Using the Dashboard
Network Views and Tools on the Dashboard
Devices and Associations
Network Layout
Network Layout Overlays
Report Panel
Device Discovery Tools
SNMP Settings
Alerts by Mail
Operations Center Version in About Box
Saving a Repository or Reverting to a Previously Saved Version
Quitting Operations Center
Network Views and Tools on the Dashboard
When Devicescape Wireless Operations Center dashboard starts up, it provides you with a view of the current state of the network:
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Panel
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Description
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1. Network Layout
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The Network Layout panel displays a floor plan (if one was imported in a previous session). If in previous sessions you positioned network devices on the layout (by dragging them from the Devices and Associations panel onto the layout), then network devices are also shown on the layout. The device icons on the layout represent the same devices as those on the Devices and Associations panel. In the Layout, the devices for one network group can be arranged to reflect to their physical locations in an office plan, map, or room layout. (See Network Layout.)
The Device Discovery Tools let you enable or disable a background crawler, search for only APs or any network devices, and start a manual search for a device in a specified domain or at a given IP address. This determines which devices show up on the Network Layout and Devices and Associations panels. (See Device Discovery Tools.)
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2. Devices and Associations
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The Devices and Associations panel shows discovered devices (such as access points and switches) that are currently online along with any devices found in previous sessions which now off-line or unreachable (shaded in red). If there are clients associated with an access point, icons for the clients are displayed under the AP to which they are associated. (See Devices and Associations.)
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3. Time Scanner
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The Time Scanner is set to " Now" by default, which means that the devices and states displayed reflect the current state of the network. (See Time Scanner.)
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The Network Layout Overlays show events related to all known devices or a subset of events based on filters you can set to focus in on events related to a particular device, occurring within a specified time period, or containing a given text string. (See Network Layout Overlays)
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The Report Panel provides a rich set of analytical tools and filters with which to monitor and analyze the network based on event logs and comparison graphs of various attributes of network devices at different points in time. The Report Panel includes filters for events, client count, frames transmitted radio throughput, rogue beacons, and so on. (See Report Panel.)
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The following sections describe some of the main panels, views, and tools on the UI in more detail and describe how you can use them to monitor, analyze, and manage a wireless network. We encourage you to explore the tool on your own and contact your sales or development representative any questions you have.
Administrative Users and Other Users
If you have signed on using the Administrator password for the Dashboard startup, you have editing capabilities. Otherwise you can see all the information, but cannot change it or issue commands to the devices.
For more information about starting the Dashboard with Administrator privileges see Starting the Dashboard from the Repository Administration Dialog.
For more information about starting the Dashboard with Client privileges see Starting the Dashboard on a Client.
Devices and Associations
The Devices and Associations panel shows network devices discovered by Devicescape Wireless Operations Center on this network. As devices are found, they are displayed on this panel.
If there are clients associated with an access point, icons for the clients are displayed on this panel under the AP with which they are associated.
Getting Information About a Displayed Device
Information about a device is available in tool tips and in Properties windows. To get an tool tip popup on a device, hover the cursor over its icon.
To get more information on a device, double click on the device (or select the device, right-mouse-click and choose Details from the popup menu).
Click one of the tabs in the resulting dialog to get more information on the selected device:
Summary
The Summary tab gives the properties of the device (identical to the information in the tool tip). The text in this window is selectable so that you can copy and paste it.
Each kind of device has different summary information.
Settings
The settings tab contains the following fields:
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Field
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Description
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Monitor Syslog Event History
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Some devices permit Operations Center to fetch recent event history from the device, rather than waiting for the device to send syslog messages or SNMP traps.
This option can be disabled if you have manually configured the device to send its SNMP traps or syslog massages to the repository server.
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HTTP Web Port for UI
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This is the network port number for the device's administrative Web UI.
If the device has been reconfigured to use a port different than port 80 for its Web UI the port number is entered here.
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Administration Password
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This field is enabled for you to enter/alter a password if you have administrative permissions.
Some devices password-protect all access to their managed data. If the device requires such a password it is entered here. Operations Center supplies a default password. If the administrative password of the device has been changed the same password is entered here.
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MIB
The MIB tab accesses the Management Information Base (MIB) tree for the device.
The MIB tree for a device provides a low-level view into the captured data on the device. It is used mainly to debug device plug-ins.
Channel Control
The Channel dialog shows current channel setting for the device. If the selected device is a multi-radio AP, the channel assignment for each radio is shown (one channel per physical radio).
An "Include in Channel Planning" (enable/disable) toggle is also provided here. This is enabled by default. If a device is included in channel planning (enable), that device can be reassigned to another channel by a channel plan. If a device is not included in channel planning (disable), the manually assigned channel you set here is essentially locked with respect to channel plans; the channel plan can see the device as part of its planning but cannot assign it to another channel for network optimization purposes.
For information about channel planning, see Channel Planning.
Only Administrators can re-assign a channel to an AP or enable/disable Channel Planning, therefore the controls on this dialog are active only when you are logged in as an Administrator. If you modify the settings in Administrative mode, you must click Apply in order for your new settings to take effect.
If you are logged into the Dashboard client (not an Administrator), this dialog is informational only ("Read Only").
Administration Web UI for a Device
The Operations Center Dashboard also provides a way of accessing configuration interfaces local to the device. You can right-mouse-click a device icon and choose Open Web UI... to view Management or Administration Web pages for the device (if available).
What Kinds of Devices Does Operations Center Recognize?
Operations Center can recognize and process attributes and events from these kinds of devices:
Devices based on the Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform
Devices based on the Devicescape Enterprise Managed AP Reference Design
Cisco Aironet Access Point based on Cisco VxWorks
Cisco Aironet Access Point based on Cisco IOSŪ
Proxim Access Points
Any Access Point equipped with the standard 802.11 MIB
Any Network Element equipped with the standard SNMP MIBv2 system MIBs
You can get popup information "tool tips" on the groups, access points, and their associated clients shown in this panel by hovering the cursor over an icon.
For the generic access point and network element devices, less detail is available than is provided for the Devicescape-based Access Points and other supported brands.
For example, wireless client associations will not be shown for generic access points (their wireless configuration will be shown and some simple throughput statistics will be shown.
Positioning Devices on the Layout Map
Once devices are discovered, you can drag them from the Device panel onto the Layout as a way of visualizing and managing them in relationship to their geographical location in the intended coverage area such as an office space, hotel, airport terminal or school. For more about how to set up a map of the coverage area and locate devices on it, see Network Layout.
Symbol Key for Device Display
Operations Center provides some visual indicators to show when a device is selected, when a previously discovered device is off-line or unreachable, and some special indicators related to devices shown in History views. This table describes these indicators.
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Icon
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Description and Notes
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Gray shading on a device indicates the device is currently selected on the UI.
If the device is represented on the Layout as well as in the Device panel, it is displayed in blue shading on both panels.
Keep in mind that the "Selected Device" History Filter is enabled, the Event History shows only events related to the currently selected device. (It will be the blue one).
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Red shading on a device indicates that a known device is currently unreachable (unresponsive, and possibly off-line).
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A red dot on a device indicates that a device that was reachable at a previous point in time is currently unreachable (unresponsive, and possibly off-line).
This symbol is only displayed when you are viewing the state of the network at some point in the past (by using the Time Scanner along with the History Filters "Time Scanning Range" setting).
For example, suppose that on Friday you discover that an AP is offline. To troubleshoot, you set the Time Scanner to Thursday, the previous day, at which point you know the AP was reachable. On the Thursday History view the AP will show as online (no red shading) but include a red dot to flag it as an AP whose current state is offline.
If you are viewing an AP at a past time that was unresponsive then and now, the past view will show the AP with red shading (was unreachable then) and a red dot (and is unreachable now).
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Each kind of device has its own icon, but the colored indicators for offline devices are the same for all.
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Tool Tips on Devices Panel
Tool tips are available on devices in both the Devices and Associations panel and the Layout panel.
For more information on tool tips and the relationship between icons shown in Devices panel and Layout panel, see Getting Tool Tips and Properties on Devices and Understanding Icons in the Layout Panel.
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Tip
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If you want to cut and paste some of the text you see in a device's tool tip, use Details from the right button menu and select the Summary tab.
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Grouping Devices and Extending Discovery to Subnets
You can group devices into named categories to make the Devices and Layout panels easier to manage. When you set up a group, you can enable discovery over the subnets in your network. Keep the following points in mind:
- Network Groups correspond to layout pages.
- Each group has attributes including a list of IP address (subnet) ranges. All those addresses will be explored when the system does discovery, and the devices found will be added to the Group.
Address ranges to not need to be specified. Also there are Groups that you add devices to by hand, or that contain only other Groups.
- Groups can contain other groups.
Decide which subnets you want to see on the same layout page. (Each Network Group also has its own Layout Panel. (See Viewing the Layout for a Group.)
For example, a building might be the top-level of the repository. Then you might have a group for each floor, with corresponding subnets. On a floor you might use a nested group to contain a server room or lab, while the floor's group contains the general subnets for the rest of the floor.
Creating a Group
To create a new group, select the Network node on the Device panel, right-mouse-click and choose New Group from the resulting popup menu.
Select the "New Group" icon on the Devices panel, right-mouse-click and choose Details from the resulting popup menu. This brings up the Properties dialog where you can name the group and provide information the types of devices you want directed to this group. APs or devices can be grouped by matching IP address or IP mask.
Provide a Name for the group.
Choose an Underlay Graphic. Typically, underlay graphics represent maps or floor plans on which you can position devices you are monitoring to show their physical location. Each Network Group can have its own underlay graphic or you can use the same underlay graphic in different groups. (If several floors of a building have the same plan, they can use the graphic.)
See Importing a Floor Plan for more information about underlay graphics.
Under IP Address Ranges, enter any subnetwork address ranges in the form AddressRange/MaskLength where AddressRange is an IP address and MaskLength is the number of mask bits. For example, if you enter a range of 192.168.1.0/24 this specifies a subnetwork with address 192.168.1.0 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.
The address range is used as a search range for discovery. Given the example above, the discovery crawling process will examine all the addresses from 192.168.1.1 through 192.168.1.254. (The first address in a subnetwork range is always reserved for the subnet address, and the last address in the range is always reserved for the broadcast address).
As another example, if you enter a range of 10.10.1.128/25 the discovery crawler will examine 10.10.1.129 through 10.10.1.254. In this example, 10.10.1.128 is the network address and 10.10.1.255 is the broadcast address. 126 addresses would be examined.
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Note
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You can also do a manual search for an address or range of addresses and/or set the Background Crawler to search for IP addresses and ranges, independent of Group properties. See Device Discovery Tools.
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How Groups are Used by Discovery
- The discovery crawler examines all addresses in all subnets in all the groups on a routine schedule.
- Any device that is discovered (by the Discovery crawler, or by manual discovery) is placed into the group whose address ranges contain its address (if any).
- Discovered devices that do not match the range of any particular group will be added to the top-level group.
- Once a device is discovered and placed in a group based on its address range, you always have the option of moving it to another group. Any manual reorganizing you do on existing devices is never over-ridden by the auto-group discovery settings.
Network Layout
The Layout of the network can be used to show the physical location of network devices within an area such as an office space or large room. The wireless clients associated with a particular access point are also represented on the layout panel, surrounding the network devices. To view the names of the wireless users right-mouse-click anywhere on the underlay and select Show User Names.
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Note
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The name of a wireless user will be known only if they are using a secure connection. The wireless client device name is always shown, whenever a client machine (like a laptop or pda) is associated to an access point. The wireless user names are shown when they can be identified from secure connections.
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The devices on the layout represent the same devices listed in the Devices and Associations panel; to get them onto the layout, drag and drop them from the Devices and Associations panel onto the layout.
Layout panels correspond to the Network Groups. (See Grouping Devices and Extending Discovery to Subnets and Viewing the Layout for a Group.)
Importing a Floor Plan
An image file (such as a .gif or .jpg) can be used as an underlay "map" in the layout to depict the intended coverage area of a wireless network. You will need to create or obtain images of floor or building layouts. (A sample floorplan.jpg is provided with the sample network in the demonstration system.)
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Tips
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- The system softens all the underlay graphics so the darkest colors appear as light gray, so that the graphic doesn't obscure the information in the layout.
- A simple scan of a floor plan handout from the office administrator is a good source of underlay graphics.
- A good size for a layout image is about 600x400 pixels. The system will automatically stretch the display of the image to fill the layout when a user expands the dashboard window, but will never shrink it below original size. If you use very large images, users may need to do a lot of scrolling to see devices on the layout.
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To import an underlay floor plan, select File > Import Floor Plan from the menus and select an image file in the file browser.
Layout panels correspond to Network Groups. Each group can have its own underlay map. (See Grouping Devices and Extending Discovery to Subnets and Viewing the Layout for a Group.)
Positioning Devices on the Layout
To add a device to the layout, select one from the Devices and Associations panel, drag it onto the layout, and drop it on the map or floor plan at the location where it resides.
Position devices on the layout by matching the AP descriptions that you are getting from Operations Center (tool tips) with what you know about the APs in your network. If a correct "Location" is configured on the AP, you can use this as a guide for getting the right device in the right location on your Devicescape Wireless Operations Center map. Also, if you know the brand or model of the AP or current IP addresses of APs relative to their physical locations in the office; this information will help you to locate APs on the map to represent their actual locations in the office.
In the sample:
- The top level group is called Brisbane
- There are seven access points arranged on the floor plan
- Also, there are three Network Groups within Brisbane:
- Labs
- Servers
- B&V
These Network Groups are positioned on the floor plan and correspond to rooms where test equipment is located.
Viewing the Layout for a Group
Each Network Group has its own Layout panel. To view the Layout panel for a group, double-click on a group in the Devices and Associations panel (or select it, right-mouse-click and choose Open). (For information on how to create Groups, see Grouping Devices and Extending Discovery to Subnets.)
When the layout is showing any group other than the top-level group, the context menu for the layout background includes the option Up to Containg Group, which switches the layout to view the group that contains this one.
The Layout panel corresponds to the Network Group. Dragging a device into a Group's Layout will move the device to that group (if it was not already a member of that group). Each group can have a different "underlay" or map.
Getting Tool Tips and Properties on Devices and Understanding Icons in the Layout Panel
You can get popup "tool tips" on devices on the layout or the Devices and Associations Panel by hovering the cursor over the icon for the device. For example, tool tips provide summary information on an access point such as location, IP address, MAC address and wireless interface, up time, throughput, utilization, and so on. The small client icons arranged around an access point in the layout, or listed below it in the Devices and Associations panel, correspond to wirless stations that are currently associated with the access point. The presence and position of those clients can change over time, reflecting on the activity of users and devices in the network.
You can also get the same information in a Details window on a device. The text in a Properties window is selectable so that you can copy and paste it into another file. To view information on a device in a Properties window, select the device (on either the Layout panel or the Devices panel) by double clicking on it or right-mouse-click and choose Details from the popup menu. For more information see Getting Information About a Displayed Device
Network Layout Overlays
Some of the information in the network layout overlays, such as user name labels on client devices like the Show User Names feature previously mentioned, are actually features of the specific layout overlay you have chosen.
The positioning of devices, the tool tips, and the editing mechanics for moving devices remain unchanged, but different overlays will highlight different aspects of the network, and have different commands added to the popup context menu of the layout background.
The Network Layout Overlays are:
Associations
The Associations network layout overlay is shown by default in the Devices panel. If it is not already displayed, select Associations from the drop down menu at the top of the Devices panel to display this view of the network.
Channel Planning
With Administrator privileges on the Dashboard, you can assign channels manually to each device (see Channel Control) and also use global channel planning to improve network efficiency.
Channel Planning maximizes WiFi bandwidth and helps maintain the efficiency of communication over your wireless network. The Channel Planning network layout overlay displays wireless neighborhood information, when appropriately configured EMAP 1.1 access points are deployed in the network.
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Note
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The "Include Channel Planning" option must be enabled for each device that you want to be able to control via the channel plan. This option is enabled by default. If an AP (radio) is included in channel planning, that AP can be reassigned to another channel by a channel plan.
If an AP is not included in channel planning, the currently assigned channel for that AP is locked with respect to channel plans; the channel plan can see the AP as part of its planning but cannot assign it to another channel. If there are other APs whose assigned channels overlap with one that is excluded, the channel plan will try to move those other AP radios to different channels to reduce the total overlap in the network.
For information on how to set this "Include Channel Planning" option for a device, see Channel Control
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If the Channel Planning network layout overlay is not already displayed, select Channel Planning from the drop down menu at the top of the Devices panel to display this view of the network. The Channel Planning view shows current channel assignments for all APs and identifies APs on the same channel by color coding (same color, same channel).
The lines show APs that can detect each other by radio. Green lines between APs indicate that there is no interference (overlap) between those APs. Red lines between APs indicate interference between the two. The arrows point from the AP that was detected to the radio that detected it.
Select an AP to see broadcast range and conflicts with rogues.
Allocate Channels (View or Activate a Channel Plan)
To view or a activate a channel plan, do the following:
- Make sure the Channel Planning overlay is selected then right-mouse click on the Network Layout panel to get the popup menu for the Channel Planning context.
- Select Allocate Channels from the popup menu.
This brings up a dialog showing the radio overlap based on current channel assignments for APs, and a plan for reducing that overlap via channel reassignment. For each AP, the channel plan shows its current channel assignment and the channel it will be on if you run the channel plan.
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Note
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Any Dashboard user can select Allocate Channels and view current channel assignments, but if a better plan is found, only a user with Administrator privileges can activate it.
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- Click Yes to activate the channel plan or click No to retain current channel settings on all devices shown.
More About How Channel Planning Works
When you run the Allocate Channels command, the system tries to find a better way to assign channel numbers to all the manageable radios in the network. If it finds a better channel allocation, it proposes it in a dialog. If the Administrator accepts the changes, the system runs a background job that makes the changes to the access points. The progress of that background job is added to History.
The algorithm attempts to find channel allocations that minimize the overlap from radios that are near each other. Each time two APs are within radio range, and are assigned the same or nearly the same channel, that creates overlap. So the goal is to assign channels so that neighboring APs have channel numbers that are as far apart as possible.
Channel Planning uses Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform wireless neighborhood data when available. That data tells the Operations Center which APs are within radio range of each other, and tells the Operations Center what other AP beacons (rogues) are in range. (The platform documentation covers wireless neighborhood functionality from an Administrator perspective in the Administrator Guide at http://www.devicescape.com/docs/wip/admin_guide/ClusterNeighbors.php.)
For APs that have no neighboring AP detection feature, Channel Planning uses the convention that two APs placed on the same layout (floor plan) are potentially near each other, so it treats them as radio neighbors.
Some APs on the network might not be manageable because the Operations Center has no means of changing their radio channels. The effect of these APs on other APs is included in the calculations, but their radios cannot be adjusted as part of the solution.
Rogue beacons are included in the calculations. They cannot be changed, but the managed AP radios may be changed to avoid overlap with known rogues.
As previously mentioned, you can tell the Operations Center not to change the channels of a specific AP by disabling the "Include Channel Planning" option on the AP. (Select the AP, choose Details..., and click the Channels tab.) For complete information on how to set this "Include Channel Planning" option for a device, see Channel Control
Firmware Manager and Firmware Update Tool
The Firmware Manager network layout overlay manages and deploys device software, such as firmware images for Devicescape WIP access points, and software packages for Devicescape UWP (Universal Wireless Platform) devices. It shows you which devices can be upgraded with new software packages (such as new firmware images) by the Operations Center tools. It provides menu commands with which you can update single devices, or an entire network.
The Firmware Update Tool gives more detailed control of device software. It allows you to select packages individually and install them on specific devices.
(Only access points based on the Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform currently support firmware management in Operations Center.)
Both these tools work in conjunction with the repository server's "depot" of firmware packages. The repository maintains a copy of each firmware package you import into it, and can install those packages on compatible devices by running "firmware update" jobs.
You initiate those firmware update jobs using either the Firmware Manager menu commands, or the more detailed controls offered by the Firmware Update Tool.
If the Firmware Manager network layout overlay is not already displayed, select Firmware Manager from the drop down menu at the top of the Devices panel to display this view of the network:
As you acquire firmware updates from device suppliers, add them to the Operations Center package depot. This is done through the Administration File menu command Import Package:
This command opens a File Chooser; simply use it to Open the firmware package file. The system will copy the file into the depot, analyze it, and record all its details in the package depot.
Use the Firmware Manager view in the Dashboard to see which devices have available updates, and to have those updates installed:
Devices which can be upgraded are tagged with a label stating whether they are Up-To-Date or have Updates Available. If you select a device, details of available updates are shown. To update a single device, select it (as shown above) and select the command Update Firmware Now, if there is an upgraded firmware package for the device in the depot. To update all devices with whatever updates you have in the depot, right-click on the background of the Firmware Manager view, and select Update All Devices from the context menu. This will launch a background job that works as if you had, one-by-one, selected each device and run Update Firmware Now. When updates are running, the Dashboard marks affected devices with a "star", and indicates the job in progress with a text line at the bottom of the layout:
To review the progress of your firmware update jobs, you can use the Batch Job History... tool:
This tool lists all the adminstrative jobs you have recently run. Selecting a job entry from the top list will show its entire transcript in the lower panel. The job list is color coded. Cyan indicates jobs presently in progress, red indicates jobs that reported errors, and green indicates jobs that completed successfully.
To manage the contents of the server's package depot, and the packages on devices, use the Firmware Update Tool. To select the Firmware Update Tool right-mouse-click on the underlay and select Firmware Update Tool. This option is also available from the menu bar at Tools > Firmware Update.
The following screen is displayed:
This tool allows you to review all the details of packages in the depot, and on all the upgradeable devices in your network. You can also launch specific updates to install selected packages on selected devices.
While the automatic update commands of the Firmware Manager always install the most recent versions of software, the Firmware Update Tool allows you to choose older versions and install them. The Firmware Update Tool includes a dedicated Batch Job viewer for the jobs it launches:
When you launch an update using the Firmware Update Tool, the transcript from that update will appear in the tool as the job progresses.
The firmware update batch jobs you launch with Operations Center are not interruptible; once started, they must run to completion. However, if the repository is restarted, any batch jobs in progress will be terminated. This will not cause any corruption of device software, but it will leave inconclusive transcripts in job history. The firmware update implementation is designed to ensure that the device's internal software is in charge of the transaction. The steps taken are:
- The server informs the device of the upgrade request.
- The device pulls the specified firmware package from the server.
- The device verifies the integrity of the firmware package it receives.
- The device initiates the firmware installation process internally.
- The server, after the first request, monitors the progress of the job, and attempts to determine (after the device has restarted itself) whether or not the upgrade succeeded, by comparing expected with actual versions of firmware on the device.
It is important that the target device itself not be restarted or power-cycled during a firmware update, as that may lead to a device which cannot start itself, and will need manufacturer support.
Network Routing
The Network Routing network layout overlay displays Layer-3 routing paths between devices and their routers. The paths are displayed when the information is available from device MIBs.
If the Network Routing network layout overlay is not already displayed, select Network Routing from the drop down menu at the top of the Devices panel to display this view of the network:
Radio Throughput
The Radio Throughput network layout overlay displays labelled throughput numbers, for each wireless interface of an AP.
If the Radio Throughput network layout overlay is not already displayed, select Radio Throughput from the drop down menu at the top of the Devices panel to display this view of the network:
Wireless Security
The Wireless Security network layout overlay summarizes the security configuration of each wireless network (SSID) of each access point. Colour coding is used to distinguish insecure networks from more secure confogurations.
If the Wireless Security network layout overlay is not already displayed, select Wireless Security from the drop down menu at the top of the Devices panel to display this view of the network:
Report Panel
Operations Center provides a rich set of analytical tools and filters with which to monitor and analyze the network based on event logs and comparison graphs of various attributes of network devices at different points in time.
Event History
The Event History lists events of all discovered devices or of a subset of those events depending on which History Filters are applied. The Event History is displayed by default in the Report panel at the bottom of the Operations Center window.
If it is not already displayed, select Event History from the drop down menu in the Report panel to display this view of events.
When you select a row (event) in the Event History:
- The affected network device is also selected in the Layout and Devices panels.
- The Time Scanner is moved to focus the display on the time the event occurred.
- The full text of the original event report appears in the Status Bar below the panel.
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Filters
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Description
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Selected Devices
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To view all events on the selected device, click this option.
As you select different devices, the History table follows the choices.
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Wireless Events
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To view only station, association or user -authentication events that deal with wi-fi (802.11) client associations, click this option.
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Events that mention
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To view only events that mention a given alphanumeric string ("search text"), click this option and fill in the text field with the string you want to search on.
Examples of event search syntax:
- Searching on fred will show only events that mention "
fred"
- Searching on fred fail will show only events that mention both "
fred" and "fail"
- Searching on fred OR fail will show events that mention either "fred" or "fail"
- Searching on (fred | fail) 192.168 will show events that contain
192.168 and either "fred" or "fail"
- Searching on "fred | fail ) " will show events containing the exact string "
fred | fail)"
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Note
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Case is not important, except for the keywords OR and AND. Input text can match partial words in the events. The keyword OR and the vertical bar can be used interchangeably.
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Severity at least
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To view events with a severity level at least as high as the one indicated (or higher), click this option and choose a severity level.
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The following table gives a description of the filtering options for the Event History section:
Inventory
The Inventory lists all the network devices in the repository. It has its own filtering pane which offers a sortable listing.
If the Inventory is not already displayed, select Inventory from the drop down menu in the Report panel to display this view of events.
When you select a row in the Inventory:
The following table gives a description of the filtering options for the Inventory section:
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Filters
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Description
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Show These Kinds
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To view a specific type of network device in the Network Device Inventory table click this option
A checkmark indicates the filter is enabled.
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Find Names That Match
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If you know the name or part of the name of a network device which you want to view on the Inventory table click this option.
Fill in the text field with the name.
A checkmark indicates this filter is enabled.
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Rogue 802.11 Beacons
The Rogue 802.11 Beacons offers a sortable listing of all reported 802.11 access point beacons that come from devices that aren't in the repository. This feature draws on information available from Devicescape EMAP 1.1 and WIP 2.0 access points.
If the Rogue 802.11 Beacons is not already displayed, select Rogue 802.11 Beacons from the drop down menu in the Report panel to display this view of events.
When you select a row (event) in the Rogue 802.11 Beacons:
- The affected network device is also selected in the Layout and Devices panels.
- The Time Scanner is moved to focus the display on the time the event occurred.
Trend Graphs
Operations Center also provides a more analytical view of past and current network states in Trend Graphs. The various graphs track different types of activity or performance on a selected network device.
The Trend Graphs are located under the Layout Panel at the bottom of the Operations Center window. Use the drop-down menu to choose a graph.
For example, this graph shows the number of events (Event Count) for the selected access point
(Fishbowl - gravy-train) during the period of time specified by the Time Scanner and Time Range (see Time Scanner). To relate the time (horizontal) axis of the graph with its precise time, slide the Time Scanner up or down. A vertical line cursor tracks to the same point on the graph.
As another example, the following graph shows Radio Throughput for the selected access point
(Fishbowl - gravy-train) for the time range shown on the Time Scanner.
To use the Trend Graphs:
- Select a device on the Layout panel or Devices panel.
- Select a graph type from the drop-down menu at the top right of the Report panel:
- Client Count
- Event Count
- Frames Transmitted
- Idle Periods
- Interference Delay
- Radio Throughput
The list of trend graphs available in your Dashboard may vary, if your installation has been extened or customised.
- Adjust the Time Scanner up or down to watch how the performance of the selected device changed through time. (A vertical line indicates the chosen point in time set on the Time Scanner. If you slide the Time Scanner to Now, the line is positioned on the far right of the graph.)
If you then select a different device on the Layout panel or Devices panel, the graph updates to highlight the statistical picture for the newly selected device.
Time Scanner
Using the Time Scanner you can view the state of the network at different points in time and replay events that were recorded earlier.
When you first start Operations Center, the Time Scanner is set to Now by default. With this setting the devices shown on the UI along with their attributes, states, and locations, indicate the current state of the network.
If you slide the Time Scanner down to a previous point in time, the display will change to show a snapshot of the state of the network at the time to which you moved the Scanner. For example, a device that is online now might show as offline on a previous day; APs might list different, fewer, or more client associations; and the Event History will scroll in parallel to show the events near the selected time.
The position of the Time Scanner affects the contents and information from panels:
- Network Layout
- Devices and Associations
- Report panels
To change the periods of time covered by the Time Scanner, use the Time Range positioned underneath the Time Scanner. The way you set the Time Range determines how the Time Scanner will look, what time increments it will show, and how far back in the past the Event History and Trend Graphs will show. You can select from the following ranges:
- Past Hour
- Past 8 Hours
- Past Day
- Past Week
To view the timeline on the Time Scanner in the opposite order select View > Flip Timeline from the menus.
Exporting Event Logs and Graphs
You can export a History of network device activity as described in the Event History (<FileName>.txt or <FileName>.xml) or a History Graph (<FileName>.csv or <FileName>.xml) from the current repository and then later import saved History files and graphs into another repository. This allows you to review event tables and graphs that got recorded in a different repository or in an archived repository that you want to review.
Exporting an Event Table (Tools >Export History)
To export an Event History:
- Select Tools > Export History.
- Specify the Output File path and file name. (For example, <PathName>
history.txt.)
- Set the options for format, time period, and scope of events to export (selected group or entire network).
You can export a History Event Table file in any one of the following file formats:
- Operations Center format - Internal format, used if you need to report customer support problems with Operations Center.
- Plain Text
- XML
- Click Apply to export the History to a text file and click OK to save the file and close the dialog.
Exporting a History Graph (Tools > Export Graph)
To export a graph:
- Select Tools > Export Graph.
- Specify the Output File pathname.
- Set the options for data to export (Client Count, Event Count, Interference Delay, or Radio Throughput), file format (XML or CSV), period of graph, and scope of data to export (selected group or entire network).
- Click Apply to export the graph to a
.csv or .xml file and click OK to save the file and close the dialog.
Device Discovery Tools
There are two ways of discovering devices on the network:
To modify the Device Discovery settings or to search for a device on demand, select Tools > Discovery from the menus to bring up the Device Discovery dialog.
Background Crawling Settings
If you have "Background Crawling" enabled (the default is for this to be "on"), Operations Center will continually crawl the network looking for SNMP devices. The discovery process explores (1) the local subnet of the Operations Center host, (2) addresses found in the communication tables of known devices, and (3) sub-networks defined for groups.
As devices are found, they are displayed on the Devices and Associations panel. To configure background crawling settings select Tools > Discovery and configure the following options:
- Background Crawling. You can enable or disable "Background Crawling".
- Ignore Generic Devices. You also have the option of limiting the crawler to Devicescape-based access points and other supported brands, or including unsupported access points and other devices like routers, switches and servers.
- Allowed Address Ranges and Disallowed Address Ranges. You can specify an address range you want the background crawler to explore (Allowed) and ranges on which you do not want to explore (Disallowed).
Allowed Addresses are used to describe the overall range of your organization's own network, so that the repository will not crawl the open internet just because some of your machines have connections to it.
Disallowed Addresses are specific (small) ranges of addresses within your larger ranges of Allowed and Group addresses that might contain sensitive or busy equipment that Operations Center is not allowed to disturb. IP addresses that fall into the Disallowed category override other Device Discovery settings and will not be added to the network layout even if they fall into an Allowed and Group range.
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Note
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Group Addresses (described in Grouping Devices and Extending Discovery to Subnets) are used to organize specific subnetworks from your organization that you want to be scanned thoroughly and grouped together. Since these are manually entered, they will be explored whether specified in Allowed Addresses or not.
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Address ranges in Allowed/Disallowed should be entered in the form AddressRange/MaskLength where AddressRange is an IP address and MaskLength is the number of mask bits. For example, if you enter a range of 192.168.1.0/24 this specifies a subnetwork with address 192.168.1.0 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Given the address range example, the discovery crawling process will examine all the addresses from 192.168.1.1 through 192.168.1.254. (The first address in a subnetwork range is always reserved for the subnet address, and the last address in the range is always reserved for the broadcast address). This is the same format used in setting address range properties on a group, as described in Grouping Devices and Extending Discovery to Subnets.
Manual Device Discovery
You can search for a particular network device or devices with a specified IP address range on demand with the Discovery tool.
To discover a device:
- Select Tools > Discovery...
- On the Device Discovery dialog, enter a Domain Name or IP address or range of addresses in the text field.
- Click Examine.
- To enter an address range, enter one or more subnetwork address ranges in the form:
AddressRange/MaskLength
where AddressRange is an IP address and MaskLength is the number of mask bits.
(This format is described above in description of Allowed/Disallowed Address Ranges.)
Manual searches can be a useful for jump-starting Operations Center when you know about a node or domain that is reachable on the current network but would not be one of the initial nodes the crawler would find from the host starting point.
Although the Crawler is designed to find all reachable and recognizable nodes, sometimes a Manual search is faster.
The refresh UPnP button requests a fresh UPnP-style search of the repositoy's local network. Devices that support UPnP services (such as some network printers amd media servers) can be discovered through UPnP.
Discovering SNMP Devices
Before Operations Center can discover Cisco Aironet access points, the SNMP service must be enabled on each AP.
To do this, go to the SNMP subsection of the Services section of the access point's Web-Based UI, and make sure the Simple Network Management Protocol radio-button has Enable selected, rather than Disable. If your access points use any SNMP Read Community strings other than the default ("public"), you must add those Read Community strings to the settings of the repository in Operations Center. You do this (as an administrator) in the Dashboard, by choosing the Settings... command from the Tools menu, and entering your community strings in the SNMP Read Communities list.
SNMP Settings
The Operations Center SNMP settings control the scheduling of SNMP data-gathering activities in the server, and determine which SNMP communities to which it will post or advertise information. To view or change SNMP settings, choose Tools > Settings from the menus.
Devicescape Wireless Operations Center recognizes network devices and gains most of its information about them through information gathered from SNMP agents on the devices. In order for Operations Center to successfully recognize and track devices, the devices must be SNMP-enabled and both the devices and Operations Center must be set up to read/write to the same communities. In other words, SNMP settings must be properly configured on all network nodes you want to track and also on Operations Center itself.
By default, Operations Center SNMP settings allow Operations Center to read public, admin, and snmp communities and to write values to public, admin, and private. You will need to supply the "Read Community" strings for your site. "Write Communities" are viewable only by administrators.
Alerts by Mail
The Alerts by Mail tool allows you to:
- Enter an e-mail address, sender identity, and mail server address that Operations Center can use to send alert messages to Administrators.
- Add and edit Alert Rules. The Operations Center monitors the network, and whenever the conditions of any alert rule are met, it will send mail to the e-mail address you specified.
Alert events are recorded to network history. (See also Event History.)
The following topics explain how to configure alerts by mail:
Configuring Alerts by Mail
To configure Alerts by Mail, select Tools > Alerts by Mail from the Dashboard menu bar. The following dialog is displayed.
Adding a Rule
To add a rule click Add.
Select a rule from the drop-down menu (on right) to add the rule to the Alert Rules list (on left). Then select the new rule in the Alert Rules list, provide device specifics, scheduling details, and configure mail alerts for it.
Modifying an Existing Rule
To modify an existing rule, select the rule from Alert Rules list. This populates the dialog with the current configuration information for that rule. Provide device specifics, scheduling details, and configure mail alerts for it, and click Apply.
Deleting a Rule
To delete a rule, select the rule from Alert Rules list, click Delete, and click Apply. (If you click "Cancel" rather than "Apply", the rule will not be deleted.)
Types of Rules Available
Each alert rule has hours of operation; alerts are only generated for a given rule if the rule is activated during its hours of operation.
So for instance we can let Ciara (pronounced "Keera") use all the bandwidth she wants at night, but trigger alerts if David steals her music during business hours.
The following table shows the four types of Alert Rules along with properties associated with each rule. You can customize the property settings for each type of rule, thereby customizing the alert as needed.
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Rules
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Customizable Properties
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Notify when a device is down for more than a given number of minutes.
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Lets you specify how long a device has to be unresponsive before sending the alert mail.
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Notify when an access point is idle (has no clients) for more than a given number of hours.
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Lets you specify how long the AP has to be idle, and how many clients the AP must have before we say it isn't idle
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Notify when a new device is discovered.
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None. (If a device is discovered, the alert is activated.)
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Notify when a client exceeds a bandwidth threshold for more than a given number of minutes (that is, notify when Ciara hogs the network.)
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Lets you specify the bandwidth threshold, and the number of minutes necessary to trigger the alert. The client has to remain at higher than the threshold bandwidth usage for the given number of minutes consecutively before the alert is activated.
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Alert mail messages are "bundled" into two minute batches. All alerts within two minutes of the first are sent in a single message. (This cuts down on mail when there is a widespread problem.)
Details of Configuring Mail Settings
To configure mail settings for a selected rule, click Configure Mail. This brings up the Mail Settings for Alerts dialog.
The following settings are required for the Operations Center to send e-mails for alerts:
- The address to send to. This is usually the administrator's address, or a group alias.
- The address to send from... this is a fake address, usually "opcenter@mycompany.com" or something like that.
The mail system needs an address to fill in for the sender of messages.
It doesn't matter if there is really a mailbox or not, but the address must be a well-formed e-mail address like xxx@somewhere.com.
- The host name or IP address of an unsecured SMTP server. This depends on your organization. Each user will have their own mail arrangements. (The SMTP server cannot be password protected.)
The Alerts-by-Mail tool has a Send Test Message button (on the main Alerts by Mail dialog) that immediately sends a test message. You can use this to verify the mail settings specified on the Mail Settings dialog.
Example Alert Configuration
Here is an example of an alert set to notify the Administrator if the throughput threshold for a particular client user exceeds a specified limit.
The mail configuration on this rule (Configure Mail . . . ) is set to send the Network Administrator email from an "opcenter" email alias if throughput for this client exceeds the specified limit for throughput.
Operations Center Version in About Box
To determine which version of Operations Center you are currently running, choose Help > About from the menus. Product name, copyright information, and version number are shown in the About Box.
Saving a Repository or Reverting to a Previously Saved Version
After you've discovered devices, if you want to see all the same devices the next time you log on to Operations Center (along with a history of device states and events), you need save your current network description.
To do this, Select File > Commit Changes from the menus.
The next time you start Operations Center, this saved "network" will be displayed on the Start dialog as one of the available networks.
To cancel recent edits and revert back to a previously saved version of the network model, choose File > Revert.
Quitting Operations Center
To quit or exit Operations Center, do one of the following:
- Choose File > Save and Exit if you want to stop the application and save any changes
- Choose File > Quit to stop the application and discard changes.
