Adding Unmanaged Hubs and Switches to a Map

Intermapper cannot automatically discover or monitor unmanaged switches and hubs (called dumb devices) since they have no IP address. However, there is a workaround that allows you to represent them on an Intermapper map.

To perform the workaround, you can create a placeholder icon and then manually drag the links from the appropriate devices to this new icon. Although Intermapper cannot test or monitor this fake equipment, it appears on the map and displays the interconnections of your network as a tool to diagnose problems.

The following is a step-by-step description of the process. Note that this description works equally well for either switches or hubs.

In the starting map, notice that Intermapper automatically connected a number of devices to the network oval labeled 192.168.1.0/24. The top three devices (IP addresses 192.168.1.91, .89, and .79) are connected to a dumb (unmanaged) hub on the floor. This page shows how to create a placeholder icon to represent the hub and connect those three devices to it.

Problem

The top three devices (IP addresses 192.168.1.91, .89, and .79) are connected to a dumb (unmanaged) hub.

We want to create a placeholder icon that represents the hub and then move the connections for those devices to the placeholder.

Step 1: Creating a Placeholder to Represent Your Hub

To create the new empty network:

  1. From the Insert menu, select Network.
  2. Enter a subnet number that is the same as the device's current subnet (oval) as shown in Adding Networks to a Map (Pg. 1).

    The new network is displayed as an oval, with the specified subnet number (not 0.0.0.0/0, as shown in this example).

Step 2: Tidying Item Appearances

To tidy up the appearance of the item:

  1. Move the new network up.
  2. Change its shape to a rectangle using the Icon command from the Format menu.
  3. Change its name to Upstairs Hub using the Label (Cmd-L).

Step 3: Connecting the Hub to the Network

To connect the hub to the network:

  1. Select the new rectangle.
  2. From the Insert menu, select Link. A line is displayed, connected on one end to the rectangle and to your mouse cursor on the other. You can also right-click a selected devices and selectAttach To from the device's context menu.
  3. Click the network oval below the rectangle. The hub is connected to the network.

A line is displayed, connecting the two items together. This line persists as you move the items around your map.

Step 4: Connecting Devices to the Hub

To connect the devices to the hub:

  1. Click the link (line) for the first device and drag it toward the Upstairs Hub rectangle.
  2. Release the mouse button when it is over the rectangle.

The line stays with the new rectangle. Do this for all three links.

Result

Your map should look similar to this after dragging the three links from the oval to the fake hub.