Getting Started
What is Devicescape Wireless Operations Center?
What's Next?
Supported Platforms, Devices, and Prerequisites
Installation and Startup
Starting the Demo and Viewing a Sample Network Model
Starting the Repository Server
Setting up and Managing Repositories
Starting the Dashboard on a Client
What Determines Which Devices Operations Center Discovers?
What is Devicescape Wireless Operations Center?
Devicescape Wireless Operations Center is a service support system for IEEE 802.11 based wireless TCP/IP networks that offers:
- Data collection system that gathers and stores status information and event reports from IEEE 802.11 devices, such as Access Points, as well as other network equipment (such as servers and switches)
- Interactive tools for viewing the state, health, and activity of the network, including wireless clients, live or in retrospect
- SDK platform for rapidly developing and deploying network monitors for client support and wireless infrastructure control that are vendor, hardware, and protocol independent
Operations Center can recognize any SNMP enabled device. The product offers the following out-of-the-box functionality for WLAN monitoring and analysis.
360 Degree Views and Analysis of WLAN
Discovery and state monitoring of Access Points (and generic SNMP-equipped IP devices such as hubs, switches, and servers)
Keeps a consolidated transcript of all management messages (SNMP traps, or syslog messages) emitted by the devices in the network model.
Polling, recording, and analyzing ongoing changes in the MIBs of the devices such as:
- Peak Client Count in sampling intervals
- Number of events (SNMP traps, or
syslog messages) received
- Interference Delay
- Radio Throughput of radio interfaces
What's Next?
Tell Me More about How Operations Center Models the WLAN and What Problems it Solves . . .
If you would like more to delve into more of the detail on how Operations Center solves network management problems unique to that of wireless LANs (WLANs), see the concepts section on What Problems Unique to WLANs Does Devicescape Wireless Operations Center Solve?.
I'm Ready to Get Started Working with Operations Center . . .
If you are ready to start monitoring and analyzing a sample or live WLAN, then read through the following sections on supported platforms, installation and startup (if needed), then see "Network Views and Tools on the Dashboard" in the User Guide for a tour of the UI and explanations of how to use Operations Center tools.
Even if you already have Operations Center started, you might want to read through the sections on Starting the Demo and Viewing a Sample Network Model and What Determines Which Devices Operations Center Discovers? so that you understand the difference between using the sample network provided and monitoring a live network.
Supported Platforms, Devices, and Prerequisites
- Devicescape Wireless Operations Center is a 100% pure Java application that runs on any general-purpose computer (such as a desktop PC or laptop) equipped with a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.5 or greater. (Information and downloads for the JRE are available from Sun Microsystems, Inc. at http://java.sun.com/j2se)
- You will also need the Devicescape Wireless Operations Center software, in one of these forms:
Linux/opcenter_2_0.sh for LinuxWindows/OpCenter_2_0.msi for Windows (XP recommended)
- Operations Center installation involves creating a central repository server, from which client applications can be opened using Java Web Start. The repository server performs ongoing discovery and surveillance of your network, including data capture from your access points and other managed devices. The repository server should not be a user's desktop computer, because the server runs continuously and requires reliable network access.
- Install the Java runtime before installing Devicescape Wireless Operations Center.
- The computers used to run the interactive clients (especially the Dashboard) should have high-resolution displays. It is possible to use the Dashboard with an SVGA (1024x768 pixel) display, but higher resolutions are preferred.
- RAM and Processor speed requirements vary according to the size of the network you are monitoring. As a general guide, you should have 256MB of available physical memory on the repository server, as well as on any client machine used to operate the Dashboard.
- In order to view live network activity, your PC or computer must be connected to a network (either wirelessly or via Ethernet). (A sample static network repository which does not require a network connection is also provided with the product.)
- In addition to providing minimal support for any device equipped with the standard IEEE 802.11 MIB, Operations Center includes support for Cisco Aironet Access Point based on Cisco VxWorks and Cisco Aironet Access Point based on Cisco IOSŪ, as well as Access Points based on the Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform.
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Note
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If you wish to install an upgrade the following information does not apply to you. Proceed to Installing an Upgrade.
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Installing on Windows
To install Devicescape Wireless Operations Center on Windows:
- If you received the software on a CD insert the CD into your CD-ROM drive on your development host.
Or,
If you downloaded the software locate the file OpCenter_2_0.msi.
- Double-click the Windows Install package
OpCenter_2_0.msi.
- Depending on your system software the following screen may be displayed. Select Run:
- A Devicescape Wireless Operations Center setup wizard is displayed.
Read the introductory information and select Next.
- Click on the setup type that best suits your needs:
- If you select Typical the setup wizard is ready to begin a typical installation and you are asked to click on the Install button.
- If you select Custom you can select the way you want features to be installed. You can select a feature to view the space requirements it needs on your hard drive. Also you can browse and specify the location for your feature. For example, the following screen displays the custom setup for the Repository Win Service:
When you have decided how you want your features to be installed click Next. Now the setup wizard is ready to begin a custom installation and you are asked to click on the Install button.
- If you select Complete the Repository server will be installed as a Windows service. The service is called I802 Operations Center and can be managed using the Services tool in the Administrative Tools control panel.
On choosing this option the setup wizard is ready to begin a complete installation and you are asked to click on the Install button.
- The setup wizard installs Devicescape Wireless Operations Center. This may take a few moments.
- When the installation is completed select the View readme file option if you want to view the release notes:
- Click the Finish button to exit the setup wizard.
- If you have already purchased the product, you should now install your activation key. See Installing Your Activation Key.Starting the Repository Server
Installing on Linux
You must have root user permissions to execute the commands to install Devicescape Wireless Operations Center.
To install Devicescape Wireless Operations Center on Linux:
- If you received the software on a CD insert the CD into your CD-ROM drive on your development host.
Or
If you downloaded the software locate the file opcenter_2_0.sh.
- Bring up a terminal command line shell in which to run the installation.
- Run the install script by typing
opcenter_2_0.sh at the command line.
On RedHat Linux, if you see an error message reporting that the command 'uudecode' cannot be found, install the 'sharutils' RPM from the RedHat distribution.
This installation creates the following directories:
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Component
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Path
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Software
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/opt/devicescape
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Command links
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/usr/bin
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A repository area
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/var/devicescape
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Two commands preconfigured in /usr/bin:
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Command
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Description
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repository
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Starts the repository server
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opcenter <subcommand>
demo
admin
dashboard
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Starts a client session:
for the demonstration session
for the administration session
for the dashboard client
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These commands require that 'java' is on the executable path. The version must be a J2SE JRE version 1.5.0_01 or later.
The gnu gjc system is sometimes linked to /usr/bin/java on Linux systems, but it is not a J2SE 1.5 java environment. You must download and install a Sun JRE and add it to your path.
Installing Your Activation Key
Devicescape Wireless Operations Center requires activation keys to enable editing and the storage of networks with more than one access point. Your supplier will provide the activation key as a .dcf file. If you purchase the product through the Web, the file will be mailed to you and you should save it under its original name. It must have the suffix .dcf.
If you are installing the activation key as part of an initial installation, before running the product, you can copy it directly into the installations registry directory.
On Linux the directory is: /opt/devicescape/opcenter_2_0/registry/
On Windows the directory is: C:\Program Files\Devicescape\Wireless Operations Center\
The directory is created after installation and contains several .dcf files. Simply move your activation key file into the existing directory.
If you acquire the registration key later, you can install it using the Dashboard:
- Select Activation from the File menu.
A file chooser opens.
- Enter the name of your activation key file in that file chooser.
The system will install the key in the registry and activate the running software.
Starting the Demo and Viewing a Sample Network Model
To start the Operations Center demo application which models a sample network with "canned" data:
- On Windows (if you have selected the Custom install and checked off the demo as an option to install) select:
Start Menu > All Programs > Devicescape > Wireless Operations Center
- On Linux, run:
/usr/bin/opcenter demo
Running the demo automatically opens the Operations Center client retrieves the sample History data and populates the Dashboard UI with a pre-configured sample setup (groupings, map underlay, and so on). You can use the demo application to become familiar with the tools and layouts available on the Dashboard UI.
(See Sample Dashboard at Startup for a picture of the Dashboard UI.)
Starting the Repository Server
The repository server must be running befor you can use the Operations Center tools, to monitor your network. The repository service explores the network and logs information about discovered devices in data and text files.
Starting the Repository Server on Windows
To run the repository server on Windows:
- If you install the Repository Win Service:
- Or, whether or not the Win Service is installed, you can run the Repository in a console by selecting:
Start Menu > All Programs > Devicescape > Wireless Operations Center > Repository in Console
The output of the repository appears in a command tool and the repository server will halt if you close the command tool.
We suggest that while you are setting up Operations Center and beginning to work with it, you use Repository In Console, since the console messages can be helpful. Later, when the system is running and your network is populated, you can switch to using the Windows Service version, which automatically restarts when the computer restarts.
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Note
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The command tool version won't start if the Windows service is running. It is strictly one or the other at a time. You can stop the windows service by hand (in Control panel/administrative tools/services) and then start Repository in Console, and vice-versa.
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Starting the Repository Server on Linux
To start the repository server at boot time on Linux:
- The installer creates an
/etc/init.d script link:
/etc/init.d/opcenter -> /opt/devicescape/opcenter/bin/init_d
This script must be edited after the install so that the system can find the proper Java runtime during startup.
Find the line that begins:
JAVA_HOME=
Edit this line to point to an installation of Java 1.5 or better.
- The
init.d script handles the usual commands for a Linux service control script:
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Command
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Description
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/etc/init.d/opcenter start
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Starts the repository
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/etc/init.d/opcenter stop
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Stops the repository server
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/etc/init.d/opcenter restart
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Starts and stops the server
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- For automatic startup of the repository at boot time, create the following link:
/etc/rc5.d/S97opcenter -> /etc/init.d/opcenter
Creating this link will add opcenter to the set of sevices that are started automatically when the system is booted, and shut down automatically when the system is helted.
- The repository server always starts, and will be available to support the client applications, but it does does not begin device surveillance automatically unless you configure a Starting Repository.
In order to have the repository server launch a repository and start monitoring a network automatically when it starts, use the Repository Administration tool:
opcenter admin
Use the Configure... dialog to set the Starting Repository to the network repository you wish to have running by default.
Setting up and Managing Repositories
To use the Repository Administration tool in client mode to view or work with a live network model, you either need to have a Repository Server running on the local system (client and server on same host) or on another system on the network so that the Repository Administration tool can access it.
You must also know the DNS name of the repository server.
Starting the Administration Tool
Starting the Administration Tool using Web Access
Once you've installed and started the repository server, you can enter the repository host name or IP address as a URL in a Web Browser. This will take you to the Devicescape Wireless Operations Center Web Access page.
From here, you can launch the Administration tool from any desktop machine that has a Java 1.5 JRE installed.
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Note
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If your repository host machine already has a Web server running, the repository server will not override it. Instead, you can start the Administration tool as an installed application, instead of using Web Start. The Server Configuration dialog includes an option that will let you reassign the Operations Center HTTP service to a free port. Once you have done that, and restarted the repository, you can use Web Access using "http://your.server.name:PORTNUM/" where PORTNUM is the http port number you specified in Server Configuration.
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Starting the Administration Tool on Windows
To start the Devicescape Wireless Operations Center Administration tool on Windows, go to:
Start Menu > All Programs > Deviscape > Wireless Operations Center > Repository Administration
Starting the Administration Tool on Linux
On Linux, run the following /user/bin/opcenter command at a command line.
/usr/bin/opcenter admin -h|--host HostName:Port
where HostName is the host name of the computer that is running the repository server, and Port is the the address of the port on which the repository server is listening for requests.
Use either the the -h or the --host arguments to identify the host name and port.
For example:
user/bin/opcenter admin -c -h bradfpc:1777
Starts the Repository Administartion Tool at host "bradfpc" on port 1777.
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Note
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If you prefer you can omit the -h or the --host arguments from the command line and enter it into the startup screen.
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You can also use the following optional arguments for starting the Administration Tool:
- RepositoryName - The name of a repository to load directly upon launch, rather than waiting for a user request.
-days [Number] - Specifies the number of days worth of event history to download to the client when starting any of the client applications.
Initial Dialog for Repository Administration Tool
Use the Repository Administration dialog to create new network models (also known as repositories), and deactivate or delete existing repositories
Connecting to the Server
Enter the name of a Server and its Port number.
The Server name is the host name of a computer that is running the repository server. The Server field defaults to the name of the server you last connected to, if you've ever used the tool before. If the server to which you want to connect is running on a different computer, type the DNS name of that computer in the Server field.
The Port number is the address of the port on which the repository server is listening for requests.The default Port number for the Operations Center repository server is 8088.
If there is an Administration password set, enter it in Admin Password field.
The Active Repository field is a read-only field that shows the name of the repository that is currently running and capturing data. If there is no currently active repository this field is blank.
If you want to reconfigure Repository server settings before connecting to the server, click Configure and set those options. (See Configuring Repository Server Settings.) If there is an active repository, you must deactivate it before you can configure the server.
Enter the History to Fetch period. The History to Fetch option specifies the number of days worth of historical data to retrieve for your session. This determines the largest period of time available to scroll back through in the event tables and time scans of the Dashboard tools. The more days you choose, the longer it will take to start your session. If you are opening the tool to do general network support, you will probably want to retrieve a full week. But if you are adding devices to the repository, editing the network layouts, or other administrative tasks, try choosing 1 Day here - this will make startup much faster.
Select the repository you want to start and click Activate.
Configuring Repository Server Settings
Click Configure on the Repository Administration Tool to bring up the Server Configuration dialog.
From this dialog, you can configure the following options on the Repository server.
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Field
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Description
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Repository Path
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Location on the server where repositories are stored.
The default repository directory on Windows systems is
<Install_Directory>/opcenter/repository
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HTTP Port (default 80)
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The port at which the Operations Center will serve HTTP requests for Java Web Start.
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Service Port
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The Port number is the address of the port on which the repository server is listening for requests.The default Port number for the Operations Center repository server is 8088.
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Default Starting Repository
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The name of the repository that will be used as the active repository when you start the server.
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Change Administration Password
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Password for the Repository Administration tool. Type in the new password and then re-type to confirm.
This is an optional setting. By default, there is no password required to use the Repository Administration tool and Dashboard.
Note: If you do not specify an administration password, then any user of the Dashboard (as well as the Repository Administration tool) will be able to edit all aspects of the network repository, and perform all administrative tasks.
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Change Dashboard Password
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Password for the Dashboard in Client mode. Type in the new password and then re-type to confirm.
By default, there is no password required to use the Dashboard client.
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After re-setting the server options as desired, click OK to save your changes and close the dialog, or Apply to save changes and leave the dialog open. (Click Cancel to close the dialog without saving changes.)
Creating a New Repository
- If there is a currently active repository, click Deactivate.
(If this is your first time using Operations Center out-of-the-box, no repository will be active so you can skip the deactivate step.)
- Enter a name in the New Repository field at the bottom of the dialog and click Create.
When you create a new repository, it is activated immediately.
Activating a Repository
To activate a repository, select it from the Repositories list and click Activate. In the repository server, the "Active" repository is the only one for which data is captured and recorded. In normal use, you will have only one main repository. It will be active all the time. Your main repository should also be configured as the default Starting Repository in the server configuration tool.
Deactivating a Repository
To deactivate a repository or network model that is currently running, select the active repository (if it is not already selected) and click Deactivate.
Deleting a Repository
- On the list of Repositories, select the repository you want to remove.
- Click Delete. When you delete a repository, all the captured data and event logs contained in it are erased.
Starting the Dashboard from the Repository Administration Dialog
To start the Dashboard from the Repository Administration dialog:
- Choose a timeframe from "History to Fetch" drop-down menu, depending on how much history you want included in the view.
- Click Dashboard to start the Dashboard UI for Operations Center.
In this mode, the Dashboard is a fully functional administrative tool with which you can group network devices, add layout maps, position devices on layouts, and change settings. Starting the Dashboard in this mode gives you administrative control over the presentation of the network model displayed in this view or from the Dashboard client view.
By contrast, starting the Dashboard in client mode gives users the ability to view the network model and its analytical reports and graphs, but not to organize the presentation of it or perform other administrative tasks. (See also Starting the Dashboard on a Client and Limitations of Dashboard in Client Mode.)
Sample Dashboard at Startup
Starting the Dashboard on a Client
You can start the Dashboard from a client to view (but not edit or change) network models. (See Limitations of Dashboard in Client Mode.)
To view or work with a live network model, you either need to have a Repository Server running on the local system (client and server on same host) or on another system on the network so that your client can access it. You must also know the DNS name of the repository server.
To start the Dashboard from a client:
/usr/bin/opcenter dashboard -c|--client -h|--host HostName:Port
where HostName is the host name of the computer that is running the repository server, and Port is the the address of the port on which the repository server is listening for requests.
Use either the -c or --client option to indicate that you want to run the client application; and the -h or the --host arguments to identify the host name and port.
For example:
user/bin/Operations Center dashboard -c -h bradfpc:1777
starts the Dashboard at host "bradfpc" on port 1777.
Connecting to the Server
When the Operations Center dialog is displayed:
Enter the name of a Server and its Port number.
The Server name is the host name of a computer that is running the repository server. The Server field defaults to the name of the server you last connected to, if you've ever used the tolls before. If the server to which you want to connect is running on a different computer, type the DNS name of that computer in the Server field.
The Port number is the address of the port on which the repository server is listening for requests.The default Port number for the Operations Center repository server is 8088.
If a Dashboard Password is configured for this server, you will need to enter the password. This is an optional setting. By default, no password is configured and you can access the Dashboard without one. (For more information on configuring passwords, see Configuring Repository Server Settings.)
Enter the name of the Active Repository to which you want to connect.
Select the History to Fetch scope.
Click Connect.
Starting the Dashboard
Choose a timeframe from "History to Fetch" drop-down menu, depending on how much history you want included in the view.
Click Dashboard to start the Dashboard UI for Operations Center.
(See Sample Dashboard at Startup for a picture of the Dashboard UI.)
Limitations of Dashboard in Client Mode
The Dashboard client is for viewing only. If you run the Dashboard in client mode you cannot edit or change the network model you are viewing.
Dashboard client users can view the network model and all of its analytical reports and graphs, but cannot perform such tasks as grouping network devices, adding layout maps, positioning devices on layouts, and so forth.
If the administrator of the repository has not specified an administration password, then the Dashboard has no limitations. (See also Starting the Dashboard from the Repository Administration Dialog.)
What Determines Which Devices Operations Center Discovers?
Operations Center automatically starts looking for devices on the local subnet to which its host (your Operations Center-enabled PC) is connected. Operations Center uses the host subnet as a starting point from which to "crawl" the network looking for SNMP-enabled devices. With each device it finds, it extends its scope by looking for neighboring devices known to the found device.
For example; if you are running Operations Center on a PC with an IP Address of 10.10.100.201, the built-in "crawler" will start looking for devices on the 10.10.100 subnet. If the devices it finds are connected to other devices external to that subnet via a switch or router and if there is no firewall preventing connectivity between those subnets, Operations Center crawler will also find those "external" devices. In other words, Operations Center is limited only by the bounds of the host network.
If you define Groups, you can specify IP Address ranges for the crawler to search on and Operations Center will automatically collect discovered devices matching the search criteria into appropriate groups. (See Grouping Devices and Extending Discovery to Subnets.)
Manual Device Discovery
In addition to relying on the automatic crawl to develop a picture of network devices, you can also use the Device Discovery tool (Tools > Discovery) to actively search for a particular network device by domain name or IP address.
(For more information on this, see Device Discovery Tools.)
