> # Information About Network Monitoring

> DCNM-SAN provides extensive SAN discovery, topology mapping, and information viewing capabilities. DCNM-SAN collects information on the fabric topology through SNMP queries to the switches connected to it. DCNM-SAN recreates a fabric topology, presents it in a customizable map, and provides inventory and configuration information in multiple viewing options such as fabric view, device view, summary view, and operation view.

> Once DCNM-SAN is invoked, a SAN discovery process begins. Using information polled from a seed Cisco MDS 9000 Family switch, including Name Server registrations, Fibre Channel Generic Services (FC-GS), Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF), and SCSI-3, DCNM-SAN automatically discovers all devices and interconnects on one or more fabrics. All available switches, host bus adapters (HBAs), and storage devices are discovered. The Cisco MDS 9000 Family switches use Fabric-Device Management Interface (FMDI) to retrieve the HBA model, serial number and firmware version, and host operating-system type and version discovery without host agents. DCNM-SAN gathers this information through SNMP queries to each switch. The device information discovered includes device names, software revision levels, vendor, ISLs, PortChannels, and VSANs.

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