Configuring Call Home

This chapter includes the following sections:

Call Home

Call Home provides an e-mail-based notification for critical system policies. A range of message formats are available for compatibility with pager services or XML-based automated parsing applications. You can use this feature to page a network support engineer, email a Network Operations Center, or use Cisco Smart Call Home services to automatically generate a case with the Technical Assistance Center.

Call Home provides email-based and web-based notification of critical system events. A versatile range of message formats are available for optimal compatibility with pager services or XML-based automated parsing applications. Common uses of this feature may include direct paging of a network support engineer, notification of a Network Operations Center, XML delivery to a support website, and utilization of Cisco Smart Call Home services for direct case generation with the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC).

The Call Home feature can deliver alert messages containing information about configuration, diagnostics, environmental conditions, inventory, and syslog events.

The Call Home feature can deliver alerts to multiple recipients, referred to as Call Home destination profiles. Each profile includes configurable message formats and content categories. A predefined destination profile is provided for sending alerts to the Cisco TAC, but you also can define your own destination profiles.

When you configure Call Home to send messages, Cisco UCS Manager automatically executes the appropriate CLI show command and attaches the command output to the message.

Cisco UCS delivers Call Home messages in the following formats:


  • Short text format that is suitable for pagers or printed reports.

  • XML machine readable format that uses Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Adaptive Messaging Language (AML) XML schema definition (XSD). The AML XSD is published on the Cisco.com website at http://www.cisco.com/. The XML format enables communication with the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center.

Call Home Considerations

How you configure Call Home depends on how you intend to use the feature. The information you need to consider before you configure Call Home includes the following:


  • You must configure at least one destination profile. The destination profile or profiles that you use depend upon whether the receiving entity is a pager, email, or automated service such as Cisco Smart Call Home.

  • If the destination profile uses email message delivery, you must specify a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server when you configure Call Home.

  • The contact email, phone, and street address information should be configured so that the receiver can determine the origin of messages received.

  • The fabric interconnect must have IP connectivity to an email server or the destination HTTP server.

  • If Cisco Smart Call Home is used, an active service contract must cover the device being configured.

Cisco Smart Call Home

Cisco Smart Call Home is a web application which leverages the Call Home feature of Cisco UCS. Smart Call Home offers proactive diagnostics and real-time email alerts of critical system events, which results in higher network availability and increased operational efficiency. Smart Call Home is a secure connected service offered by Cisco Unified Computing Support Service and Cisco Unified Computing Mission Critical Support Service for Cisco UCS.


Note

Using Smart Call Home requires the following:


  • A CCO ID associated with a corresponding Cisco Unified Computing Support Service or Cisco Unified Computing Mission Critical Support Service contract for your company.

  • Cisco Unified Computing Support Service or Cisco Unified Computing Mission Critical Support Service for the device to be registered.

You can configure and register Cisco UCS Manager to send Smart Call Home email alerts to either the Smart Call Home System or the secure Transport Gateway. Email alerts sent to the secure Transport Gateway are forwarded to the Smart Call Home System using HTTPS.


Note

For security reasons, we recommend using the Transport Gateway option. The Transport Gateway can be downloaded from Cisco.

To configure Smart Call Home, you must do the following:


  • Enable the Smart Call Home feature

  • Configure the contact information

  • Configure the email information

  • Configure the SMTP server information

  • Configure the default CiscoTAC-1 profile

  • Send a Smart Call Home inventory message to start the registration process


Tip

By default, email alerts are sent for all critical system events. However, you can optionally configure Call Home policies to enable or disable sending email alerts for other critical system events.

Configuring Call Home

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the General tab.
Step 5   In the Admin area, do the following to enable Call Home:
  1. In the State field, click on.
    Note   

    If this field is set to on, Cisco UCS Manager GUI displays the rest of the fields on this tab.

  2. From the Urgency drop-down list, select one of the following urgency levels:

    • alerts

    • critical

    • debugging

    • emergencies

    • errors

    • information

    • notifications

    • warnings

Step 6   In the Contact Information area, complete the following fields with the required contact information:
Name Description

Contact field

The main Call Home contact person.

Phone field

The telephone number for the main contact.

Enter the number in international format, starting with a + (plus sign) and a country code.

Email field

The email address for the main contact.

Address field

The mailing address for the main contact.

Step 7   (Optional) In the Ids area, complete the following fields with the identification information that Call Home should use:
Name Description

Customer Id field

The unique identification number for the customer.

Contract Id field

The Call Home contract number for the customer.

Site Id field

The unique Call Home identification number for the customer site.

Step 8   In the Email Addresses area, complete the following fields with email information for Call Home alert messages:
Name Description

From field

The email address that should appear in the From field on Call Home alert messages sent by the system.

Reply To field

The return email address that should appear in the From field on Call Home alert messages sent by the system.

Step 9   In the SMTP Server area, complete the following fields with information about the SMTP server where Call Home should send email messages:
Name Description

Host (IP Address or Hostname) field

The IP address or hostname of the SMTP server.

Port field

The port number the system should use to talk to the SMTP server.

Step 10   Click Save Changes.

Disabling Call Home

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the General tab.
Step 5   In the Admin area, click off in the State field.
Note   

If this field is set to off, Cisco UCS Manager hides the rest of the fields on this tab.

Step 6   Click Save Changes.

Enabling Call Home

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the General tab.
Step 5   In the Admin area, click on in the State field.
Note   

If this field is set to on, Cisco UCS Manager GUI displays the rest of the fields on this tab.

Step 6   Click Save Changes.
What to Do Next

Ensure that Call Home is fully configured.

Configuring System Inventory Messages

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the System Inventory tab.
Step 5   In the Properties area, complete the following fields:
Name Description

Send Periodically field

If this field is set to on, Cisco UCS automatically sends the system inventory to the Call Home database. When the information is sent depends on the other fields in this area.

Send Interval field

The number of days that should pass between automatic system inventory data collection.

Hour of Day to Send field

The hour that the data should be sent using the 24-hour clock format.

Minute of Hour field

The number of minutes after the hour that the data should be sent.

Time Last Sent field

The date and time the information was last sent.

Note   

This field is displayed after the first inventory has been sent.

Next Scheduled field

The date and time for the upcoming data collection.

Note   

This field is displayed after the first inventory has been sent.

Step 6   Click Save Changes.

Sending System Inventory Messages

Use this procedure if you need to manually send a system inventory message outside of the scheduled messages.

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the System Inventory tab.
Step 5   In the Actions area, click Send System Inventory Now.

Cisco UCS Manager immediately sends a system inventory message to the recipient configured for Call Home.

Configuring Call Home Profiles

Creating a Call Home Profile

By default, you must configure the Cisco TAC-1 profile. However, you can also create additional profiles to send email alerts to one or more specified groups when events occur at the level that you specify.

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the Profiles tab.
Step 5   On the icon bar to the right of the table, click +.

If the + icon is disabled, click an entry in the table to enable it.

Step 6   In the Create Call Home Profile dialog box, complete the following information fields:
Name Description

Name field

A user-defined name for this profile.

This name can be between 1 and 16 alphanumeric characters. You cannot use spaces or any special characters, and you cannot change this name after the object has been saved.

Level field

This can be:


  • critical

  • debug

  • disaster

  • fatal

  • major

  • minor

  • normal

  • notification

  • warning

Alert Groups field

The group or groups that are alerted based on this Call Home profile. This can be one or more of the following:


  • ciscoTac

  • diagnostic

  • environmental

  • inventory

  • license

  • lifeCycle

  • linecard

  • supervisor

  • syslogPort

  • system

  • test

Step 7   In the Email Configuration area, complete the following fields to configure the email alerts:
Name Description

Format field

This can be:


  • xml

  • shortTxt

Max Message Size field

The maximum message size that is sent to the designated Call Home recipients.

Step 8   In the Recipients area, complete the following fields to add one or more email recipients for the email alerts:
  1. On the icon bar to the right of the table, click +.
  2. In the Add Email Recipients dialog box, enter the email address to which Call Home alerts should be sent in the Email field.

    After you save this email address, it can be deleted but it cannot be changed.

  3. Click OK.
Step 9   Click OK.

Deleting a Call Home Profile

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the Profiles tab.
Step 5   Right-click the profile you want to delete and choose Delete.
Step 6   Click Save Changes.

Configuring Call Home Policies

Configuring a Call Home Policy


Tip

By default, email alerts are sent for all critical system events. However, you can optionally configure Call Home policies to enable or disable sending email alerts for other critical system events.

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the Policies tab.
Step 5   On the icon bar to the right of the table, click +.

If the + icon is disabled, click an entry in the table to enable it.

Step 6   In the Create Call Home Policy dialog box, complete the following fields:
Name Description

State field

If this field is enabled, the system uses this policy when an error matching the associated cause is encountered. Otherwise, the system ignores this policy even if a matching error occurs.

Cause field

The event that triggers this policy. This can be:


  • equipment-degraded

  • equipment-inoperable

  • fru-problem

  • identity-unestablishable

  • power-problem

  • thermal-problem

  • voltage-problem

Note   

You cannot change the cause after you save this policy.

Step 7   Click OK.
Step 8   Repeat Steps 6 and 7 to configure a Call Home policy for each event that you want to have send a Call Home email alert.

Disabling a Call Home Policy

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the Policies tab.
Step 5   Click the policy that you want to disable and choose Show Navigator.
Step 6   In the State field, click Disabled.
Step 7   Click OK.

Enabling a Call Home Policy

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the Policies tab.
Step 5   Click the policy that you want to enable and choose Show Navigator.
Step 6   In the State field, click Enabled.
Step 7   Click OK.

Deleting a Call Home Policy

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the Policies tab.
Step 5   Right-click the policy that you want to disable and choose Delete.
Step 6   Click Save Changes.

Configuring Call Home for Smart Call Home

Configuring Smart Call Home

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the General tab.
Step 5   In the Admin area, do the following to enable Call Home:
  1. In the State field, click on.
    Note   

    If this field is set to on, Cisco UCS Manager GUI displays the rest of the fields on this tab.

  2. From the Urgency drop-down list, select one of the following urgency levels:

    • alerts

    • critical

    • debugging

    • emergencies

    • errors

    • information

    • notifications

    • warnings

Step 6   In the Contact Information area, complete the following fields with the required contact information:
Name Description

Contact field

The main Call Home contact person.

Phone field

The telephone number for the main contact.

Enter the number in international format, starting with a + (plus sign) and a country code.

Email field

The email address for the main contact.

Address field

The mailing address for the main contact.

Step 7   In the Ids area, complete the following fields with the Smart Call Home identification information:
Name Description

Customer Id field

The unique identification number for the customer.

Contract Id field

The Call Home contract number for the customer.

Site Id field

The unique Call Home identification number for the customer site.

Step 8   In the Email Addresses area, complete the following fields with the email information for Smart Call Home alert messages:
Name Description

From field

The email address that should appear in the From field on Call Home alert messages sent by the system.

Reply To field

The return email address that should appear in the From field on Call Home alert messages sent by the system.

Step 9   In the SMTP Server area, complete the following fields with information about the SMTP server that Call Home should use to send email messages:
Name Description

Host (IP Address or Hostname) field

The IP address or hostname of the SMTP server.

Port field

The port number the system should use to talk to the SMTP server.

Step 10   Click Save Changes.

Configuring the Default Cisco TAC-1 Profile

The default settings of the CiscoTAC-1 profile are:


  • Level is normal

  • Only the CiscoTAC alert group is selected

  • Format is xml

  • Maximum message size is 5000000

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the Profiles tab.
Step 5   Right-click the Cisco TAC-1 profile and choose Recipient.
Step 6   In the Add Email Recipients dialog box, do the following:
  1. In the Email field, enter the email address to which Call Home alerts should be sent.

    For example, enter callhome@cisco.com.

    After you save this email address, it can be deleted but it cannot be changed.

  2. Click OK.

Configuring System Inventory Messages for Smart Call Home

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the System Inventory tab.
Step 5   In the Properties area, complete the following fields to specify how system inventory messages will be sent to Smart Call Home:
Name Description

Send Periodically field

If this field is set to on, Cisco UCS automatically sends the system inventory to the Call Home database. When the information is sent depends on the other fields in this area.

Send Interval field

The number of days that should pass between automatic system inventory data collection.

Hour of Day to Send field

The hour that the data should be sent using the 24-hour clock format.

Minute of Hour field

The number of minutes after the hour that the data should be sent.

Time Last Sent field

The date and time the information was last sent.

Note   

This field is displayed after the first inventory has been sent.

Next Scheduled field

The date and time for the upcoming data collection.

Note   

This field is displayed after the first inventory has been sent.

Step 6   Click Save Changes.

Registering Smart Call Home

Procedure
Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Admin tab.
Step 2   In the Admin tab, expand All > Communication Services.
Step 3   Click Call Home.
Step 4   In the Work pane, click the System Inventory tab.
Step 5   In the Actions area, click Send System Inventory Now to start the registration process.
Step 6   When you receive the email response from Cisco, click the link in the email to complete registration for Smart Call Home.