Topic
This article answers frequently asked questions about NinjaOne Network Management System (NMS)
Environment
NinjaOne Network Management System (NMS)
Index
- What NMS device types does NinjaOne support?
- Can the device name for NMS devices be something other than the IP address, such as a host name?
- How does the Device Down condition determine when a network device is offline?
- What are the system requirements for NMS delegates?
- Why does my device not show NetFlow, syslog, or similar data?
- How do you remove the NMS service from a device that you no longer want to use as a probe?
- Why is the backup configuration not appearing?
- What traffic monitoring does NinjaOne NMS support?
- If the NMS Delegate goes down, do all monitored devices trigger alerts?
- If I disable Ping, HTTP, DNS, Port, and SNMP checks, will the alerting conditions still work?
- Why is my device appearing offline?
- Can I monitor things like printer toner levels, APC, and device battery health?
- Can a single NMS Delegate monitor devices across multiple subnets or sites?
What NMS device types does NinjaOne support?
The Network Management System (NMS) supports any Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)-managed device that conforms to standard MIB-2 (RFC 1213). This covers core monitoring fields including system description, uptime, and network interfaces out of the box.
For a subset of vendors, NinjaOne applies additional vendor-specific OID mappings on top of the MIB-2 baseline to surface extended data such as CPU utilization, memory, serial numbers, and network adapter-level detail. The list of vendors with enhanced support continues to grow.
Certain makes and models may show incomplete or missing data if they deviate from standard OIDs for CPU, memory, or network adapters. For these devices:
- Use the Custom SNMP monitoring feature to define your own OID-to-metric mappings.
- Contact NinjaOne Support to report a problematic vendor or request native support for a new one.
Can the device name for NMS devices be something other than the IP address, such as a host name?
Yes. You can assign any name you choose to an NMS device directly in NinjaOne, regardless of what the device reports over SNMP. When a device has SNMP activated and is providing information to NMS, NinjaOne can also show the host name or other identifying data the device reports. If SNMP is not activated on the device or the device is not providing SNMP information to NMS, NinjaOne shows the information it has available, which is typically the IP address at minimum.
How does the Device Down condition determine when a network device is offline?
The NMS service determines whether a device is online or offline by evaluating data from the following monitors, which you can activate on the NMS policy's configuration page:
- Ping
- Port
- HTTP
- SNMP Monitoring (SNMP Traps)
- Syslogs
- NetFlow
Refer to NinjaOne NMS: Policy Management for more information.
What are the system requirements for NMS delegates?
Link to NMS system requirements doc.
Why does my device not show NetFlow, syslog, or similar data?
Usually a device configuration issue. Link to that article.
How do you remove the NMS service from a device that you no longer want to use as a probe?
Removing the NMS service requires NinjaOne Support action. Contact NinjaOne Support for assistance. If you need this as a self-service feature, submit a feature request.
Why is the backup configuration not appearing?
NinjaOne NMS supports configuration backup for the following vendors:
- Cisco
- Hewlett-Packard (HP)
- Aruba (HP)
- Select Dell devices
Configuration import can take some time after the NMS Delegate first discovers the device. After the initial import, NinjaOne does not reflect new changes until the next monitoring interval. Configure the monitoring interval at the policy level in the Configuration Backup tab.
Verify that the Telnet/SSH credentials configured for the device in NinjaOne are correct. NinjaOne uses these protocols to retrieve the device configuration.
What traffic monitoring does NinjaOne NMS support?
NinjaOne NMS supports the following traffic protocols:
- NetFlow
- jFlow
- sFlow
- IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX)
Traffic data must be configured on the monitored device to export flows to the NMS Delegate. NetFlow v9 support may vary by vendor implementation.
If the NMS Delegate goes down, do all monitored devices trigger alerts?
No. If the NMS Delegate goes offline, NinjaOne raises the device-down condition for the Microsoft Windows endpoint running the NinjaOne agent that serves as the NMS Delegate. Devices monitored through that Delegate do not generate their own device-down alerts, because the Delegate is no longer able to poll or alert on their behalf. Alerts for those monitored devices resume after the Delegate comes back online.
If I disable Ping, HTTP, DNS, Port, and SNMP checks, will the alerting conditions still work?
No. Alerting conditions for these monitors depend on the checks being activated. If a check is deactivated, NinjaOne does not collect the data required to evaluate the condition, so no alerts will trigger.
Why is my device appearing offline?
Several configuration factors can cause a device to appear offline in NinjaOne NMS. For a full walkthrough of common causes and how to resolve them, refer to NinjaOne NMS: Troubleshooting: Device Is Appearing as Offline.
Can I monitor things like printer toner levels, APC, and device battery health?
Yes. You can use custom SNMP in conjunction with custom object identifiers (OIDs) to monitor, manage, and collect specific data from devices on a network, including firewalls, switches, routers, and many other infrastructure components. Refer to NinjaOne NMS: Custom SNMP to learn more.
Can a single NMS Delegate monitor devices across multiple subnets or sites?
SNMP credentials work from a probe on the same subnet but fail from a different subnet. As a best practice: use a separate NMS Delegate per site rather than monitoring over a virtual private network (VPN), as latency can cause false alerts and discovery inaccuracies.