Cisco Broadband Access Center Administrator Guide 4.1

Using the Administrator User Interface

This chapter describes the administration tasks performed from the Cisco Broadband Access Center (Cisco BAC) administrator user interface. These tasks mainly involve monitoring the actions of various Cisco BAC components and include:

•User Management

•Device Management

•Group Management

•Viewing Servers

Note The procedures described in this chapter are presented in a tutorial manner. Wherever possible, examples are included to illustrate the possible results of each procedure.

User Management

Managing users involves adding, modifying, and deleting users who administer Cisco BAC. Depending on your user type, you can use this menu to add, modify, and delete users. This menu displays all users configured to use Cisco BAC and identifies their user types.

There are three types of Cisco BAC users: an Administrator, a Read/Write user, and a Read-Only user. Each has different levels of access, with unique permissions to ensure access control and the integrity of provisioning data.

The assigned user type appears near the top-right corner of every screen on the administrator user interface.

Administrator

Cisco BAC recognizes only one administrator and allows this user to view, add, modify, and delete device data, and create other users. As an administrator, you can also change other users' permissions from Read/Write to Read Only, and vice versa. In addition, you can also change the passwords of any other user type.

You cannot delete the administrator user.

Read/Write User

As a Read/Write user, you can perform the same functions as the administrator except creating other users, changing the user types of others, or changing their passwords. Read/Write users can change their own passwords.

Read-Only User

As a Read-Only user, you have basic access including the ability to change your password and to view, but not change, device data. You cannot perform any action that is considered disruptive; you cannot, for example, perform reset or regenerate configurations.

Note During migration from an acceptable previous release to Cisco BAC 4.1, all migrated users are assigned Read/Write privileges.

You can add and delete users only if you are logged in as the Administrator.

The following sections contains instructions for managing Cisco BAC users including:

•Adding a New User

•Modifying Users

•Deleting Users

Adding a New User

Adding a new user is a simple process of entering the user's name and creating a password. However, while creating a new user you must specify the authentication mode and also determine the type of user: a Read/Write user or a Read-Only user.

Note Cisco BAC comes with one Administrator user already created; you cannot create an administrator as a new user.

To add a new user:

Step 1 Click the Users tab.

The Manage Users page appears.

Step 2 Click Add to display the Add User page.

Step 3 Enter the new user's username.

Step 4 Select an authentication mode for the user from the drop-down list. The authentication modes are:

Local - Authenticates the user credentials in the RDU database.

RDU Defaults - Authenticates the user with the authentication mode configured in the RDU Defaults page.

RADIUS - Authenticates the user credential in the RADIUS server.

Note For RADIUS mode, configuration properties must be specified in RDU Defaults page. For more information, see section Configuration Details for RADIUS Authentication of chapter Configuring Cisco Broadband Access Center.

Step 5 For Local and RDU Defaults authentication mode, enter a password and confirm it. Ensure that the password that you enter has at least 8 characters.

Note For RADIUS authentication mode, user does not need to enter password.

Step 6 Click the appropriate radio button to determine the new user's role. See earlier sections for descriptions of each user type.

Step 7 Enter a short description of the new user.

Tip Use the description field to identify the user's job, position, or any detail that uniquely identifies the new user.

Step 8 Click Submit.

The Manage Users page appears with the new user added.

Note Remember to record and store the new user's password in a safe place to help prevent loss or theft and possible unauthorized entry.

Modifying Users

Although any user type can modify their password and user description, only the administrator can modify another user's information. The authentication mode can be modified while modifying the username and password.

To change user properties:

Step 1 Click the Users tab.

The Manage User page appears.

Step 2 Click the correct username to access the Modify User page for that user.

Step 3 If you want to change the authentication mode, select an authentication mode for the user from the drop-down list. The authentication modes are:

Local - Authenticates the user credentials in the RDU database.

RDU Defaults - Authenticates the user with the authentication mode configured in the RDU Defaults page.

RADIUS - Authenticates the user credential in the RADIUS server.

Note For RADIUS mode, configuration properties must be specified in RDU Defaults page. For more information, see section Configuration Details for RADIUS Authentication of chapter Configuring Cisco Broadband Access Center.

Step 4 For Local and RDU Defaults authentication mode, make the necessary changes to the password, confirm the password, and the user's description. Ensure that the password that you enter has at least 8 characters.

Note For RADIUS authentication mode, user does not need to enter password.

Step 5 Click Submit.

The Manage Users page appears with the changed user information.

Deleting Users

Only the administrator can delete any other user that appears in the Manage Users page. You cannot delete the default user, called admin. To delete a user:

Step 1 Click Users.

The Manage User page appears.

Step 2 Click the Delete icon () corresponding to the user you want to delete.

The Delete User dialog box appears.

Step 3 Click OK.

The Manage Users page appears without the deleted user.

Device Management

Use the Devices menu to provision and manage various devices. You can:

•Search for a specific device or for a group of devices that share criteria that you specify. See Searching for Devices.

•Add, modify, or delete devices in the RDU database. See:

–Adding Device Records

–Modifying Device Records

–Deleting Devices

•View device data, such as configuration, and properties. See Viewing Device Details.

•Regenerate device configurations. See Regenerating Device Configurations.

•Relate and unrelate any device to a specific group. See Relating and Unrelating Devices.

•Reset, or reboot, a device. See Resetting Devices.

Manage Devices Page

The Manage Devices page appears when you click the Devices tab on the primary navigation bar. You can also click the Devices link on the Main Menu to get to the Manage Devices page.

Searching for Devices

Using Cisco BAC, you can search for device information in a number of ways.

To select the search type, from the Manage Devices page, click the Search Type drop-down list. Subsequent search pages contain screen components that may be unique to the search type that you selected.

The Manage Devices page uses two separate but related areas to generate search results that allow you to manage the devices in your network. These areas are the:

•Search Type drop-down list, which defines which search to perform.

•An additional value field, which qualifies the search type that you selected. These fields include IP Address, MAC Address or MAC Address wildcard, Group Name (Group Type), and Owner ID.

From the Manage Devices page, you can perform these searches:

•DUID Search—Searches using the DHCP Unique Identifier (DUID) of a device in an IPv6 environment. The accepted format for a DUID is a two-octet type code represented in network byte order, followed by a variable number of octets that make up the identifier; for example, 00:03:00:01:02:03:04:05:07:a0. See Troubleshooting Devices by Device ID, for information on how you can effectively use this search criteria.

•FQDN Search—Searches by using the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) associated with the device that is assigned by the DNS Server. This search is especially useful when the device MAC address is unknown. For example, www.myhost.example.com is a fully qualified domain name. Where myhost identifies the host, example identifies the second-level domain, and .com identifies the third-level domain.

•IP Address Search—Searches by returning all devices on the network that currently have the specified DHCP leased IP address.

•MAC Address Search—Searches by using the precise MAC address for a specific modem or all devices with a specific vendor-prefix that unambiguously identifies the equipment vendor. The vendor-prefix is the first three octets of the MAC address. For example, for MAC address 1,6,aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff, the vendor-prefix is "aa:bb:cc". Therefore, if you perform a MAC address search, you can identify the manufacturer and the type of device. See Troubleshooting Devices by Device ID, for information on how you can effectively use this search criteria.

•Group search—Searches devices that are part of a particular group or group type.

•Owner ID Search—Searches by using the owner ID associated with the device. The owner ID may identify the service subscriber's account number, for example. This search function does not support wildcard searching.

•Provisioning Group Search—Searches by using the provisioning group to which the device belongs.

•Class of Service search includes:

–Registered Class of Service search—Searches by using the Class of Service that a device has been provisioned with.

–Related Class of Service search—Searches by using both the registered and selected Class of Service.

–Selected Class of Service search—Searches by using the Class of Service selected by the RDU for a device that, for one reason or another, cannot retain its registered Class of Service.

•DHCP Criteria search includes:

–Registered DHCP Criteria search—Searches for devices that belong to certain DHCP Criteria.

–Related DHCP Criteria search—Searches using both the registered and selected DHCP Criteria.

–Selected DHCP Criteria search—Searches using the DHCP Criteria selected by the RDU for a device that, for one reason or another, cannot retain its registered DHCP Criteria.

Note Normally, the Related and Selected Class of Service and the Related and Selected DHCP Criteria are identical. If they are not, you should investigate and modify the Selected Class of Service/DHCP Criteria to match the Related Class of Service/DHCP Criteria.

Some searches that you can perform allow the use of a wildcard character (*) to enhance the search function. Cisco BAC provides specific wildcards for each search, as described in Table 12-1.

Note We do not recommend using the wildcard search (*) in systems that support hundreds of thousands, or more, devices. Such a search can return thousands of results, and use extensive system resources so as to impact performance.

Figure 12-1 identifies a sample Manage Devices page featuring a search for devices using the DUID search option.

Figure 12-1 Manage Devices Page

A Page Size drop-down list on the Manage Devices page lets you limit the number of search results that display per page. You can select 25, 50, or 75 results for display. If the number of results returned for a search exceeds the number selected, a screen prompt appears at the lower left corner of the page. These controls let you scroll backward or forward one page at a time, or to select a specific page.

A maximum of 1,000 results are returned for any query, with a maximum of 75 results appearing per page. To change the default maximum:

1. Change the /adminui/maxReturned property in the BPR_HOME/rdu/conf/adminui.properties file.

2. Restart the Cisco BAC Tomcat process for the administrator user interface:

# /etc/init.d/bprAgent restart tomcat

Device Management Controls

The device management controls are located directly below the search function fields and are generally used with the search function. For example, you might search for devices belonging to a specific group of devices in order to perform some sort of management function.

The following buttons are available, although each management function may not be available depending on the search type you use.

•Add—Use the Add button to add a new device to the RDU database. See Adding Device Records.

•Delete—Use the Delete button to delete a device from the RDU database. See Deleting Devices.

•Regenerate—Use the Regenerate button to force immediate regeneration of configurations for selected devices. See Regenerating Device Configurations.

•Relate—Use the Relate button to associate a device (using its MAC address or its DUID) with a specific group. See Relating and Unrelating Devices.

•Reset—Use the Reset button to automatically reboot a device.

•Unrelate—Use the Unrelate button to cancel the relationship between a selected device and the group that the device is currently related to. See Relating and Unrelating Devices.

Searching for devices returns results under the following headings or links that appear on the page:

•Identifier—Identifies all devices matching the search criteria. Each of the identifiers that appear links to another page from which you can modify the device.

•Device Type—Displays the available device types. Available selections include:

–CableHome MAN-Data

–CableHome MAN-WAN

–DOCSIS Modem

–Computer

–PacketCable Multimedia Terminal Adapter (MTA)

–Set-top box (STB)

•Status—Identifies whether or not the device is provisioned. A provisioned device is one that has been registered using the application programming interface (API), or the administrator user interface, and has booted on the network.

•Details—Displays all available details for the selected device. For additional information, see Viewing Device Details.

Viewing Device Details

You can view the details of any device identified in the search results. To view any device details, click the View Details icon () corresponding to the device you want to view, and the View Device Details page appears.

Note The information that appears in the View Device Details page largely depends on the type of device you choose. The sample figures used in Table 12-2 identify the details that typically appear for most devices.

Managing Devices

The Devices menu lets you add devices to the RDU database and update preprovisioned data. Device management includes:

•Adding, deleting, and modifying RDU devices records

•Regenerating configurations

•Relating devices to management objects, such as Provisioning Group, Class of Service, and Group.

This section describes how to perform various device management functions on new or existing devices. Several information fields appear consistently in all device management pages. These fields include:

•Device Type—When adding a device, this is a drop-down list that identifies the available device types you can create within Cisco BAC. Available selections, as they appear on screen, include:

–CableHomeWanData

–CableHomeWanMan

–Computer

–DOCSISModem

–PacketCableMTA

–STB

When modifying a device, the device type cannot be edited or changed.

•MAC Address—Identifies the MAC address of the device.

Enter the MAC address of the device being added in this field. When doing this, ensure that you enter the commas (,) and colons (:) appropriately. For example, 1,6,00:00:00:00:00:AE.

•DUID—Identifies the DUID of the device.

Enter the DUID of the device being added in this field. When doing this, ensure that you enter the colons (:) appropriately. For example, 00:03:00:01:02:03:04:05:06:a0.

•Host Name—Identifies the device host. For example, from an FQDN of node.example.com, node is the hostname.

•Domain Name—Identifies the domain within which the host resides. For example, from an FQDN of node.example.com, example.com is the domain name.

•Owner Identifier—Identifies the device by using something other than the hostname. This may be a user ID, or an account number; for example, 1000000000000000000. You can also leave this field blank.

•Registered Class of Service—Specifies the Class of Service that the device is provisioned with; for example, the default option or a Class of Service that you defined.

•Registered DHCP Criteria—Specifies the DHCP Criteria that the device is provisioned with; for example, the default option or a DHCP Criteria that you defined.

Adding Device Records

To add a device record:

Step 1 From the Manage Devices page, click Add.

The Add Device page appears.

Step 2 Choose the device type from the options available in the drop-down list.

Step 3 Enter details for the other fields on the page, such as MAC address, DUID, and hostname.

Step 4 Choose the Class of Service, and the DHCP Criteria registered for the device.

Step 5 In addition to the values that you provided for the device earlier, you can optionally add new values for existing property name/value pairs.

•Property Name—Identifies the name of the custom or built-in device property.

•Property Value—Identifies the value of the property.

Step 6 Click Submit.

Modifying Device Records

To modify a device record:

Step 1 From the Manage Devices page, click the Identifier link corresponding to the device.

The Modify Device page appears.

Step 2 Enter data that you want to add or change. You can modify any existing property name/value pairs by clicking Add, or delete any of them by clicking Delete.

Step 3 Click Submit to save the changes made to this device.

To delete the values that you entered, click Reset.

Deleting Devices

Deleting device records is a simple process, but one that you should use carefully. To undo the delete, you must restore a previously backed-up database or readd the device. If restoration of a backed-up database becomes necessary, see Database Restore.

To delete a device record:

Step 1 From the Manage Devices page, locate the device that you want to delete. You can use one of the search types for this purpose.

Step 2 Check the check box to the left of the device.

Step 3 Click Delete.

The device record stored in the RDU database is removed.

Regenerating Device Configurations

The Regenerate button or API operation forces immediate regeneration of configurations for a device that are sent to the DPEs in the device's provisioning group.

Normally, the process of regenerating the configuration is automatically triggered following changes to the device, Class of Service, or other such impacting changes. However, after a change to a Class of Service, the system takes time to regenerate configurations for all devices. You can use the Regenerate button to expedite regeneration of configurations for a given device; this option is especially useful during proactive troubleshooting.

It is sometimes necessary to change many Class of Service or DHCP Criteria parameters. When this happens, existing device configurations become stale and require regeneration of the configuration. To eliminate the need to manually regenerate each configuration, and reduce the potential for introducing errors, Cisco BAC provides a configuration regeneration service (CRS) that you can use to automatically regenerate all device configurations.

Device configurations are automatically regenerated whenever:

•A file related to a Class of Service, that is, a template, is updated.

•The default Class of Service or DHCP Criteria for a device type is changed.

•A DHCP Criteria property is changed.

•The provisioning group object is changed via the administrator user interface or the API.

•The Class of Service object properties are changed.

•The DPE sends a configuration regeneration request to the RDU.

•The device properties or relationship are updated.

Some configurations cannot be automatically regenerated because Cisco BAC cannot determine if the change impacts device configuration. In such cases, manually regenerate configurations using the generationConfiguration() method or from the administrator user interface. Configurations that you must manually regenerate are those that become necessary when:

•A technology default is changed, except for the default Class of Service and the default DHCP Criteria. Changing the technology default properties for the default Class of Service and DHCP Criteria does trigger regeneration of the devices that are given the default DHCP Criteria or default Class of Service.

•The system defaults are changed.

•A file that is included within another DOCSIS template is changed.

Note Regardless of how configurations are regenerated, they are not propagated to the devices until the device configuration is activated, that is, the device contacts the DPE either on schedule or as a result of a connection request initiated from the DPE.

To regenerate a configuration for a device:

Step 1 From the Manage Devices page, locate the device for which you want to regenerate a configuration. You can use one of the search types for this purpose.

Step 2 Check the check box to the left of the device.

Step 3 Click Regenerate.

The RDU regenerates a configuration for the specific device.

Relating and Unrelating Devices

The concept of relating devices is similar to that of Class of Service or DHCP Criteria inasmuch as a device is related to a specific Class of Service or to a specific DHCP Criteria. The significant difference is that the Class of Service and DHCP Criteria are considered to be predefined groups and that you use groups to group devices into arbitrary groups that you define.

In this context, the Relate function lets you associate a device, using its MAC address or DUID, to a specific group, which is in turn associated with a specific group type.

By relating a device to a specific group, information indicating that the device is related to a specific group is stored in the database. If you relate the device to the predefined system-diagnostics (system) group, you can use available information to troubleshoot potential problems.

Relating a Device to a Group

You can relate and unrelate only one device at a time from the administrator user interface.

To relate a device:

Step 1 From the Manage Devices page, locate the device that you want to relate to a group. You can use one of the search types for this purpose.

Step 2 Check the check box to the left of the device.

Step 3 Click Relate.

The Relate Device to Group page appears.

Step 4 Select the group type from the drop-down list and the group from the list of defined groups.

Note To select multiple groups from the Groups list, press Control or Shift.

Step 5 Click Submit.

To verify if the device is related to the group you specified, click the View Details icon corresponding to the device. On the Device Details page that appears, check the status against Related Group Name (Group Type).

Unrelating a Device from a Group

To unrelate a device from a group:

Step 1 From the Manage Devices page, locate the device that you want to unrelate from a group.

Step 2 Check the check box corresponding to the device identifier, and click the Unrelate button.

The Unrelate Device from Group page appears.

Step 3 From the list of defined groups, select the group from which you want to unrelate the device.

Note To select multiple groups from the Groups list, press Control or Shift.

Step 4 Click Submit.

The Manage Devices page appears.

Searching Devices in a Group

To search for devices belonging to a particular group:

Step 1 From the Manage Devices page, select the Group Search option from the drop-down list under Search Type.

The Group Name (Group Type) appear.

Step 2 From the Group Name (Group Type) drop-down list, select the name of the group to which the devices are associated.

Step 3 Click Search.

The devices related to the group appear.

Resetting Devices

The Reset button lets you reboot any selected device.

To reset a device:

Step 1 From the Manage Devices page, locate the device that you want to reboot. You can use one of the search types for this purpose.

Step 2 Check the check box corresponding to the device.

Step 3 Click Reset.

The device reboots.

Group Management

Group management allows you to create, change, and delete groups and group types. Within the context of Cisco BAC, group types can be considered as sets of groups, while groups themselves make up the group type.

Managing Group Types

Access the Manage Groups page by selecting Groups from the Main Menu or the primary navigation bar. Group Type is the default setting when this page appears.

Adding a Group Type

To add a new group type:

Step 1 From the Manage Groups page, click Add.

The Add Group Type page appears.

Step 2 Enter a name for the new group type.

Note If you previously added custom properties, you can choose the appropriate Property Name from the drop-down list and enter the required Property Value. Click Add to increase the number of applicable Property Name/Property Value pairs.

Step 3 Enter the priority value for the new group type.

The value can range between 1 and 100. The value 1 has the highest priority and 100 has the lowest priority. For example, if the priority values of two member groups are 5 and 20, then the group with priority value 5 has more priority than the group with priority value 20.

By default, the Group Type Priority is set to 50.

If two member groups have the same priority value, the group type names are sorted in alphabetical order to decide the priority.

Step 4 Click Submit.

The new group type is recorded in the RDU, and the Manage Group page appears with the new group type added.

Modifying Group Types

To modify group type priority:

Step 1 From the Manage Groups page, click the specific group type.

The Modify Group Type page appears.

Note If you previously added custom properties, you can make the necessary changes to the Property Name/Property Value pairs. If you need to delete a specific pair, click Delete next to that pair.

Step 2 Make the necessary changes to the Group Type Priority.

Step 3 Click Submit.

The Manage Group page appears with the modified details.

Deleting Group Types

To delete group types:

Step 1 From the Manage Groups page, click the Delete icon () corresponding to the group type you want to delete.

Step 2 In the confirmation dialog box that appears, click OK to delete the selected group type.

The Manage Groups page appears without the deleted group type.

Managing Groups

You can create and modify groups, delete unwanted groups, relate and unrelate groups and group types, and view the devices that you associated with a group.

Adding a New Group

To add a new group:

Step 1 On the Manage Groups page, select Groups from the Search Type drop-down list.

Step 2 Click Add.

The Add Group page appears.

Step 3 Enter the new group name and select the appropriate Group Type for this group.

Note If you previously added custom properties, you can choose the appropriate Property Name from the drop-down list and enter the required Property Value. Click Add to increase the number of applicable Property Name/Property Value pairs.

Step 4 Click Submit.

The new group is recorded in the RDU, and the Manage Groups page appears with the new group added.

Searching for Devices in a Group

To view devices associated with a group:

Step 1 From the Manage Groups page, select the Groups option from the Search Type drop-down list.

Step 2 You can choose to search either by group type or group name.

•By Group Type—Provides a drop-down list of predefined groups.

•By Group Name—Provides a Group or Group Wildcard field in which you can enter the name of the name or a wildcard (*) character.

Step 3 Click Search.

Step 4 Click the View Details icon under the Devices parameter corresponding to the group.

Doing this displays the Group Search function on the Manage Devices page.

Step 5 From the Manage Devices page, select the appropriate Group Type. See Searching for Devices, for additional information on search functions.

The devices associated with the group appear.

Modifying a Group

To modify group properties:

Step 1 From the Manage Groups page, click the desired group link.

The Modify Group page appears.

Note If you previously added custom properties, you can make the necessary changes to the Property Name/Property Value pairs. If you need to delete a specific pair, click Delete next to that pair.

Step 2 Click Submit.

The Manage Groups page appears with the changed description.

Deleting Groups

You can delete any group that appears in the Manage Groups page by checking the check box corresponding to the group and clicking Delete.

The group is deleted from the database.

Relating and Unrelating Group Types to Groups

The relate and unrelate functions are used to establish a relationship between specific groups and group types.

To either relate or unrelate this relationship:

Step 1 From the Manage Groups page, choose Groups from the Search Type drop-down list.

Step 2 Choose the group type for which you want to relate or unrelate groups using the group type or group name search criteria.

Step 3 Click Search.

The specified group appears.

Step 4 Click the Relate to Group or Unrelate from Group link.

Depending on the link you clicked, either the Relate Group or the Unrelate Group page appears.

Step 5 Select the appropriate Group Type from the drop-down list, and select the group to which the group is to be related or unrelated.

Step 6 Click Submit.

The Manage Groups page appears.

Viewing Group Details

To view details relating to a group:

Step 1 From the Manage Groups page, select the Groups option from the Search Type drop-down list.

Step 2 Using the group type or group name search criteria, choose the group whose details you want to view.

Step 3 Click Search.

Step 4 Click the link corresponding to the Group whose details you want to view.

The Modify Group page appears, with details of the Group Name and Group Type.

Viewing Servers

This section describes the Cisco BAC server pages:

•Viewing Device Provisioning Engines

•Viewing Network Registrar Extension Points

•Viewing Provisioning Groups

•Viewing Regional Distribution Unit Details

Viewing Device Provisioning Engines

The Manage Device Provisioning Engines page (Servers > DPEs) lets you monitor the list of all DPEs currently registered with the Cisco BAC database. Each DPE name that appears on this page is a link to another page that displays the details for that DPE. Click the DPE link to display the details page, whose content is similar to the details described in Table 12-3.

Note The RDU determines the names of the Network Registrar extensions and DPEs by performing a reverse DNS lookup on the DPE interfaces through which the DPE contacts the RDU.

Viewing Network Registrar Extension Points

The Manage Network Registrar Extension Points page (Servers > NRs) lists the extension points for all Network Registrar servers that have been registered with the RDU, and are configured for use with
Cisco BAC. Network Registrar servers automatically register with the RDU when those servers are started.

Each Network Registrar extension point that appears on this page is a link to a secondary page that displays details of that extension point. Click the Network Registrar extension point link to display the details page, which displays details as described in Table 12-4.

Viewing Provisioning Groups

The Manage Provisioning Groups page (Servers > Provisioning Groups) lets you monitor all current provisioning groups. Each provisioning group appearing in this list is a link to its own details page. Click this link to display the details page, which displays details as described in Table 12-5.

Viewing Regional Distribution Unit Details

The RDU option, from the Servers menu, displays details of the RDU as described in Table 12-6.