Table Of Contents
Modifying IPM Components
Working with Source Routers
Viewing a List of Configured Source Routers
Viewing Source Router Properties
Adding a New Source Router
Adding Source Routers Using a Seed File
Source Router Seed File Format
Creating a Source Router Seed File
Loading Source Routers from a Source Router Seed File into IPM
Deleting Source Routers
Working with Target Devices
Viewing a List of Defined Targets
Viewing Target Properties
Adding a New Target
Adding Targets Using a Seed File
Target Seed File Format
Creating a Target Seed File
Loading Targets from a Target Seed File into IPM
Deleting Targets
Working with Operations
Viewing a List of Defined Operations
Viewing Operation Properties
Adding a New Operation
Setting Thresholds and Generating Alerts
Deleting Operations
Working with Collectors
Viewing a List of Defined Collectors
Viewing Collector Properties
Adding a New Collector
Adding Collectors Using a Seed File
Collector Seed File Format
Creating a Collector Seed File
Loading Collectors from a Collector Seed File into IPM
Deleting Collectors
Setting IPM Database Preferences
Displaying the Current Database Preferences
Changing the Database Preferences
Database Preferences File Format
Backing Up or Restoring the IPM Database
Modifying IPM Components
This chapter provides information on modifying IPM components. IPM components include collectors, source routers, target devices, and operations. Information is provided on viewing, updating, and deleting these components.
This chapter contains the following major sections:
•
Working with Source Routers
•Working with Target Devices
•Working with Operations
•Working with Collectors
•Setting IPM Database Preferences
•Backing Up or Restoring the IPM Database
Working with Source Routers
IPM source routers are the routers from which you want to initiate operations for measuring network performance statistics. Each source router must contain the Cisco IOS SAA feature and an SNMP agent.
Information on working with source routers is provided in the following subsections:
•Viewing a List of Configured Source Routers
•Viewing Source Router Properties
•Adding a New Source Router
•Adding Source Routers Using a Seed File
•Deleting Source Routers
Viewing a List of Configured Source Routers
To view a list of configured source routers:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select Edit > Configuration. The Configuration Window (Figure 4-1) is displayed.
Figure 4-1 Configuration Window
Step 2 Click Sources. The Source Configuration window (Figure 4-2) is displayed which contains a list of configured source routers.
Figure 4-2 Source Configuration Window
Note An SNA device can be only a target, not a source.
The Source Configuration window displays source routers that you have already configured. From this window, you can add a new source router, change the configuration of an existing source, or delete an existing source.
Viewing Source Router Properties
The Source Properties window allows you to view the properties of a defined source router.
To view source router properties:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select a collector that uses the source router.
Step 2 Select View > Properties. The Properties Viewer window (Figure 4-3) is displayed. By default, the Collector Properties window is displayed within the Properties Viewer window.
Figure 4-3 Properties Viewer Window
Step 3 Click Source. The Source Properties window (Figure 4-4) is displayed.
Figure 4-4 Source Properties Window
For information on these fields, refer to the "Source Properties Window" topic in the online help.
Adding a New Source Router
Before you can use a router as a source for a collector, you must define the router as an IPM source router.
To add a new source router:
Step 1 (Optional) Verify that the SNMP read community and write community strings are configured properly on the router. Also, if you want to receive traps at your network management system (NMS), verify that the router is configured to send SAA-generated traps to your NMS.
For information on configuring SNMP on the source router, see the "Configuring Your Routers to Send SAA-Related Traps" section in the "Preparing to Install" chapter of the Cisco Internetwork Performance Monitor Installation Guide.
Step 2 From the IPM Main window, select Edit > Configuration. The Configuration window (Figure 4-1) is displayed. By default, the Source Configuration window is displayed within the Configuration window.
Step 3 In the Hostname or IP Address field, enter the IP address or host name of the router on which the source resides. This host name can be from 1 to 64 characters in length.
Step 4 In the Read Community field, enter the SNMP community name for read access to the information maintained by the SNMP agent on the source router. This value can be from 1 to 32 characters in length. The default value is public.
Step 5 In the Write Community field, enter the SNMP community name for write access to the information maintained by the SNMP agent on the source router. This value can be from 1 to 32 characters in length.
Step 6 In the Name field, enter a name to assign to the source router.
Step 7 (Optional) In the Description field, enter a brief description of the source router.
Step 8 Click Add. IPM attempts to locate the router and determine whether or not it is SNMP enabled with the correct community string. If the router is successfully located, IPM adds it to the IPM database. If IPM cannot reach the router, IPM displays an error message.
Note If the hostname cannot be resolved by standard address resolution techniques, then IPM displays the IP address for the source router instead of a host name.
Step 9 Click OK to close the Configuration window and return to the IPM Main window.
For information on using a seed file to add source routers to IPM, see the "Adding Source Routers Using a Seed File" section. For information on modifying or deleting source routers, see the "Working with Source Routers" section.
Adding Source Routers Using a Seed File
In addition to defining source routers from the Source Configuration window, you can also define source routers by creating a source router seed file. A source router seed file is a text file that contains the information required to define a source router or group of source routers.
The following sections provide information on creating a source router seed file:
•Source Router Seed File Format
•Creating a Source Router Seed File
•Loading Source Routers from a Source Router Seed File into IPM
Source Router Seed File Format
The source router seed file contains a comments section at the top for any information that you want to note about the file, followed by each source router definition contained on a separate line. For each source router, you must provide a command, host name, read community string, and write community string. Each of the components must be separated by a delimiter. The delimiter can be a space or any of the following characters:
•; (semi colon)
•, (comma)
•\t (tab)
Note Use the same delimiter to separate all the components for a source router definition. If any component of the source router seed file contains a space in the name, then you must use either a comma or a semi colon as the delimiter between all the components for that source router.
A sample source router seed file is shown below:
###############################################################################
# This file has example definitions for source routers.
# Comments starts with the "#" character
# The format of the file is as follows:
# <command><delim><hostname[|aliasname]><delim><read community><delim><write community>
# <delim> characters are " ;,\t" "space,semicolon,comma,tab"
# <hostname[|aliasname]> : Hostname followed by optional aliasName
# separated with a `|' ("vertical bar")
# The valid commands are 'a|A' for add; 'd|D' for delete; 'u|U' for update;
# WARNING: Please assure the permissions on these files
# do not allow read access to all users due to
# the inclusions of SNMP community names.
###############################################################################
#a router1 public private
#a router3.foobar.com open secret
Table 4-1 provides information about each of the components required for defining source routers in a source router seed file.
Table 4-1 Source Router Seed File Components
Component
|
Description
|
Command
|
Defines whether the source router is added to the IPM database, removed from the IPM database, or an existing source router entry in the IPM database is updated from the source router seed file. The following values are possible:
A or a—Adds the source router to the IPM database.
D or d—Removes the source router from the IPM database.
U or u—Updates an existing source router entry in the IPM database from the information provided in the source router seed file.
|
Host Name
|
IP address or host name of the router on which the source resides. The host name can be from 1 to 64 characters in length. You can also include an optional alias name for the router by adding a vertical bar (|) and the alias name after the host name.
|
Read Community
|
SNMP community name for read access to the information maintained by the SNMP agent on the source router. This value can be from 1 to 32 characters in length. This value is usually set to public.
|
Write Community
|
SNMP community name for write access to the information maintained by the SNMP agent on the source router. This value can be from 1 to 32 characters in length. This value is usually set to private.
|
Creating a Source Router Seed File
To create a source router seed file:
Step 1 Using any text editor, create a source router seed file following the format described in the Table 4-2"Source Router Seed File Format" section.
Step 2 Save the source router seed file as a text file in the /opt/CSCOipm/etc/source directory. A sample source router seed file named srcfile is provided.
Loading Source Routers from a Source Router Seed File into IPM
To load source routers from a source router seed file into IPM:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select File > Open Seed File. The Seed File window (Figure 4-5) is displayed.
Figure 4-5 Seed File Window
Step 2 In the Seed File Type field, select Source as the type of seed file to load.
Step 3 In the Seed File Name field, type the name of the source router seed file.
Step 4 Click OK. The source routers that you defined in the source router seed file are added to the IPM database. When you access the Source Configuration window, the changes that you made to the source routers in the seed file are displayed.
Tips If you do not remember the name of the source router seed file that you want to load, you can view a list of available source router seed files from the Seed File window. Select Source as the Seed File Type and click View.
For information on listing, viewing, editing, or loading seed files from the command line, see the "IPM Command Reference" appendix.
Deleting Source Routers
You can delete source routers that you no longer need. You can delete more than one source router at a time.
Note If a source router has been configured as part of one or more collectors, then you must delete the collectors before you can delete the source router.
To delete a source:
Step 1 From the Source Configuration window (Figure 4-2), select the source router or source routers that you want to delete.
Step 2 Click Delete.
Step 3 When the confirmation box appears, click Yes. The selected source routers are deleted from the IPM database.
Working with Target Devices
IPM targets are destination devices for which you want to gather network performance statistics. A target can be any IP-addressable device, a Cisco router running the SAA responder, or an SNA host.
Note The SAA responder is only supported in Cisco IOS software release 12.0(5)T or later.
Information on working with target devices is provided in the following subsections:
•Viewing a List of Defined Targets
•Viewing Target Properties
•Adding a New Target
•Adding Targets Using a Seed File
•Deleting Targets
Viewing a List of Defined Targets
After you have defined a device as an IPM target, it appears in the list of defined targets in the Target Configuration window.
To view a list of defined targets:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select Edit > Configuration. The Configuration Window (Figure 4-1) is displayed.
Step 2 Click Targets. The Target Configuration window (Figure 4-6) is displayed which contains a list of configured target devices.
Figure 4-6 Target Configuration Window
The Target Configuration window displays a list of all devices defined as IPM targets. From this window, you can define a new target, modify an existing target, or delete a target.
Viewing Target Properties
The Target Properties window allows you to view the properties of a defined target.
To view target properties:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select a collector that uses the source router.
Step 2 Select View > Properties. The Properties Viewer window (Figure 4-3) is displayed. By default, the Collector Properties window is displayed within the Properties Viewer window.
Step 3 Click Target. The Target Properties window (Figure 4-7) is displayed.
Figure 4-7 Target Properties Window
For information on these fields, refer to the "Target Properties Window" topic in the online help.
Adding a New Target
IPM targets are destination devices for which you want to gather data. A target can be any IP-addressable device, a Cisco SAA responder, or an SNA host.
To add a new target:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select Edit > Configuration. The Configuration window (Figure 4-1) is displayed. By default, the Source Configuration window is displayed within the Configuration window.
Step 2 Click Targets. The Target Configuration window (Figure 4-6) is displayed.
Step 3 In the Target Type field, select the protocol type to be used with this target. The possible values are:
•IP—IP/ICMP Echo. Any IP-addressable device. Requires a destination IP address or host name.
•Cisco SAA Responder—Component embedded in a target Cisco router that is running a version of the Cisco IOS software that supports the SAA feature. Its function is to respond to SAA request packets from a source router running the SAA software. The SAA responder must be enabled at the router using the rtr responder configuration command.
•SNA—SNA LU Type 0 or Type 2 connection to Cisco's NSPECHO host application, or SNA SCCP-LU Native Echo. Requires the PU name defined for the SNA PU connection to VTAM.
NSPECHO must be installed on the VTAM mainframe to used as the target. The NSPECHO application is provided on the IPM product CD. For information on installing NSPECHO, see the "Installing NSPECHO to Measure SNA Response Times" chapter in the Cisco Internetwork Performance Monitor Installation Guide.
Step 4 If the target type is IP, enter the host name or IP address of the target device in the Host Name or IP Address field.
Step 5 If the target type is Cisco SAA Responder, enter the host name or IP address of the target device in the Host Name or IP Address field. In the Read Community field, enter the SNMP community name for read access to the information maintained by the SNMP agent on the target device. The default value is public.
Step 6 If the target type is SNA, enter the SNA host name of the target device in the PU Name field.
Step 7 In the Name field, enter a name to assign to the target. By default, this field matches the Hostname, IP Address, or PU Name field, but you can modify the name.
Step 8 (Optional) In the Description field, enter a brief description of the target.
Step 9 Click Add. IPM adds the newly defined target to the IPM database.
Note If you specify an IP address instead of a hostname and that IP address cannot be resolved by standard address resolution techniques, then IPM assumes that the IP address is valid and does not resolve to a host name.
Step 10 Click OK to close the Configuration window and return to the IPM Main window.
For information on using a seed file to add targets to IPM, see the "Adding Targets Using a Seed File" section. For information on modifying or deleting targets, see the "Working with Target Devices" section.
Adding Targets Using a Seed File
In addition to defining targets from the Target Configuration window, you can also define targets by creating a target seed file. A target seed file is a text file that contains the information required to define a target or group of targets.
The following sections provide information on creating a target seed file:
•Target Seed File Format
•Creating a Target Seed File
•Loading Targets from a Target Seed File into IPM
Target Seed File Format
The target seed file contains a comments section at the top for any information that you want to note about the file, followed by each source router definition contained on a separate line. For each target, you must provide a command, target type, host name, and for IP or Cisco SAA Responder targets, a read community string. Each of the components must be separated by a delimiter. The delimiter can be a space or any of the following characters:
•; (semi colon)
•, (comma)
•\t (tab)
Note Use the same delimiter to separate all the components for a target definition. If any component of the target seed file contains a space in the name, then you must use either a comma or a semi colon as the delimiter between all the components for that target.
A sample target seed file is shown below:
###############################################################################
# This file has example definitions for target devices
# Comments starts with the "#" character
# The format of the file is as follows:
# <command><delim><target type><delim><hostname [<aliasname.]><delim><read community>
# <delim> characters are " ;,\t" "space,semicolon,comma,tab"
# <hostname[|aliasname]> : Hostname followed by optional aliasName
# separated with a `|' ("vertical bar")
# The valid commands are 'a|A' for add; 'd|D' for delete; 'u|U' for update;
# The <target type> is 1 for IP; 2 for CISCO_SAA_RESPONDER; 3 for SNA
# For CISCO_SAA_RESPONDER target type, read community string is required.
# and the IOS RTR(SAA) responder must be enabled
# WARNING: Please assure the permissions on these files
# do not allow read access to all users due to
# the inclusions of SNMP community names.
###############################################################################
#a 2 ios_router.foobar.com public
#a 3 sna_target.foobar.com
Table 4-2 provides information about each of the components required for defining targets in a target seed file.
Table 4-2 Target Seed File Components
Component
|
Description
|
Command
|
Defines whether the target is added to the IPM database, removed from the IPM database, or an existing target entry in the IPM database is updated from the target seed file. The following values are possible:
A or a—Adds the target to the IPM database.
D or d—Removes the target from the IPM database.
U or u—Updates an existing target entry in the IPM database from the information provided in the target seed file.
|
Target Type
|
The protocol type to be used with this target. Specify one of the following values:
1—IP. Requires an IP address or host name.
2—Cisco SAA Responder. Requires an IP address or host name and read community string.
3—SNA LU0, SNA LU2, or SNA SSCP-LU. Requires a hostname.
|
Host Name
|
IP address or host name of the target device. The host name can be from 1 to 64 characters in length. You can also include an optional alias name for the router by adding a vertical bar (|) and the alias name after the host name.
|
Read Community
|
For Cisco SAA Responder, include the SNMP community name for read access to the information maintained by the SNMP agent on the router. This value can be from 1 to 32 characters in length. This value is usually set to public.
|
Creating a Target Seed File
To create a target seed file:
Step 1 Using any text editor, create a target seed file following the format described in the Table 4-2"Target Seed File Format" section.
Step 2 Save the target seed file as a text file in the /opt/CSCOipm/etc/target directory. A sample target seed file named trgtfile is provided.
Loading Targets from a Target Seed File into IPM
To load targets from a target seed file into IPM:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select File > Open Seed File. The Seed File window (Figure 4-5) is displayed.
Step 2 In the Seed File Type field, select Target as the type of seed file to load.
Step 3 In the Seed File Name field, type the name of the target seed file.
Step 4 Click OK. The targets that you defined in the target seed file are added to the IPM database. When you access the Target Configuration window, the changes that you made to the targets in the seed file are displayed.
Tips If you do not remember the name of the target seed file that you want to load, you can view a list of available target seed files from the Seed File window. Select Target as the Seed File Type and click View.
For information on listing, viewing, editing, or loading seed files from the command line, see the "IPM Command Reference" appendix.
Deleting Targets
You can delete targets that you no longer need. You can delete more than one target at a time.
Note Once you have associated a target with a collector, you cannot delete the target without first deleting the collector with which it is associated.
To delete a target:
Step 1 From the Target Configuration window (Figure 4-6), select the target or targets that you want to delete.
Step 2 Click Delete.
Step 3 When the confirmation box appears, click Yes. The selected targets are deleted from the IPM database.
Working with Operations
An IPM operation is an alias for a set of parameters used in measuring performance. Information on working with operations is provided in the following subsections:
•Viewing a List of Defined Operations
•Viewing Operation Properties
•Adding a New Operation
•Setting Thresholds and Generating Alerts
•Deleting Operations
Viewing a List of Defined Operations
To view a list of defined operations:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select Edit > Configuration. The Configuration Window (Figure 4-1) is displayed.
Step 2 Click Operations. The list of operations expands to show the types of operations that have been defined.
Step 3 Click an operation type. The Operation Configuration window (Figure 4-8) shows the default configuration for the selected operation type and the list of operations expands to show all defined operation of that type.
Figure 4-8 Operation Configuration Window
The Operation Configuration window displays a list of all defined operations. From this window, you can define a new operation, modify an existing operation, or delete an existing operation.
Note When you install IPM, a group of predefined operations are provided. The predefined operations cannot be modified. However, you can use them as examples for creating your own operations. For a listing and brief description of these operations, refer to the "Defining a Collector" section.
Viewing Operation Properties
The Operation Properties window allows you to view the properties of a defined operation.
To view operation properties:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select a collector that uses the operation.
Step 2 Select View > Properties. The Properties Viewer window (Figure 4-3) is displayed. By default, the Collector Properties window is displayed within the Properties Viewer window.
Step 3 Click Operation. The Operation Properties window (Figure 4-9) is displayed.
Figure 4-9 Operation Properties Window
For information on these fields, refer to the "Operation Properties Window" topic in the online help.
Adding a New Operation
An IPM operation is an alias for a set of parameters used for measuring performance between source router and a target device.
To define an operation:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select Edit > Configuration. The Configuration window (Figure 4-1) is displayed.
Step 2 Click Operations. The list of operations expands to show the types of operations that have been defined.
Step 3 Click an operation type. The Operation Configuration window (Figure 4-8) shows the default configuration for the selected operation type and the list of operations expands to show all defined operation of that type.
Step 4 Set the options for the operation that you want to define. Detailed information on defining operations to measure performance for DHCP, DLSw, DNS, IP, SNA, TCP, UDP, and Voice over IP is provided in the "Using IPM to Measure Network Performance" chapter.
Step 5 Click OK to complete the definition of a monitoring operation. IPM redisplays the Operation window and the new operation is added to the list of defined operations.
Setting Thresholds and Generating Alerts
From the Operation Configuration window, you can configure thresholds and event notifications on the source router.
To set thresholds and generate alerts using an operation:
Step 1 Select an existing operation or define a new operation by following the steps in the "Adding a New Operation" section.
Step 2 In the Generate Action Event field, select one of the algorithms to be used by IPM to calculate threshold violations. The following values are possible:
•Never—Do not calculate threshold violations. This is the default.
•Immediate—When the latency exceeds the threshold, immediately perform the action defined by Action Event Type.
•Consecutive—When the latency exceeds the threshold consecutively X times, perform the action defined by the Action Event Type. Optionally, you can specify the number of consecutive occurrences. The default is 5.
•X of Y—When the latency exceeds the threshold X out of the last Y times, perform the action defined by the Action Event Type. Optionally, you can specify the number of violations that must occur within a specified number. Valid values for both the x-value (X) and y-value (Y) are 1 through 16. The default is 5 for both values.
•Average—When the average of the last X latency exceeds the threshold, perform the action defined by the Action Event Type. Optionally, you can specify the number of operations to average. The default is the average of the last five latency operations. For example, if the collector's threshold is 5000 ms and the collector's last 3 attempts results are 6000, 6000, and 5000 ms, the average would be 6000 + 6000 + 5000 = 17000/3 > 5000, which violates the 5000-ms threshold.
Step 3 In the Rising field, enter a rising threshold, in milliseconds. Valid values are between 1 and 99999 ms. The default is 5000 ms. When the latency exceeds the rising threshold, the collector uses the algorithm specified in Generate Action Event to determine if a threshold violation has occurred. If a violation occurs, the action defined in Action Event Type is taken.
Step 4 In the Falling field, enter a falling threshold, in milliseconds. Valid values are between 0 and 99999 ms. The default value is 3000 ms. When the latency falls below the falling threshold, the threshold is reset. Only one event will be generated for the time the latency is above the rising threshold.
Step 5 If you specified a Generate Action Event of Consecutive, X of Y, or Average, enter a value in the X field to be used in calculating the threshold. Valid values are 1 to 16. The default is 5.
Step 6 If you specified a Generate Action Event of X of Y, enter a value in the Y field for the Y value to be used in calculating the threshold. Valid values are 1 to 16. The default is 5.
Step 7 In the Timeout Value field, enter the amount of time, in milliseconds, for the collector to wait for a response to its echo operation. When a timeout occurs, the Timeout counter is incremented. The timeout value must be less than the specified sample interval. Valid values are between 0 and 604800 ms. The default value is 4000 ms.
Step 8 Enable the Timeout option to check for latency reporting operation timeouts based on the timeout value configured for the collector. If you enable the Timeout option, the action (specified in Action Event Type) is taken when a timeout occurs or is cleared on this collector.
Step 9 Enable the Connection Lost option to check for connection loss in connection-oriented protocols (LU0, LU2, and SSCP). If you enable the Connection Lost option, the action specified in Action Event Type is taken when a loss of connection or a reconnection after a loss occurs on this collector.
Step 10 In the Action Event Type field, select the action or combination of actions for the collector to perform when the Timeout option is enabled, the Connection Lost option is enabled, or when a threshold is violated. For the action type to occur for threshold events, the threshold type must be defined to any value other than Never. The possible actions are:
•Trap—Send an SNMP trap. Send a trap when a rising threshold is violated, a timeout occurs, or a connection loss occurs. Send a second trap when the falling threshold clears, reconnection occurs, or is no longer timing out.
•Alert—Send an SNA network management vector transport (NMVT) Alert on a rising threshold violation, and an SNA NMVT Resolution on a falling threshold violation.
•Trap & Alert—Send both a trap and an NMVT.
•None—No action is taken.
Traps and Alerts are sent from the source router to any network management stations that have been defined in the source router to receive SAA traps or alerts.
Step 11 Click OK to complete the operation definition. IPM adds the new or updated operation to the IPM database.
Deleting Operations
You can delete operations that you no longer need.You can delete more than one operation at a time.
Note You cannot delete the default operations provided with IPM.
To delete an operation:
Step 1 From the Configuration window (Figure 4-1), select the operation or operations that you want to delete.
Step 2 Click Delete.
Step 3 When the confirmation box appears, click Yes. The selected operations are deleted from the IPM database.
Working with Collectors
A collector is a definition of the source router, the target device, an operation, and the collector schedule. To collect network performance statistics using IPM, you must define a collector.
Information on working with collectors is provided in the following subsections:
•Viewing a List of Defined Collectors
•Viewing Collector Properties
•Adding a New Collector
•Adding Collectors Using a Seed File
•Deleting Collectors
Viewing a List of Defined Collectors
All of the collectors that you have defined are listed in the IPM Main window (Figure 4-10). Any collectors that have start dates and times earlier than the current date and time and end dates and times later than the current date and time are considered active collectors.
Figure 4-10 IPM Main Window
The following status information is displayed about each collector in the IPM Main window:
•Collector
•Source
•Target
•Operation
•Start Time
•Duration
•Type
•Status
Tips You can sort the collector information displayed in the IPM Main window by clicking on the column titles. By default, the information is sorted based on collector name. However, you might find it useful to sort the information based on start time, target, or operation type.
Viewing Collector Properties
To view detailed information about a defined collectors:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select a collector.
Step 2 Select View > Properties. The Properties Viewer window (Figure 4-3) is displayed. By default, the Collector Properties window is displayed within the Properties Viewer window.
Note To display the Collector Properties window, if it is not displayed by default, click Collector.
For information on these fields, refer to the "Collector Properties Window" topic in the online help.
Adding a New Collector
Defining a new collector involves selecting a source router, a target, an operation, and a collector schedule.
Note After a collector starts running, you cannot change its attributes.
To define a new collector:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select Edit > Configuration. The Configuration window (Figure 4-1) is displayed. By default, the Source Configuration window is displayed within the Configuration window.
Step 2 Click Collectors. The Collector Configuration window is displayed within the Configuration window.
Figure 4-11 Collector Configuration Window
Step 3 In the Name field, type a name to assign to the collector
Step 4 (Optional) In the Description field, enter a brief description of the collector.
Step 5 In the Collector Type field, enable the Collect Statistics option to gather data and store it in the IPM database for future analysis. If this option is not enabled, you can view data in real-time only. Network performance data is not stored in the IPM database. By default the Collector type is set to collect statistics.
Step 6 Do one of the following:
•To configure the collector without a specific start time or duration so that you can start the collector at a later time, click On Demand.
•To define a specific start time and end time, click Set Date and enter data in the relevant fields to specify when the collector starts and how long the collector runs. Click OK.
For additional information on setting the start time and end time, see the "Set Date Range Window" topic in the online help.
Step 7 From the Sources list, select the router to designate as the source router for collecting data. If you already know the name of the router, start typing the name in the Search field and the cursor moves to the matching router in the Sources list.
Step 8 From the Targets list, select one or more devices to designate as targets. If you already know the name of the target, start typing the name in the Search field and the cursor moves to the matching target in the Targets list.
Note For DNS and DHCP, a target is not required.
Step 9 From the Operations list, select the operation to use for this collector. If you already know the name of the operation, start typing the name in the Search field and the cursor moves to the matching operation in the Operations list.
For a brief description of the predefined operations provided with IPM, see Table 2-1.
Step 10 Click OK. IPM adds the newly defined collector to the IPM database.
Adding Collectors Using a Seed File
In addition to defining collectors from the Collector Configuration window, you can also define collectors by creating a collector seed file. A collector seed file is a text file that contains the information required to define a collector or group of collectors.
The following sections provide information on creating a collector seed file:
•Collector Seed File Format
•Creating a Collector Seed File
•Loading Collectors from a Collector Seed File into IPM
Collector Seed File Format
The collector seed file contains a comments section at the top for any information that you want to note about the file, followed by each collector definition contained on a separate line. For each collector, you must provide a command, collector name, source router, target device, operation name, start time, duration, and collector type. Each of the components must be separated by a delimiter. The delimiter can be a space or any of the following characters:
•; (semi colon)
•, (comma)
•\t (tab)
Note Use the same delimiter to separate all the components for a collector definition. If any component of the collector seed file contains a space in the name, then you must use either a comma or a semi colon as the delimiter between all the components for that collector.
A sample collector seed file is shown below:
###############################################################################
# This file has example definitions for collectors
# Comments starts with the "#" character
# The format of the file is as follows:
# <command><delim><collName><delim><source><delim><target><delim>
# <operation><delim><startTime><delim><duration><delim><collType>
# <delim> characters are " ;,\t" "space,semicolon,comma,tab"
# The valid commands are 'a|A' for add, 'd|D' for delete, 'u|U' for update;
# <collType> is M for Monitored, S for Statistical
# <startTime> is in the format MM:DD:YYYY:hh:mm:ss
# <startTime> = 1 -> start time will be now
# <duration> is in number of hours
# <duration> = 0 -> Forever
# <startTime> = zero and <duration> = zero -> ON_DEMAND collector
###############################################################################
#a coll1 router1.cisco.com target1 DefaultIpEcho 1 12 M
#a coll2 router1.cisco.com target2 DefaultUDPEcho 1 0 S
#a coll3 router1.cisco.com target3 DefaultJitter 1 24 M
#a coll4 router1.cisco.com target4 DefaultDLSw 0 36 S
#a coll5 router2.cisco.com target1 DefaultSnaLu0Echo 1 6 M
#a coll6 router2.cisco.com target2 DefaultSnaLu2Echo 1 12 M
#a coll7 router2.cisco.com target3 DefaultSnaRuEcho 1 24 S
#a coll8 router2.cisco.com target2 DefaultIpPathEcho 10:20:1999:01:00:00 36 M
Table 4-3 provides information about each of the components required for defining collectors in a collector seed file.
Table 4-3 Collector Seed File Components
Component
|
Description
|
Command
|
Defines whether the collector is added to the IPM database, removed from the IPM database, or an existing collector entry in the IPM database is updated from the collector seed file. The following values are possible:
A or a—Adds the collector to the IPM database.
D or d—Removes the collector from the IPM database.
U or u—Updates an existing collector entry in the IPM database from the information provided in the collector seed file.
|
Collector Name
|
Name of the collector.
|
Source
|
Name of the defined source router to use for this collector. The source router must already be defined in IPM or in a source router seed file.
|
Target
|
Name of the defined target device to use for this collector. The target device must already be defined in IPM or in a target seed file.
|
Operation
|
Name of the defined operation to use for this collector. The operation must already be defined in IPM.
|
Start Time
|
Date and time at which the collector will start collecting data. The following values are possible:
1—Starts the collector immediately after it is configured.
Date & Time—Starts the collector at the date and time that you specify. The Start Time must be specified in the format MM:DD:YYYY:hh:mm:ss.
If the Start Time and Duration both have values of 0, then the collector is treated as a collector defined to run on demand.
|
Duration
|
Length of time, in hours, that the collector is configured to run. The following values are possible:
0—Starts the collector to run continuously until you stop it by selecting Edit > Stop from the IPM Main menu.
1-N—Stops the collector after the specified number of hours have elapsed.
If the Start Time and Duration both have values of 0, then the collector is treated as a collector defined to run on demand.
|
Collector Type
|
Defines whether or not the collector stores statistics in the IPM database. The following values are possible:
S—Statistical. The collector gathers network performance statistics on an hourly basis and stores the collected data in the IPM database.
M—Monitored. The collector monitors network performance in real time without storing statistics in the IPM database.
|
Creating a Collector Seed File
To create a collector seed file:
Step 1 Using any text editor, create a collector seed file following the format described in the Table 4-2"Collector Seed File Format" section.
Step 2 Save the collector seed file as a text in the /opt/CSCOipm/etc/collector directory. A sample collector seed file named collfile is provided.
Loading Collectors from a Collector Seed File into IPM
To load collectors from a collector seed file into IPM:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window, select File > Open Seed File. The Seed File window (Figure 4-5) is displayed.
Step 2 In the Seed File Type field, select Collector as the type of seed file to load.
Step 3 In the Seed File Name field, type the name of the collector seed file.
Step 4 Click OK. The collectors that you defined in the collector seed file are added to the IPM database and displayed in the IPM Main window.
Tips If you do not remember the name of the collector seed file that you want to load, you can view a list of available collector seed files from the Seed File window. Select Collector as the Seed File Type and click View.
For information on listing, viewing, editing, or loading seed files from the command line, see the "IPM Command Reference" appendix.
Deleting Collectors
You can delete collectors that you no longer need. When you delete a collector, all data related to that collector is removed from the database and the collector is removed from the source router. If the selected collector is active, IPM first stops the collector, and then deletes it. You can delete more than one collector at a time.
Note Delete a collector also removes the SAA entry from the router.
To delete an IPM collector:
Step 1 From the IPM Main window (Figure 4-10), select the collector or collectors to delete.
Step 2 Select Edit > Delete.
Step 3 When the confirmation box appears, click Yes. The selected collectors are deleted from the IPM Main window.
Setting IPM Database Preferences
For collectors that are using a statistical operation, IPM gathers network performance and error statistics from the source router once every hour and stores the data in the IPM database. The collected hourly data is used to calculate daily, weekly, and monthly data. By default, IPM stores the collected data for the following periods of time:
•Hourly data for up to 32 days
•Daily data for up to 180 days
•Weekly data forever
•Monthly data forever
IPM provides a database preferences file that allows you to define the business hours and days. Defined business hours are used in determining the daily, weekly, and monthly averages while business days are used in determining the weekly and monthly averages. The database preferences file also allows you to set the length of time that daily data is retained in the database.
Information about viewing and changing the database preferences is provided in the following sections:
•Displaying the Current Database Preferences
•Changing the Database Preferences
•Database Preferences File Format
Displaying the Current Database Preferences
To display the values currently set in the database preferences file, enter the following commands:
Changing the Database Preferences
To change the IPM database preferences:
Note You might want to make a back up copy of the database preferences file (ipmDbPref.conf) before modifying it.
Step 1 Edit the IPM database preferences file (/opt/CSCOipm/etc/ipmDbPref.conf) using a text editor.
Step 2 To change the number of days that daily network performance statistics are stored, modify the following line:
Step 3 To set the business hours to be used in calculating averages, you must turn on or off the appropriate hour interval. The day is divided into one-hour increments that start at 0:00 a.m. (ipm_business_hour_0) and end at 11:59 p.m. (ipm_business_hour_23=0). For the hours that you want included in averages, set the hour interval value to 1.
For example, to store collected statistics over a business day that runs from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., you would use the following setting:
Step 4 To set the business days used for calculating weekly and monthly averages, you must turn on or off the appropriate day. Each day of the week is represented by a number as follows:
•Sunday is ipm_business_day_0
•Monday is ipm_business_day_1
•Tuesday is ipm_business_day_2
•Wednesday is ipm_business_day_3
•Thursday is ipm_business_day_4
•Friday is ipm_business_day_5
•Saturday is ipm_business_day_6
For the days that you want set as business days, set the day to a value of 1. Days with a value of 0 are not counted as business days.
For example, to set the business days to Monday through Friday, you would use the following setting (the default setting):
Step 5 Save your changes to the IPM database preferences file.
Step 6 Run the database utility program to load your preferences using the following commands:
Database Preferences File Format
The contents of the default IPM database preferences file (ipmDbPref.conf) are shown in the following example. This file is stored in the /opt/CSCOipm/etc directory.
# (C) Copyright 1998 Cisco Systems, Inc.
# IPM Database Preferences
# This file contains the IPM Database Preferences used for
# data aging and reduction.
# To change these values, update the values below and run the command:
# To display the values currently set in the database, run the command:
# NOTE: Changing these parameters has no effect on daily, weekly and
# monthly data that has already been calculated. Only new daily, weekly
# and monthly data will use these new settings.
# The hourly data within IPM is always kept for 32 days.
# The weekly and monthly data is always kept forever.
# The ipm_response_life setting determines the number of days that IPM stores
# daily latency data. You can change this to any number of days.
# The ipm_error_life setting determines the number of days that IPM stores
# daily error data. You can change this to any number of days.
# The ipm_business_hour_x settings describe which hours of the day IPM will use
# when generating daily, weekly and monthly reports. Each hour of the day,
# starting with 0 (midnight) and going through 23 (11 PM) may be included in
# the reports. However, you will probably want to restrict the hours included
# in the reports to normal business hours.
# The hours are defined as starting at 0 minutes past the hour, and going through
# 59 minutes and 59 seconds past the hour.
# Set the value of each ipm_business_hour_x parameter to either 0 or 1.
# A value of 1 indicates that IPM will use this hour of the day when generating
# daily, weekly and monthly reports. A value of 0 indicates that IPM will ignore
# this hour of the day when generating daily, weekly and monthly reports.
# For example, setting 'ipm_business_hour_9=1' will cause all data collected between
# 9:00AM and 9:59AM on business days to be included in reports.
# The ipm_business_day settings describe which days of the week IPM will use
# when generating weekly and monthly reports. Each day of the week is represented
# Set the value of each ipm_business_day_x parameter to either 0 or 1.
# A value of 1 indicates that IPM will use this day of the week when generating
# weekly and monthly reports. A value of 0 indicates that IPM will ignore this
# day of the week when generating weekly and monthly reports.
# For example, setting 'ipm_business_day_2=1' will cause all data collected on
# Tuesday during business hours to be included in reports.
Backing Up or Restoring the IPM Database
The IPM database is automatically backed up every morning at 1:00 a.m. If your database file is corrupted, you can restore the data in the IPM database from the previous day's backed-up data.
To restore the IPM database from a previous back up, enter the following commands:
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