Cisco ACNS Software Deployment and Configuration Guide, Release 5.1 - Chapter 16: Configuring Platform and System Settings [Cisco Application and Content Networking System (ACNS) Software]

Table Of Contents

Configuring Platform and System Settings

Configuring the Domain Name System Server

Configuring the Content Router for Layer 4 Switch Interoperability

Configuring NTP Settings

Configuring CDP Settings

Modifying System Properties

Printing ACNS Network Data

Configuring Platform and System Settings

This chapter explains how to configure platform and system settings. It contains the following sections:

•Configuring the Domain Name System Server

•Configuring the Content Router for Layer 4 Switch Interoperability

•Configuring NTP Settings

•Configuring CDP Settings

•Modifying System Properties

•Printing ACNS Network Data

Configuring the Domain Name System Server

To configure the Domain Name System (DNS) server settings, go to the DNS Settings window. DNS allows the network to translate domain names entered in requests into their associated IP addresses.

To configure DNS server settings for a Content Engine, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Content Distribution Manager GUI, choose Devices > Content Engines.

Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the Content Engine that you want to configure. The Contents pane appears on the left.

From the Contents pane, choose Platform > DNS. The Http DNS-Cache Settings window appears. (See Figure 16-1.) Table 16-1 defines the fields in this window.

Figure 16-1 HTTP DNS-Cache Settings Window

Table 16-1 DNS Server Settings Window Parameters

Key Parameter

Description

CLI Command

Enable DNS Caching of DNS Entries for Http Proxy

Enables DNS caching in the system.

dns enable

Maximum Cached DNS Entries

Defines the maximum size of the DNS cache hash table used for temporarily saving DNS records.

dns max-cache-memory

Local Domain Name

Name of the local domain to be DNS cached.

—

List of DNS Servers

DNS servers that are used by the network to translate requested domains into IP addresses.

—

Step 3 Check the Enable DNS Caching of DNS Entries for Http Proxy check box to enable DNS caching.

Step 4 In the Maximum Cached DNS Entries field, enter a value in megabytes to configure the size of the DNS cache hash table to be temporarily used for storing records. The range is from 5 to 512.

Step 5 In the Local Domain Name field, enter the name of the local domain that is to be DNS cached.

Step 6 In the List of DNS Servers field, enter a list of DNS servers used by the network to resolve host names to IP addresses. You can configure up to 8 DNS servers. Separate items in the list with a space.

Step 7 Click Submit to save the settings. A "Click Submit to Save" message appears in red next to the Current Settings line when there are pending changes to be saved. To revert to the previously configured window settings, click Reset. The Reset button appears only when you have applied default or group settings to change the current device settings but the settings have not yet been submitted.

Step 8 To delete the configured settings for the device, click the Remove Device Settings icon in the taskbar to delete the settings. This icon appears only if you have configured the settings for the Content Engine.

Step 9 To restore the factory default settings to the device, click the Apply Defaults icon in the taskbar.

Step 10 To override the device group settings applied to the device with the factory default settings, click the Override Group Settings with Defaults icon in the taskbar. This icon appears only if you have applied the device group settings to the Content Engine.

Step 11 When settings have been applied from device groups with which the device is associated, click the Override Group Settings icon in the taskbar to override the device group settings and configure the device settings. This icon appears only if you have applied the device group settings to the Content Engine.

Step 12 When a device is associated with one or many device groups that have been configured with DNS cache settings, choose the device group name from the drop-down list that appears in the taskbar if you want to apply settings from a different device group to this device.

Configuring the Content Router for Layer 4 Switch Interoperability

When a request for content is made, the Layer 4 Cisco Content Services Switch uses owner content rules to translate the virtual IP address of the owner to the IP address of the service where the content resides. Depending on the content rules configured, the Content Services Switch checks for services that match the content rules and determines the service that can best serve the content request.

If you have a Content Services Switch deployed in your ACNS network for load balancing, this feature of redirection of requests with the origin server name allows you to access the content using Content Router redirection without advertising a separate Content Router FQDN.

To configure and enable Layer 4 switch interoperability, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Content Distribution Manager GUI, choose Devices > Content Routers. The Content Routers window appears.

Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the name of the Content Router that you want to view. The Modifying Content Router window appears.

Step 3 In the Contents pane, choose Platform > Layer 4 Switch. The Layer 4 Switch Settings for Content Router window appears. (See Figure 16-2.)

Figure 16-2 Layer 4 Switch Settings for Content Router Window

Step 4 Check the Enable HTTP l4-switch check box to enable Layer 4 switch redirection interoperability using HTTP.

Step 5 Check the Enable RTSP l4-switch check box to enable Layer 4 switch redirection interoperability using RTSP.

Step 6 Click Submit to save the configured settings.

Configuring NTP Settings

Cisco ACNS 5.x software allows you to configure the Content Engine time and date settings using an NTP (Network Time Protocol) host on your network. NTP allows the synchronization of time and date settings for the different geographical locations of the Content Engines on your ACNS network.

To configure Content Engine or device group NTP settings, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Content Distribution Manager GUI, choose Devices > Content Engines.

Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the name of the Content Engine that you want to configure. The Contents pane appears on the left.

Step 3 From the Contents pane, choose Platform > NTP. (See Figure 16-3.)

Figure 16-3 NTP Settings Window

Step 4 Check the Enable check box to enable NTP settings.

Step 5 Enter a host name or IP address in the NTP Server field.

Step 6 Click Submit to save the settings.

Configuring CDP Settings

CDP (Cisco Discovery Protocol) is a device discovery protocol that runs on all Cisco-manufactured devices. With CDP, each device in a network sends periodic messages to all devices in the network. All devices listen to periodic messages sent by others in order to learn about neighboring devices and determine the status of their interfaces.

With CDP, network management applications can learn the device type and the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) agent address of neighboring devices. Applications are then able to send SNMP queries within the network. Also, CiscoWorks2000 discovers the Content Engine by noticing the CDP packets that are sent by the Content Engine after booting.

Content Engine-related tasks require that the Content Engine platform support CDP in order to be able to notify the system manager of the existence, type, and version of the Content Engine platform.

To configure CDP settings using the Content Distribution Manager GUI, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Content Distribution Manager GUI, choose Devices > Content Engines.

Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the name of the Content Engine that you want to configure. The Contents pane appears on the left.

Step 3 From the Contents pane, choose Platform > CDP. The CDP Settings window appears. (See Figure 16-4.)

Figure 16-4 CDP Settings Window

Step 4 Check the Enable check box to enable CDP support.

Step 5 In the Hold Time field, enter the time (in seconds) between sending CDP packets. The range is 10 to 255 seconds. The default is 180 seconds.

Step 6 In the Packet Send Rate field, enter the rate at which CDP packets are sent. The range is 5 to 254 seconds. The default is 60 seconds.

Step 7 Click Submit to save the settings.

To enable CDP in the CLI, use the cdp enable command. For example,
ContentEngine(config)# interface FastEthernet 0/0 cdp enable
Modifying System Properties

You can modify the following system properties:

•Length of a Content Distribution Manager session (in minutes).

•Content Engine feature overlapping (enable or disable).

•Poll rate between the Content Engine or the Content Router and the Content Distribution Manager (in seconds).

•Device identity recovery key. This property enables a device to be replaced by another node in the ACNS network.

•Local and central management feature (enable or disable). This property allows settings that are configured using the local device CLI or the central Content Distribution Manager GUI to be stored as part of the ACNS network configuration data.

•Periodic calculations of replication status on a Content Engine (enable or disable).

•Update rate of replication status (in minutes).

•Send summary replication status with requested detailed status (enable or disable).

The Config Properties window displays information about existing system configuration properties and their current values. To modify the value of a system property, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Content Distribution Manager GUI, choose System > System Configuration. The Config Properties window appears.

Figure 16-5 Config Properties Window

Step 2 Click the Edit icon next to the system property that you want to change. The Modifying Config Property window appears.

Step 3 Enter the new value of the system property that you want to change.

Step 4 Click Submit.

Printing ACNS Network Data

Using the features of the Content Distribution Manager, you can print any tabular data about your ACNS network. This includes lists of content providers, websites, and locations, or any of the resources of your ACNS network, such as Content Engines, channels, and so on.

To print data from the Content Distribution Manager, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Content Distribution Manager GUI, locate the information that you wish to print.

For example, if you wanted to print data about the locations defined for your ACNS network, you would choose Network > Locations.

Step 2 To print your ACNS network data using the default printer on your operating system, click the Printer icon.