E-Mail to Cisco ADS Support

Note For more information on implementing an AON network, see the following:

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AON Installation and Administration Guide (for information on the AMC server and nodes)

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AON Programming Guide (for information on custom Bladelets, custom adapters, and application program interfaces)

E-mail Support

AON 2.1 introduces the E-mail to Cisco ADS Support feature. This feature provides a built in E-mail template dialog in ADS. You can now send E-mail to Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) with the Policy Execution Plans (PEPs) attachments or logs to get help on specific issues and support for Cisco ADS.

The E-mail template is designed with all the basic E-mail features—From, To, CC, Subject, and Message. Additionally, the template also provides the Service Request Identification number (SR #) field where you must enter your Service Request Identification number. This helps Cisco TAC to identify you as a customer.

The From address and the mail server name is pre-populated from the settings defined in the E-mail template, provided you have set the E-mail Preference during the steps in "Starting and Exploring Cisco ADS" section, in Chapter 1, Getting Started with Cisco ADS.

The E-mail template also provides an extensive way to attach the elements of ADS with the E-mail to Cisco TAC. You can attach logs, PEPs, Nodes, Message Types, or packages by selecting a check box.

Prerequisite for E-mail to ADS Support

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The From address and the mail server name must be set in the E-mail Preference, otherwise you will not be able to send any E-mail to Cisco TAC. To set E-mail Preference, go to Tools > Options > Set Email Preference and add your E-mail address and mail server name.

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You must enter your Service Request Identification number (SR #) in the E-mail template, if the E-mail is sent to the Cisco TAC to "attach@cisco.com".

Note You get the Service Request Identification number (SR #) from Cisco when you get your licence; if you do not have the number, please contact your Cisco representative.

Accessing the E-mail to ADS Support Template

Use the E-mail to ADS template and send an e-mail to Cisco TAC, perform the following steps.

Step 1

To access the E-mail to ADS Support template ( Figure 6-1), go to Help > Support > Email ADS Support.


1	Propagated Project Explorer Pane	This panel ( your propagated Project Explorer Pane) allows you to select PEPs and Message Types as attachments with the E-mail by clicking a check box.
2	From	Your E-mail address.
3	To	The E-mail address for Cisco TAC—attach@cisco.com. This box provides a list of all the previously used addresses and allows you to select the address.
4	CC	Other addresses.
5	Subject	A brief description of your problem.
6	SR #	Your Service Request Identification Number.
7	Attachments	Types of files. See the "E-mail Attachments" section.
8	Message	The message window.

Step 2

When your message is complete and you have selected the attachments for Cisco TAC, click Send.

E-mail Attachments

E-mail Attachments is an important feature of the support provided by ADS 2.1. You can attach the Log Files, the Synchronization Files, or the Database Dump as attachments with the E-mail by clicking a check box in the E-mail template ( Figure 6-1). This allows Cisco TAC to successfully recreate the problem or the issue at the development site and provide the solution accordingly. The following attachment options are provided by default:

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Logs—The default Log File associated with ADS displays all the WARN, ERROR, INFO Level messages on the Log-4j settings.

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Database Dump—A backup of the existing database is constructed and zipped up to be attached with the E-mail. This would provide an effective way of re-creating the problem seen in the client site.

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Synchronization Log Files—For every Synchronization Operation, a "Sync from AMC" and "Sync to AMC" log files are created to store all the information transferred during Synchronization. These files could help Cisco TAC to identify whether the problem happened during the Synchronization process or not.

Note Cisco TAC receives all the attachments as one zip file called, "EmailAttachments.zip" with your E-mail message. The zip file is an archived file with the selected PEPs, Message Types, Log Files, Synchronization Log Files, and the Database Dump.

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