CiscoWorks Service Level Manager

Q: Does the Management Information Base (MIB) information available for collection depend on the version of Cisco IOS that is running on a router? If yes, does the Performance Service Manager know the difference?

A: Most of the MIB information that Netsys Service Manager (NSM) collects is available in all versions of Cisco IOS after release 8.3. For the objects that appear only in release 10.x, NSM resorts to other objects in release 9.x.

If you have a Cisco IOS 8.3 or earlier, NSM can not get the protocol/switching mode details on the interfaces. In that case, only the interface summary numbers (packets/bytes/error in/out) and buffer statistics are collected.

Q: How does NSM gather NetFlow data?

A: NSM 4.0 speaks directly to the NetFlow Data Collector and reads the data natively. To enable NetFlow data collection, you need to activate NetFlow on various interfaces of the router. You also need to specify on the router the IP address of the machine where the "nfcollector" will be accepting NetFlow data. The UDP port number on which "nfcollector" is listening for data is also configured on the router. This enables the router to start sending NetFlow data to the "nfcollector" machine at the specified UDP port.

The "nfcollector" product needs to be installed on that machine listening to the above UDP port. Also, the flow version number (such as V1/V5) must match between the router and "nfcollector". The nfresources file needs to be configured. The DetailHostMatrix aggregation scheme needs to be activated in nfconfig.file. Once NetFlow is set up correctly, datasets will start appearing in the Data directory for "nfcollector".

To configure NSM to access NetFlow Data Collector, on the "nfcollector" machine, create a login user ID that has the environment variable NFC_DIR defined for a user ID and READ access to $NFC_DIR/data. Also the user prompt needs to end with a ">" or "$". Run the "Collect Traffic From NetFlow" wizard to collect NetFlow data.

Q: How do you set up collection from a Netscout Probe?

A: Collect Traffic from the Frontier Probe Checklist. Collection from Netscout 5.0 is supported in NSM 4.1.

1. Source the Netscout/Traffic director environment.

2. Create an agent for the probe.

3. The interface number should correspond to the monitoring port of the probe.

   Hint: Click on the "Test" button; it will validate if an agent is set up correctly.

4. Install the protocol domain and enable the conversation group. For example, if you are interested in TCP traffic, install TCP domain and enable the conversation group.

5. Use the "Collect Traffic from Frontier Probes" wizard to do the collection.

Q: Where is the password information maintained for Frontier probes?

A: All password information for the Frontier probes is maintained in the NetScout-supported agent.lst file. NSM does not maintain password information for the probes, which is why you do not see an entry for Frontier in the Admin PW database.

Q: Must the protocoltree file in $ECSP_HOME/resources/datamgmt be identical with the domain file on the probes?

A: The protocoltree file needs to be identical to the format described in the protocoltree file. If you have defined new domains, they need to be added in the protocol tree with the appropriate protocol hierarchy definitions. Current entries in the protocoltree file and the description at the top of the file should help to create new entries.

Related Information

• Netsys End of Life Plan
• Technical Support & Documentation - Cisco Systems