Information About Auto-Synchronization with Devices
The Auto Synchronizing with Devices feature ensures that the Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) server has current configuration and status information about managed devices. The Cisco DCNM server creates one poller process for each device to retrieve the system and accounting logs that this feature requires.
When you choose Auto Synchronization with Devices on the Feature Selector, the content pane shows information about each poller process and allows you to control them.
You can configure the length of time that Cisco DCNM waits before polling a device again. By default, Cisco DCNM polls each managed device every 60 seconds. You can increase the length of time to a maximum of 300 seconds. For more information, see the “Configuring the Polling Interval” section.
Cisco DCNM polls devices concurrently; however, to avoid polling all devices simultaneously, Cisco DCNM begins polling devices in alphabetical device-name order and delays each polling process by a short, random amount of time.
This section includes the following topics:
Automatic and Manual Purging of Event Data
You can use the Auto-Synchronization with Devices feature to delete unwanted event data. Cisco DCNM supports automatic purging of event data. You can configure the following aspects of automatic event data purging:
-
Days of the week and time of day that automatic purging occurs.
-
Whether Cisco DCNM determines which event data to purge by the age of the data or by a maximum number of database entries.
-
Severity level of events.
You can also manually purge event data.
Virtualization Support
Cisco DCNM treats each virtual device context (VDC) on a Cisco NX-OS device as a separate device. Cisco DCNM creates one poller process per device.
Configuring Device Auto-Synchronization
Figure 15-1 shows the Auto-Synchronization with Devices content pane.
Figure 15-1 Auto-Synchronization with Devices Content Pane
This section includes the following topics:
Starting and Stopping a Poller
You can start and stop a poller for a device. When a poller is stopped, auto-synchronization for the device does not occur.
DETAILED STEPS
To start or stop a poller, follow these steps:
Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose
DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices
.
A table of pollers appears in the Contents pane. Each row corresponds to a poller for a particular device. Devices are listed alphabetically. The Poller Status field displays messages about whether the poller is running or is stopped.
Step 2 Click the poller that you want to start or stop.
Step 3 Do one of the following:
-
To start a poller, from the menu bar, choose
Actions > Start Poller
. The Poller Status field changes to Running.
-
To stop a poller, from the menu bar, choose
Actions > Stop Poller
. The Poller Status field changes to Stopped.
You do not need to save your changes.
Configuring the Polling Interval
You can configure how often the Cisco DCNM server synchronizes with managed devices. While synchronizing, the Cisco DCNM server fetches accounting and system logs from managed devices. This setting affects how frequently features in the Cisco DCNM client receive updated information about managed devices.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
The default polling interval is 60 seconds.
Determine how often you want Cisco DCNM to perform auto-synchronization with managed devices. In general, consider the following:
-
How often device configurations are changed by means other than Cisco DCNM, such as using the command-line interface of a device. If changes by means other than Cisco DCNM are common, consider using a short polling interval.
-
How important it is to your organization that Cisco DCNM be up to date with managed device configurations. If up-to-date configuration information is important to your organization, consider using a short polling interval.
DETAILED STEPS
To configure the polling interval, follow these steps:
Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose
DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices
.
The device polling interval appears in the Contents pane, above the table of pollers.
Step 2 In the Device Polling Interval field, enter the number of seconds between auto-synchronizations for all devices. The default interval is 60 seconds. You can specify an interval between 30 and 300 seconds.
Step 3 From the menu bar, choose
File > Deploy
to save the polling interval.
Synchronizing with a Device
You can make Cisco DCNM synchronize with a device manually when you do not want to wait for the next auto-synchronization to occur.
Note If many configuration changes have occurred on the device since the last successful synchronization, consider performing device discovery instead of synchronization. For more information, see “Discovering a Device” section.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Ensure that you have either configured the device entry with unique device credentials or that Cisco DCNM can use the default device credentials to connect to the device. For more information, see the “Configuring Default Device Credentials” section.
DETAILED STEPS
To synchronize with a device, follow these steps:
Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose
DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices
.
A table of pollers appears in the Contents pane. Each row corresponds to a poller for a particular device. Devices are listed alphabetically.
Step 2 Click the device that you want Cisco DCNM to synchronize with.
Step 3 From the menu bar, choose
Actions > Synchronize with Device
.
Synchronization begins.
To determine when the synchronization has finished, watch the Last Sync Status column. Typically, synchronization with a device occurs in less than 5 minutes.
You do not need to save your changes.
Deleting Data from the Events Database
You can delete data from the events database based on the exact age of the events. Events that you delete can no longer appear in the Event Browser or on a feature-specific Events tab.
Tip If you want to delete events based on the number of events in the database, see the “Purging Events Now” section.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Determine the date and time of the newest events data that you want to delete. When you follow the steps in this procedure, Cisco DCNM deletes all events that are older than the date and time that you select.
DETAILED STEPS
To delete data from the events database, follow these steps:
Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose
DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices
.
The Events Database Administration tab appears in the Details pane, below the table of pollers.
Step 2 From the Delete events older than drop-down list, choose the date and time of the newest event that you want to delete and click
OK
.
Step 3 Click
Delete
.
Cisco DCNM deletes all events older than the date and time that you specified.
Enabling and Disabling Automatic Event Purging
You can enable or disable the automatic purging of events from the Cisco DCNM events database.
DETAILED STEPS
To enable or disable automatic event purging, follow these steps:
Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose
DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices
.
The Events Database Administration tab appears in the Details pane, below the table of pollers.
Step 2 Under Purge Settings, do one of the following:
-
To enable automatic event purging, check
Enable Auto Purge
.
-
To disable automatic event purging, uncheck
Enable Auto Purge
.
Step 3 From the menu bar, choose
File > Deploy
to save your changes to the Cisco DCNM server.
Configuring Automatic Event Purge Settings
You can configure when automatic event purging occurs and the criteria that Cisco DCNM uses to determine which events to purge.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Determine when you want automatic event purging to occur. We recommend that automatic event purging occur when Cisco DCNM usage is low.
If you perform backups of your Cisco DCNM databases, consider scheduling automatic event purging after database backups have occurred, to ensure that you retain a record of all events.
Determine what criteria you want Cisco DCNM to use to determine which events to purge. The criteria available are as follows:
-
Age of event—Cisco DCNM can purge all events that are older than a specific number of days, weeks, or months.
-
Number of events in the database—When the number of events in the database exceeds the maximum number that you specify, Cisco DCNM can purge the oldest events first until the maximum number is not exceeded.
-
Severity of event—Cisco DCNM can purge events based on the severity level of the event.
If you enable both criteria, Cisco DCNM applies them independently of each other.
DETAILED STEPS
To configure automatic event purge settings, follow these steps:
Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose
DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices
.
The Events Database Administration tab appears in the Details pane, below the table of pollers.
Step 2 Under Purge Threshold, configure the criteria that Cisco DCNM uses to determine which events to purge. You can configure any of the criteria in the following table:
|
|
Age of events
|
1. Check
Data older than
.
2. From the first drop-down list, choose the number of days, weeks, or months.
3. From the second drop-down list, choose
Days
,
Weeks
, or
Months
, as needed.
|
Number of events in the database
|
1. Check
Total Entries Exceed(0-2147483647)
.
2. In the box, enter the maximum number of entries that you want to allow in the events database.
|
Severity of event
|
1. Check
Severity
. The list of eight severity levels becomes available.
2. For each severity level that you want Cisco DCNM to use to determine whether to purge events, check the severity level.
|
Step 3 Under Purge Settings, follow these steps to configure when you want automatic purging to occur:
a. Check the days-of-the-week check boxes to specify which days of the week that you want automatic purging to occur.
b. Use the
Run at
box to configure the exact time on the specified days that you want automatic event purging to occur.
Step 4 (Optional) If you want to enable automatic event purging, check
Enable Auto Purge
.
Step 5 From the menu bar, choose
File > Deploy
to save your changes to the Cisco DCNM server.
Purging Events Now
You can purge event data on demand, using the automatic event purge settings to determine which events are purged. Events that you delete can no longer appear in the Event Browser or on a feature-specific Events tab.
Tip If you want to delete events on demand, based on the exact age of the events, see the “Deleting Data from the Events Database” section.
DETAILED STEPS
To purge events from the events database now, follow these steps:
Step 1 From the Feature Selector pane, choose
DCNM Server Administration > Auto Synchronization with Devices
.
The Events Database Administration tab appears in the Details pane, below the table of pollers.
Step 2 Under Purge Settings, click
Purge Now
.
Cisco DCNM deletes events, using the automatic event purge settings to determine which events to purge.