Table Of Contents

Setting up Support for CiscoWorks ANI Server

Configuring the ANI Server

Setting Up Your Network

Setting Up the ANI Server

Modifying SNMP Settings

Applying Changes to SNMP Settings

Before You Begin

Procedure

Enabling Multiple Community Strings

Community String Guidelines

Frequently Asked Questions

Setting up Support for CiscoWorks ANI Server

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The CiscoWorks Server includes tools required to properly set up the server to support other CiscoWorks applications. These features include:

•Configuring the ANI Server

•Enabling Multiple Community Strings

•Community String Guidelines

Configuring the ANI Server

Some CiscoWorks applications require the Asynchronous Network Interface (ANI) Server to automatically discover network devices. If your application does not use or require the ANI Server, then ANI Server is not available in the navigation tree.

For applications that require the ANI Server, it is critical that you set up your network and the ANI Server to ensure that the network is properly discovered.

Setting Up Your Network

The Network Setup Overview table (Table 6-1) provides an overview of the tasks required to ensure that ANI properly discovers your network. Detailed information and instructions are available in the online help (select Server Configuration > Setup > ANI Server Admin).

To perform these tasks, use the Command Line Interface (CLI) of the network devices in your network. Refer to the command reference guides for specific devices to obtain instructions about performing these tasks.

Table 6-1 Network Setup Overview 

Task	Purpose
Required for Device and Physical Topology Discovery
Upgrade software versions on devices.	To ensure that ANI Server successfully discovers and supports your network devices, upgrade your device software to the latest general deployment (GD) software release.
Verify connectivity to seed devices.	The workstation on which ANI Server is installed must have connectivity to the seed devices in your network. If devices are not reachable, they cannot be discovered.
Enable SNMP.	ANI communicates with network devices using SNMP.
Enable Cisco Discovery Protocol.	ANI Server uses Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) to discover your network devices and layout.
Set unique sysName variable on devices.	Using CDP, ANI identifies Cisco IOS devices by the sysName variable. If multiple devices share the same sysName variable, the devices cannot be discovered properly.
Enable ILMI on ATM devices.	ANI Server uses Integrated Local Management Interface (ILMI) to discover the ATM devices in your network.
Configure DNS.	ANI uses Domain Name Services (DNS), if available, to perform device name lookups. If DNS is not available, ANI uses IP addresses. If you use DNS, ensure that all devices have unique host names and that DNS is properly configured.
Required for Logical (VLAN and LANE) Discovery
Note Successful logical discoveries require that you have also properly configured the network for device discoveries.
Configure VLAN Trunk Protocol.	VLAN Trunk Protocol (VTP), to discover, display, and configure VLANs.
Configure VLAN trunks on Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet.	If a switch is connected to Fast Ethernet links and you want to configure it to carry more than one VLAN, you must enable ISL or IEEE 802.1Q.
Create the default LANE configuration server for ATM devices.	If you are running LAN Emulation (LANE) in your network, you must set up the main configuration server.
Required for User Discovery
Note Successful user discoveries require that you have also properly configured the network for device and logical discoveries.
Connect users and hosts to the network.	ANI can retrieve information about end-user devices and hosts only if those devices are actively connected to the network. Also, ANI can automatically collect user names only if users are actively connected to the network.
Required for Path Determination
Note Successful path discoveries require that you have also properly configured the network for device, logical, and user discoveries.
Enable source routing.	ANI might not be able to trace a reliable path between two end points if source routing is disabled on any intervening routers.
Enable CDR logging on all Cisco Call Managers	The call detail record (CDR) provides information such as the IP address of the phones and gateways, telephone numbers of the involved parties, and the time that the call was made. This information is used to determine a path involving any Cisco Call Manager devices.

Setting Up the ANI Server

The ANI Server automatically discovers devices in your network at a defined interval. To do this, the ANI Server must have access to your network devices and a discovery starting point (seed device).

You provide ANI access to your network devices by ensuring that the community strings on your devices are known to the ANI Server. The ANI Server uses your specified seed device (or a set of seed devices) to initiate discovery. See Table 6-2 for a description of these and other tasks you can perform with the ANI Server.

Table 6-2 ANI Server Tasks 

Task	Purpose	Action
Required for Initial Discovery
Verify community strings.	Allows the ANI Server access to your network devices. Default community strings are public for the read-only string and public for the read-write string.	Server Configuration > Setup >  ANI Server Admin  > SNMP Settings
Add seed device.	Initiates network discovery.	Server Configuration > Setup >  ANI Server Admin > Discovery Settings
Use Reverse DNS Lookup	Select this option if you want to use DNS in your network.	Server Configuration > Setup >  ANI Server Admin > Discovery Settings
Enable HSRP support for Path Analysis.	Select this option to enable HSRP support for Path Analysis. If you run a path trace accross a network that has routers on which HSRP is configured, enable HSRP support for Path Analysis. When enabled, the HSRP environment will be recognised and trace will be displayed properly.	Server Configuration > Setup >  ANI Server Admin > Discovery Settings
Additional Tasks
Schedule discovery and polling.	Sets the frequency of network discovery and polling.	Server Configuration > Setup >  ANI Server Admin > Discovery Schedule
Modify SNMP settings.	Changes the number of SNMP retries and length of SNMP timeouts.	Server Configuration > Setup > ANI Server Admin > SNMP Settings
Limit discovery.	Narrows the network discovery by IP address or VTP domain.	Server Configuration > Setup >  ANI Server Admin  > Discovery Settings
Synchronize devices with Essentials.	Provides mechanism for sharing devices and device credentials with Resource Manager Essentials.	Server Configuration > Setup > ANI Server Admin  >  Device Synchronization
Schedule user and host acquisition.	Sets the frequency of user name and host acquisition.	Server Configuration > Setup >  ANI Server Admin >  User and Host Acquisition
Modify system resources dedicated to discovery.	Assigns more or fewer system resources to ANI discovery to affect time to complete.	Server Configuration > Setup >  ANI Server Admin > Performance Settings
Enhance discovery performance.	Enables you to view and enhance discovery performance through tuning and metrics.	Server Configuration >  Diagnostics > Discovery Metrics

See Table 6-3 for a description of administrative tasks you can perform.

Table 6-3 Server Tools Tasks 

Task	Purpose	Action
Administrative Tasks
Perform self test.	Runs self-tests and generates a report with the results	Server Configuration > Diagnostics > Self Test
Check process failures.	Displays the failed process and time failure occurred	Server Configuration > Diagnostics > Process Failures
Obtain detailed status of ANI Server.	Displays detailed system configuration and settings for ANI Server	Server Configuration > Diagnostics > Analyze ANI Server
Enhance ANI discovery performance.	Enables you to view and enhance discovery performance through tuning and metrics.	Server Configuration >Diagnostics > Discovery Metrics

Modifying SNMP Settings

You should ensure that the SNMP settings on the ANI Server correspond to the settings on your network devices.

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Note Default community strings are public for the read-only and read-write strings. If the community strings on your devices differ from these settings, you must edit the community strings before initiating the discovery process.

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You have the option to enable multiple community strings, and encrypt the community strings. In addition to editing the read and write access of your devices, you can modify the SNMP retries and timeout duration.

Applying Changes to SNMP Settings

Use this information to change community strings, SNMP retries, and SNMP timeouts on the ANI Server.

Before You Begin

When you make changes to the community strings, ANI discovery runs even if it is not scheduled to occur.

Refer to Community String Guidelines for tips on entering valid community strings.

Your login determines whether you can use this option.

Procedure

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Step 1 From the CiscoWorks desktop, select Server Configuration > Setup > ANI Server Admin > SNMP Settings.

Step 2 Enter the community string.

The SNMP variables are described in SNMP Variables Table.

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Table 6-4 SNMP Variables

Variable	Description	Usage Notes
target	Device or range of devices to which you are assigning these community strings.	If you do not specify a target, the default community strings apply to all devices in your network.
read_community	Password to allow read-only access to the devices.	If you do not specify the read community string for the specific target, the default value, public, is used.
write_community	Password to allow write access to the devices.	If you do not specify the write community string for the specific target, the default value, public, is used.
timeout	Duration, in seconds, for which the ANI server waits for a response from the device before performing the first retry	The default setting is 6 seconds. If you increase the timeout period, discovery could take significantly longer to complete. SNMP timeouts should be the same for the same IP address ranges when you enable multiple community string option.
Retries	Number of times the ANI server attempts to communicate with the device before declaring that the device has timed out.	By default, the ANI server makes only one retry. If you increase the number of retries, discovery takes significantly longer to complete. SNMP retires should be the same for the same IP address ranges when you enable multiple community string option. The default retry policy doubles the previous timeout value for retry. For example, if you specify two retries, and the timeout is 3 seconds, a request takes: •First try = 3 seconds •First retry = 6 seconds •Second retry = 12 seconds •Total time = 21 seconds (3 + 6 + 12) seconds to timeout.
Comments	You can add comments here	None.

Step 3 Click Add to enter a new community string.

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Tip To enable Enabling Multiple Community Strings, select the Enable Multiple Community String checkbox.

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Step 4 Click Save to save the community strings. To encrypt a community string before saving, select the Encrypt Community Strings check box.

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Tip To logically group the IP addresses, click Refresh.
To remove a community string, select the corresponding row and click Delete.

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Enabling Multiple Community Strings

ANI provides the option to enable multiple community strings for a given subnet or network. By default, this feature is disabled. You can enable this feature by selecting the EnableMultipleCommunity String check box in the SNMP Settings window. Enabling this feature helps you manage a network having devices with different community strings.

When only one community string is specified for a subnet or network, the discovery fails if ANI encounters a device with a community string different from that specified in ANI. Setting multiple community strings helps you overcome this concern.

With the multiple strings feature enabled, you can set multiple community strings for the same IP address range. ANI tries each community string, one after the other, until the successful match is found.

A typical scenario illustrates this feature.

Assume that you are using IP addresses in the range 10.10.*.* and managing the subnet/network having devices with different community strings. Let the read/write community strings be (abc/cde), (def/fgh) and (ghi/ijk). With the multiple community string feature enabled, you can specify 10.10.*.* multiple times and provide a different community string each time, as shown in the Table 6-5.

Table 6-5 Community String for IP address

IP Address Range	Read Community Strings	Write Community Strings
10.10.*.*	abc	cde
10.20.*.*	def	fgh
10.30.*.*	ghi	ijk

ANI tries each community string specified in the IP address range, one after the other, until it finds the successful match.

The following cases further illustrate how ANI finds the appropriate community strings when you enable this feature.

Case 1

Let the IP address range and read/write community strings be as specified in Table 6-6.

Table 6-6 Case 1

IP Address Range	Read Community Strings	Write Community Strings
10.10.10.*	one	one
10.10.10.*	two	two
10.10.10.*	three	three
*.*.*.*	public	private

For a device with IP address 10.10.10.10, ANI uses the first three entries to find the correct community string. This is because 10.10.10.* is the closest match for the device with IP address 10.10.10.10

Case 2

Let the IP Address range and read/write community strings be as specified in the Table 6-7.

Table 6-7 Case 2

IP Address Range	Read Community Strings	Write Community Strings
10.10.[8-16].*	one	one
10.10.[8-16].*	two	two
10.10.[8-16].*	three	three
*.*.*.*	public	private

For a device with IP address 10.10.10.10, ANI uses the first three entries to find the correct community string. This is because 10.10.[8-16].* is the closest match for the device IP address 10.10.10.10.

Case 3

Let the IP Address range and read/write community strings be as specified in the Table 6-8.

Table 6-8 Case 3

IP Address Range	Read Community Strings	Write Community Strings
10.10.*.*	one	one
10.10.*.*	two	two
10.10.*.*	three	three
10.*.*.*	public1	private1
*.*.*.*	public2	private2

For a device with IP address 10.10.10.10, ANI uses the first three entries to find the correct community string. This is because 10.10.*.* is the closest match for the device IP address 10.10.10.10.

Case 4

Let the IP address range and read/write community strings be as specified in the Table 6-9.

Table 6-9 Case 4

IP Address Range	Read Community Strings	Write Community Strings
10.*.*.*	one	one
20.*.*.*	two	two
*.*.*.*	three	three
*.*.*.*	public1	private1
*.*.*.*	public2	private2

For a device with IP address 30.30.30.30, ANI uses the last three entries to find the correct community string. This is because *.*.*.* is the closest match for the device IP address 30.30.30.30.

After the correct community string corresponding to a device is identified, ANI keeps it in memory until the ANI session is terminated. Once you stop/start ANI, it has to repeat the process to find the correct community string.

Community String Guidelines

Use these guidelines to modify the community strings:

•You can assign community strings to any of the following:

–Complete IP address—172.20.4.9

–DNS name—dnsname.mycompany.com

Any wild cards, but wild cards must be based on IP addresses:
*.*.*.*
172.*.*.*

–Range of address including wild cards:
172.20.[4-55].*
172.[21-30].[44-88].*
172.*.*.[121-255]

•You can add a combination of general and specific entries, but the ANI Server reads the community strings from most specific to least specific.

•If more than one entry matches for the same device, the most specific community string is used.

•When the pound sign (#) appears as the first character on a line, it indicates a comment.

•All printable characters, except for colons (:) are allowed in community strings.

•To encrypt the community string before saving, select the Encrypt Community Strings check box.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can't I start my CiscoWorks application?

If you cannot start your CiscoWorks application and receive error messages complaining that the WebServer or ANIServer might not be running (even though pdshow indicates that those processes are up and running), you might need to check how your machine is resolving its server name and IP address.

The CiscoWorks CORBA applications require name resolution to work properly. Choose Domain Name Service (DNS) or any other form of name resolution supported by both your client and server.

Configure the name resolution mechanism and restart the CiscoWorks Server to access the application correctly.

How can I check the status of the ANI Server?

To check the status of the ANI Server to determine if it is up and running properly:

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Step 1 From the CiscoWorks desktop, select Server Configuration > Administration > Process Management > Process Status.

Step 2 Use the information in Table 6-10 to verify the current status of the ANI Server.

Table 6-10 ANI Server Status 

State	Explanation	Solution
Administrator has shut down the server.	Administrator intentionally shut down the ANI Server.	Start the ANI Server to get it up-and-running again.
Administrator has shut down the server.	ANI Server has failed to come back up.	Might occur after stopping and restarting the ANI Server.
Failed to Run.	ANI Server could not start up initially.	Check the log for details: •On Solaris: /var/adm/CSCOpx/logs/daemons.log •On Windows: NMSROOT\log\ANIServer.log, where NMSROOT is the directory where you installed CiscoWorks.
Program started—No management msgs received.	ANI Server is in the process of starting up.	Wait a few minutes, and check the status again.
Running but busy flag set.	Normal state. ANI Server is up-and-running normally.	None. Everything is normal.
	Can also appear when the ANI Server is hung or not responding.	If discovery does not appear to be completing, check the log for details: •On Solaris: /var/adm/CSCOpx/logs/daemons.log •On Windows: NMSROOT\log\ANIServer.log where NMSROOT is the directory where you installed CiscoWorks.
The ANI Server cannot load the database. Run reinitdb.pl to reinitialize the database.	The ANI database is corrupted, and the ANI Server cannot run with a corrupted database.	Reinitialize the database: From the command prompt or shell window, run: •On Solaris: $NMSROOT/campus/bin/reinitdb.pl •On Windows: perl NMSROOT\campus\bin\reinitdb.pl where $NMSROOT and NMSROOT are the directories where you installed CiscoWorks, in Solaris and Windows respectively.

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How can I verify whether the ANI discovery is complete or almost complete?

Use the Discovery Metrics task to check if discovery is in progress. From the CiscoWorks desktop:

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Step 1 Select Server Configuration > Diagnostics > Discovery Metrics.

Step 2 Use the Percent Complete column to determine if the discovery task is finished.

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How can I verify whether the ANI Server is fully functional?

The CiscoWorks Server includes several tools to verify varying functional states of the ANI Server. To progressively determine the cause of any problems:

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Step 1 Select Server Configuration  > About the Server  > About ANI Server > Copyrights and Versions.

•If this page appears, you have verified that the web server and its applets are working properly.

•If this page does not appear, the problem is not related to the ANI Server. The CiscoWorks web server is not running properly.

Step 2 Select Server Configuration  > About the Server  > About ANI Server > Devices Support.

•If a list of icons, device names, and device OIDs appears, you have verified that the ANI Server is up-and-running.

•If an error occurs, follow the suggestions appropriate to the reported state of the ANI Server (see Table 6-10).

Step 3 Select Server Configuration  > Diagnostics  > Analyze ANI Server.

•If this page appears, verify that the name of the ANI Server and the host running it is correct.

•If an error occurs, follow the suggestions appropriate to the reported state of the ANI Server (see Table 6-10).

Step 4 Select Server Configuration > Diagnostics >Discovery Metrics.

•If this page appears, you have verified that the ANI Server is working.

•If an error occurs, the ANI Server is not working properly.

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Table 6-11 Troubleshooting Suggestions 

Symptom	Probable Cause	Possible Solutions
Setup
The ANI Server cannot load the database. Run reinitdb.pl to reinitialize the database.	The ANI database is corrupted, and the ANI Server cannot run with a corrupted database.	Reinitialize the database: From the command prompt or shell window, where $NMSROOT is the root directory where you installed CiscoWorks, run: •On Solaris: $NMSRROOT/campus/bin/reinitdb.pl •On Windows: perl NMSROOT\campus\bin\reinitdb.pl where $NMSROOT and NMSROOT are the directories where you installed CiscoWorks, in Solaris and Windows respectively.
Cannot access the ANI supported devices.	ANI may have restarted since you last connected.	Log out of CiscoWorks and log in again: 1. Click Logout. 2. Enter your user name and password. 3. Click Connect and attempt to use the Campus application again.
Unable to analyze the ANI Server because a message states that you are not authorized.
When using a Campus Manager application, a error occurs: Cannot connect to ANI Server.