ignore.

    • Right-click the discrepancy, and select Ignore.

    When the status of a discrepancy is set to Ignore, the color of the text in the table row is set to gray.

Canceling Discrepancy Resolutions

To cancel discrepancy resolutions:

  1. Select a discrepancy or a number of discrepancies in the Search Results table on the Review Discrepancies page.

  2. Carry out one of the following options:

    • From the Actions menu, select Cancel Resolution

    • Right-click the discrepancy, and select Cancel Resolution.

Submitting Discrepancies

All discrepancies of status Ready can be submitted. A discrepancy is set to Ready status by one of the following actions:

When the discrepancies are submitted, they are sent to the relevant cartridge to be resolved.

To submit discrepancies from the current list of discrepancies discovered:

  1. Click Submit on the Search Results pane to display a Submit Ready Resolutions dialog. The Submit button is disabled if there are no valid results in the table.

  2. Click Save to submit the resolution operations, or click Cancel to exit the dialog without saving.

    When the discrepancies are submitted, and the dialog is closed, the Review Discrepancies page is refreshed to show the updated status. This may change the list of discrepancies, depending on the search criteria used.

Viewing an Entity Tree

Each discrepancy in the Search Results table is represented by an entity tree providing a hierarchical model of the parent entity and its children, as well as the relationships between all of the entity components, and how they are defined by attributes and characteristics. Each discrepancy displays an entity defined by the Communications Information Model (CIM), which describes the information and data concepts, structures and patterns for the Oracle Communications Suite.

For each entity, the entity tree displays:

  • The entity name

  • The entity type

  • The discrepancy count for the parent entity

  • The discrepancy count for each child entity

  • Whether this entity exists in:

    • The Discovery source only

    • The Import source only

    • Both the Discovery and Import sources

To view an entity tree for a selected discrepancy:

  1. Click a discrepancy in the Search Results table to display an entity tree.

  2. Expand the tree to view the component parts of the entity. For example, the parent entity could be a physical device, such as a router. The children of this device are shelves, each containing slots filled by cards, with each card populated by ports or other sub-entities such as an Ethernet IP interface.

Selecting Discrepancies in the Entity Tree

When a single discrepancy in the Search Results table is selected, the entity tree is refreshed, and displays the result group containing the entity of the discrepancy (the target entity). The tree automatically expands each parent object to show the target entity. The tree scrolls so that the target entity is immediately visible, and the row of the tree containing the target entity is highlighted in a different color, blue.

Selecting an Entity in the Entity Tree

When a single entity in the entity tree is selected, the selection is marked with the color green, and the text of the Entity Name and Entity Type of the selected scan result detail in the Search Results table uses a bold font. This is to aid in identifying the scan result that produced the selected discrepancies.

Expanding the Entity Tree

To expand the entity tree:

  1. Select the required entity in the Search Results table.

  2. Carry out one of the following:

    • Expand the entity by clicking the + sign.

    • Right click the entity and select one of the following options:

      • Expand: to expand the entity, showing all of its children

      • Expand All Below: to expand the entity, showing all of its children, and all of the components of each of the children.

Viewing Entity Detail Panes

The following detail panes are found at the bottom of the Review Discrepancies page, providing entity detail views for a selected entity with discrepancies:

  • Discovery Entity Detail

  • Import Entity Detail

If the selected entity has no discrepancies, a single pane called Entity Detail is displayed.

The entity panes display the result of a scan in a formatted read-only list of all attributes and relationships for the selected entity.

If a selected entity exists only in the network, only the Discovery Entity Detail is displayed. If a selected entity exists only in inventory, only the Import Entity Detail is displayed. In both cases, this means that the parent root entity has a Missing Entity or Extra Entity discrepancy raised against it. In this case, either the Network or the Inventory detail pane is visible; the other one is not shown.

The details provided on the entity panes are defined as follows:

  • Name: the name attribute for the entity. The name is formatted as a link.

    Click this link to display this entity as the first row in the Entity Tree. See "Viewing an Entity Tree" for more information.

  • Type: the type attribute for the entity.

  • Vendor Name: the name of vendor of the entity.

  • Model Number: the model number of the entity.

  • Part Number: the part number of the entity.

  • Serial Number: the serial number of the entity.

  • Manufactured Date: the date on which the entity was manufactured.

  • Discovered Location: the location which the scan attributed to the entity.

  • Relationships: provides a list of other entities to which the selected entity has relationships defined in the scan. Each related entity is defined by the name of the entity, followed by its type in parenthesis; for example, lddec6451b (Logical Device).

    If the related entity exists in the same Scan Result Detail as the selected entity, then it is represented as a link. Click this link to display the related entity as the first row in the Entity Tree, without changing the selected item. If the related entity does not exist in the same Scan Result Detail as the selected entity, it is shown in text format, that is, not as a link.

    If the relationship is to a number of entities in the same Scan Result Detail, then the entities are displayed as a list of links, with one link per line, or it is displayed as a table.

    A Relationship label is displayed in red when there is a discrepancy raised against this relationship of this entity (in this scan result), regardless of whether this discrepancy is displayed inside the Search Results table. A warning icon is also displayed beside the label. A relationship discrepancy is one of the following:

    • Missing Entity

    • Extra Entity

    • Missing Association

    • Extra Association

    • Association Ordering Error.

About the Scan Result

The Scan Result page provides information about the scan. Each scan is defined by:

  • Scan Action: the scan action associated with the scan

  • Scan Type: the scan type based on the selected scan action:

    • Discovery

    • Import

    • Assimilation

  • Name: the name of the scan

  • Source: (optional) the data source assigned to the scan

  • Scan Start Time: the time at which the scan started; for example: 79 minutes ago.

  • Scan Duration: the time taken for the scan to complete; for example: 1 minute.

  • Discrepancy Detection Start Time: the time at which discrepancy detection started; for example: 77 minutes ago.

  • Discrepancy Detection Duration: the time taken for discrepancy detection to complete; for example: 2 seconds.