Administering Auto-Synchronization with Devices

This chapter describes how to administer the Auto-Synchronization with Devices feature in Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM).

This chapter includes the following sections:

Information About Auto-Synchronization with Devices

The Auto Synchronizing with Devices feature ensures that the Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) server has current configuration and status information about managed devices. The Cisco DCNM server creates one poller process for each device to retrieve the system and accounting logs that this feature requires.

When you choose Auto Synchronization with Devices on the Feature Selector, the content pane shows information about each poller process and allows you to control them.

You can configure the length of time that Cisco DCNM waits before polling a device again. By default, Cisco DCNM polls each managed device every 60 seconds. You can increase the length of time to a maximum of 300 seconds. For more information, see the “Configuring the Polling Interval” section.

Cisco DCNM polls devices concurrently; however, to avoid polling all devices simultaneously, Cisco DCNM begins polling devices in alphabetical device-name order and delays each polling process by a short, random amount of time.

This section includes the following topics:

Automatic and Manual Purging of Event Data

You can use the Auto-Synchronization with Devices feature to delete unwanted event data. Cisco DCNM supports automatic purging of event data. You can configure the following aspects of automatic event data purging:

  • Days of the week and time of day that automatic purging occurs.
  • Whether Cisco DCNM determines which event data to purge by the age of the data or by a maximum number of database entries.
  • Severity level of events.

You can also manually purge event data.

Virtualization Support

Cisco DCNM treats each virtual device context (VDC) on a Cisco NX-OS device as a separate device. Cisco DCNM creates one poller process per device.

Licensing Requirements for Auto-Synchronization with Devices

The following table shows the licensing requirements for this feature:

 

Product
License Requirement

Cisco DCNM

Auto-Synchronization with Devices requires no license. Any feature not included in a license package is bundled with the Cisco DCNM and is provided at no charge to you. For information about obtaining and installing a Cisco DCNM LAN Enterprise license, see the “Installing Licenses” section.

Prerequisites for Auto-Synchronization with Devices

The Auto-Synchronization with Devices feature has the following prerequisites:

  • The Cisco DCNM server must be able to connect to the devices.
  • The Cisco NX-OS device must be running a supported version of Cisco NX-OS.
  • The Cisco NX-OS device must have the minimal configuration that is required to enable device discovery to succeed. For more information, see the “Cisco NX-OS Device Preparation” section.

Guidelines and Limitations for Auto-Synchronization with Devices

The Auto-Synchronization with Devices feature has the following configuration guidelines and limitations:

  • We recommend that you use the default device polling interval unless you encounter issues with synchronization due to slow response from devices or to managing many devices. For more information, see the “Configuring the Polling Interval” section.
  • For the Auto-Synchronization with Devices feature, the Cisco DCNM client does not automatically update the information shown in the Summary pane. To ensure that you are viewing current information, from the menu bar, choose View > Refresh .
  • We recommend that you configure automatic purging of event data to ensure that the Cisco DCNM database size does not grow too large.

Configuring Device Auto-Synchronization

Figure 15-1 shows the Auto-Synchronization with Devices content pane.

Figure 15-1 Auto-Synchronization with Devices Content Pane

 

This section includes the following topics:

Starting and Stopping a Poller

You can start and stop a poller for a device. When a poller is stopped, auto-synchronization for the device does not occur.

DETAILED STEPS

To start or stop a poller, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices .

A table of pollers appears in the Contents pane. Each row corresponds to a poller for a particular device. Devices are listed alphabetically. The Poller Status field displays messages about whether the poller is running or is stopped.

Step 2 Click the poller that you want to start or stop.

Step 3 Do one of the following:

    • To start a poller, from the menu bar, choose Actions > Start Poller . The Poller Status field changes to Running.
    • To stop a poller, from the menu bar, choose Actions > Stop Poller . The Poller Status field changes to Stopped.

You do not need to save your changes.

 

Configuring the Polling Interval

You can configure how often the Cisco DCNM server synchronizes with managed devices. While synchronizing, the Cisco DCNM server fetches accounting and system logs from managed devices. This setting affects how frequently features in the Cisco DCNM client receive updated information about managed devices.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

The default polling interval is 60 seconds.

Determine how often you want Cisco DCNM to perform auto-synchronization with managed devices. In general, consider the following:

  • How often device configurations are changed by means other than Cisco DCNM, such as using the command-line interface of a device. If changes by means other than Cisco DCNM are common, consider using a short polling interval.
  • How important it is to your organization that Cisco DCNM be up to date with managed device configurations. If up-to-date configuration information is important to your organization, consider using a short polling interval.

DETAILED STEPS

To configure the polling interval, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices .

The device polling interval appears in the Contents pane, above the table of pollers.

Step 2 In the Device Polling Interval field, enter the number of seconds between auto-synchronizations for all devices. The default interval is 60 seconds. You can specify an interval between 30 and 300 seconds.

Step 3 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to save the polling interval.

 

Synchronizing with a Device

You can make Cisco DCNM synchronize with a device manually when you do not want to wait for the next auto-synchronization to occur.

Note If many configuration changes have occurred on the device since the last successful synchronization, consider performing device discovery instead of synchronization. For more information, see “Discovering a Device” section.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Ensure that you have either configured the device entry with unique device credentials or that Cisco DCNM can use the default device credentials to connect to the device. For more information, see the “Configuring Default Device Credentials” section.

DETAILED STEPS

To synchronize with a device, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices .

A table of pollers appears in the Contents pane. Each row corresponds to a poller for a particular device. Devices are listed alphabetically.

Step 2 Click the device that you want Cisco DCNM to synchronize with.

Step 3 From the menu bar, choose Actions > Synchronize with Device .

Synchronization begins.

To determine when the synchronization has finished, watch the Last Sync Status column. Typically, synchronization with a device occurs in less than 5 minutes.

You do not need to save your changes.

 

Deleting Data from the Events Database

You can delete data from the events database based on the exact age of the events. Events that you delete can no longer appear in the Event Browser or on a feature-specific Events tab.

Tip If you want to delete events based on the number of events in the database, see the “Purging Events Now” section.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Determine the date and time of the newest events data that you want to delete. When you follow the steps in this procedure, Cisco DCNM deletes all events that are older than the date and time that you select.

DETAILED STEPS

To delete data from the events database, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices .

The Events Database Administration tab appears in the Details pane, below the table of pollers.

Step 2 From the Delete events older than drop-down list, choose the date and time of the newest event that you want to delete and click OK .

Step 3 Click Delete .

Cisco DCNM deletes all events older than the date and time that you specified.

 

Enabling and Disabling Automatic Event Purging

You can enable or disable the automatic purging of events from the Cisco DCNM events database.

DETAILED STEPS

To enable or disable automatic event purging, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices .

The Events Database Administration tab appears in the Details pane, below the table of pollers.

Step 2 Under Purge Settings, do one of the following:

    • To enable automatic event purging, check Enable Auto Purge .
    • To disable automatic event purging, uncheck Enable Auto Purge .

Step 3 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to save your changes to the Cisco DCNM server.

 

Configuring Automatic Event Purge Settings

You can configure when automatic event purging occurs and the criteria that Cisco DCNM uses to determine which events to purge.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Determine when you want automatic event purging to occur. We recommend that automatic event purging occur when Cisco DCNM usage is low.

If you perform backups of your Cisco DCNM databases, consider scheduling automatic event purging after database backups have occurred, to ensure that you retain a record of all events.

Determine what criteria you want Cisco DCNM to use to determine which events to purge. The criteria available are as follows:

  • Age of event—Cisco DCNM can purge all events that are older than a specific number of days, weeks, or months.
  • Number of events in the database—When the number of events in the database exceeds the maximum number that you specify, Cisco DCNM can purge the oldest events first until the maximum number is not exceeded.
  • Severity of event—Cisco DCNM can purge events based on the severity level of the event.

If you enable both criteria, Cisco DCNM applies them independently of each other.

DETAILED STEPS

To configure automatic event purge settings, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices .

The Events Database Administration tab appears in the Details pane, below the table of pollers.

Step 2 Under Purge Threshold, configure the criteria that Cisco DCNM uses to determine which events to purge. You can configure any of the criteria in the following table:

 

Purge Criteria
How to Configure

Age of events

1. Check Data older than .

2. From the first drop-down list, choose the number of days, weeks, or months.

3. From the second drop-down list, choose Days , Weeks , or Months , as needed.

Number of events in the database

1. Check Total Entries Exceed(0-2147483647) .

2. In the box, enter the maximum number of entries that you want to allow in the events database.

Severity of event

1. Check Severity . The list of eight severity levels becomes available.

2. For each severity level that you want Cisco DCNM to use to determine whether to purge events, check the severity level.

Step 3 Under Purge Settings, follow these steps to configure when you want automatic purging to occur:

a. Check the days-of-the-week check boxes to specify which days of the week that you want automatic purging to occur.

b. Use the Run at box to configure the exact time on the specified days that you want automatic event purging to occur.

Step 4 (Optional) If you want to enable automatic event purging, check Enable Auto Purge .

Step 5 From the menu bar, choose File > Deploy to save your changes to the Cisco DCNM server.

 

Purging Events Now

You can purge event data on demand, using the automatic event purge settings to determine which events are purged. Events that you delete can no longer appear in the Event Browser or on a feature-specific Events tab.

Tip If you want to delete events on demand, based on the exact age of the events, see the “Deleting Data from the Events Database” section.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Ensure that the automatic event purge settings are configured as needed. For more information, see the “Configuring Automatic Event Purge Settings” section.

DETAILED STEPS

To purge events from the events database now, follow these steps:

Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices .

The Events Database Administration tab appears in the Details pane, below the table of pollers.

Step 2 Under Purge Settings, click Purge Now .

Cisco DCNM deletes events, using the automatic event purge settings to determine which events to purge.

 

Viewing the Status of Auto-Synchronization Pollers

To view the status of an auto-synchronization poller, from the Feature Selector pane, choose DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices .

Poller status and information about the synchronization time and status appear in the Pollers area in the Contents pane. For information about the fields that appear, see the “Field Descriptions for Auto Synchronization with Devices” section.s

Field Descriptions for Auto Synchronization with Devices

This section includes the following field descriptions for the Auto Synchronization with Devices feature:

Summary Pane

 

Table 15-1 Auto Synchronization with Devices Summary Pane

Field
Description
Pollers

Device Polling Interval

Number of seconds that all pollers wait before the next attempt to synchronize with a device. The default value is 60 seconds. Valid values are from 30 to 300 seconds.

Last Refresh Time

Display only. Date and time that the Cisco DCNM client updated information shown on the Content pane.

Device

Display only. Name and IP address of the device for the corresponding poller.

Poller Status

Display only. Whether the poller is running or stopped. A running poller attempts to synchronize with the configuration and status information from its device at the frequency specified by the Device Polling Interval field.

Last Sync Time

Display only. Date and time that the poller last retrieved system and accounting log data from the device.

Last Sync Status

Display only. Whether the most recent synchronization attempt succeeded or failed. If synchronization failed, determine why Cisco DCNM failed to connect to the device. If necessary, rediscover the device.

Events Database Administration Tab

 

Table 15-2 Events Database Administration Tab

Field
Description

Delete events older than

Date and time of the newest event to be deleted from the events database. There is no default value for this field.
Purge Threshold

Data older than

Whether, during automatic event purging, Cisco DCNM deletes events that are older than the age specified in the drop-down lists located to the right of this check box. By default, this check box is unchecked. If you check the check box, the default age is 1 day.

Total Entries Exceed

Whether, during automatic event purging, Cisco DCNM deletes the oldest events until the number of events equals the number in the box located to the right of this check box. By default, this check box is unchecked. If you check the check box, the default number of event is 25,000.

Severity

Whether, during automatic event purging, Cisco DCNM deletes events with severity levels that are selected from the list of severity levels. By default, this check box is disabled.

Severity Levels

The severity levels of events that Cisco DCNM deletes during automatic event purging. The severity levels are available only if the Severity check box is checked. By default, all severity levels are disabled. The severity levels are as follows:

  • Emergency
  • Alert
  • Critical
  • Error
  • Warning
  • Notification
  • Informational
  • Debugging
Purge Settings

Enable Auto Purge

Whether automatic purging of event data is enabled. By default, this check box is disabled.

Run on

Days of the week that the automatic purging of events data occurs. By default, none of the check boxes are checked. If you check the Daily check box, the check boxes for the individual days of the week become unavailable.

Run at

Time of day that automatic purging of event data occurs, on the days of the week that automatic purging is enabled.

Additional References

For additional information related to administering Auto-Synchronization with Devices, see the following sections:

Related Documents

 

Related Topic
Document Title

Events

Chapter 10, “Managing Events”

Device discovery

Administering Device Discovery

Standards

 

Standards
Title

No new or modified standards are supported by this feature, and support for existing standards has not been modified by this feature.

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Feature History for Auto-Synchronization with Devices

Table 15-3 lists the release history for this feature.

 

Table 15-3 Feature History for Auto-Synchronization with Devices

Feature Name
Releases
Feature Information

Automatic purging based on event severity.

4.2(1)

Support was added.

Automatic purging of statistical data

4.1(2)

This feature was introduced.

Auto-Synchronization with Devices

4.1(2)

This feature was introduced.