Getting Started
Cisco Prime Infrastructure is an application used to configure, manage, and monitor the wired and wireless networks. The Prime Infrastructure home page, is the landing page, displaying real-time monitoring and troubleshooting data. The navigation tabs and menus at the top of the page provide point-and-click access to all other administration features. The Prime Infrastructure home page allows you to:
- Create and configure Cisco Unified Network Solution coverage area layouts, configure system operating parameters, monitor real-time Ci The sco Unified Network Solution operations, and perform troubleshooting tasks using an HTTPS web browser page.
- Create, modify, and delete user accounts; change passwords; assign permissions; and schedule periodic maintenance tasks. The administrator creates new usernames and passwords and assigns them to predefined permissions groups.
- Perform all necessary network administration tasks from one page.
Prime Infrastructure user interface provides an integrated network administration console from which you can manage various devices and services. These include wired and wireless devices, and clients. The services might include authentication, authorization, profiler, location and mobility services, monitoring, troubleshooting, and reporting. All of these devices and services can be managed from a single console called the Prime Infrastructure home page.
This section describes the Prime Infrastructure user interface page and contains the following topics:
Menu Bar
The primary form of navigation used in the Prime Infrastructure is the menu located at the top of the Prime Infrastructure page. Administrators can monitor and perform various tasks from this menu. This menu is an easy-access, pop-up menu that provides quick access to the submenus that are associated with the primary menu. Hover your mouse cursor over any menu title to access the associated menu. Clicking the menu title takes you directly to the feature page.
The following table describes the high-level task areas or menus available in Prime Infrastructure.
Table 2-1 Prime Infrastructure High-Level Menus
|
|
|
Home |
View dashboards. which give you a quick view of devices, performance information, and various incidents. See dashboards and Dashlets for more information. |
Network Engineers |
Monitor |
Monitor your network on a daily basis and perform other day-to-day or ad hoc operations related to network devices (controllers, switches, access points, clients, tags, chokepoints, Wi-Fi TDOA receivers) and configuration management. You can also monitor maps, Google Earth maps, RRM, alarms, and events. |
Network Engineers, NOC Operators, and Service Operators |
Configure |
Configure templates, controllers, access points, switches, chokepoints, Wi-Fi TDOA receivers, config groups, auto provisioning, scheduled configuration tasks, profiles, ACS view servers, and TFTP servers on your network. |
Network Engineers, Designers, and Architects |
Services |
Manage mobility services including mobility services engines and identity service engines. |
Service Operators |
Reports |
Create reports, view saved report templates, and run scheduled reports. |
Network Engineers, NOC Operators, and Service Operators |
Administration |
Specify system configuration settings and data collection settings, and manage access control. You can view and approve jobs, specify health rules, and manage licenses. |
Network Engineers |
Global Toolbar
The Global toolbar is always available at the bottom of the Prime Infrastructure page, providing instantaneous access to the tools, Prime Infrastructure online Help system, and a summary of alarm notifications. Hover your mouse cursor over the Help icon to access the available online Help (see Figure 2-1).
Hover your mouse cursor over the Alarms Browser to display the summarized Alarms page, with a list of recent system alarms and the ability to filter for alarms of a specific nature. You can also drill down for detailed information on individual alarms. For more information on Alarms, see the “Alarm Summary” section.
Figure 2-1 Global Toolbar
Tools
The Tools menu provides access to the Voice Audit, Location Accuracy Tools, Configuration Audit, Migration Analysis, and TAC Case Attachment features of the Prime Infrastructure.
Help
The Help menu allows you to access online help, learning modules, submit feedback, and to verify the current version of the Prime Infrastructure. The Help icon is located in the bottom left corner of the Global Toolbar in the Prime Infrastructure page. The Help provides quick access to the comprehensive online Help for the Prime Infrastructure.
The following submenu options are available from the Help drop-down menu:
- Online Help—Enables you to view online Help. The online Help is context sensitive and opens documentation for the Prime Infrastructure window that you currently have open.
- Learning Modules—Allows you to access short video clips of certain Prime Infrastructure features. To learn more about the Cisco Prime Infrastructure features and functionality, go to Cisco.com to watch multimedia presentations about the Prime Infrastructure configuration workflow, monitoring, troubleshooting, and more. Over future releases, more overview and technical presentations will be added to enhance your learning.
- MSE Installation Guide—Provides links to the MSE installation section.
- Submit Feedback—Allows you to access a page where you can enter feedback about the Prime Infrastructure.
- Help Us Improve Cisco Products—Allows you to enable and provide permission to automatic collect data about how you and your organization use your Cisco wireless products, this data is useful to improve product performance and usability. The data is automatically collected and sent to Cisco in encrypted form. The data might contain information about your organization and it is not be shared or used outside of Cisco.
Note
To get the automated feedback enabled, you must configure your Mail Server Configuration by choosing Administration > Settings > Mail Server Configuration.
- About Cisco Prime Infrastructure—Allows you to verify the version of the Prime Infrastructure that you are running. It provides the version number, hostname, feature, AP limit, and license type.
Alarm Summary
The Alarm Summary launches the alarm summary window that displays all alarms and indicates the number of critical, major, and minor alarms.
For information on other Prime Infrastructure user interface components such as, dashboards and dashlets, filters, data entry features, 360° view, and search methods, see the Prime Infrastructure User Interface Reference appendix in the Cisco Prime Infrastructure 2.2 User Guide.
For information on system requirements, licenses, setting up and starting Prime Infrastructure, see Cisco Prime Infrastructure 2.2 Quick Start Guide.