Table Of Contents
Getting Started
Logging In to the Common Services Desktop
Starting Performance Monitor
User Permissions
Using the GUI
Understanding the GUI
Understanding GUI Icons
Understanding Device Icons
Using Performance Monitor Tables
Using Wizards
Using an Object Selector
Working in an Event Browser
MCP Process Maintenance
Sequence of Performance Monitor Operations
Getting Started
The following topics will help you understand and start using Performance Monitor:
•
Logging In to the Common Services Desktop
•Using the GUI
•Working in an Event Browser
•Sequence of Performance Monitor Operations
Logging In to the Common Services Desktop
The Common Services desktop provides access to applications on your server, including Performance Monitor and Security Manager, and to Common Services server configuration utilities.
Procedure
Step 1 Go to https://<server>/CSCOnm/servlet/login/login.jsp from your browser, where server is the IP address or DNS name of your server.
Step 2 In the login form, enter your assigned username in the User ID field, then enter your assigned password in the Password field.
Step 3 Click Login.
You are logged in. The Cisco Security Management Suite page appears.
Step 4 (Optional) To change your password:
a. Click CiscoWorks.
b. From the Common Services area on the CiscoWorks page, select Server > Security.
c. From the TOC, select Single Server Management > Local User Setup.
d. Select the check box next to your username, then click Edit.
e. Enter your new password in the Password field, and again in the Verify field, then click OK.
Starting Performance Monitor
You start Performance Monitor from the Cisco Security Management Suite page.
Procedure
Step 1 If you are not already viewing the Cisco Security Management Suite page, point your browser to https://<server>/cwhp/CSMSDesktop/CSMSHome.jsp, where server is the IP address or DNS name of your server.
Step 2 Click Performance Monitor.
Performance Monitor opens.
Note•You see a message if you have not yet chosen to trust digital certificates from your server. Click Yes to proceed.
•You see a message if you are using an evaluation license for Performance Monitor. You can dismiss the message.
•You can open only one instance of Performance Monitor in your web browser at any one time. If Performance Monitor has started already and you start a second instance of it from the CiscoWorks desktop, the second instance will replace the first instance in your browser window. (Your ability to open browser windows for other purposes is not affected.)
User Permissions
Your server authenticates the username and password of every user who logs in. After you start Performance Monitor, Common Services identifies the tasks and operations that you are authorized to perform. Some tasks and related GUI elements are hidden from unauthorized users.
Performance Monitor user authentication and authorization come from Common Services. See the Common Services online help for details.
Note You can configure Common Services to use Cisco ACS for the management of user accounts on your server. See "Configuring CiscoWorks Common Services to use Cisco Secure ACS Authorization and Authentication" topic in the Common Services online help.
Associating Common Services User Roles with Performance Monitor User Permissions
When you log in to Performance Monitor, the options that the GUI shows to you depend on the roles assigned to your username. A user with system administrator privileges can access all features, while other users see only a subset of features. For example, a system administrator can display any scheduled email report job, regardless of who created it, while other users can display only the email jobs that they have created.
Common Services provides seven user roles. Table 3-1 describes how those roles correspond to Performance Monitor tasks and visible GUI elements.
Table 3-1 Common Services User Roles and Corresponding Performance Monitor User Privileges
Your Common Services Role
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Your Permitted Tasks
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Your Visible GUI Tabs
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System Administrator
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All tasks (read/write).
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All tabs and all options.
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Network Administrator (capacity planner)
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All privileges of a Network Operator, with the additional right to end RAS user sessions.
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All tabs.
However, all Admin tab options are hidden for this user role, except for the My Profile option.
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Network Operator
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•Real-time monitoring.
•Inventory (read/write).
•Polling policy (read/write).
•Fault management (read/write).
•Historical report scheduling (read/write).
•Historical report viewing (read-only).
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All tabs.
However, all Admin tab options are hidden for this user role, except for the My Profile option.
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Approver
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•Real-time monitoring.
•Inventory (read/write).
•Polling policy (read/write).
•Fault management (read/write).
•Historical report scheduling (read/write).
•Historical report viewing (read-only).
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Summary, Monitor, Reports, and Admin.
However, all Admin tab options are hidden for this user role, except for the My Profile option.
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Help Desk
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•Real-time monitoring.
•Inventory (read-only).
•Polling policy (read-only).
•Fault management (read-only).
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Summary, Monitor, and Admin.
However, all Admin tab options are hidden for this user role, except for the My Profile option.
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Export Data
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Note These Common Services user roles do not correspond directly to any Performance Monitor tasks. By default, any users in these roles are considered help desk staff.
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Developer
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Using the GUI
The Performance Monitor GUI times out after 2 hours of inactivity, after which you must log in again. You cannot configure the timeout. Review the following topics to learn about recurring GUI elements:
•Understanding the GUI
•Using Performance Monitor Tables
•Using Wizards
•Using an Object Selector
Understanding the GUI
Figure 3-1 shows and describes common elements in the Performance Monitor GUI.
Figure 3-1 Common Performance Monitor GUI Elements
1
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Options bar — Displays the options available for the selected tab.
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4
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Tool bar — Contains the Close, Help, and About links.
•Help1 — Display context-sensitive help for the active page and access other help topics.
•About — Display the Performance Monitor version and copyright.
•Close — Close all Performance Monitor windows2 .
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2
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Path bar — Says You Are Here, then lists the selected tab, option, and page (if relevant).
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5
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Page — Displays the area in which you review the information that Performance Monitor provides to you, and in which you perform application tasks.
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3
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Tab — Provides access to Performance Monitor features. Click a tab to display its options.
•Summary—View critical errors (P1 and P2), view summary graphs and tables for supported services, or open an event browser with no preset filters.
•Monitor—Monitor the state of your remote access VPNs, site-to-site VPNs, firewall services, load-balancing services, and SSL proxy services.
•Reports—Configure and generate historical reports for VPNs, firewall services, load-balancing services, and SSL proxy services.
•Devices—Manage device validation and grouping.
•Admin—Configure automatic notification when a monitored service fails or exceeds a threshold. Configure thresholds and intervals. View and configure log files. Set the default page.
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Understanding GUI Icons
Figure 3-2 shows (and describes the purpose and correct use of) every Performance Monitor GUI icon, except for the specialized icons that either:
•Indicate a specific kind of device (see Figure 3-3).
•Enable you to navigate in a specific range of interrelated pages (see Figure 3-5).
Figure 3-2 Common GUI Icons
1
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Alert (active) — Appears in either of two GUI locations. Indicates a severe problem or a failure. Click the icon to:
•Open an event browser for the relevant service, device, or module, if the icon is in the Alert column of a descriptive table. See Working in an Event Browser.
•Display the Critical Problems summary if the icon appears above a row of graphs or charts under the Summary tab. See Working in the Critical Problems Summary, page 4-1.
Tip If you are unsure which result to expect when you click a particular alert icon, pause your pointer over the icon before you click. A tooltip says Critical Problems if the icon leads to the Critical Problems summary.
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4
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Print Report — Appears in generated reports of historical trends or user sessions. Click the icon to print the report.
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2
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Alert (inactive) — Appears above a row of graphs or charts under the Summary tab. Indicates that there are no severe problems or failures. Click the icon to display the Critical Problems summary.
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5
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Report Help — Appears in generated reports of historical trends or user sessions. Click the icon to display online help.
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3
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Detach — Appears above a row of graphs in pages under the Summary tab. Indicates that you can isolate and detach the relevant graphs as a dashboard (see Table 1-1). Click the icon to open the dashboard.
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Understanding Device Icons
In some GUI pages, Performance Monitor uses icons to represent the validated devices in your network (Figure 3-3).
Figure 3-3 Device Icons
1
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Router.
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5
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SSL services module.
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2
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VPN concentrator.
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6
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Unreachable device.
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3
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Firewall (PIX, ASA, or services module).
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7
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A device for which monitoring is disabled.
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4
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Content-switching services module.
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Using Performance Monitor Tables
Tables contain items such as devices and critical problems; you can perform certain optional tasks in almost any page that contains a table. But Performance Monitor tables might differ in some ways from the tables you use in other applications, and might sometimes include unfamiliar traits like a troubleshooting function for your network devices and services. Also, some tables span multiple pages.
Figure 3-4 Example Table
1
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Column heading — The column heading appears above table data and spans the width of the table. Entries in the column heading identify the type of information provided in each column. In many cases, you can click a column heading to re-sort the entire table by the entries in that column.
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2
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Row — One row describes one item, and each row provides several descriptors for the item. For example, a row might describe a single device by listing its IP address, device family (such as VPN 3000 Concentrator), and alarm state.
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3
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Column — A column provides a single category of information that applies equally to several items. For example, a column might list IP address information or the alarm state for all listed devices. In cases where the information in a column is a measured value, it is almost always one of these:
•Delta—The scope of difference from one polling cycle to the next.
•Whole value—A count, such as the number of active VPN tunnels on a device or the exact duration of a user session.
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Tables That Span Multiple Pages
A single table might span multiple pages when the number of rows is insufficient to display all relevant data in a single page. In most cases, tables span multiple pages because either:
•You selected too few rows in the Rows per page list.
•Even the maximum value in the Rows per page list—40 rows—is insufficient to display the entire table in one page.
In these cases, use the navigation buttons (Figure 3-5) under the table, or enter a table page number in the Go to page text box, then click Go.
Figure 3-5 Table Navigation Buttons
1
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Click to display the first page of a table that spans multiple pages.
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2
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Click to display the previous page of a table that spans multiple pages.
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3
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Click to display the next page of a table that spans multiple pages.
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4
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Click to display the last page of a table that spans multiple pages.
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Table Check Boxes
A check box is present in a row when that row describes an item that you can edit or for which you can take an action. Optionally, you can select items row by row, or you can select the check box in the column heading to select all items.
Table Actions
If you plan to edit an item in a table, select its check box, then click the appropriate action button. Buttons that are not relevant to a selected item, or for which you do not have permissions, are grayed-out.
Common Elements in Tables
Table 3-2 describes GUI elements that recur in most Performance Monitor tables.
Table 3-2 Common GUI Elements in Performance Monitor Tables
Element
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Purpose or Procedure
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Current Data timestamp
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Review the Current Data timestamp to learn whether the display is current. The more recent the timestamp, the greater the implied accuracy.
The displayed time and the time zone abbreviation are those in your location, regardless of the location of the CiscoWorks Server.
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Enable Refresh Rate
check box
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Do either of the following:
•To enable automatic screen refreshes globally in Performance Monitor, select the check box.
•To disable automatic screen refreshes, deselect the check box.
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minutes list
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To change the repeat rate of automatic screen refreshes, if you have enabled them, select an interval from the minutes list.
The fastest rate is once per minute; the slowest rate is once every 5 minutes.
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column heading
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Click a word in a column heading to sort the table by that column. For example, in a table that includes a Device column, click the Device column heading to sort the table by device names or IP addresses.
Where a column heading has the image of a triangle, click the triangle to reverse the sorting order.
Note Some column headings are not hyperlinked. You cannot sort a table by the values in these columns.
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Rows per page list
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Select an option from the list to change the maximum number of table rows displayed in each page. An automatic screen refresh follows your selection.
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check boxes
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Select the entry or entries to which an action applies. You can select entries individually, or you can select all entries simultaneously.
•A check box in the column heading row permits you to select or deselect all entries at once. (In a table that spans two or more pages, you select only the entries in the active page.)
•A check box in a row that describes one entry permits you to select that entry individually.
Note You must select the entries to which an action applies before you perform the action.
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Troubleshoot button
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Troubleshooting information developed by Cisco Systems is part of the Performance Monitor application. The interactive troubleshooting tool is available online only, in these two ways:
•From the Troubleshoot button, where it appears in the GUI. (Some pages do not include the Troubleshoot button.)
•From the table of contents for the Performance Monitor online help.
Tip For more troubleshooting information, see FAQs and Troubleshooting Guide for Monitoring Center for Performance 2.x on Cisco.com.
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Refresh button
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For a one-time, manual refresh of the active page, click Refresh.
Displayed values in the refreshed page are based upon data that was collected during the most recent polling cycle or from traps received from devices regarding the condition of their interfaces, real servers, or site-to-site VPN tunnels.
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Optional Tasks in Performance Monitor Tables
Table 3-3 describes optional tasks that recur in many GUI pages.
Table 3-3 Optional Tasks in Performance Monitor Tables
Optional Task
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Procedure
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Sort a table according to the values in a column.
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Click a word in the column heading to sort a table by that column. Where a column heading has the image of a triangle, click the triangle to reverse the sorting order.
Note Some column headings are not hyperlinked. You cannot sort a table by the values in these columns.
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Change Performance Monitorscreen refresh settings globally or refresh the active display.
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Do any of the following:
•To enable automatic screen refreshes, select the Enable Refresh Rate check box.
•To disable automatic screen refreshes, deselect the Enable Refresh Rate check box.
•To change the repeat rate of automatic screen refreshes, if enabled, select an interval from the minutes list.
•To refresh the screen one time, even if you disabled automatic screen refreshes, click Refresh.
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Assess the timeliness of the displayed values.
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Review the Current Data timestamp to learn whether the displayed values are current. The more recent the timestamp, the greater the implied accuracy.
The displayed time and the time zone abbreviation are those in your location, regardless of the location of the CiscoWorks Server.
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Using Wizards
Wizards lead you step-by-step through otherwise complicated tasks like importing or adding devices. Figure 3-6 shows a representative page from the Add Devices wizard. The wizard elements are:
Figure 3-6 Example Wizard Page
1. TOC that lists the wizard steps.
2. Wizard pages.
3. Wizard action buttons.
A TOC lists the steps in the wizard, and TOC entries for steps you have completed are links that allow quick navigation back to a specific step or field. You must complete steps in a strict sequence when you work in a wizard. If you try to vary the sequence or leave the wizard too early, an error message is displayed and your action is blocked. Wizard action buttons differ according to the step that you select:
•The Back and Next buttons are grayed-out in the first and last steps, respectively.
•To exit the wizard without saving your changes, click Cancel.
•To submit your changes, then exit the wizard, click Finish.
Until you click Finish, Performance Monitor does not apply any of your selections. When you click Finish, you skip whichever steps remain undone in the wizard. Most wizards have defaults, which are applied to the steps that you skip.
Using an Object Selector
Object selectors are based on a framework of folders, subfolders, and their contents, and appear in many different pages in the Performance Monitor GUI. The elements in an object selector vary slightly, depending on its purpose. An object selector typically shows a nested tree of device groups, devices, and — sometimes — events, and lets you select devices and events as filtering criteria.
Figure 3-7 Object Selector Elements
1
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All tab — Enables you to view and select:
•Event categories, device groups, and individual devices so that you can filter the displayed results in an event browser window.
•Device groups (system-defined or user-defined) and individual devices so that you can:
–Restrict the scope of a report that you configure.
–Edit SNMP settings and polling credentials.
–Enable or disable polling.
–View device properties.
–Delete devices.
•User-defined device groups and individual devices so that you can:
–Create, modify, or delete user-defined device groups.
–Display device group details.
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2
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Selection Tab — Enables you to isolate and display a complete list of the objects that you select under the All tab. To remove an object from the list of selections, deselect the relevant check box.
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3
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Event Categories folder — Contains events that you can select. Where it exists in the left pane of an event browser window, you can click the Event Categories folder to select all events. Alternatively, you can expand the folder and select one or both of the event categories it contains:
•Failure—Also known as state events, failure events pertain to conditions for which only extreme values exist, such as Up and Down.
•Performance—Also known as range events, performance events pertain to conditions for which a range of values exist, such as OK, Degraded, and Overloaded.
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4
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Device Groups folder — Contains the Monitored Devices folder at its root level. The Monitored Devices folder, in turn, contains additional nested subfolders that categorize the different types of monitored devices in your network. These subfolders include system-defined device groups and might include user-defined device groups. You can select devices individually, or device groups individually, or you can select all of your device groups.
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5
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Apply Filter button — To apply your selections, click Apply Filter.
Note Some Object Selectors do not display an Apply Filter button. In such cases, your selections take effect immediately.
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6
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You might see a + symbol or a - symbol to the left of some folders or subfolders in the selection tree. Click a + symbol to expand, or click a - symbol to collapse, the relevant level in the tree.
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7
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Select the check box next to an object to select that object and all its descendants in the hierarchy. Click again to deselect an object.
Note In an Object Selector, you must select at least one check box before you click an action button. For example, when you configure a report, you must select a check box to specify the device or group to which the report applies.
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Working in an Event Browser
An event is a notification that a monitored device or component has an abnormal condition. Multiple events can occur simultaneously on a single monitored device or service module.
An event browser window allows you to browse events and sort or filter events by criteria you choose. Performance Monitor provides filtered and unfiltered event browser options.
Procedure
Step 1 To open an event browser window, do any of the following:
•Under the Summary tab, select the Event Browser option. The event browser that opens describes all monitored events in your network, irrespective of their service type or the device on which they occur.
•Under the Summary tab, click any linked entry in the Critical Problems table. The event browser that opens describes only the events on the relevant device.
•In any TOC under the Monitor tab, click Event Browser. The event browser that opens describes only the events that affect the relevent service.
•Under the Monitor tab, click any hyperlinked alert icon in a table that includes an Alert column. The event browser that opens describes only the events that affect the relevant service on the relevant device.
When the event browser window opens, its left pane contains an Object Selector. See Using an Object Selector.
Step 2 Complete the optional tasks that meet your requirements (Table 3-4).
The refreshed display shows the result of any optional task that you complete.
Table 3-4 Optional Tasks in Event Browser Windows
Optional Task
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Procedure
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Note Table 3-3 describes additional optional tasks.
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Use event categories to filter the events list.
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You can view and select event types in the left pane to filter results in the right pane.
1. If the Event Categories folder is closed, click the + symbol to its left.
The folder expands. It contains event categories that you can select individually.
2. Select the check box to the left of an event category to select that category. Or, select the check box to the left of the folder to select all event categories.
3. Click Apply Filter.
The refreshed display shows only events that match the category (or categories) you select.
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Use devices or device groups to filter the events list.
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You can view and select device groups or individual devices in the left pane to filter results in the right pane.
1. If the Device Groups folder is closed, click the + symbol to its left.
The folder expands. You can further expand the nested subfolders to view device categories and, finally, individual devices.
2. Select the check box to the left of a folder to select that folder and all of its descendants. Or, select the check box to the left of a device to select that device only.
3. Click Apply Filter.
The refreshed display shows only the events on devices that you select.
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Use severity levels to filter the events list.
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To specify a severity level range (where P1 is the highest severity and P5 is the lowest), select the relevant option in the Select Severity list.
Performance Monitor applies the filter immediately and the event browser refreshes automatically to display the filtered result. The refreshed display shows only events within the specified severity range.
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Use alarm states to filter the events list.
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To specify an alarm state, select the relevant option from the Alarm Status list.
Performance Monitor applies the filter immediately and the event browser refreshes automatically to display the filtered result. The refreshed display shows only events within the specified alarm state (or states, if you select All).
Note Your selection in the Alarm Status list cannot be combined for filtering purposes with any selection in the Event State list. If you make selections in both lists, your second selection clears and overrides your first selection.
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Use event states to filter the event list.
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Select a value from the Event State list in the right pane. Available options in the Event State list can vary as follows:
•Generic—Options in the list are a superset of all possible states.
•Service—Options in the list are only those that pertain to the specified service, such as states that can exist, for example, in a site-to-site VPN.
•Device—Options in the list are only those that pertain to the specified device, such as states that can exist, for example, in a VPN 3000 Concentrator.
•Combined Device and Service—Options in the list are a superset of all the states that are possible both for the specified service and for the specified device type.
Note Your selection in the Event State list cannot be combined for filtering purposes with any selection in the Alarm Status list. If you make selections in both lists, your second selection clears and overrides your first selection.
Performance Monitor applies the filter immediately and the event browser refreshes automatically to display the filtered result.
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Use ranges of time to filter the events list.
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Select a value from the Time list in the right pane.
Performance Monitor applies the filter immediately and the event browser refreshes automatically to display the filtered result.
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Use an Event ID to isolate and display a single event.
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When Performance Monitor sends an email message to notify you about an event, it provides you with the sequential ID number it has assigned automatically to that event.
To view the details of an event, enter its ID number in the Event ID text box, then click Find.
Note An Event ID search is independent of any previous filtering.
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Use a keyword or term to search for and display events that match a description.
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You can isolate and view only the events that match a text string that Performance Monitor uses in its descriptions of events. For example, you could view only the events whose descriptions include such strings as not accessible, failure, or inbound.
Enter a string in the Description text box. Then, to view only the events whose descriptions include that string, click Search.
Queries are not case-sensitive.
Note A description search is independent of any previous filtering.
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MCP Process Maintenance
Performance Monitor polls a large number of devices frequently, for which it requires a server process called MCP. To improve overall performance on your server, a scheduled job called restartMCP.pl stops and then restarts the MCP process once a week, on Sundays at 3:30 a.m. The script issues the pdterm MCP command and waits 1 minute, then issues the pdexec MCP command.
Note•The restartMCP.pl job also stops and then restarts the McpDbEngine process.
•The scheduled recurrence of the restartMCP.pl job is based on the local time of the server on which you installed Performance Monitor.
Tip•To display a list of scheduled jobs, go to the Windows command line and enter at, then press Enter.
•You can edit the entry for the restartMCP.pl script to modify its schedule.
Until the MCP process restarts:
•No device polling occurs.
•No new or recurring validation tasks run.
•Performance Monitor loses any SNMP traps that monitored devices send.
•You cannot add or import new devices.
The Performance Monitor GUI is not affected and you can work from stored data, but some of the displayed data might not match the current condition of the devices and services in your network. Also, when you run historical reports, you might see a dip in the displayed graphs for any period of time in which the MCP process did not run.
The shutdown and restart of the MCP process generally takes less than 5 minutes.
Sequence of Performance Monitor Operations
After you configure Performance Monitor and it is operating as you intend, it performs certain operations automatically, in the following sequence:
1. Runs scheduled validations to verify that devices exist and are reachable, provided device credentials are correct, required features are enabled, and required interfaces are enabled.
For a VPN 3000 Series concentrator, validation also confirms that the relevant concentrator uses the correct XML credentials, has HTTPS enabled, and is running the VPN 3000 Concentrator Series Manager.
2. Updates the list of devices to poll, based on the results of scheduled validations.
3. Polls reachable devices for their current status, in order to compare device status information to performance and failure thresholds, generate performance and failure events, send event notifications, when appropriate, and update the values in tables and graphs.
4. Updates logs (continuously).
5. Performs scheduled and recurring jobs.
