Registering the Dashboard to your Smart Account

To register the Dashboard with your Smart Account, do the following:

1. Log on to your Smart Account at https://software.cisco.com. Select the Smart Software Licensing link located under the License section.

2. Select the Inventory page, and if necessary, change the selected virtual account from the default. Then click on the General tab.

3. Create a new Product Instance Registration Token by clicking on the New Token… button. Optionally add a description and change the Expire After time. Then click Create Token.

4. Copy the newly created token to the clipboard by selecting Copy from the Actions drop-down located at the right of the token.

5. Navigate to the Cisco Business Dashboard user interface and select System > License.

6. Click the Register button and paste the token into the field provided. Click OK.

The Dashboard will register with Cisco Smart Licensing and request sufficient licenses for the number of network devices being managed. If there are insufficient licenses available, a message will be displayed on the user interface, and you will have 90 days to obtain sufficient licenses before system functionality is restricted.

Removing the Dashboard from your Smart Account

To remove the Dashboard from your Smart Account and return any licenses allocated back to the pool, do the following:

1. Navigate to the Cisco Business Dashboard user interface and select System > License.

2. Select Deregister… from the dropdown list located at the top right. Click Deregister in the popup to confirm.

Immediately Check for Licenses

Cisco Business Dashboard checks daily to ensure there are still sufficient licenses available for the network, and will update immediately if the number of licenses required decreases. However, if the number of licenses required increases, or if licenses are added or removed from the pool, it may take up to a day before the Dashboard will be updated. To force the Dashboard to update its license allocation immediately, do the following:

1. Navigate to the Cisco Business Dashboard user interface and select System > License.

2. Select ReCheck License Now… from the dropdown list located at the top right. Cisco Business Dashboard will query Cisco Smart Licensing immediately to ensure that there are sufficient licenses available for the Dashboard to operate.

Renew Authorization Now

The Renew Registration Now action cause the Dashboard to refresh the certificates used to authenticate communication with Cisco Smart Licensing. Typically, this will only be required at the request of Cisco Support when rectifying an extended communications outage. To renew the registration, do the following:

1. Navigate to the Cisco Business Dashboard user interface and select System > License.

2. Select Renew Authorization Now… from the dropdown list located at the top right.

Renew Registration Now

The Renew Registration Now action causes the Dashboard to refresh the certificates used to authenticate communication with Cisco Smart Licensing. Typically, this will only be required at the request of Cisco Support when rectifying an extended communications outage. To renew the registration, do the following:

1. Navigate to the Cisco Business Dashboard user interface and select System > License.

2. Select Renew Registration Now… from the dropdown list located at the top right.

Transfer the Dashboard to a Different Account

Re-registering a Dashboard allows it to be moved from one Virtual Account to another. To move a Dashboard between accounts, do the following:

1. Navigate to the Cisco Business Dashboard user interface and select System > License.

2. Select Reregister... from the dropdown list located at the top right.

3. Enter the new registration token in the box provided. If the Dashboard is currently registered to another account, ensure the Reregister this product instance if it is already registered checkbox is selected, then click OK.

Generating a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)

To generate a CSR, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Certificate and select the CSR tab.

2. Enter appropriate values into the fields provided in the form that is displayed. These values will be used to construct the CSR, and will be contained in the signed certificate you receive from the CA.

3. Click Create and the CSR will be automatically downloaded to your PC. Alternatively, you can download the CSR at a later date by clicking Download next to the CSR label.

4. If necessary, you can modify the CSR by returning to step 2.

Uploading a New Certificate

To upload a new certificate using the administration GUI, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Certificate and select the Update Certificate tab.

2. Select Upload Cert radio button. The file containing the certificate can be dropped on the target area, or you may click the target area to browse the file system. The file should be in PEM format.

   You may also upload a certificate with the associated private key in PKCS#12 format by selecting the Upload PKCS12 option instead. The password to unlock the file should be specified in the field provided.

3. Click Upload to upload the file and replace the current certificate.

To upload a new certificate using the command line, do the following:

1. Copy the certificate and private key files to the Cisco Business Dashboard file system using SCP or similar. Ensure access to these files is restricted to authorized personnel only as the private key is sensitive information.

2. Log on to the operating system using the console or SSH.

3. Apply the certificate to the dashboard application using the command: cisco-business-dashboard importcert -t pem -k <private key file> -c <certificate file>. The certificate and private key will be loaded into the dashboard application and replace the current certificate. For more information on this command and its options, enter cisco-business-dashboard importcert -h.

Note

Some browsers may generate certificate warnings for certificates that have been signed by a well-known certificate authority, while other browsers accept the certificate without any warning. Network Plug and Play clients may also fail to accept the certificate. This is because the certificate authority has signed the certificate with an intermediate certificate that is not included in the browser or PnP client's trusted authorities store. In these circumstances, the certificate authority provides a bundle of certificates that must be concatenated with the server certificate before uploading to the Dashboard. The server certificate must appear first in the concatenated bundle.

Regenerating the Self-Signed Certificate

To regenerate the self-signed certificate, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Certificate and select the Update Certificate tab.

2. Click Renew Self-Signed Cert. Enter appropriate values into the fields provided in the form that is displayed. These values will be used to construct the certificate.

3. Click Save.

Viewing the Current Certificate

To view the current certificate, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Certificate and select the Current Certificate tab.

2. The certificate is displayed in plain text format in your browser.

Downloading the Current Certificate

To download a copy of the current certificate, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Certificate and select the Current Certificate tab.

2. Click Download at the bottom of the page. The certificate will be downloaded in PEM format by your browser.

Automatically Install a Certificate from Let's Encrypt

From release 2.2.1, Cisco Business Dashboard can automatically obtain and renew a domain-validated certificate from the Let’s Encrypt Certificate Authority (https://letsencrypt.org). To do this, perform the following steps:

1. Log on to the host operating system using SSH or via the console.

2. Execute the cisco-business-dashboard letsencrypt command and specify one or more fully qualified hostnames using the -d option. For example, cisco-business-dashboard letsencrypt -d dashboard.example.com -d pnpserver.example.com. All names listed in the command must resolve to the IP address of the dashboard server.

3. Follow the prompts to have a certificate issued and applied to the dashboard application. The certificate will be automatically renewed by the dashboard as it approaches expiry.

Note

The Let’s Encrypt service will need to connect to the dashboard web server to verify ownership of the hostname(s). To allow this, the dashboard webserver must be accessible from the Internet. See Managing Platform Settings for details on how to restrict access to the dashboard application to only authorized IP addresses.

Changing the Hostname (Network Settings tab)

Note	This does not apply to Cisco Business Dashboard for AWS.

The hostname is the name used by the operating system to identify the system, and is used by Cisco Business Dashboard to identify the Dashboard when generating Bonjour advertisements. To change the hostname for the Dashboard, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Platform Settings, and select the Network Settings tab.

2. Specify a hostname for the Dashboard in the field provided.

3. Click Save.

Changing Network Settings (Network Settings tab)

Note	This does not apply to Cisco Business Dashboard for AWS. To modify the network configuration, use the EC2 console in AWS.

To change the network configuration for the Dashboard, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Platform Settings, and select the Network Settings tab.

2. Select the method for IP address assignment. The available options are DHCP (default) and Static IP. If you choose the Static IP option, then specify the address, subnet mask, default gateways and DNS servers in the appropriate fields.

3. Click Save

Changing Time Settings (Network Settings tab)

The Time Settings manage the system clock for the Dashboard. To adjust the system clock, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Platform Settings, and select the Network Settings tab.

2. Select the appropriate timezone for the Dashboard.

3. Select the method for time synchronization. The available options are NTP (default) and Local Clock. If the NTP option is chosen, then optionally modify the NTP servers to use for synchronization.

   If Local Clock is selected, the you may manually adjust the date and time using the controls provided. Alternatively, click clock to synchronize the time with your PC.

4. Click Save.

Changing Port Settings (Web Server tab)

The Port Settings control the TCP ports the Dashboard’s user interface is hosted on. To change the default web server ports, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Platform Settings, and select the Web Server tab.

2. Change the ports used by the web server for the HTTP and HTTPS protocols.

3. Click Save.

Note

If the virtual machine is configured to synchronize the local clock with the host machine, any changes to the local clock done through the Platform Settings page will be overwritten by the hypervisor. If the hypervisor in use is VirtualBox and the VirtualBox Guest Additions are installed in the VM, the NTP service - timesyncd - will not operate.

Restricting Access to the Dashboard (Web Server tab)

You may limit the IP addresses that may access the Dashboard using the Access Control settings. You may specify different IP ranges for the Dashboard GUI, the Dashboard API, and for connections from probes and managed devices.

To limit access to the Dashboard, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Platform Settings, and select the Web Server tab.

2. Enter a network prefix and mask into the fields provided. If multiple prefixes are required for any section, click the (+)plus icon to add additional entries. Similarly, you may click the trashcan icon to remove existing entries.

3. Click Save.

Managing System Variables (System Variables tab)

Cisco Business Dashboard uses system variables to provide certain parameters related to the Dashboard when generating configuration templates and other tasks. Some system variables may be determined by the Dashboard automatically, but there are other variables that require user input. In particular, if the Dashboard is deployed behind a web proxy or NAT gateway, it will be necessary for the administrator to provide external addressing information for the Dashboard.

To update the external address information for the Dashboard, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Platform Settings, and select the System Variables tab.

2. Enter IP address and port information into the External System Settings parameters as required. If left blank, the Dashboard will use the platform address and port information for the corresponding system variable.

3. Click Save.

Cisco Active Advisor

Cisco Active Advisor (CAA) is a cloud-based service that provides essential lifecycle information about your network inventory. By enabling this feature, the Dashboard sends network inventory information to CAA and you can view the lifecycle information in the CAA portal. Sensitive information such as usernames and passwords is not sent.

Uploads may be performed automatically or on demand. To perform an on-demand upload, do the following:

1. Navigate to the Network page and select to view a network.

2. Select Upload to CAA from the Network Actions dropdown.

3. If prompted, provide your cisco.com credentials.

4. Optionally, select a label to be applied to the upload.

5. Click Upload. You may also click View inventory data before sending in order to inspect the data prior to uploading.

Note	The cisco.com credentials provided must be used to log on to the Cisco Active Advisor portal (https://www.ciscoactiveadvisor.com) at least once prior to being used for upload.

To enable automatic uploads, do the following:

1. Navigate to the Network page, select a network and click More. Then select the CAA tab.

2. Enter your cisco.com credentials in the fields provided. Optionally, select a label to be applied to the upload.

3. Ensure the Automatically upload newly discovered devices checkbox is checked.

4. Click Save. You may also view an example of the data to be uploaded by clicking the link on this page.

To disable automatic uploads, do the following:

1. Navigate to the Network page, select a network and click More. Then select the CAA tab.

2. Uncheck the Automatically upload newly discovered devices checkbox.

3. Click Save.

Lifecycle Reporting

Cisco Business Dashboard provides information on the lifecycle state of each of the Cisco devices in the network. In order to do this, the Dashboard must provide Cisco with the product ID, serial number and hardware and software versions for each Cisco device. The IP address of the Dashboard may also be recorded. No personal or sensitive information will be intentionally collected during this process.

To disable the generation of lifecycle reports, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Privacy Settings.

2. Uncheck the checkboxes for the reports you wish to disable.

3. Click Save.

Product Improvement

By enabling this feature, Cisco Business Dashboard periodically sends hardware and software product usage information to Cisco. The IP address of the Dashboard may also be recorded. No personal or sensitive information will be intentionally collected during this process.

To see an example of what information is sent, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Privacy Settings.

2. Click the View a Sample link next to the Send product improvement data to Cisco checkbox. An example of an upload with sample data will be displayed.

To disable the generation of product improvement data, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Privacy Settings.

2. Uncheck the Send product improvement data to Cisco checkbox.

3. Click Save.

Software Updates

Use of this feature requires Cisco Business Dashboard to send the product ID and hardware and software version information for each device to Cisco. Your local IP address may also be recorded. No personal or sensitive information will be intentionally collected during this process.

To disable the use of automatic software updates, do the following:

1. Navigate to System > Privacy Settings.

2. Uncheck the checkboxes for both device firmware checks and Cisco Business Dashboard application checks.

3. Click Save.

Logging to Syslog

From release 2.2.1, Cisco Business Dashboard application logs may be sent to the host’s syslog service and from there may be directed to external syslog servers.

To enable sending files to the host syslog service, do the following:

1. Log on to the host operating system using SSH or via the console and edit the file /etc/ciscobusiness/dashboard/cisco-business-dashboard-logger.conf

2. Edit the xxx.logger lines to specify file or syslog or both (comma separated). The following modules are available: redis,mongo , rabbitmq, nginx and cbd. If file is specified, log messages will be directed to the default log files in the /var/log/ciscobusiness/dashboard/ directory. If syslog is specified, log messages will be directed to the syslog service in the host.

   Note	The mongo module does not support multiple logging destinations. If multiple destinations are listed, the first entry takes precedence. Also, the cbd module will always log to the file system regardless of the presence or absence of the file keyword in the logger configuration.

3. Optionally, modify the xxx.syslog.facility lines to specify the syslog facility used for each of the modules. By default, each module logs to a separate local<n> facility where <n> ranges between 1 and 5.

4. Restart Cisco Business Dashboard using the command cisco-business-dashboard stop followed by cisco-business-dashboard start.

Once the logging configuration has been modified to direct log messages to syslog, the /etc/rsyslog.conf file should be updated to receive the logs and direct the dashboard log messages to the desired destination. For a detailed information on the configuration file, refer to https://www.rsyslog.com/doc/v8-stable/configuration/index.html.

Execute the following steps:

1. The /etc/rsyslog.conf file should be updated to allow log messages to be received across the loopback interface. Edit the file to include the following lines to enable this and to restrict the server to listen only on the loopback interface:

   # provides UDP syslog reception
   module(load="imudp")
   input(type="imudp" port="514" address="::1")
   input(type="imudp" port="514" address="127.0.0.1")
   
   # provides TCP syslog reception
   module(load="imtcp")
   input(type="imtcp" port="514" address="::1")
   input(type="imtcp" port="514" address="127.0.0.1")
   

2. Create a new file in the directory /etc/rsyslog.d/ to contain the configuration directives specific to Cisco Business Dashboard. The file name should be of a form similar to 40-cisco-business-dashboard-syslog.conf.

3. Edit the file created in step 2 to contain directives to send log output to the desired destinations. For example, assuming the use of the default facilities in the cisco-business-dashboard-logger.conf file, the following configuration would direct the warning level and above messages from the dashboard application to the syslog server with the name logger.example.com:

   local2.warning		@logger.example.com

4. Restart the rsyslog daemon to apply the changes using the command sudo systemctl restart rsyslog.service