infoset is Python 3 inventory system that reports and tabulates the status of network connected devices. The information reported includes:

1. Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI model) data such as:
2. Layer 1 information (Network port names, speed, state, neighbors)
3. Layer 2 information (VLANs, 802.1q trunk links)
4. Layer 3 information (ARP information)
5. System status

The project is not:

1. A monitoring system: It does not report information that is likely to change in under 4 hours. Projects such as Nagios are more suitable for this purpose.
2. A graphing system: and therefore will not collect historical data likely to change in under 4 hours. Projects such as Cacti are more suitable for this purpose.

As the project is an inventory system, there is some scope for parallel projects to chart changes in resources audited by the project.

infoset has the following features:

1. Open source.
2. Written in python, a modern language.
3. Easy configuration.
4. Threaded polling of devices for data. Fast.
5. Support for Cisco and Juniper gear. More expected to added with time.
6. Support for SNMPv2 and/or SNMPv3 for all configured network devices.

We are always looking for more contributors!

The project currently only supports Linux distros that natively support python 3 for ease of portability.

The project took inspiration from switchmap whose creator, Pete Siemsen, has been providing guidance.

infoset is a student collaboration between:

1. The University of the West Indies Computing Society. (Kingston, Jamaica)
2. The University of Techology, IEEE Student Branch. (Kingston, Jamaica)
3. The Palisadoes Foundation http://www.palisadoes.org

And many others.

There are a number of small steps that need to be taken to get infoset to work.

Clone the project into a directory of your choosing (git clone https://github.com/UWICompSociety/infoset). Or download and extract the archive.

The only dependencies that must be manually installed for this project are pip and python3 itself

The commands are:

# sudo apt-get install python3 python3-pip 

The commands are:

# sudo apt-get install python3 python3-pip

The rest of the dependencies will are installed to a virtualenv by running make dependencies or make setup in the project directory

infoset follows traditional python project structure and includes a setup.py file which can be used to create and install an executable for the project. This is achieved through the make develop command, which will place the infoset executable into /venv/bin/infoset and /bin/infoset. Alternatively, you can run the commands manually, python setup.py develop or python setup.py install

The examples/ directory includes a number of sample files. These will now be explained.

The examples/apache directory includes sample files to create a:

1. dedicated infoset site (sites-available.example.org.conf)
2. URI of an existing site (conf-available.example.conf)

The examples/etc directory includes a sample files that can be edited. infoset assumes all files in this directory, or any other specified configuration directory, only contains infoset configuration files. Most user will only need to edit the three files supplied.

Feel free to use the etc/ directory as your permanent configuration file location.

Here is a sample configuration file that will be explained later in detail. infoset will attempt to contact hosts with each of the parameter sets in the snmp_group section till successful.

web_directory: /home/example/public_html
data_directory: /home/example/infoset/data

hosts:
    - host1
    - host2
    - host3

snmp_groups:
    - group_name: Corporate Campus
      snmp_version: 3
      snmp_secname: woohoo
      snmp_community:
      snmp_port: 161
      snmp_authprotocol: sha
      snmp_authpassword: testing123
      snmp_privprotocol: des
      snmp_privpassword: secret_password

    - group_name: Remote Sites
      snmp_version: 3
      snmp_secname: foobar
      snmp_community:
      snmp_port: 161
      snmp_authprotocol: sha
      snmp_authpassword: testing123
      snmp_privprotocol: aes
      snmp_privpassword: secret_password

infoset comes with a handy toolbox.py script, this script provides all the same functionality as creating or installing the executable

You can test connectivity to a host using this command where the configuration directory is etc/ and the host is host1

$ bin/toolbox.py test --directory etc/  --host host1

This command will execute against all configured hosts and create appropriate YAML files in the configuration file's $DATA_DIRECTORY/snmp directory

$ bin/toolbox.py poll --directory etc/

For best results, run this command after polling is complete.

This command will execute against all configured hosts and create appropriate HTML files in the configuration file's $WEB_DIRECTORY directory

$ bin/toolbox.py pagemaker --directory etc/

Your webserver will now be able to access the newest HTML in $WEB_DIRECTORY.

There are many dragons to slay and kingdoms to conquer!

Here are a few things to know.

1. Contributions are always welcome. Contact our team for more.
2. View our contributor guidelines here: https://github.com/UWICompSociety/infoset/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md
3. View our guidelines for committing code here: https://github.com/UWICompSociety/infoset/blob/master/COMMITTERS.md

Our current mailing list is: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/gdg-jamaica

Visit our GitHub issues for a full list of features and bug fixes. https://github.com/UWICompSociety/infoset/issues

Visit our wiki's infoset document for the rationale of the design. http://wiki.palisadoes.org/index.php/Infoset

Visit http://calico.palisadoes.org/infoset to view infoset's latest stable web output.