Under certain circumstances, some devices may have an unusual network role assigned to them by Managed Workplace. This article explains the logic used in this classification, clarifying why this occurs.

Managed Workplace's logic for classifying the network roles of SNMP devices can be expressed simply as, "if it looks like X, and is acting like X, classify is as X".

More specifically, network roles are classified as follows:

A Router

A device will be classified as a Router if the Gateway address of the Onsite Manager is that of the device or if all of the following are applicable:

  • The device has SNMP enabled
  • It has IPForwarding (OID 1.3.6.1.2.1.4.1.0) set to 1 (acting as a gateway) 
  • There is more than one network adapter

A Switch

A device will be classified as a Switch if all of the following are applicable:

  • SNMP is enabled
  • IPForwarding (OID 1.3.6.1.2.1.4.1.0) is set to 2 (not acting as a gateway)
  • It implements the Bridge Management Information Base (we check for the existence of OID_DOT1BASENUMPORTS [OID1.3.6.1.2.1.17.1.2.0])

Cisco Devices

There is additional logic applied for Cisco devices. If SNMP is enabled and its SysObjectID is in Managed Workplace's table of SysObjectlds, then the device will be assigned a role according to the mapping table.