Cisco Prime Infrastructure 3.0 User Guide

Adding Devices to Prime Infrastructure

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Methods for Adding Devices

You can add devices to Cisco Prime Infrastructure in one of the following ways:

• Use an automated process—See Adding Devices Using Discovery.
• Import devices from a CSV file—See Importing Devices from Another Source.
• Add devices manually by entering IP address and device credential information—See Adding Devices Manually.

Adding Devices Using Discovery

When you run discovery, Prime Infrastructure discovers the devices and, after obtaining access, collects device inventory data. We recommend that you run discovery, when you are initially getting started with Prime Infrastructure.

Prime Infrastructure uses SNMP polling to gather information about your network devices within the range of IP addresses you specify. If you have CDP enabled on your network devices, Prime Infrastructure uses the seed device you specify to discover the devices in your network.

You can discover your devices by:

• Configuring discovery settings—This method is recommended if you want to specify settings and rerun discovery in the future using the same settings. See Running Discovery.
• Running Quick Discovery—Quick Discovery quickly ping sweeps your network and uses SNMP polling to get details on the devices. See Running Quick Discovery.

Running Discovery

Prime Infrastructure discovers devices with IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

To run discovery, follow these steps:

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Step 1 Choose Inventory > Device Management > Discovery .

Step 2 Click Discovery Settings (in the top right corner), then click New .

Step 3 Enter the Protocol Settings as described in Table 3-1 .

Step 4 Perform one of the following:

• Click Save to save your discovery settings and schedule your discovery to run at a specified time.
• Click Run Now to run the discovery now.

 

Table 3-1 Discovery Protocol Settings

Field	Description
Protocol Settings
Ping Sweep Module	Prime Infrastructure gets a list of IP address ranges from a specified combination of IP address and subnet mask, then pings each IP address in the range to check the reachability of devices. See Sample IPv4 IP Addresses for Ping Sweep for more information.
Layer 2 Protocols
CDP Module	Prime Infrastructure reads the cdpCacheAddress and cdpCacheAddressType MIB objects in the cdpCacheTable from CISCO-CDP-MIB on every newly found device as follows: 1. The cdpCacheAddress MIB object is gathered from the current device. This provides a list of neighbor device addresses. 2. If the neighbor device addresses do not already exist in the global device list, they are added to the local cache. Select the Enable Cross Router Boundary check box to specify that Prime Infrastructure should discover neighboring routers.
LLDP	Similar to CDP, but it allows the discovery of non-Cisco devices.
Advanced Protocols
Routing Table	Queries and analyzes routing tables on seed routers to discover subnets and next-hop routers. This process discovers a router for every subnet on its list of known networks.
Address Resolution Protocol	The ARP Discovery Module depends on the Routing Table Discovery Module (RTDM), and is executed only when RTDM is processed. This precondition is identified based on the flags processed by the ARP Discovery Module, which are part of the DeviceObject. The entries coming out of the ARP Discovery Module do not need to pass through RTDM because (per the router Discovery algorithm) active routers are those that RTDM must process and identify. When the ARP table is fetched and the entries are not already discovered by RTDM, these entries (though they may represent routers) are not active routers and need not be passed on to RTDM. This is ensured by setting the ARP Discovery Module flag to Processed and leaving the RTDM flag set to Unprocessed. When the RTDM comes across an entry with the RTDM flag unset and the ARP flag set, RTDM identifies the entry as a inactive router or other device and it leaves the entry as unprocessed . The ARP Discovery Module also ignores the entry according to the algorithm, based on the Processed flag set against the ARP Discovery Module. When the Enable ARP check box is selected, the device MAC address needs to be updated in the device information. Applications can retrieve this information in the adapter through the DeviceInfo object. By scanning the device MAC address, the applications can distinguish between Cisco and non-Cisco devices. ARP cache from the device is collected using CidsARPInfoCollector. The MAC ID of the device is retrieved from this data and set in the DeviceInfo object.
Border Gateway Protocol	The BGP Discovery Module uses bgpPeerTable in the BGP4-MIB to find its BGP peer. The table contains its peers’ IP addresses, which are added as clues to the local cache.
Open Shortest Path First	Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol is an interior gateway routing protocol that uses the ospfNbrTable and ospfVirtNbrTable MIBs to find neighbor IP addresses.
Filters
IP Filter	Includes or excludes devices based on IP address. For example, you can enter any of the following strings and specify whether to include or exclude the devices found during discovery: 192.0.2.89 192.0.2.* 192.0. [16-32].89 [192-193].*.55.[16-32]
Advanced Filters
System Location Filter	Includes or excludes devices based on System Location.
System Object ID Filter	Includes or excludes devices based on the sysObjectID string set on the device.
DNS Filter	Includes or excludes devices based on the domain name string set on the device.
Credential Settings
Credential Set	The credential set lists all the available credential profiles in Prime Infrastructure. You can associate credential profile with a range of IP addresses. The devices will be discovered based on the selected credential profile. For more information see, Using Credential Profiles.
SNMPv2 Credential	SNMP community string is a required parameter for discovering devices in the network using SNMPv2. You can enter multiple rows of credentials mapped to a specific IP address, or the IP address can be a wildcard; for example, *.*.*.*, 10.1.1.*. You cannot save or use the discovery settings if you do not specify SNMP credentials.
SNMPv3 Credential	Prime Infrastructure supports SNMPv3 discovery for devices. The following SNMPv3 modes are available: AuthPriv—Provides authentication based on the HMAC-MD5 or HMAC-SHA algorithms. Provides DES 56-bit encryption in addition to authentication based on the CBC-DES (DES-56) and AES-128 standards. AuthNoPriv—Provides authentication based on the HMAC-MD5 or HMAC-SHA algorithms. NoAuthNoPriv—Uses a username match for authentication. PrivType—Protocol used to secure the SNMP authentication request. PrivPassword—Prefixed privacy passphrase for the SNMPv3 user.
Telnet Credential	You can specify the Telnet credentials during discovery so that Prime Infrastructure can collect the device configurations and fully manage the devices. If you do not specify Telnet credentials in the discovery settings, Prime Infrastructure discovers the devices but is unable to collect the full inventory of the device until you specify the Telnet credentials.
SSH Credential	For full device support via SSH, you must use SSHv2 with a 1024 bit key. You can configure SSH before running discovery. We recommend that you select SSHv2 as the protocol for communicating with the device CLI because it allows the use of Web Services Management Agent (WSMA) for configuring devices. (For more information see, Configuring the Device using WSMA.)
Preferred Management IP (how Prime Infrastructure attempts to find the preferred management address for devices)
Use Loopback IP	Prime Infrastructure uses the preferred management IP address from the loop back interface. If the device does not have a loopback interface, Prime Infrastructure uses similar logic to the OSPF algorithm to select the router’s preferred management IP address.
Use SysName	Prime Infrastructure gets the preferred management IP address for the device using DNS lookup of the SysName for the device.
Use DNS Reverse Lookup	Prime Infrastructure gets the preferred management IP address by doing a reverse DNS lookup on the device IP address, followed by a forward DNS lookup.

After running discovery, choose Inventory > Device Management > Network Devices .

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Note When discovery job rediscovers an existing device, the original credentials will be maintained and will not be updated with the credentials entered in Discovery Settings, if Last Inventory Collection Status of the device is “completed” in the Inventory > Device Management > Network Devices page. However, if the status is “partial collection” or any other status, then original credentials of the existing device will be overwritten with the credentials present in the Discovery Settings.

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See Monitoring Network Devices for more information.

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Importing Devices from Another Source

If you have another management system from which you want to import your devices, or if you want to import a spreadsheet that lists all of your devices and their attributes, you can add device information into Prime Infrastructure as explained in the following steps:

Step 1 Choose Inventory > Device Management > Network Devices , then click Bulk Import .

Step 2 From the Operation drop-down list, choose Device .

Step 3 In the Select CSV File, enter or browse to the CSV file that contains the devices that you want to import.

Step 4 Click the link to download a sample file that contains all of the fields and descriptions for the information that must be contained in your imported file. See Figure 3-1.

Figure 3-1 Downloading a Sample Template for Importing Devices or Sites

Make sure that you retain the required information in the CSV file as explained in CSV File Requirements for Importing Devices.

If the importing CSV file contains any UDF parameters, ensure that UDF is configured in Administration > Settings > System Settings > Inventory > User Defined Fields prior to importing the devices. The UDF column in the CSV file must be begin with UDF: as indicated in the sample CSV template.

Step 5 Click Import .

Step 6 Check the status of the import by choosing Administration > Dashboards > Job Dashboard > User Jobs > Import .

Step 7 Click the arrow to expand the job details and view the details and history for the import job.

Adding Devices Manually

Adding devices manually is helpful if you want to add a single device. If you want to add all devices in your network, we recommend that you run discovery (see Running Discovery) or import devices from a CSV file (see Importing Devices from Another Source).

After adding a device in the Converged view with profile, if you edit the device (which is associated with Credential Profile) in the Classic view, the Credential Profile association of the device is removed.

To add devices manually, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Inventory > Device Management > Network Devices .

Step 2 Click Add Device .

Step 3 Complete the required fields.

Step 4 For the License Level field, select

• Full to collect all device information and have Prime Infrastructure manage the device. Managed devices count against the number of managed devices in your Prime Infrastructure license. Full is selected by default.
• Switch Port Trace Only to collect partial device information (host name, device name, device type, and reachability status) and allow Prime Infrastructure to display how an AP is connected to a WLC on wireless maps. Switch Port Trace Only devices do not count against the number of managed devices in your Prime Infrastructure license. You cannot perform device management operations on devices that you designate as Switch Port Trace Only.

See Enabling IPSec Communication When Adding Devices for information about enabling IPSec.

Step 5 (Optional) Click Verify Credentials to verify the device credentials before adding the device.

Note Prime Infrastructure provides HTTP credentials verification support for NAM devices only.

Step 6 Click Add to add the device with the settings you specified.

Note User Defined Field (UDF) parameters are available only if you added them under Administration > Settings > System Settings > Inventory > User Defined Fields. Do not use the special characters : ; and # for UDF field parameters.

About Adding Wireless Devices

Note the following information when adding wireless devices to Prime Infrastructure:

• When a controller is removed from the system, a warning message appears to confirm whether the associated access points need to be removed.
• If you are adding a controller into the Prime Infrastructure across a GRE link using IPSec or a lower MTU link with multiple fragments, you might need to adjust the Maximum VarBinds per Get PDU and Maximum VarBinds per Set PDU. If it is set too high, the controller might not be added into Prime Infrastructure.

To adjust the Maximum VarBinds per Get PDU or Maximum VarBinds per Set PDU: Stop the Prime Infrastructure, choose Administration > Settings > System Settings > Network and Device > SNMP , and edit the Maximum VarBinds per Get PDU and Maximum VarBinds per Set PDU values to 50 or lower.

• If you receive the error message ‘Sparse table not supported', verify that Prime Infrastructure and WLC versions are compatible and retry. For information on compatible versions, see the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/controller/5500/tech_notes/Wireless_Software_Compatibility_Matrix.html .
• When a controller is added to Prime Infrastructure, Prime Infrastructure acts as a TRAP receiver and the following traps are enabled on the controller: 802.11 Disassociation, 802.11 Deauthentication, and 802.11 Authenticated.
• In the Inventory > Network Devices > All Devices > Wireless Controllers page, to update the credentials of multiple controllers in bulk, select the controllers you need to update and click Edit. Select the credential profile and click Update or Update & Sync.
• You can also update the credentials of multiple controllers in bulk by choosing a CSV file. Select the controllers and click Bulk Import. Browse the CSV file that contains a list of controllers to be updated, one controller per line. Each line is a comma separated list of controller attributes.
• When a controller is added, the Reachability of the controller will be Unknown, while Prime Infrastructure attempts to communicate with the controller that you added. The Reachability of the controller changes to Reachable or Ping Reachable once the communication with the controller is successful.

Validating That Devices Were Added Successfully

After collecting device information, Prime Infrastructure gathers and displays the configurations and the software images for the devices. To verify that your devices were successfully added to Prime Infrastructure, you can choose Inventory > Device Management > Network Devices and

• Verify that the devices you have added appear in the list. Click a device name to view the device configurations and the software images that Prime Infrastructure collected from the devices.
• View details about the information that was collected from the device by hovering your mouse over the Inventory Collection Status field and clicking the icon that appears.
• Check the Device Reachability Status column. See Table 3-3 for status descriptions. HTTP/HTTPS parameters are verified on NAM devices only.
• Check the Admin Status column. See Table 3-4 for descriptions of the possible Admin Status values.
• To view details about the collection job and the details and history for the import job, choose Administration > Dashboards > Job Dashboard .

See Troubleshooting Unmanaged Devices for information about how to resolve any errors.

Adding NAM HTTP/HTTPS Credentials

If you are using Cisco Network Analysis Modules (NAMs) to monitor your network, you must add HTTPS credentials so that Prime Infrastructure can retrieve data from them. This is especially important for users who have licensed Assurance features, as most Assurance features depend on NAM data to work.

Prime Infrastructure polls NAMs directly via HTTP (or HTTPS) to collect their data. This type of polling requires Prime Infrastructure to store each NAMs’ HTTP credentials. Unlike with SNMP community strings and Telnet/SSH credentials, you cannot enter NAM HTTP credentials during the discovery process. You can only specify NAM HTTP credentials after the modules are discovered or added to inventory.

Follow these steps to add HTTP credentials for a single NAM. You can repeat this task for all NAMs from which you want Prime Infrastructure to collect data.

Step 1 Choose Inventory > Device Management > Network Devices > Device Type > Cisco Interfaces and Modules > Network Analysis Modules .

Step 2 Select one of the NAMs and click Edit .

Step 3 In the Edit Device window, under Http Parameters :

• Protocol—Select the HTTP protocol, HTTP or HTTPS. The TCP Port will change automatically to the default port for the protocol that you have selected.
• TCP Port—Enter a different TCP Port if you want to override the default.
• Username—Enter the name of a user who can access the NAM via HTTP or HTTPS.
• Password—Enter the password for the username that you entered.
• Confirm Password—Re-enter the password to confirm.

Step 4 Choose Update .

Related Topics

Enabling NAM Data Collection

Defining NAM Polling Parameters

Exporting Devices

In Prime Infrastructure, you can export device information as a CSV file. Prime Infrastructure does not export credential profiles.

To export devices, follow these steps:

Step 1 Choose Inventory > Device Management > Network Devices .

Step 2 Select the devices that you want to export, then click Export Device .

Step 3 Enter an encryption password that will be used to open the exported CSV file.

Step 4 Confirm the encryption Password and click Export to export the device information.

Step 5 Double-click the ExportDevice.zip file and enter the encryption password to open the ExportDevice.csv file.

Next Steps

Now that you have added devices to Prime Infrastructure, you can create device groups and port groups to simplify management, monitoring, and configuration of similar devices and ports. See Grouping Devices .

You might also want to:

• Plan for devices that will be added to your network in the future—See Preconfiguring Devices to be Added Later.
• Configure wired and wireless features on your devices using guided, step-by-step instructions—See Getting Help Setting Up Access Switches.