3.3. Object Types

The NorthStar system consists of 5 main object types: Location, Owner, Device, Network, and Address Objects. All of these objects all are fully "nestable" except Owner and Address objects. When you are creating a new object you will be asked to select the template to use when creating that object. If you know the specific template to use select it, if not use the Default Template for that object.

3.3.1. Location Objects

Location Objects are one of the basic building blocks used to provide effective IP space management. Location Objects can be created to be as broad or specific as you require. Since they are nestable it is fairly easy to create a tree that starts a very broad level and can be narrowed to to specfic racks in equipment rooms. One example of this can be shown by using the following tree structure:

			
United States
  Alabama
  Alaska
  .
  .
  Oregon
    Eugene
	  123 Elm Street Datacenter
	    Room 1
		Room 2
		  Rack 1
		  Rack 2
		  Rack 3
		    Position 1
	  345 Pine Street Datacenter
	    Room 1
		  Rack 1
		  Rack 2
  .
  .
  Wyoming
Europe
  France
  Germany
    Berlin
	  123 Elm Street Datacenter
	    Rack 1
		Rack 2
  Munich
  United Kingdom
			
			
Obviously, not all setups will be this complex, however, this is an example of how fine grained you can get. Location objects can also be thought of as 'Geographical Regions' or by that token whatever else is required for your particular setup. Location Objects are not dependent on any other object for creation, however, Network, Address, and Device Objects all require a corresponding Location Object.

3.3.2. Owner Objects

Owner Objects are used to track the organization that is responsible for a particular object. Owner objects can either be departments within your company, clients with colocated equipment, clients with IP space allocated to them, or a combination of the 3. Owner objects are not nestable as this point, but, this could change in the future. Owner Objects, like Location Objects are not dependant on any other object for creation, however, Network, Address, and Device Objects all require a corresponding Owner Object.

3.3.3. Device Objects

Device Objects are used to track the physical piece of equipment that a particular netblock or address is assigned to. Device Objects are fully nestable so you can create quite complex but easily navigatable views of devices on your network. One example of a fairly complex setup could look like the following tree:

			
Routers
  Core Routers
  Border Routers
    border1.network.net
	  Ethernet0
	  Serial0
	  .
	  .
	  Serial10
	border2.network.net
	  BVI1
	  Ethernet0
Switches
  Core Switches
    coreswitch1.network.net
	  Ethernet0/0
	  Ethernet0/1
	  .
	  .
	  Ethernet0/10
  Edge Switches
			
			
In the above example each device is split of down to the particular port on that device. By doing this every port on every router and be listed and tracked as to which addresses or netblocks belong to it.

Device Objects are dependent on Location and Owner Objects for creation and are required for creation of Network or Address Objects.

3.3.4. Network Objects

Network objects are used to track the assignment of networks and sub-networks to a particular Location, Device, and Owner object. When setting up your Network Objects you most likely want to work with a top-down approach. This approach takes the biggest netblock you have control of and works down from their assigned sub-networks as needed. For example let's say DataBits Inc. has a netblock of 192.168.0.0/20 assigned to it from a regional registrar or their upstream provider (yes.. I know.. 192.168.0.0 is private address space.. quit being so nit-picky ;-) ). The network administrator may setup his Network Objects to look like the following tree:

			
192.168.0.0/20				(Top Netblock)
  192.168.0.0/21			(Dallas POP)
    192.168.0.0/24			(Customer 1)
    192.168.1.0/24			(Customer 2)
    .
    .
    192.168.7.0/24			(Local Office Use)
  192.168.8.0/21			(Austin POP)
    192.168.8.0/22			(Datacenter 1)
	  192.168.8.0/23		(Customer 1)
	  192.168.10.0/23		(Local Use)
	192.168.12.0/22			(Datacenter 2)
	  192.168.12.0/24		(Local Use)
	  192.168.13.0/24		(Customer 1)
	  192.168.14.0/24		(Customer 2)
	  192.168.15.0/24		(Customer 3)
			
			
In the above example we only go down to a /24 as the smallest netblock, however, you can track blocks up to a /31. Network Objects are dependent on Location, Device, and Owner Objects for creation and Address Objects have to have a corresponding Network Object.

3.3.5. Address Objects

Address Objects are used to track a single IP address assignment. They require all other objects to be created first before they can be created. Address Objects are fairly simple and serve the purpose of tieing a particular device to it's assigned IP address.