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Table Of Contents

Release Notes for Cisco Info Center, 3.6

Contents

Introduction

New Features and Enhancements with Release 3.6

Cisco Info Center 3.6 Components

Cisco Info Mediator Modules

Related Products

Cisco Info Center Add-On Products

System Requirements

Operating System Requirements

Minimum Configuration

Recommended Configuration for Managing Large Networks

Prerequisites for Monitored Products

Cisco Info Center 3.6 Support Matrix

Supported Hardware and Software

IOS Support

Cisco Transport Manager Support

Cisco Element Management Framework Support

Cisco Element Manager System Support

Generic SNMP Support

NMS and Cisco Info Center Component Specific Considerations

CNS Notification Engine

Using the TIBCO Info Mediator

Properties

Generic SNMP

DFM and VHM

MWFM

MTTrapd Info Mediator

NEI Support

Cisco WAN Manager

Policy Manager

Virtual Operator

Webtop

Automations

Filters

Tools

Severity Mappings

Cisco IOS to Cisco CNS-NOTE to Cisco Info Center Severity Mappings

Severity Mappings for TL1 to Cisco Info Center Event Severity Levels

Installation Notes

Upgrade Notes

Migrating to FLEXlm Licensing for Cisco Info Center 3.6

Caveats

Known Issues with Related Products

Related Documentation

Obtaining Documentation

Cisco.com

Documentation CD-ROM

Ordering Documentation

Documentation Feedback

Obtaining Technical Assistance

Cisco TAC Website

Opening a TAC Case

TAC Case Priority Definitions

Obtaining Additional Publications and Information


Release Notes for Cisco Info Center, 3.6


October, 2003

Contents

These Release Notes provide information about the Cisco Info Center 3.6 release and contain the following sections:

"Contents"

"Introduction"

"New Features and Enhancements with Release 3.6"

"Cisco Info Center 3.6 Components"

"Cisco Info Center Add-On Products"

"System Requirements"

"Supported Hardware and Software"

"NMS and Cisco Info Center Component Specific Considerations"

"Severity Mappings"

"Installation Notes"

"Upgrade Notes"

"Caveats"

"Known Issues with Related Products"

"Related Documentation"

"Obtaining Documentation"

"Documentation Feedback"

"Obtaining Technical Assistance"

"Obtaining Additional Publications and Information"

For more detailed information, refer to the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, 3.6 and also to the documentation associated with each respective Cisco Info Center software component, as listed in the "Related Documentation" section.

Introduction

Cisco Info Center is a Service-Level Management (SLM) system that provides a consolidated view of enterprise-wide events and status information. It collects event streams or messages from many different data sources and presents a single, consistent view of the current state of all Cisco Info Center managed systems. It distributes the event information to the operators and administrators responsible for monitoring service levels.

This information can then be:

assigned to operators

passed to Help Desk systems

logged in a database

replicated on a remote Cisco Info Center system

used to trigger automatic responses to certain events.

Cisco Info Center allows diverse management platforms, applications, and Internet protocols to be brought together to provide an administrator a single point of monitoring those platforms and applications. Cisco Info Center  does not replace the management platforms. It instead complements them by providing an enterprise wide event/fault and status exchange. Cisco Info Center can also tie together domain limited network management platforms in remote locations.

Cisco Info Center tracks the state of events in a high performance distributed database and presents information of interest to specific users through individually configurable filters and views. Cisco Info Center automation functions can be used to perform intelligent processing on the current state of managed objects. Cisco Info Center can build upon existing management systems or applications and, therefore, uses existing management skills and minimizes deployment time.

New Features and Enhancements with Release 3.6

Cisco Info Center Release 3.6 contains the following new features and enhancements:

Enhanced Support for Cisco WAN Manager Traps—Cisco Info Center 3.6 extends support for Cisco WAN Manager events to all release 11 versions (supports Cisco WAN Manager release 11.x.x) and also supports Cisco WAN Manager 12.0 and 12.0.1 traps.

Enhanced Support for Support for Cisco BTS 10200 Softswitch Events—Cisco Info Center 3.6 provides enhanced support for events from the Cisco BTS 10200 Softswitch, including support for BTS MIB version 3.5.2 alarms.

Cisco EMF Clear Alarm Tool—Cisco Info Center 3.6 supports the Clear Alarm Tool that was introduced with CEMF release 3.2, patch 7.

Support for CNS Notification Engine Release 3, Patch 7—Cisco Info Center 3.6 includes support for CNS Notification Engine, release 3.0, patch 7.

Upgrade from Release 3.4.1 and 3.5. Cisco Info Center 3.6 includes an upgrade option that allows you to upgrade to Release 3.6 from Cisco Info Center release 3.4.1 or 3.5.

Centralized FLEXlm-based Licensing—With Release 3.6, all Cisco Info Center components (except for the Virtual Operator component) now use FLEXlm-based licensing. This allows you to run one license server to manage multiple licenses over multiple hosts and also allows addition of new licenses without stopping the license server.

New Rules File Functionality—Cisco Info Center Release 3.6 provides several new rules file functions and a new properties file setting, such the following:

Load Functions Files—Two new load functions have been added to the rules file syntax to allow setting up a "rolling window" interval over which event rates are calculated. This allows you to monitor the rate of event occurrence over time.

Associative Arrays —With Release 3.6, the rules file syntax now allows you to set up an associative array, which is an array whose elements are keyed by a specified key field. Associative arrays are retained in memory as long as the Info Mediator is running, and can be used to build event messages that indicate state changes for specified variables.

Properties File Keywords to Send Events to Multiple Info Servers—A new property has been added to the Info Mediator properties file syntax that allows you to send the same events to multiple Info Servers.

For detailed information on the rules file functions, refer to the "Cisco Info Mediator Rules File Processing" section on page E-6 in Appendix E, "Cisco Info Mediator Reference," of the Cisco Info Center Administrator Reference, 3.6.

New Communications Library and Capabilities. Cisco Info Center 3.6 includes a new version of the Sybase libraries that are used for interprocess communications (Sybase version 12.5). The new communications libraries provide a more stable interprocess communications layer and include two new enhancements.

SSL Encryption of All Communications Between Components—You can now configure Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption of all messages sent between Cisco Info Center components.

Larger Limit on Info Server Data Fields. Info Server fields can now be up to 8192 characters.

Info Server SQL Enhancements. Cisco Info Center Release 3.6 includes two new enhancements to Info Server Structured Query Language (SQL):

New "top n" Rows Function. This function allows you to select the top n rows from a database table.

For information on the "top n" Rows Function, refer to the "Data Manipulation Commands" section on page 2-15 of Chapter 2, "Cisco Info Server SQL,"in the Cisco Info Center Administrator Reference, 3.6.

New "Group By Select" Syntax. This allows you to group information retrieved from database tables by column.

For information on the Group By syntax, refer to the "Group By Select Syntax" section on page 2-18 of Chapter 2, "Cisco Info Server SQL,"in the Cisco Info Center Administrator Reference, 3.6.

Precision NMOS Fields. New fields and conversions have been added to allows integration with NMOS Precision product.

X.733 Fields. Commonly used X.733 fields and conversions have been added to the default Info Server schema.

Larger Alert Key. The AlertKey field is now 255 characters in size by default.

New Default Tool Set. A new default tool set is available to take advantage of the new SuppressEscl and TaskList field settings.

New OMNIBROWSER Variable. Cisco Info Center 3.6 includes a new environment variable called OMNIBROWSER. You can set this variable to specify which browser is used to display the online help system.

New CICrvd Package. When you install the TIBCO Info Mediator a new package is installed which contains the TIBCO Rendezvous application. This application is installed in the $OMNIHOME/tibco directory.

Ability to Restore Passwords After Upgrade. You can restore user passwords after upgrading to Cisco Info Center 3.6.

Cisco Info Center 3.6 Components

Cisco Info Center comprises the following main components:

Cisco Info Server—the core of the Cisco Info Center system. An active, main-memory database that stores and manages events. The Cisco Info Server consolidates, associates, and normalizes event data received from Cisco Info Mediators, Cisco Info Gateways, and monitors.

Cisco Info Mediator—an application that acts as a data acquisition agent. Cisco Info Mediators acquire data from events sources such as Cisco WAN Manager, HP Network Node Manager, Cisco IOS Syslog processes, Cisco Element Management System (Cisco EMF)-based applications, the Cisco Transport Manager application, and a variety of SNMP-enabled devices.

Info Gateways—software modules that allow the Cisco Info Server to read events from and write events to third party applications and forward alerts between Cisco Info Servers.

Cisco Info Admin Desktops—an integrated graphical suite of tools used by operators. These tools are the starting points for designing filters and customizing views. Cisco Info Admin Desktop information can be viewed from a UNIX/Motif front-end or a Java-driven Web browser. Event information is delivered in a format that allows operators to quickly respond.

Webtop 1.1—provides the read-only event publication of Wave with the interactive features of JEL for manipulating alerts, combined in one web-based product. Webtop publishes Cisco Info Center alerts for viewing in a web browser, and enables certain users to manipulate them using an active event list launched from a web browser.

For instructions on installing the Webtop component, refer to Chapter 5 of the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, "Installing the Webtop Component." For detailed documentation on the Webtop product, go to the Micromuse support site at the following URL:

http://support.micromuse.com/documentation/#Webtop

Virtual Operator—a product that allows the Cisco Info Server to execute resolution scripts that mimic the actions a Network Operations Center (NOC) operator would take to resolve an alert. Scripts or applications supported by the Virtual Operator can be UNIX shell scripts, PERL scripts, or compiled programs written in C or C++.

For instructions on installing Virtual Operator, refer to Chapter 6 of the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, "Installing the Virtual Operator Component." For detailed documentation on the Virtual Operator product, go to the Micromuse support site at the following URL:

http://support.micromuse.com/documentation/#VO

For detailed information on the Cisco Info Center components and how they interoperate, refer to Chapter 1, "Overview," in the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration manual.

Cisco Info Mediator Modules

When you purchase Cisco Info Center you purchase licenses for one or more Cisco Info Mediators. The following Cisco Info Mediators have been developed to monitor specific types of Cisco hardware and software:

Cisco RTTrapd Info Mediator—interfaces with devices monitored by Cisco WAN Manager to monitor events from Cisco wide-area switches and Syslog events from Cisco IOS devices through the Cisco CNS Notification Engine product. In the Cisco Info Center configuration interface, RTTrapd is referred to as the Cisco WAN Manager Info Mediator when it is used to monitor Cisco WAN Manager.

Cisco HP NNM Info Mediator—interfaces with the Hewlett Packard Network Node Manager (NNM) system

Cisco Syslog Info Mediator—acquires event data from the syslogd daemon, the UNIX system message logger, by reading from a FIFO that syslogd has been configured to write messages to

Cisco EMF Info Mediator—interfaces with Cisco EMF-based applications, such as Cisco Connection Manager, Cisco DSL Manager (CDM), and Cisco Media Gateway Node Manager (CMNM). Refer to the "Cisco Element Management Framework Support" section for a detailed list of supported applications.

Cisco Transport Manager Info Mediator—interfaces with the Cisco Transport Manager application to allow monitoring of Cisco optical devices, including the Cisco ONS 15454, ONS 15327, ONS 15600, ONS 15800, ONS 15801, and ONS 15808 optical transport platforms

Cisco MTTrapd Info Mediator—multi threaded Cisco Info Mediator that interfaces with a variety of SNMP-enabled devices and event correlation engines such as CiscoWorks2000 (DFM and VHM) and MWFM. This also includes specific enhancements and fixes recommended by the CERT team. The set of rules also includes the best practices set of rules developed by Micromuse.

The Cisco MTTrapd Info Mediator also processes events transmitted by element managers that support the Northbound Event Interface (NEI) included with the Cisco Element Manager System version 3.2 and higher, such as Cisco Media Gateway Manager (CMGM) 2.0 and Cisco Media Gateway Controller Node Manager 2.3.1 and 2.3.1. The NEI allows element managers to send events encapsulated in SNMP messages to network management systems such as Cisco Info Center.

To enable support for the Cisco Element Manager System, select Cisco Element Manager from the Device Configuration menu during Cisco Info Mediator configuration using the nco_config configuration utility.

Cisco TIBCO Info Mediator— interfaces with the Cisco CNS Notification Engine 2.0 and 3.0 products and the Cisco CNS Performance Engine product.

Additional Info Mediators that work with a variety of hardware and software can be ordered in addition to Cisco Info Center.

For detailed information on the event sources and Cisco Info Mediators used with Cisco Info Center, refer to Chapter 3 in the Cisco Info Center Mediator Reference, 3.6.

Related Products

The Cisco Info Center product suite includes several additional related products:

Cisco Info Center for Security Monitoring, 3.5—A product that monitors Cisco PIX firewalls and systems running Cisco Intrusion Detection (IDS) and generates security alerts.


Note Cisco Info Center for Security Monitoring does not work with Cisco Info Center 3.6. It must be installed in a Cisco Info Center 3.5 environment.


Cisco Policy Manager 2.0—An extension to Cisco Info Center that receives Customer Edge router and Provider Edge router events from Cisco's MPLS VPN Solution product, an application that allows service providers to define and monitor virtual private networks (VPNs).


Note Cisco Policy Manager cannot be installed using the Cisco Info Center 3.6 installation program. However, if you are upgrading an Cisco Info Center 3.4.1 or 3.5 installation that includes Policy Manager, you can retain the Cisco Policy Manager application and continue to use it with Cisco Info Center 3.5


Cisco Info Center Add-On Products

Cisco Info Center  can work with several related products that can be ordered from the Cisco Info Center price list. These products include the following:

Internet Service Monitors (ISM) 2.1—a set of components designed to monitor the status and performance of internet services. The information gathered and processed by the monitors is used to determine whether a particular service is performing adequately, to identify problem areas, and to report service performance. Performance is measured against agreed Service Level Agreement (SLA) criteria. A set of specific ISM utilities have been added to Cisco Info Center, which simplify the bulk configuration and loading of ISM data.

Data Center Monitors—a fault management application that provides access to mainframe computer  management applications for non-mainframe network operators.

Firewall—a real-time security application that helps managers in secure operations centers to resolve network events that may disrupt business services or cause a security breach.The N


Note The Netcool Firewall product does not work with Cisco Info Center 3.6.


Impact —a value-added application that assists network operators in monitoring Service Level Agreements by providing additional event analysis beyond that available with Cisco Info Center. For example, Impact users can determine the consequences of an event, such as what or when services are affected and which users are affected by specific alarm conditions.

Netcool for Voice Networks—a supplement to Cisco Info Center designed specifically for providers of carrier-grade voice services. It includes a Central Configuration Tool that allows voice service providers to install the system at multiple sites from a central location and a set of Telecommunications Service Managers (TSMs) that work with TL1-based monitoring systems as well as Marconi, Alcatel, Ericsson, and Nortel devices.

Netcool/Tivolian application that integrates the Cisco Info Server product with the Tivoli network management application and allows Tivoli to manage a Cisco Info Server installation.

Precision—a network monitoring product that applies root cause analysis based on network slice technology.

Reporter—a real-time, Web-based client-server application that provides accurate, historical reporting on Cisco Info Center event data forwarded from the Cisco Info Server.

System Service Monitors—An application that simultaneously monitors a variety of UNIX, Linux, and Windows platforms, and tracks elements such as CPU utilization, memory utilization, disk space, blocks, inodes, and total free files.

TL1 Transaction Service Monitor—An application that gathers events and data from all of the Transaction Language 1 (TL1)-managed elements in a network and forwards the data as alerts which are processed by the Cisco Info Server.

User Service Monitors—Applications that measure and analyze real-time usage data from a variety of network devices, such as routers, firewalls, and proxies, and produce usage reports, threshold analysis, and outage detection analysis.

Visionary—a product that utilizes a network agent that receives events from an intelligent, high-volume SNMP polling engine called the Distributed Status Monitor (DSM) and performs a rules-based analysis of network events, based on Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards and vendor-specific management information.

For additional information on these products, refer to the Release Notes for Cisco Info Center Add-On Products, 3.6.

System Requirements

This section provides the hardware, software, and configuration requirements for the Cisco Info Center 3.6 product.

Operating System Requirements

The Sun system must have Solaris 7 or 8 with Motif 1.2 or the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) installed.

If you need to run the CiscoView application, view the Cisco CNS Notification Engine help page, or view the Cisco Info Center online documentation on CCO, a supported browser is required.

For current browser requirements for the CiscoView application, refer to the documentation for the CiscoWorks2000 component your Cisco Info Center installation will monitor. The documentation for the Device Fault Manager and Voice Health Monitor components of CiscoWorks2000 is listed in the "Related Documentation" section.


Note If you will install the Virtual Operator component, the target host must be running Solaris 8.


Minimum Configuration

This section provides the minimum system requirements for Cisco Info Center 3.6.

Info Server— Sun Blade 150 workstation or Sun Fire V120 server with a minimum of 512 MB RAM, and a 512-MB hard drive


Note This does not include additional NMS or add-on requirements. Please read the Release Notes or installation manual for the NMS you will use with each Cisco Info Mediator to determine the installation requirements for that particular NMS.


Info Mediators—Sun Ultra 2 or higher workstation with a minimum of 64-MB RAM and a minimum 100 MB hard drive, for each Cisco Info Mediator

Info Admin Desktops— Sun workstations with a minimum of 48-MB RAM and a minimum of 75-MB hard drive.

Additional Requirements for Webtop

If you will install the Webtop component in the single-system architecture, note the following additional requirements:

a full installation of Webtop requires an additional 120 MB of disk space

UNIX hosts or PCs that will monitor events relayed by the Webtop Web server must run one of the following browsers:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x or 6.0

Netscape Navigator 4.7 or 6.0


Note The browser must be configured to accept all cookies.


Additional Requirements for Virtual Operator

If you will install the Virtual Operator component in a single-system architecture, note the following additional requirements:

must be installed on a host running Solaris 8

requires an additional 55 MB free disk space

requires an additional 80 MB free space in the /tmp directory

Perl 5 must be installed or linked from /bin/perl or /usr/local/bin/perl

the Solaris operating system must be at the level recommended for the Java Runtime Environment 1.3.1, which is bundled with Virtual Operator.

See the Sun Microsystems SunSolve Web page at the following URL for a list of patches that might be required:

http://sunsolve.sun.com

Recommended Configuration for Managing Large Networks

This section indicates the minimum system requirements for a large installation.

Cisco Info Server—Sun Fire 280R or Netra 20 server or higher with a minimum of 1 GB of RAM and a 512-MB hard drive disk storage per Info Mediator


Note This does not include additional NMS or add-on requirements. Please read the Release Notes or installation manual for the NMS you will use with each Cisco Info Mediator to determine the installation requirements for the NMS.


Info Mediators—Sun Ultra 2 or higher workstation with a minimum of 64-MB RAM and a minimum 100 MB hard drive, per Info Mediator

Cisco Info Admin Desktops—Sun workstations with a minimum of 48-MB RAM and 75-MB hard drive.

Prerequisites for Monitored Products

Each application component contained within the Cisco Info Center  product architecture has an associated set of prerequisites (for example, Java plug-ins and supported browsers). This information can be obtained from the product documentation at this site:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/rtrmgmt/info_ctr/3_6/index.htm

You can also obtain relevant documentation at this site:

http://support.micromuse.com/documentation/

For component specific issues, it is recommended you obtain and consult these documents.

Cisco Info Center 3.6 Support Matrix

Table 1 indicates which components of Cisco Info Center can co-exist on the same host with which Network Management Systems (NMSs) or be installed standalone in combination with specified Solaris versions and software releases. A notation of "yes" indicates a Cisco Info Center 3.6 component can co-exist  on the same host or be installed standalone with an indicated operating system, software release, and/or NMS.


Note The Cisco MTTrapd, Cisco Element Management Framework, and Cisco HP NNM Info Mediators  cannot co-exist on a single machine. Only one of these Info Mediators can be installed on a single machine, because by default, they all bind to port 162.


Table 1 Cisco Info Center 3.6 Compatibility Matrix 

Cisco Info Center 3.6 Component
Required
Solaris
Version
NMS/
Manager
Solaris Version for NMS/
Manager
Can Be Installed Standalone
Can Co-exist with NMS/Manager
Can Co-exist1 with NMS/
Manager
and Cisco Info
Server

Cisco RTTrapd Info Mediator

7, 8

CWM 11.x.x, CWM 12.0.x

Cisco CNS Notification Engine 2.0, 3.0

7

7, 8

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

Cisco Syslog Info Mediator

7, 8

Syslog

7, 8

yes

yes

yes

Cisco Transport Manager Info Mediator

7, 8

7, 8

CTM 3.0

CTM 3.2

8

8

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

Cisco BTS Softswitch

7, 8

BTS Softswitch 3.5.2 and higher

       

Cisco Element Management Framework Info Mediator

7, 8

Cisco EMF 3.0.4

Cisco EMF 3.1

Cisco EMF 3.2

7, 8

7, 8

7, 8

 

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

Cisco MTTrapd Info Mediator

2.6
7, 8

DFM 1.0/1.1

VHM 1.0

MWFM 2.0

Voice Gateways

Gatekeepers

Cisco Element Manager System 3.2 (NEI)

7, 8

7, 8

7, 8

NA

NA

NA


7, 8

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

Cisco TIBCO Info Mediator

7, 8

Cisco CNS Notification Engine 2.0, 3.0

Cisco CNS Performance Engine 2.0.1

7, 8

8

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

yes

1 Although the Info Server component and the NMS/Manager can co-exist on the same host machine, this is not recommended for reasons of efficiency and to ensure load balancing.


Supported Hardware and Software

Cisco Info Center 3.6 operates with the following hardware and software platforms.

IOS Support

Cisco IOS Syslog messages are supported through the Cisco CNS Notification Engine product and the Cisco Syslog Info Mediator.

Cisco Transport Manager Support

Cisco Info Center supports the following optical platforms through Cisco Transport Manager:

the Cisco ONS 15454 is supported through CTM 2.1/2.2/3.0/3.1/3.2

the Cisco ONS 15800 is supported through CTM 2.1/2.2/3.0/3.1/3.2

the Cisco ONS 15327 is supported through CTM 2.2/3.0/3.1/3.2

the Cisco ONS 15801 is supported through CTM 2.2/3.0/3.1/3.2

the Cisco ONS 15808 is supported through CTM 3.0/3.1/3/2

the Cisco ONS 15600 is supported through CTM 3.2

Cisco Element Management Framework Support

Through the Cisco Element Management Framework Info Mediator, Cisco Info Center 3.6 supports the following Element Managers that run under the Cisco Element Management Framework:

Cisco Media Gateway Node Manager (CMNM)—manages media gateways running on Cisco MGX 8260 devices

Cisco DSL Manager (CDM)—manages Cisco DSL Aggregation Modules (DSLAMs) such as the Cisco 6260 DSLAM

Cisco Service Connection Manager (SCM)—manages the Cisco aggregation-layer router, often used in xDSL environments, such as the 6400

Cisco Universal Gateway Manager (UGM)—offers robust, scalable, carrier-class capabilities for the Cisco AS5xx0 series of universal gateways

Cisco Cable Manager (CCM)—manages Cisco uBR7200 series broadband routers

Cisco 7200/7400 Manager (C72/74M)—manages Cisco 7200 and Cisco 7400 routers

Cisco 12000 Manager—manages Cisco 12000 routers.

Cisco Element Manager System Support

With Cisco Info Center 3.6, the Cisco MTTrapd Info Mediator supports Cisco Element Manager System 3.2, including events sent in SNMP messages from element managers that support the Northbound Event Interface (NEI). It also supports the Cisco EMF Clear Alarm Tool.

Generic SNMP Support

Cisco Info Center 3.6 supports monitoring a varied set of hardware devices and software applications through the Cisco MTTrapd Info Mediator: The best practices rules from Micromuse have also been included in Cisco Info Center for customer's convenience.However, they have not been tested by Cisco and will not be supported.


Note The Cisco MTTrapd Info Mediator also includes enhancement and fixes recommended by the CERT team.


NMS and Cisco Info Center Component Specific Considerations

This section presents considerations you should be aware of when installing specific Cisco Info Center components or NSM applications that work with Cisco Info Center.

CNS Notification Engine

Note the following information regarding the use of Cisco Info Center with the Cisco CNS Notification Engine (Cisco CNS-NOTE) product.

SNMP Version

If you plan to use the Cisco CNS Notification Engine product to monitor Syslog events from Cisco IOS devices, Cisco CNS Notification Engine must be installed and running. When you start the Cisco CNS Notification Engine, specify SNMP v1 in the startup command.

Cisco Info Center Cisco CNS Notification Engine Repeat Count Attribute

Note the following differences in how Cisco CNS Notification Engine and Cisco Info Center process repeat count information.

1. When Cisco Info Center receives events from the Cisco CNS Notification Engine, along with the CNS-NOTE Repeat Count attribute, these appear in the "CNS-Note3.0" view in the Cisco Info Center event interface.

2. Cisco Info Center deduplicates instances of the same event received from Cisco CNS Notification Engine during event processing, and each time an event is deduplicated the count attribute is incremented. However, when this occurs, only the latest value of the CNS-NOTE Frequency attribute is retained by Cisco Info Center; therefore any previous values for the event frequency attribute are lost.

Start Cisco CNS Notification Engine Before Starting Cisco Info Center Components

If you are using Cisco Info Center with the Cisco CNS Notification Engine product, make sure to start the Cisco CNS Notification Engine before starting the Cisco Info Center components.

Using the TIBCO Info Mediator with Cisco CNS Notification Engine

Note the points itemized in the following section— "Using the TIBCO Info Mediator"—if you are using the TIBCO Info Mediator with Cisco CNS Notification Engine.

Using the TIBCO Info Mediator

If you are using the TIBCO Info Mediator (nco_p_tibco):

the TIBCO Rendezvous daemon (rvd or rvrd) must be installed and running

the TIBCO Info Mediator must run on the same machine as the Cisco CNS Notification Engine product or the Cisco CNS Performance Engine product, or must run on a host that has the TIBCO Rendezvous daemon installed on it.

when prompted for the notifier name used with the Cisco TIBCO Info Mediator, enter the notifier name for which the Cisco CNS Notification Engine application or the Cisco CNS Performance Engine application is configured, for example, cisco.mgmt.das.

Properties

If the rules and properties need to be customized, the variable $OMNIHOME cannot be used within them. You must instead specify the actual and complete path.

Generic SNMP

The Cisco MTTrapd Info Mediator is used with the Cisco Info Center bind to SNMP port 162. If you want to install them on the same host, you must configure them to use different SNMP ports.

DFM and VHM

To monitor devices managed by the Device Fault Manager (DFM) component of CiscoWorks2000 (CW2K), DFM must be installed and configured to send traps to the host running the Cisco MTTrapd Info Mediator.

For information on configuring DFM to forward messages to Cisco Info Center (or another network management system), refer to the "Using the GUI to Configure the SNMP Trap Adapter to Forward Traps" section in the "Getting Started" section of the Installing and Setting Up Device Fault Manager on Solaris manual or the Installing and Setting Up Device Fault Manager on Windows 2000 and Windows NT manual.

To monitor devices and software managed by the Voice Health Monitor (VHM) component of CiscoWorks2000, VHM must be installed and configured to send traps to the host running the Cisco MTTrapd Info Mediator.

For information on configuring VHM to forward events to Cisco Info Center, refer to the "Enabling VHM to Send Event Notifications to NMSs" section in the Installing and Setting Up Voice Health Monitor on Windows 2000 manual.


Note To monitor events coming in from the Device Fault Manager (DFM) application through the Voice Health Monitor (VHM) application, you must configure both the DFM and the VHM trap notifier to send traps to Cisco Info Center.


MWFM

To monitor devices managed by the Mobile Wireless Fault Mediator (MWFM) application, MWFM must be installed and configured to send traps to Cisco Info Center.

MTTrapd Info Mediator

1000 series traps from the eventd daemon in the Cisco WAN Manager are also supported through the Cisco MTTrapd Info Mediator.

NEI Support

If you will use Cisco Info Center to monitor Northbound Event Interface (NEI) events from element managers running under the Cisco Element Manager System, you must install the Cisco MTTrapd Info Mediator on one host and the Process Control component on the host running the Cisco Element Manager System. After you install the Process Control component on the remote host, you must run the cemf_nei_pa_conf.sh script on the remote host.

For information on running the cemf_nei_pa_conf script, refer to the "Installing the Process Control Agent on the Remote Cisco Element Manager Host" section in Chapter 3 of the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, 3.6.

Cisco WAN Manager

Cisco WAN Manager 9.2.x, 10.4.10, 10.5.10, or Cisco WAN Manager 11.x.x or 12.0.x must be installed and running. One of these versions is needed for proper  functioning with Cisco Info Center 3.6. To check the existence of the process, issue the ps -ef | grep <process_name> command where <process_name> can be svmain or RtmProxy.

Multiple Cisco WAN Manager Networks Support.

Network names must be unique as they appear in the Cisco WAN Manager hosts' svplus/config.sv file or the network.conf file (as is the case with Cisco WAN Manager 10.4.10, 10.5.10, or 11.0.10) as managed by a single Cisco Info Server. You can edit these files and restart the Cisco WAN Manager hosts to ensure the names are different.

dbaccess must only exist in /usr/users/informix/bin and INFORMIXDIR must be set to /usr/users/informix for the root user.

CiscoView

CiscoView should be installed in different directories depending on which release of Cisco WAN Manager you are running. The following list  indicates which directories CiscoView should be installed in for specific Cisco WAN Manager releases:

Cisco WAN Manager Version
CiiscoView Installation Directory

9.2.x

/opt/CSCOcv/bin/nmcview

10.4.x

/usr/users/svplus/wancv/bin/cvw

10.5.10, 11.x.x, 12.0.x

Web CiscoView needs to be in place along with Cisco WAN Manager.


Consult the CiscoView documentation for a detailed description of a CiscoView installation.

Informix Database

The Cisco WAN Manager Informix Database name should be "stratacom."

Service and Network Agents

The Cisco WAN Manager Service and Network Agent should be installed and running. Refer to the Cisco WAN Manager Installation Guide for installation instructions.

The Cisco WAN Manager SNMP Agent must use default port 8161 for SNMP Trap Registration as the Cisco Info Server uses port 8161 to communicate with the Service and Network Agent.

Policy Manager

With Cisco Info Center 3.6, the Policy Manager component is no longer provided. However, if you have installed the Policy Manager component provided with Cisco Info Center release 3.4.1 or 3.5, when you upgrade to release 3.6 you can retain this component.

Virtual Operator

Note the following points if you are installing the Virtual Operator component.

Virtual Operator uses ELMD-based licensing, unlike the other Cisco Info Center 3.6 components, which used FLEXlm-based licensing

Virtual Operator can only run on a Solaris 8 platform

A Cisco Info Server must be installed on the Virtual Operator host.

If you do not select the Cisco Info Server component when the Virtual Operator component is selected, the installation utility automatically selects it and installs it.

Virtual Operator requires an additional 55 MB of free disk space

Virtual Operator requires an additional 80 MB of free space in the /tmp directory

Perl 5 must be installed or linked from /bin/perl or /usr/local/bin/perl

Your Solaris operating system must be at the level recommended for the Java Runtime Environment 1.3.1, which is bundled with Virtual Operator

See the Sun Microsystems SunSolv Web page at the following URL for a list of patches that might be required:

http://sunsolve.sun.com

Virtual Operator requires two types of license:

a Virtual Operator engine license

a Virtual Operator resolution scripts license.

Each resolution scripts license allows you to run up to 20 resolution scripts.


Note For detailed information on Virtual Operator licensing and installation, refer to Chapter 6 of the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, "Installing the Virtual Operator Component."


Webtop

If you are installing the Webtop component, note the following points.

A full installation of Webtop requires an additional 120 MB of disk space

UNIX hosts or PCs that will monitor events relayed by the Webtop web server must run one of the following browsers:

Internet Explorer 5.x or 6.0

Netscape Navigator 4.7 or 6.0

during Webtop installation, you must select the Webtop component and at least one additional Cisco Info Server component, such as the Cisco Info Server component, Cisco Info Mediators components, or the Desktop component

If you log into Webtop as InfoAdmin, you will start with the default Cisco Info Center view. If you log in as another user, you will not get the default Cisco Info Center view.

For more detailed instructions on installing Webtop, refer to Chapter 5 of the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, "Installing the Webtop Component."

Automations

In order to use the Administrator interface to implement automations, an InfoAdmin user must exist. Do not delete this user ID and do not change the password for this user ID.

The Num Lock key must be off for the right mouse button to start the Automation menu.

12-hour-Cleared and 24-hour-Deleted automation is disabled by default. You must enable it. Consult the Cisco Info Center documents for a detailed description.

No automation exists to handle a change of IP address. Currently, if a node has an IP address already configured, changing the IP address on the node will not trigger an update to the Cisco Info Server. This means all incoming events from that node still carry an old NEAddress. You can create tools to execute nco_sql to run an update on a node if that node's IP address is changed.

Object Deletion automation clears any events of the same ObjectType and updates the ObjectStatus and Severity as "Cleared". This is as designed. These "Cleared" traps will then be physically deleted by the 12-hour-Cleared automation (if this automation is enabled).


Note The Resolve NEName or Address automation updates the NEName using NEAddress value or updates the NEAddress using the NEName value, when only one of the two fields (NEName or NEAddress) is available. This automation is turned off by default, because it will cause a significant performance penalty. If you are concerned about performance, you are advised not to turn on this automation.


Do Not Modify the Default Automations

Do not modify the default set of Cisco Info Center automations provided with the initial installation. If you want to customize an automation, first rename the automation (make sure not to use a name already in use), then implement your changes. Alternatively, you can turn off the default automations, copy them to a new name, edit them, and then save them under a new name.

Filters

The Manager field from the different Info Mediators are:

<host>@SV+, <host>@NNM5, <host>@syslog, <host>@C-NOTE, <host>@ctm, <host>@mttrapd and <host>@cemf

Unique Class numbers are assigned to each event category. The filters are based on that category.

Tools


Note For the Ping, Telnet, and Traceroute tools, the NEAddress value is used by default. These automations will not work when NEAddress is not populated with a value.


Launching the CiscoView tool from CiscoWorks2K or Cisco WAN Manager 10.4.10, 10.5.10, 11.x.x, or 12.0.x or CiscoWorks2K requires specific versions of web browsers. Refer to the respective CiscoWorks2K or Cisco WAN Manager documentation for browser requirements.

Cisco Info Center tools that initiate remote scripts rely on the nco_pa process. If this process dies or cannot get a connection, none of the tools will work. The status of the nco_pa process is logged in the /opt/Omnibus/log/NCO_PA.log file.

the dsx3RcvEXZCounter in the RTC tool gives a "does not exist" error message. The MGX dsx3 counter does not work on the SRM card but works on the BNM card.

There must be connectivity to the Cisco WAN Manager host for all Cisco WAN Manager tools to work. All nodes should be reachable from the Cisco WAN Manager machine through IP-relay. The Cisco WAN Manager gateway node should be connected to a LAN.


Note When you delete a tool, you must delete the menu on which the tool occurs, the menu item, and the tool before re-inserting the tool.


Severity Mappings

Cisco Info Center maps MGX alarms to a severity level according to the value of the MGX SNMP varbind: moduleTrapAlarmSeverity. Table 2 indicates the mapping details that are used.

Table 2 MGX Severity Level Mapping

MGX:
Cisco Info Center Severity Level

minor (1)

Minor (3—Yellow)

major (2)

Major (4—Mustard)

dontCare (3)

Warning (2—SkyBlue)

N/A

Indeterminate (—Purple)


Cisco IOS to Cisco CNS-NOTE to Cisco Info Center Severity Mappings

When IOS Facility messages are read by the CNS-NOTE application, their severity is interpreted by CNS-NOTE and assigned to a perceived severity level. In turn, when the events are sent from CNS-NOTe to Cisco Info Center, they are assigned a severity level and are displayed on event lists in a particular cover.

Table 3 shows the severity mappings from Cisco IOS messages to Cisco CNS-NOTE messages and then to Cisco Info Center events

.

Table 3 Cisco IOS to Cisco CNS-NOTE to Cisco Info Center Severity Mappings

IOS Severity
Cisco CNS-NOTE Perceived Severity
Cisco Info Center Severity
Color

0

7

5

Critical (Red)

1

6

5

Critical (Red)

2

6

5

Critical (Red)

3

5

4

Major (Amber)

4

4

3

Minor (Yellow)

5

3

2

Warning (Blue)

6

2

1

Indeterminate (Purple)

 

1 - Other Severity

1

Indeterminate (Purple)

 

0

1

Indeterminate (Purple)

 

1000

0

Clear (Green)


Severity Mappings for TL1 to Cisco Info Center Event Severity Levels

Table 4 shows the mapping of TL1 alarm codes received through Cisco Transport Manager to Cisco Info Center severity levels. The default severity is 1. The severity of the generic TL1 messages is indicated by the AlarmCode, which is mapped to the standard Cisco Info Center severity levels ranging from 0—5.

:

Table 4 TL1 AlarmCode—Severity Mapping

$AlarmCode
Description
Cisco Info Center Severity

M

Response message (Heartbeat/Resync)

1—Indeterminate

A

Non-alarm event

2—Warning

*

Minor alarm

3—Minor

**

Major alarm

4—Major

C

Critical alarm

5—Critical



Note The above severity will be overridden by the specific severity of that particular alarm, which indicated by the notification codes in the alarm.


Table 5 indicates the mapping of TL1 Notification Codes to Cisco Info Center Severity Levels.

Table 5 NotificationCode—Severity Mapping 

NOTIF_CODE Values
Description
Cisco Info Center Severity

CL

The condition causing the alarm has Cleared.

0—Clear

CR

A Critical alarm.

5—Critical

MJ

A Major alarm.

4—Major

MN

A Minor alarm.

3—Minor

NA

The condition is Not Alarmed.

1—Indeterminate

NR

The alarm is not reported.

1—Indeterminate


Installation Notes

Cisco Info Center 3.6 is installed using the OINSTALL installation script.

Refer to the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, 3.6 for installation instructions.

For an overview of installation, refer to chapter 2, "Overview of Installation and Configuration."

For instructions on installing a multi-system architecture in which components are distributed over several hosts, refer to chapter 3, "Installing and Configuring the Multi-System Architecture."

For instructions on installing a single-system architecture in which all components are installed on a single host, refer to chapter 4, "Installing and Configuring the Single System Architecture."

For Webtop installation instructions, refer to chapter 5, "Installing the Webtop Component."

For Virtual Operator installation instructions, refer to Chapter 6, Installing the Virtual Operator Component."

For instruction son configuring the failover feature for Info Servers and Info Mediators, refer to chapter 7, "Configuring Failover."

Upgrade Notes

When you run the Cisco Info Center 3.6 installation utility (OINSTALL) you can upgrade from the Cisco Info Center 3.4.1 or 3.5 release to release 3.6.

Before upgrading, make sure to:

Make a backup copy of any rules files that you have customized

If you have customized any of the default Cisco Info Center automations, rename the automations before upgrading.

For detailed upgrade instructions, refer to Chapter 8 of the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, "Upgrading to Cisco Info Center 3.6."

The upgrade utility will prompt you to add any new release 3.6 components that you might want to install.

Migrating to FLEXlm Licensing for Cisco Info Center 3.6

When you upgrade to Cisco Info Server 3.6, you must migrate your existing ELMD licenses (except for Virtual Operator licenses) to new, FLEXlm-based licenses. You can copy your existing FLEXlm-based Webtop licenses to the new license file that is used with Webtop.and any existing Webtop licenses to new, FLEXlm-based licenses.

For general information on Cisco Info Center 3.6 Licensing, refer to the "Licensing Cisco Info Center" section in chapter 2 of the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, 3.6., "Overview of Installation and Configuration." For information on Licensing after an upgrade to Cisco Info Center 3.6, refer to the "License Requirements" section of chapter 8 of the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, 3.6, "Upgrading to Cisco Info Center 3.6."

Caveats

This section contains information about open Document Defect Tracking System (DDTS) bugs.

CSCec12260. A certain set of files that was available in Cisco Info Center 3.5 are not available in release 3.6 in the /opt/Omnibus/unsupported directory. This problem will be addressed in a future release.

CSCec19739. The Syslog Info Mediator does not work in failover mode. This problem will be addressed in a future release.

CSCec45978. When the Licensing component is upgraded to release 3.6, the Licensing portion of the configuration the user is not given a license code to use to apply for licenses.

Workaround. Issue the following commands to set the NCLICENSE variable and then run the nc_hostid command to output a license code to send to Micromuse to request licenses:

setenv NCLICENSE /opt/Omnibus/common/license

cd /opt/Omnibus/common/license/bin

./nc_hostid

Send the license code that is displayed to Micromuse to request licenses. Refer to "License Requirements" in chapter 8 of the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, 3.6 ("Upgrading to CIC 3.6") for more information.

CSCec45981. When the Info Mediator and Licensing components only are installed, the Licensing configuration portion of nco_config is not started.

Workaround. Issue the following commands to set the NCLICENSE variable and then run the nc_hostid command to output a license code to send to Micromuse to request licenses:

setenv NCLICENSE $OMNIHOME/common/license

cd $OMNIHOME/common/license/bin

./nc_hostid

Send the license code that is displayed to Micromuse to request licenses. Refer to "License Requirements" in chapter 8 of the Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, 3.6 ("Upgrading to CIC 3.6") for more information.

CSCec61715. Cisco Info Center 3.6 contains two "Delete Clears" automations: one is named DeleteClears (no space between "Delete" and "Clears") and runs every 2 minutes; the other is named Delete Clears (with a space between "Delete" and "Clears." and runs every 30 minutes. The 2 minute interval is too small and results in events being cleared from the Event List too frequently.

Workaround.
Either delete the DeleteClears automation or disable it

CSCin53889. Entering NCO_PA during an upgrade from release 3.5 to 3.6 does not produce a process control file entry for NCO_PA in the omni.dat file; instead, the name MED1_PA (which is prompted for) is used.

Workaround. When the installation script prompts you for the Process Control agent name, enter the correct process control name. For example, if the process control agent name is NCO_PA, enter NCO_PA

CSCin54649. Sometimes, when a desktop is connected to a remote Info Server, clicking on an event in the event list results in an error message, "Fatal Error: Failed to connect to Object Server.

Workaround. This occurs when the remote Info Server is at a great geographical distance from the desktop, such as on another continent. The solution is to select the event several times. After trying a few times, the connection will complete and the event will display correctly.

CSCin54653. If only the Info Desktop component is installed on a host (and the Info Server component is installed on a separate host), the failover portion of the configuration script does not prompt for the primary and secondary (backup) Info Server. Configuration for dual Info Desktops will be provided in a future release.

CSCin55009. When the MTTrapd Info Mediator is processing a large number of events, the Info Sever cannot handle the load and the events are queued. This causes a delay in display of the events.

CSCin55350. When the MTTrapd Info Mediator is run, CPU utilization for Cisco Info Center 3.6 is greater than that for release 3.5. This will be addressed in a future release.

CSCin55677. When the /etc/init.d/nco stop command is issued, sometimes an error message is displayed: Cisco/InfoCenter shutdown: stopping flex License Manager /etc/init.d/nco kill: no such process.

Known Issues with Related Products

Each application contained within the Cisco Info Center product architecture has an associated set of Release Notes containing product-specific issues. This information can be obtained from the Micromuse Support site:

http://support.micromuse.com/documentation/

Micromuse strongly recommends you obtain and read these Release Notes prior to initiating a Cisco Info Center installation.

Related Documentation

Each component contained within the Cisco Info Center product architecture has an associated set of documentation which can be obtained from Cisco Systems at this site:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/rtrmgmt/info_ctr/3_6/index.htm

You can also obtain relevant documentation at this site:

http://support.micromuse.com/documentation/

For component-specific information, it is strongly recommended that you obtain and consult these documents. Issues such as licensing, connectivity and integration, and product specific features are described in the respective guides for each application.

This section describes the manuals in the Cisco Info Center documentation set and how to obtain access to them. The online versions of the Cisco Info Center documentation can be found on the Cisco Documentation CD, as well as on the Cisco Connection Online (CCO) at the following URL (unless otherwise noted):

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/rtrmgmt/info_ctr/3_6/index.htm.

Refer to and read the Cisco Info Center 3.6 documents in the following order:

1. Documentation Guide for Cisco Info Center, 3.6 (Part Number: 78-15967-01). This document is available in hard and soft copy. It is available on CCO at:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/rtrmgmt/info_ctr/3_6/docguide/docguide.htm.

2. Release Notes for Cisco Info Center, 3.6 (this document). This document is available on CCO at:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/rtrmgmt/info_ctr/3_6/relnotes/relnotes.htm.

3. Cisco Info Center Installation and Configuration Guide, 3.6 (Part Number: OL-4815-01). This document is available on CCO at:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/rtrmgmt/info_ctr/3_6/install/install.htm.

4. Cisco Info Center Adminstrator Reference, 3.6, (Part Number: OL-4814-01). This document is available on CCO at:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/rtrmgmt/info_ctr/3_6/admin/index.htm.

5. Cisco Info Center User Guide, 3.6 (Part Number: OL-4816-01). This document is available on CCO at:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/rtrmgmt/info_ctr/3_6/user/install.htm.

6. Cisco Info Center Mediator Reference, 3.6 (Part Number: OL-4939-01). This document is available on CCO at:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/rtrmgmt/info_ctr/3_6/med_ref/install.htm.

Obtaining Documentation

Cisco provides several ways to obtain documentation, technical assistance, and other technical resources. These sections explain how to obtain technical information from Cisco Systems.

Cisco.com

You can access the most current Cisco documentation on the World Wide Web at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/home/home.htm

You can access the Cisco website at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com

International Cisco websites can be accessed from this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/public/countries_languages.shtml

Documentation CD-ROM

Cisco documentation and additional literature are available in a Cisco Documentation CD-ROM package, which may have shipped with your product. The Documentation CD-ROM is updated regularly and may be more current than printed documentation. The CD-ROM package is available as a single unit or through an annual or quarterly subscription.

Registered Cisco.com users can order a single Documentation CD-ROM (product number DOC-CONDOCCD=) through the Cisco Ordering tool:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/ordering/ordering_place_order_ordering_tool_launch.html

All users can order annual or quarterly subscriptions through the online Subscription Store:

http://www.cisco.com/go/subscription

Click Subscriptions & Promotional Materials in the left navigation bar.

Ordering Documentation

You can find instructions for ordering documentation at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/es_inpck/pdi.htm

You can order Cisco documentation in these ways:

Registered Cisco.com users (Cisco direct customers) can order Cisco product documentation from the Networking Products MarketPlace:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/ordering/index.shtml

Nonregistered Cisco.com users can order documentation through a local account representative by calling Cisco Systems Corporate Headquarters (California, USA) at 408 526-7208 or, elsewhere in North America, by calling 800 553-NETS (6387).

Documentation Feedback

You can submit e-mail comments about technical documentation to bug-doc@cisco.com.

You can submit comments by using the response card (if present) behind the front cover of your document or by writing to the following address:

Cisco Systems
Attn: Customer Document Ordering
170 West Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA 95134-9883

We appreciate your comments.

Obtaining Technical Assistance

For all customers, partners, resellers, and distributors who hold valid Cisco service contracts, the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) provides 24-hour-a-day, award-winning technical support services, online and over the phone. Cisco.com features the Cisco TAC website as an online starting point for technical assistance. If you do not hold a valid Cisco service contract, please contact your reseller.

Cisco TAC Website

The Cisco TAC website ( http://www.cisco.com/tac) provides online documents and tools for troubleshooting and resolving technical issues with Cisco products and technologies. The Cisco TAC website is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Accessing all the tools on the Cisco TAC website requires a Cisco.com user ID and password. If you have a valid service contract but do not have a login ID or password, register at this URL:

http://tools.cisco.com/RPF/register/register.do

Opening a TAC Case

Using the online TAC Case Open Tool ( http://www.cisco.com/tac/caseopen) is the fastest way to open P3 and P4 cases. (P3 and P4 cases are those in which your network is minimally impaired or for which you require product information.) After you describe your situation, the TAC Case Open Tool automatically recommends resources for an immediate solution. If your issue is not resolved using the recommended resources, your case will be assigned to a Cisco TAC engineer.

For P1 or P2 cases (P1 and P2 cases are those in which your production network is down or severely degraded) or if you do not have Internet access, contact Cisco TAC by telephone. Cisco TAC engineers are assigned immediately to P1 and P2 cases to help keep your business operations running smoothly.

To open a case by telephone, use one of the following numbers:

Asia-Pacific: +61 2 8446 7411 (Australia: 1 800 805 227)
EMEA: +32 2 704 55 55
USA: 1 800 553-2447

For a complete listing of Cisco TAC contacts, go to this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/687/Directory/DirTAC.shtml

TAC Case Priority Definitions

To ensure that all cases are reported in a standard format, Cisco has established case priority definitions.

Priority 1 (P1)—Your network is "down" or there is a critical impact to your business operations. You and Cisco will commit all necessary resources around the clock to resolve the situation.

Priority 2 (P2)—Operation of an existing network is severely degraded, or significant aspects of your business operation are negatively affected by inadequate performance of Cisco products. You and Cisco will commit full-time resources during normal business hours to resolve the situation.

Priority 3 (P3)—Operational performance of your network is impaired, but most business operations remain functional. You and Cisco will commit resources during normal business hours to restore service to satisfactory levels.

Priority 4 (P4)—You require information or assistance with Cisco product capabilities, installation, or configuration. There is little or no effect on your business operations.

Obtaining Additional Publications and Information

Information about Cisco products, technologies, and network solutions is available from various online and printed sources.

The Cisco Product Catalog describes the networking products offered by Cisco Systems, as well as ordering and customer support services. Access the Cisco Product Catalog at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_catalog_links_launch.html

Cisco Press publishes a wide range of general networking, training and certification titles. Both new and experienced user will benefit from these publications. For current Cisco Press titles and other information, go to Cisco Press online at this URL:

http://www.ciscopress.com

Packet magazine is the Cisco quarterly publication that provides the latest networking trends, technology breakthroughs, and Cisco products and solutions to help industry professionals get the most from their networking investment. Included are networking deployment and troubleshooting tips, configuration examples, customer case studies, tutorials and training, certification information, and links to numerous in-depth online resources. You can access Packet magazine at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/packet

iQ Magazine is the Cisco bimonthly publication that delivers the latest information about Internet business strategies for executives. You can access iQ Magazine at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/go/iqmagazine

Internet Protocol Journal is a quarterly journal published by Cisco Systems for engineering professionals involved in designing, developing, and operating public and private internets and intranets. You can access the Internet Protocol Journal at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/about/ac123/ac147/about_cisco_the_internet_protocol_journal.html

Training—Cisco offers world-class networking training. Current offerings in network training are listed at this URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/learning/index.html


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Posted: Fri Jan 28 17:54:46 PST 2005
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