Adding devices automatically or manually

[ramikamel911]

Hi,

I'll start adding the devices to MARS, but am confused which method to use, shall i make it Automatically, so MARS will discover the network? or add the devices manually one by one?

As i heared, if i added them automatically, the toplogy after discovering the network will not be same as adding them manually, manually i'll have a fully cleared, detaild and connected topology graph in MARS which is not there if used the auto discovery method.

Kindly correct me if i'm wrong, and advice how to add the devices and what is the different between the two methods?

Regards

Rami

[Ronald Anthony]

Hi Rami,

Automatic discovery of devices in MARS cannot discover all devices.  Your topology will not be correct just by automatic discovery because automatic discovery cannot discover layer 2 devices.  Also, automatic discovery only works by SNMP community strings.  With automatic discovery, it will not fill in other access information that might be needed for mitigation purposes.  So, it isn't really a question of automatic or manual, you will probably want to use both.  There is an excellent online document explaining the whole process which includes doing both automatic and manual discovery.  It will also discuss seed files which can be used to import devices through a .csv file.

Here is the link:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/security_management/cs-mars/6.0/device/configuration/guide/chDvcOver.html

I hope this helps,

Ron