Getting Started

This section contains the following topics:

Logging Into Prime Network Services Controller

The default HTTPS URL for logging into the Prime Network Services Controller user interface is https://server-ip-address, where server-ip-address is the IP address assigned to the Prime Network Services Controller server. The IP address is the address for the management port.


Note
If you log in using HTTP, you are automatically redirected to the HTTPS link.

Prime Network Services Controller Configuration Workflow

The following table provides the most common initial and ongoing workflow tasks to configure Prime Network Services Controller.

Initial Configuration Tasks (Administrative) Description

1. Create User Roles

Configure roles for user access.

2. Configure Authentication

Configure LDAP providers and select a primary authentication service.

3. Create a Trusted Point

Configure trusted points for LDAP over SSL.

4. Configure VM Manager

Configure access with hypervisors.

5. Configure Default System Profiles and Policies

Configure the default Prime Network Services Controller system profile.

Ongoing Configuration Tasks

6. Configure Tenants

Add tenants for resource and service support.

7. Configure Service Profiles and Policies

Configure access and security-related policies for access to resources.

8. Configure Device Profiles and Policies

Configure device-specific policies and profiles.

9. Configuring Managed Resources

Add and configure enterprise and cloud resources.

Note    To instantiate a cloud VM, use Cisco Intercloud Fabric to import the cloud template before instantiation in Cisco Prime Network Services Controller.

GUI Overview

Prime Network Services Controller provides a browser-based interface that enables you to configure managed endpoints, perform administrative operational tasks, and define and apply policies and profiles. You also use the GUI to manage and provision device resources.

User Interface Components

When you log into Prime Network Services Controller, the user interface is displayed.

The Prime Network Services Controller user interface contains the components described in the following table:
Table 1 Prime Network Services Controller User Interface Components
Component Description

Title

Displays "Cisco Prime Network Services Controller."

Toolbar

Allows you to set inactivity timeout values, obtain product version information, access online help, provide product feedback, and log out.

Tabs

Provide access to the primary Prime Network Services Controller components for managing your environment:

  • Tenant Management

  • Resource Management

  • Policy Management

  • InterCloud Management

  • Administration

Navigation pane

Provides navigation to all objects in the Prime Network Services Controller instance.

The navigation pane is displayed on the left side of the screen below the tabs. The objects that are displayed in the navigation pane depend on the selected tab.

Content pane

Displays information and provides options for the object that is selected in the navigation pane. The Content pane often includes tables.

The following table provides information about the tabs in the Prime Network Services Controller GUI:
Table 2 Tabs in the Prime Network Services Controller GUI
Tab Description

Tenant Management

Enables you to manage tenants in the current Prime Network Services Controller instance.

A system or server administrator can use this tab to create organizational hierarchies and enable multi-tenant management domains. The organizational hierarchy levels are Tenant > Virtual Data Center > Application > Tier.

Resource Management

Enables you to manage logical resources, such as VSGs, ASA 1000Vs, VSGs, and vCenters.

Resource Management subtabs are:

  • Managed Resources

  • Resources

  • VM Managers

  • Capabilities

  • Diagnostics

Policy Management

Enables you to configure service and device policies and profiles, and to assign policies to profiles.

Policy Management subtabs are:

  • Service Profiles

  • Service Policies

  • Device Configurations

  • Capabilities

  • Diagnostics

InterCloud Management

Note    This tab is not available in Hyper-V Hypervisor deployments.

Enables you to configure and monitor InterCloud resources.

InterCloud Management subtabs are:

  • Enterprise

  • Public Cloud

  • InterCloud Link

  • InterCloud Policies

  • Diagnostics

Administration

Provides the tools needed for administering Prime Network Services Controller.

Administration subtabs are:

  • Access Control

  • System Profile

  • Diagnostics

  • Operations

  • Service Registry

Toolbar

The Prime Network Services Controller toolbar displays in the upper-right portion of the user interface. The following table describes the toolbar options:
Table 3 Toolbar Options
Option Description

(username)

Username of the current Prime Network Services Controller session.

Preferences

Enables you to specify the amount of time that the Prime Network Services Controller session can remain inactive before the session times out. The value that you specify applies to the system from which you logged into Prime Network Services Controller.

Log Out

Logs you out of the current session.

About

Provides Prime Network Services Controller version information.

Help

Launches online help for the currently displayed screen.

Feedback

Allows you to provide feedback on Prime Network Services Controller.

Tables

The tables in the Prime Network Services Controller GUI contain the following features:

Feature

Description

Actions drop-down list

For tables that provide many actions, a drop-down list displays the options. The actions that are available for the selected item appear in normal font, whereas those actions that are not available for the selected item are dimmed.

Filter

You can filter the table contents by a value that you enter.

Record count

The number of entries in the table.

Sort by column

You can sort all table entries by clicking on a column heading.

Table-specific toolbars

Toolbars are available for most tables, with options that are appropriate for the specific table.

Field Aids

Prime Network Services Controller includes the following aids to assist you in your tasks, whether configuring policies and profiles, troubleshooting faults, or looking for additional information for a particular window or dialog box.

Table 4 Prime Network Services Controller Field Aids
Feature Description Example

Tooltips

Pause your cursor over a field to view additional information about the field.


Red field or box

Indicates that information is required. If you have entered information and the field remains red, the entry contains an error (such as an incomplete IP address). You can pause your mouse over the field to obtain information about the error.





Field icons
Two field icons (i and c) provide additional information for the field:

  • The "i" icon provides additional information for the field.

  • The "c" icon identifies the feature support for the field. For example, a feature might be supported on ASA 1000Vs but not on VSGs.

Pause your cursor over the icon to view the information.








Fault links

Fault information and links to fault information are available for each edge and compute firewall in Resource Management.

Navigate to a specific compute or edge firewall to view the object state, number of faults, and severity of faults. The same pane provides links to the relevant fault page.




Online help

Context-sensitive online help is available for each Prime Network Services Controller pane and dialog box.

To access help, click Help in the active pane or ? in the active dialog box.




Firewall Access

If the Prime Network Services Controller server is protected by a firewall, the following ports must be enabled:

  • 22—TCP

  • 80—HTTP

  • 443—HTTPS

  • 843—Adobe Flash

  • 6644—TCP, UDP

Idle Timeout Period

The Preferences dialog box allows you to specify the length of time, from 5 to 60 minutes, that a Prime Network Services Controller session on your current machine can remain idle before the session is closed. The value that you enter applies to the system that you used to log into Prime Network Services Controller.

Search

The Search tab enables you to search for instances of organizations in Prime Network Services Controller. From the search result, you can expand an organization's hierarchy and launch devices and polices in that organization.


Note

Searching for organization names does not work if the organization names contain special characters.

Procedure
    Step 1   Do any of the following to launch the Search tab:
    • Choose Policy Management > Service Policies > root > Search.
    • Choose Policy Management > Service Profiles > root > Search.
    • Choose Policy Management > Device Configurations > root > Search.
    • Choose Tenant Management > root > Search.
    • Choose Resource Management > Managed Resources > root > Search.
    Note    You can perform the Search operation at any level in the organizational hierarchy.
    Step 2   Enter organization names as a *pattern or a regular expression.

    The Search feature is case-sensitive. When you enter a name as a regular expression, it can contain regex wildcards such as * , + , ? and so on. For example, "*" will match the previous character zero or more times. Searching myVdc* will return all names that contain "myVd" and "myVDC".

    Use the following the guidelines when you enter a pattern:

    • To fetch organization names starting with "ABC", enter "ABC*".
    • To fetch organization names ending with "ABC", enter "*ABC".
    • To fetch organizations names starting with "A" and ending with "BC" but with other characters in between, enter "A*BC".
    Step 3   Click Search.

    The search results are displayed in the table.

    Clone

    You can create a clone for an organization, policy, policy set, or profile at a destination of your choice. The hierarchy of an organization's clone or the names of the elements in it cannot be changed. After a clone is created, it cannot be renamed or moved to another location.

    Procedure
      Step 1   Based on the element you want to clone, do one of the following:
      • To clone an organization, choose Tenant Management > root > tenant > organization.
      • To clone a policy, policy set, or profile, choose Policy Management > Service Polices > root > tenant > Policies > policy or Policy Management > Service Profiles > root > tenant > Profiles > profile.
      Step 2   Right-click the element to be cloned and choose Clone.
      Step 3   In the Clone dialog box that appears:
      1. Enter the name and destination of the clone.
      2. Click OK.

      The clone appears in the destination you chose.