uvnetworks/uvcentral repository overview

⁠UVcentral⁠

⁠by UVnetworks⁠

⁠What is UVcentral⁠?

UVcentral⁠ is a platform for discovering, mapping, and monitoring computer networks. If you are responsible for building, managing, and troubleshooting networks, UVcentral can help you do it more effectively.

The major features of UVcentral include:

• Detailed Network Discovery - Discovery and reporting of detailed device inventory data for the devices on your network using protocols such as SNMP, WMI, and SSH/Telnet
• Physical Network Connectivity - Discovery of physical and logical connections between the devices on your network, including both Layer-2 and Layer-3
• Wireless Infrastructure Discovery - Discovery of wireless network infrastructure, including wireless access points, wireless controllers, and wireless clients
• Virtual Infrastructure Discovery - Discovery of VMware and Hyper-V virtual infrastructure, including virtual machines, virtual hosts, and virtual switches
• Network Maps - Network maps that let you visualize the devices and connections on your network (or interesting subsets thereof)
• Configuration Backup - Automated backup and viewing of network device configurations using SSH and Telnet
• Network Change Notifications - Notifications about interesting changes to the devices and connections on your network
• Data Export - Exporting discovery data to CSV files for external processing and reporting
• Map Export - Exporting of network maps to Visio, PDF, and SVG file formats, and to Lucidchart, a cloud-based diagramming application
• Distributed Discovery - Agent-based discovery from multiple points on the network, with results from all agents merged to create a single, comprehensive view of your network
• Web Console - Browser-based interface for configuring UVcentral and viewing discovery results
• Basic Network Monitoring - Network monitoring with Ping monitors and SNMP Interface monitors
• PRTG Network Monitor Integration - For advanced network monitoring, use UVcentral to automatically configure devices and sensors in Paessler’s PRTG Network Monitor networking monitoring platform

UVcentral scales from small networks to large networks using its agent-based discovery architecture. Discovery is performed by “discovery agents” deployed on one or more network nodes. Small networks often require only a single discovery agent, while large networks typically benefit from having multiple discovery agents deployed at different locations on the network. Each agent discovers a specified part of the network, and then posts its discovery results up to the UVcentral server where results from all agents are merged to create one comprehensive model of your network. Device inventory data and network maps are viewed through UVcentral’s web browser interface. While UVcentral can be used on any size network, its agent-based discovery architecture supports each of the following scenarios that require distributed discovery:

• Networks for organizations with multiple buildings, sites, or campuses
• Networks where firewalls prevent discovery of the entire network from a single point on the network
• Managed Service Providers (MSPs) who manage multiple different customer networks

UVcentral can also notify you of changes that occur to the devices and connections in your network (e.g., when devices are added to or removed from the network, or when links between devices go down). UVcentral also provides basic network monitoring with Ping monitors and SNMP Interface monitors. For more advanced monitoring capabilities, UVcentral integrates with PRTG Network Monitor, a powerful monitoring platform from Paessler. UVcentral automatically exports device inventory data and network maps into the PRTG platform, and automatically configures device sensors within PRTG. In this way, UVcentral makes PRTG more intelligent and easier to set up and configure.

⁠Downloading and Running UVcentral

1. The UVcentral Docker image will run on Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10. We are having technical issues with the Docker image for Windows Server 2019, so it has been temporarily taken down.

   You can pull the UVcentral Docker image using the following command:

   docker pull uvnetworks/uvcentral:2.0.114-windowsservercore-2016
   

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2. Use the Windows batch file below to start your UVcentral container. Before running the batch file, customize the variable values in the batch file to match your environment, as described next. In these explanations, "the host machine" refers to the machine on which the Docker container is running, and "the container" refers to the Docker container running UVcentral.
3. UVcentral consists of three "server" programs, each of which listens on a TCP port. These servers are called: 1) IdentityServer, 2) UvExplorerServer, and 3) UvExplorerClient.
   • The IDENTITYPORT variable specifies the TCP port on the host machine on which IdentityServer should listen (e.g., set IDENTITYPORT=5001).
   • The SERVERPORT variable specifies the TCP port on the host machine on which UvExplorerServer should listen (e.g., set SERVERPORT=41922).
   • The CLIENTPORT variable specifies the TCP port on the host machine on which UvExplorerClient should listen (e.g., set CLIENTPORT=5189).
4. Internally, UVcentral uses a MongoDB database. If you want to access the database from outside the container, the DBPORT variable can be used to specify the TCP port on the host machine on which MongoDB should listen. (e.g., set DBPORT=27017). DBPORT can also be set to undefined if you do not want the database to listen on a host TCP port (e.g., DBPORT=undefined).
5. When UVcentral starts, it creates an administrative user account in its database.
   • The USERNAME variable specifies the user name for the administrative user (e.g., set USERNAME=admin).
   • The PASSWORD variable specifies the password for the administrative user (e.g., set PASSWORD=admin).
   • The FNAME variable specifies the first name of the administrative user (e.g., set FNAME=John).
   • The LNAME variable specifies the last name of the administrative user (e.g., set LNAME=Doe).
   • The EMAIL variable specifies the email address of the administrative user (e.g., set [email protected]).
6. The HOSTNAME variable specifies the DNS hostname of the host machine (e.g., set HOSTNAME=uvcentral.acme.com). The default value of HOSTNAME is localhost. This is the host name you will use to access the UVcentral web console (e.g., http://uvcentral.acme.com:5189). If you do not change the value of HOSTNAME to something other than localhost, the UVcentral web console will only be accessible from the host machine (e.g., http://localhost:5189), which is alright if that is what you want.
7. The HOSTNAME should be resolvable by the container's DNS server. If you need to manually set the container's DNS server, set the DNSSERVER variable to specify the IP address of the DNS server you want the container to use. Alternatively, you can directly specify the IP address for HOSTNAME by setting the HOSTIP variable to the host machine's IP address.
8. By default, UVcentral uses HTTP and not HTTPS (e.g., http://uvcentral.acme.com:5189). If you want to configure UVcentral to use HTTPS (e.g., https://uvcentral.acme.com:5189), you must specify a certificate that matches the HOSTNAME specified above.
   • The CERTDIR variable specifies the path of the directory on the host machine that contains the certificate PFX file (e.g., set CERTDIR=c:\SSL-Certificates).
   • The CERTPFXFILE variable specifies the name of the certificate PFX file that is stored in CERTDIR (e.g., set CERTPFXFILE=STAR_uvexplorer_com.pfx).
   • The CERTPFXPASS variable specifies the password for the certificate PFX file (e.g., set CERTPFXPASS=password).
   • If you want UVcentral to use HTTP and not HTTPS, the CERTDIR, CERTPFXFILE, and CERTPFXPASS variables should be set to undefined (e.g., set CERTDIR=undefined).
9. After you have set the batch file variables, run the batch file to start your UVcentral container.
10. Once the container has started, you can access the UVcentral web console at the URL below and login using the USERNAME and PASSWORD specified in the batch file. (Note that you must use the same HOSTNAME specified in the batch file when accessing the web console in a web browser. Localhost will only work in the URL if that is the HOSTNAME in the batch file.)

    http://HOSTNAME:CLIENTPORT (e.g. http://uvcentral.acme.com:5189)
    OR
    https://HOSTNAME:CLIENTPORT (e.g. https://uvcentral.acme.com:5189)
    

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11. Activate your UVcentral license. To do this, click the "Account" link in the top-left corner of the web console, and select the Manage License tab. In the Manage License tab, click the "Activate License" button. This will start the license activation wizard that will step you through the license activation process. A trial license key can be requested HERE⁠.
12. The complete UVcentral documentation can be found HERE⁠.

⁠Batch File for Running UVcentral

@echo off
REM In the following comments, "the host machine" refers to the machine on which the Docker container is running,
REM and "the container" refers to the Docker container running UVcentral.
REM Set the name of the UVcentral Docker image.
set DOCKERIMAGE=uvnetworks/uvcentral:2.0.114-windowsservercore-2016
REM UVcentral consists of three "server" programs, each of which listens on a TCP port.
REM These servers are called: 1) IdentityServer, 2) UvExplorerServer, and 3) UvExplorerClient.
REM The IDENTITYPORT variable specifies the TCP port on the host machine on which IdentityServer should listen
REM (e.g., set IDENTITYPORT=5001).
REM The SERVERPORT variable specifies the TCP port on the host machine on which UvExplorerServer should listen
REM (e.g., set SERVERPORT=41922).
REM The CLIENTPORT variable specifies the TCP port on the host machine on which UvExplorerClient should listen
REM (e.g., set CLIENTPORT=5189).
REM If you do not want to expose these servers on host TCP ports, you can set these variables to undefined
REM (e.g., set IDENTITYPORT=undefined).
set IDENTITYPORT=5001
set SERVERPORT=41922
set CLIENTPORT=5189
REM Internally, UVcentral uses a MongoDB database.  If you want to access the database from outside the container,
REM the DBPORT variable can be used to specify the TCP port on the host machine on which MongoDB should listen.
REM (e.g., set DBPORT=27017).  DBPORT can also be set to undefined if you do not want the database to listen on
REM a host TCP port (e.g., DBPORT=undefined).
set DBPORT=undefined
REM By default, the container is assigned an arbitrary IP address (e.g., 172.x.x.x).
REM If you want to specify a particular IP address for the container, the CONTIP variable can be used to specify
REM the IP address for the container (e.g., set CONTIP=172.21.212.121).  If you do not want to specify the
REM container's IP address, set CONTIP to undefined (e.g., set CONTIP=undefined).
set CONTIP=undefined
REM The DNSSERVER variable can be used to specify what DNS server should be used by the container
REM (e.g., set DNSSERVER=8.8.8.8).  If you do not want to specify a DNS server for the container, set DNSSERVER
REM to undefined (e.g., set DNSSERVER=undefined).
set DNSSERVER=8.8.8.8
REM When UVcentral starts, it creates an administrative user account in its database.
REM The USERNAME variable specifies the user name for the administrative user
REM (e.g., set USERNAME=admin).
REM The PASSWORD variable specifies the password for the administrative user
REM (e.g., set PASSWORD=admin).
REM The FNAME variable specifies the first name of the administrative user
REM (e.g., set FNAME=John).
REM The LNAME variable specifies the last name of the administrative user
REM (e.g., set LNAME=Doe).
REM The EMAIL variable specifies the email address of the administrative user
REM (e.g., set EMAIL=[email protected]⁠).
set USERNAME=admin
set PASSWORD=admin
set FNAME=John
set LNAME=Doe
set EMAIL=[email protected]⁠
REM The HOSTNAME variable specifies the DNS hostname of the host machine
REM (e.g., set HOSTNAME=uvcentral.acme.com).  This HOSTNAME should be resolvable by
REM the container's DNS server.
set HOSTNAME=localhost
REM If the HOSTNAME is not resolvable by the container's DNS server, the HOSTIP variable
REM can be used to specify the host machine's IP address (e.g., set HOSTIP=128.187.50.12).
REM If the container's DNS server can resolve the HOSTNAME, set HOSTIP to undefined
REM (set HOSTIP=undefined).
set HOSTIP=undefined
REM By default, UVcentral uses HTTP and not HTTPS.  If you want to configure UVcentral to use
REM HTTPS, you must specify a certificate that matches the HOSTNAME specified above.
REM The CERTDIR variable specifies the path of the directory on the host machine that contains
REM the certificate PFX file (e.g., set CERTDIR=c:\SSL-Certificates).
REM The CERTPFXFILE variable specifies the name of the certificate PFX file that is stored in CERTDIR
REM (e.g., set CERTPFXFILE=STAR_uvexplorer_com.pfx).
REM The CERTPFXPASS variable specifies the password for the certificate PFX file
REM (e.g., set CERTPFXPASS=password).
REM If you want UVcentral to use HTTP and not HTTPS, the CERTDIR, CERTPFXFILE, and CERTPFXPASS
REM variables should be set to undefined (e.g., set CERTDIR=undefined).
set CERTDIR=undefined
set CERTPFXFILE=undefined
set CERTPFXPASS=undefined
set DOCKERRUNARGS=
if not "%CONTIP%" == "undefined" (
set DOCKERRUNARGS=%DOCKERRUNARGS% --net nat --ip %CONTIP%
)
if not "%DNSSERVER%" == "undefined" (
set DOCKERRUNARGS=%DOCKERRUNARGS% --dns %DNSSERVER%
)
if not "%IDENTITYPORT%" == "undefined" (
set DOCKERRUNARGS=%DOCKERRUNARGS% -p %IDENTITYPORT%:%IDENTITYPORT%
)
if not "%SERVERPORT%" == "undefined" (
set DOCKERRUNARGS=%DOCKERRUNARGS% -p %SERVERPORT%:%SERVERPORT%
)
if not "%CLIENTPORT%" == "undefined" (
set DOCKERRUNARGS=%DOCKERRUNARGS% -p %CLIENTPORT%:%CLIENTPORT%
)
if not "%DBPORT%" == "undefined" (
set DOCKERRUNARGS=%DOCKERRUNARGS% -p %DBPORT%:27017
)
if not "%CERTDIR%" == "undefined" (
set DOCKERRUNARGS=%DOCKERRUNARGS% --mount type=bind,source="%CERTDIR%",target="c:/certificates"
)
docker run -d %DOCKERRUNARGS% ^
-e "IDENTITYPORT=%IDENTITYPORT%" ^
-e "SERVERPORT=%SERVERPORT%" ^
-e "CLIENTPORT=%CLIENTPORT%" ^
-e "USERNAME=%USERNAME%" ^
-e "PASSWORD=%PASSWORD%" ^
-e "FNAME=%FNAME%" ^
-e "LNAME=%LNAME%" ^
-e "EMAIL=%EMAIL%" ^
-e "HOSTNAME=%HOSTNAME%" ^
-e "HOSTIP=%HOSTIP%" ^
-e "CERTPFXFILE=%CERTPFXFILE%" ^
-e "CERTPFXPASS=%CERTPFXPASS%" ^
--mount source="uvcentral_db",target="c:/data/db" ^
--mount source="uvcentral_data",target="c:/ProgramData/UVnetworks" ^
%DOCKERIMAGE%