- Introduction to Administering Cisco Prime Infrastructure
- Administrator Setup Tasks
- Prime Infrastructure Server Settings
- Maintaining Prime Infrastructure Server Health
- Backing Up and Restoring Prime Infrastructure
- Maintaining Network Health
- Managing Data and Collection Retention
- Configuring Controller and AP Settings
- Configuring High Availability
- Configuring Wireless Redundancy
- Controlling User Access
- Advanced Monitoring
- Managing Licenses
- Managing Traffic Metrics
- Planning Network Capacity Changes
- Appendix A: Prime Infrastructure Internal SNMP Trap Generation
- Appendix B: Best Practices: Server Security Hardening
- Appendix C: Configuring the Plug and Play High Availability Feature
Cisco Prime Infrastructure 3.0 Administrator Guide
Bias-Free Language
The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For the purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on RFP documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product. Learn more about how Cisco is using Inclusive Language.
- Updated:
- January 31, 2018
Chapter: Maintaining Network Health
- Configuring Alarm and Event Settings
- Enabling Change Audit Notifications
- Configuring Syslog Message Receivers for System Changes
- Downloading and Emailing Error Logs
- Enabling SNMP Tracing
- Changing Syslog Logging Options
- Changing Logging Options to Enhance Troubleshooting
- Configuring Technical Support Request Settings
Maintaining Network Health
- Configuring Alarm and Event Settings
- Enabling Change Audit Notifications
- Configuring Syslog Message Receivers for System Changes
- Downloading and Emailing Error Logs
- Enabling SNMP Tracing
- Changing Syslog Logging Options
- Changing Logging Options to Enhance Troubleshooting
- Configuring Technical Support Request Settings
Configuring Alarm and Event Settings
- Specifying Alarm Clean Up and Display Options
- Changing Alarm Severities
- Changing the Auto Clear Interval
Specifying Alarm Clean Up and Display Options
The Administration > Settings > System Settings > Alarms and Events page enables you to specify when and how to clean up, display and email alarms.
Step 1 Choose Administration > Settings > System Settings > Alarms and Events > Alarms and Events .
Step 2 Modify the Alarm and Event Cleanup Options :
- Delete active and cleared alarms after—Enter the number of days after which active and cleared alarms are deleted. You can disable this option by unselecting the check box.
- Delete cleared security alarms after—Enter the number of days after which Security, Rogue AP, and Adhoc Rogue alarms are deleted.
- Delete cleared non-security alarms after—Enter the number of days after which non-security alarms are deleted. Non-security alarms include all alarms that do not fall under the Security, Rogue AP, or Adhoc Rogue categories.
- Delete all events after—Enter the number of days after which all the events are deleted. If you want this deletion task to be performed first, set its value smaller than all the other Alarm and Events Cleanup Options.
Cisco Prime Infrastructure deletes old alarms nightly, as part of normal data cleanup tasks, and checks the storage size of the database alarm table once an hour. When the alarm table exceeds the 300,000 limit, Prime Infrastructure deletes the oldest cleared alarms until the alarm table size is within the limit. If you want to keep cleared alarms for more than seven days, then you can specify a value more than seven days in the Delete cleared non-security alarms after text box, until the alarm table size reaches the limit.
Step 3 In the Syslog Cleanup Options area, in the Delete all syslogs after text box, enter the number of days after which all aged syslogs are to be deleted.
Step 4 Modify the Alarm Display Options as needed:
- Hide acknowledged alarms—When the check box is selected, Acknowledged alarms do not appear in the Alarm page. This option is enabled by default. Emails are not generated for acknowledged alarms, regardless of severity change.
- Hide assigned alarms—When the check box is selected, assigned alarms do not appear in the Alarm page.
- Hide cleared alarms—When the check box is selected, cleared alarms do not appear in the Alarm Summary page. This option is enabled by default.
- Add device name to alarm messages—Select the check box to add the name of the device to alarm messages.
Changes in these options affect the Alarm page only. Quick searches for alarms for any entity will display all alarms for that entity, regardless of alarm state.
Step 5 Modify the alarm Failure Source Pattern:
The alarms generated for the selected category will have the customized pattern that was set.
Step 6 Modify the Alarm Email Options:
- Add Prime Infrastructure address to email notifications—Select the check box to add the Prime Infrastructure address to email notifications.
- Include alarm severity in the email subject line—Select the check box to include alarm severity in the email subject line. This option is enabled by default.
- Include alarm Category in the email subject line—Select the check box to include alarm category in the email subject line. This option is enabled by default.
- Include prior alarm severity in the email subject line—Select the check box to include prior alarm severity in the email subject line.
- Include custom text in the email subject line—Select the check box to add custom text in the email subject line. You can also replace the email subject line with custom text by selecting the Replace the email subject line with custom text check box.
- Include custom text in body of email—Select the check box to add custom text in the body of email.
- Include alarm condition in body of email—Select the check box to include alarm condition in the body of email.
- Add link to Alarm detail page in body of email—Select the check box to add a link to the Alarm detail page in the body of email.
- Enable Secure Message Mode—Select the check box to enable a secure message mode. If you select the Mask IP Address and Mask Controller Name check boxes, the alarm emails are sent in secure mode where all the IP addresses and controller names are masked.
Step 7 Modify the Alarm Other Settings :
- Controller license count threshold—Enter the minimum number of available controller licenses you want to maintain. An alarm is triggered if the number of available controller licenses falls below this threshold.
- Enable AP count threshold alarm option will be enabled by default, to set the Controller access point count threshold.
- Controller access point count threshold—Enter the maximum number of available controller access points you want to maintain. An alarm is triggered if the number of available access points exceeds this threshold limit.
Changing Alarm Severities
You can change the severity level for newly generated alarms. Existing alarms will remain unchanged.
Step 1 Choose Administration > Settings > System Settings > Alarms and Events > Alarm Severity and Auto Clear.
Step 2 Expand the categories available under the Event Types column, or search for the event type you want by entering all or part of the event text in the Event Types search field just below the column heading.
Step 3 Change the event severity by performing one of the following tasks:
- Click on the Severity field and select a severity level from the drop-down list.
- Select the check box of the event type whose severity level you want to change, click Severity Configuration, and choose a severity level from the Configure Severity Level drop-down list, ans click OK.
The available severity level options are: Critical , Major , Minor , Warning , Informational , or Reset to Default .
Changing the Auto Clear Interval
You can change the auto clear interval for any alarm condition. The alarm generated for the specific alarm condition will be auto cleared in the interval specified. To clear alarms automatically, follow these steps:
Step 1 Choose Administration > Settings > System Settings > Alarms and Events > Alarm Severity and Auto Clear.
Step 2 Expand the categories available under the Event Types column, or search for the event type you want by entering all or part of the event text in the Event Types search field just below the column heading.
Step 3 Change the Auto Clear Interval by performing one of the following tasks:
- Click on the Auto Clear Duration field and enter the duration after which you need to clear the alarm.
- Select the check box of the event type whose auto clear duration you want to change, click Alarm Auto Clear, enter the duration after which you need to clear the alarm, and click OK.
Enabling Change Audit Notifications
Prime Infrastructure can send notifications to a Java Message Server (JMS) whenever there are changes in inventory or configuration parameters that are part of an audit you have defined.
By default, JMS notification of audit changes is disabled. To enable this feature in Prime Infrastructure, you must select the Enable Change Audit Notification check box. Prime Infrastructure sends all change audit notifications in XML format to the topic ChangeAudit.All . You must be subscribed to ChangeAudit.All to receive the notifications.
Step 1 Choose Administration > Settings > System Settings > Mail and Notification > Change Audit Notification .
Step 2 Select the Enable Change Audit Notification check box to enable notifications.
Configuring Syslog Message Receivers for System Changes
In addition to sending JMS notifications, Prime Infrastructure can send syslog messages to specified receivers to notify you of changes in the following Prime Infrastructure features:
- Device management
- Device community strings and credentials
- User management
- Configuration templates management
- Monitoring templates management
- Job management
- Logins and logouts
- Image distribution
- Configuration changes
- Inventory changes
You can specify as many receivers as you wish for these specialized syslog messages.
If you have configured syslog message notification receivers but are still not receiving syslogs, you may need to change the anti-virus or firewall settings on the destination syslog receiver to permit reception of syslog messages.
Step 1 Choose Administration > Settings > System Settings > Mail and Notification >Change Audit Notification.
Step 2 Click the Add button (+) to specify a syslog receiver.
Step 3 In the Syslog Receiver(s) pane, enter the IP Address , Protocol and Port Number of the syslog receiver.
Step 4 Click Save to save your changes.
Step 5 Repeat these steps as needed to specify additional syslog receivers.
To change or delete a syslog message notification receiver: Select it, then click the Edit or Delete (X) button.
Downloading and Emailing Error Logs
Prime Infrastructure logs all error, informational, and trace messages generated by all devices that are managed by Prime Infrastructure. Prime Infrastructure also logs all SNMP messages and Syslogs that it receives. You can download and email the logs to use in troubleshooting Prime Infrastructure:
Step 1 Choose Administration > Settings > Logging . The General Logging Options Screen appears.
Step 2 Choose a message level.
Step 3 Select the check boxes within the Enable Log Module option to enable various administration modules. Click Log Modules to select all modules.
Step 4 In the Log File Settings section, enter the required settings. These settings will be effective after you restart Prime Infrastructure.
By default, the File Prefix entry is ncs- %g - %u .log where %g is a sequential number for the log file, and %u is a unique number assigned by the local disk file system. For example, the first log file created is named ncs-1-0.log.
Step 5 Click Download to download the log file to your local machine.
The logs.zip filename includes a prefix with the hostname, date, and time so that you can easily identify the stored log file. An HTML file that documents the log files is included in the ZIP file.
Step 6 Enter the Email ID or Email IDs separated by commas to send the log file, then click Send.
To send the log file in an email, you must have configured an email server.
Enabling SNMP Tracing
You can enable SNMP tracing to access more detailed information about the packets sent and received through SNMP. The SNMP tracing settings you specify are stored and used by the Prime Infrastructure SNMP server. To enable SNMP tracing, follow these steps.
Step 1 Choose Administration > Settings > Logging > SNMP Logging Options .
Step 2 Select the Enable SNMP Trace check box to enable sending SNMP messages and traps between controllers and Prime Infrastructure, then select the Display Values check box to see the SNMP message values.
Step 3 Configure the IP addresses on which to trace the SNMP traps. You can add up to 10 IP addresses in the text box.
Step 4 You can configure the maximum SNMP log file size and the maximum number of SNMP log files to retain.
Changing Syslog Logging Options
Step 1 Choose Administration > Settings > Logging > Syslog Logging Options .
Step 2 Select the Enable Syslog check box to enable collecting and processing of system logs.
Step 3 In Syslog Host , enter the IP address of the interface from which the message is to be transmitted.
Step 4 Choose the Syslog Facility. You can choose any of the eight local use facilities for sending syslog messages. The local use facilities are not reserved and are available for general use.
Changing Logging Options to Enhance Troubleshooting
You can change the amount of troubleshooting data Prime Infrastructure collects to help you debug an issue. For easily reproduced issues, follow these steps prior to contacting TAC.
Step 1 In Converged view, choose Administration > Settings > Logging .
Step 2 From the Message Level drop-down list, choose Trace .
Step 3 Select each check box to enable all log modules.
Step 4 Reproduce the current problem.
Step 5 Return to the Logging Options page and click Download from the Download Log File section.
The logs.zip filename includes a prefix with the hostname, date, and time so that you can easily identify the stored log file. An HTML file that documents the log files is included in the ZIP file.
Step 6 After you have retrieved the logs, choose Information from the Message Level drop-down list.
Caution Leaving the Message Level at Trace for a long period of time can adversely affect performance.
- Changing Mobility Service Engine Logging Options
- MAC Address-Based Logging
- Downloading Mobility Services Engine Log Files
Changing Mobility Service Engine Logging Options
You can use Prime Infrastructure to specify the Mobility Services Engine logging level and types of messages to log.
Step 1 Choose Administration > Settings > Logging , then choose the appropriate options from the Logging Level drop-down list.
There are four logging options: Off, Error , Information , and Trace . All log records with a log level of Error or preceding are logged to a new error log file locserver-error-%u-%g.log. This is an additional log file maintained along with the location server locserver-%u-%g.log log file. The error log file consists of logs of Error level along with their context information. The contextual information consists of 25 log records prior to the error. You can maintain up to 10 error log files. The maximum size allowed for each log file is 10 MB.
Step 2 Select the Enable check box next to each element listed in that section to begin logging its events.
Step 3 Select the Enable check box in the Advanced Parameters dialog box to enable advanced debugging. By default, this option is disabled.
Step 4 To download log files from the server, click Download Logs . See “Downloading Mobility Services Engine Log Files” for more information.
Step 5 In the Log File Parameters area, enter the following:
Step 6 In the MAC Address Based Logging Parameters area, do the following:
- Select the Enable check box to enable MAC address logging. By default, this option is disabled.
- Add one or more MAC addresses for which you want to enable logging. You can also remove MAC addresses that you have already added by choosing the MAC address from the list and clicking Remove (see “MAC Address-Based Logging” in Related Topics).
Step 7 Click Save to apply your changes.
MAC Address-Based Logging
This feature allows you to create log files that are specific to an entity whose MAC address is specified. The log files are created in the locserver directory under the following path:
A maximum of five MAC addresses can be logged at a time. The log file format for MAC address aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff is:
macaddress-debug-aa-bb-cc-dd-ee-ff.log
You can create a maximum of two log files for a MAC address. The two log files might consist of one main and one backup or rollover log file.
The minimum size of a MAC log file is 10 MB. The maximum size allowed is 20 MB per MAC address. The MAC log files that are not updated for more than 24 hours are pruned.
Downloading Mobility Services Engine Log Files
If you need to analyze mobility services engine log files, you can use Prime Infrastructure to download them to your system. Prime Infrastructure downloads a zip file containing the log files.
To download a zip file containing the log files:
Step 1 Choose Services > Mobility Services > Mobility Services Engines .
Step 2 Select the name of the mobility services engine to view its status.
Step 3 From the left sidebar menu, choose System > Logs .
Step 4 In the Download Logs area, click Download Logs .
Step 5 Follow the instructions in the File Download dialog box to open the file or save the zip file to your system.
Configuring Technical Support Request Settings
You can customize the settings for creating a support case with Cisco Technical Support.
For details on creating a support case, see “Opening a Support Case” in Related Topics.
Step 1 Choose Administration > Settings > System Settings > General > Support Request .
Step 2 Select the type of interaction you prefer:
- Enable interactions directly from the server —Specify this option to create the support case directly from the Prime Infrastructure server. Emails to the support provider are sent from the email address associated with the Prime Infrastructure server or the email address you specify.
- Interactions via client system only —Specify this option to download the information required for your support case to a client machine. You must then email the downloaded support case details and information to the support provider.
Step 3 Select your technical support provider:
– Prime Infrastructure mail server
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