Distributing Policies to Network Devices

Use the Distribution Manager application to distribute policies to network devices. These sections describe the use of Distribution Manager, and other tasks associated with distribution policies.

How to Use the Distribution Manager Application

These sections describe the basics for how to use the Distribution Manager interface, and how to configure its operational settings.

Starting Distribution Manager

Start Distribution Manager whenever you want to distribute new or changed policies to selected devices.

Before You Begin

Determine the policy changes you wish to make. Use the Policy Manager to create new policies or change existing policies.

Procedure

Select Tools>Distribution Manager in the Policy Manager to start the Distribution Manager. Or, click the Distribution button on the Policy Manager tool bar.

Tips

You can also start Distribution Manager by selecting Start>Programs>QoS Policy Manager>Distribution Manager.

Understanding the Distribution Manager Interface

The Distribution Manager main window (Figure 7-1) is divided into three panes.

Tree View—The upper left quadrant. Each entry is a job that contains all of the policy changes that have occurred since the last job was applied. The devices are not shown in the tree view. The job usually represents multiple policies.
List View—The upper right quadrant. All the devices (routers) in a job folder (affected by new policies) are displayed in this pane.
Log Messages—The lower part of the main window. System or Job messages are displayed in this pane. The Log Message pane is visible when the Logging check box in Devices>Options>View tab is checked.

Figure 7-1 The Distribution Manager Main Window

Tree View

The tree view pane contains a folder for each job to be distributed. The job folder contains a list of the devices for which you have added or changed policies in the Policy Manager. When the job is selected, the devices are displayed in the list view pane.

List View

The list view pane displays two different views, Jobs Summary or Contents of a selected Job. Select the Root of the Tree view to see Jobs Summary in the List View pane. When jobs are viewed, the information displayed is Job Name, Database Name, Total (number of) Devices, Written Devices, Date/Time and (Job) Status. To see the devices of a certain Job, select a job in the tree view or double click the job in the summary view. In this view you can see all the devices (routers) that are contained in the selected job folder. These are the devices to which the new or changed policy will be distributed.

Figure 7-2 List View Pane Showing a Job

The status of each job or device is displayed in the column next to the device. Table 7-1 explains the status of jobs and Table 7-2 explains the status of devices.

Table 7-1 Description of Job Status

Status	Description
Not-Applied	No policies have been sent to any of the devices in this job.
In-Progress	The system is in the process of writing the new policies to the devices in this job.
Completed	The new policies have been written to all the devices in this job.
Failed	Writing new policies to one or more devices failed. If you selected "Stop if error occurred" in the Job Option tab of the Option menu window, the entire job was stopped at this failure and the new policies were not written to any of the remaining devices. If you did not select this option the new policies were written to the remaining devices. Click on the job title in the Tree View pane to see which devices failed.
Stopped	You stopped the distribution of new policies to devices in this job. To resume the distribution of new policies select Devices>Resume, or click on the Resume icon. Select the job title in the Tree View pane to see the list of devices which have not yet received the new policies.

Table 7-2 Description of Device Status

Status	Description
Not-Applied	New policies have not been sent to this device.
In-Progress	The system is in the process of writing the new policies to this device.
Completed	The new policies have been written to this device successfully.
Unchanged	The new policies in this job do not affect this device.
Failed	The system was unsuccessful in writing the new policy to the device.

Log Messages

The log message pane displays event messages. Messages have four levels of severity; Informational, Warning, Error and Fatal Error. The log message window has two tabs to display two types of log messages, System Logging messages and Job/Device Logging messages.

System log messages describe events occurring on the network. An example is "Database has been saved" for a specific job.

The second tab alternates between Job and Device messages depending upon which is selected. Select a job in the tree view to display Job log messages or select a device in the list view to display log messages for that device only. The Job log displays messages for all the devices in the job.

Changing the Distribution Manager Display

You can change the main Distribution Manager window to display information according to your preferences. Table 7-3 lists the available commands for changing the main Distribution Manager window.

Table 7-3 Commands for Changing the Distribution Manager Main Window

If you want to...	Command	Description
Display or hide the tool bar	View>Toolbar	The tool bar is the row of short-cut buttons beneath the menu. When Toolbar is checked on the View menu, the tool bar is displayed.
Display or hide the log pane	View>Log	The log pane displays log messages for the system, job or device. Select the System tab to display the system messages. The Job/Device tab toggles between job messages and device messages depending upon whether a job is selected in the tree view pane or a device is selected in the list view pane.
Display or hide the status bar	View>Status Bar	The status bar is at the bottom of the window, and displays informative messages as you use Distribution Manager. When Status Bar is checked on the View menu, the status bar is displayed.

Changing Distribution Manager Configuration Settings

You can use the Distribution Manager's Option window to change the Distribution Manager window appearance, logging display, and operation.

Procedure

Step 1 Select Devices>Options in the main Distribution Manager window. The Options window is opened, Figure 7-3.

Figure 7-3 Distribution Manager Option Window

Step 2 Select the desired options. Table 7-4 describes the settings you can configure for Distribution Manager.

Table 7-4 Device Options Dialog Box

Tab	Field	Description	Notes
Jobs	Stop if error occurred	Check this box if you want to stop writing the QoS commands to the remaining devices in the job.	This is normal mode.
	Configure one device at a time	Check this box to write QoS commands to one device at a time instead of multiple devices at once. Distribution Manager waits for a Resume command to write QoS commands to the next device.
	Show Unchanged Devices	Check this box to display all devices, including those not affected by the new policy.
Logs	Number of job to show	Shows the number of jobs for which messages are displayed in the Logging pane (lower pane of the Distribution Manager window).	Select the field and type a number to change the default (10).
	Number of system log messages to show	Shows the total number of logging messages to be displayed in the Logging pane.	Select the field and type a number to change the default (50).
	Number of jobs to store	Displays the total number of jobs for which log messages are saved.	Select the field and type the number of jobs for which you wish to save messages.
	Number of system log messages to store	Displays the number of general logging messages to be saved.	Select the field and type the number of messages you wish to save.

Starting Policy Manager from Distribution Manager

If Policy Manager is not running, you can start it from the Distribution Manager interface.

Procedure

Select Tools>Policy Manager, or click on the Policy Manager button in the tool bar.

The Policy Manager application starts.

Exiting Distribution Manager

From the Distribution Manager interface, you can close just Distribution Manager, or exit both Distribution Manager and Policy Manager.

Before You Begin

Make sure that all distribution activities are complete, or have been stopped. Also, ensure that all new policies have been saved in Policy Manager.

Procedure

To close Distribution Manager without closing Policy Manager, select File>Close.
To exit both Distribution Manager and Policy Manager, select File>Exit.

Distributing Policy Changes to Network Devices

You can write policy changes or new policies to the network devices. You can write new policies to devices in a job sequentially, simultaneously, or individually. You can also view the status of each device as the distribution occurs.

Writing Policy Changes

Before You Begin

Ensure that all the policy changes required have been made in the Policy Manager application.

Procedure

Step 1

Select a job in the tree view pane. This displays all the devices affected by the new policies.

Step 2 Select Devices>Apply, or click the Apply button in the tool bar.

Tips

If you selected "Write only one device at a time" in the Option dialog, the new policy will be written devices sequentially.
If you did not select "Write only one device at a time", the new policy will be written to all the devices simultaneously. The progress for each device is visible in the Status column of the list view pane. Table 7-5 describes the status conditions.
Alternately, you can write a policy to one device, only. Select a job in the tree view pane, then select a device in the list view and select Devices>Apply.

Monitoring Distribution Actions

You can view policy distribution actions in the Status column of the list view pane.

The Status column entry changes as the distribution actions occur.

Table 7-5 Description of Device Status

Status	Description
Not-Applied	New policies have not been sent to this device yet.
In-Progress	The system is in the process of writing the new policies to this device.
Completed	The new policies have been written to this device successfully.
Unchanged	Devices that are not affected by the selected job, that is, the new policies for the currently selected job do not affect these devices.
Unknown	The device has not been located on the network.
Failed	The system was unsuccessful in writing the new policy to the device.

Devices carry a "Not-Applied" or "Unchanged" status until the distribution process starts.

Procedure

Start the distribution process by selecting a job or device, then selecting Devices>Apply.

The entry in the Status column changes to "In-Progress." When the process is complete, the status changes to "Completed." If there was an error, the status is "Failed."

Tips

If the system is unsuccessful, a message explaining the failure is displayed in the log message pane.

Stopping the Distribution of a Policy Change

You can stop the distribution process at any time. The stop takes effect at the end of writing the new policy to the current device.

The system remembers the devices that have not been completed so that you can resume at a later time. If you do not wish to complete the job you must remove the policy changes to the devices from the database in Policy Manager.

Procedure

Step 1

Select the job you want to stop from the tree view window.

Step 2 Select Devices>Stop or click the Stop button.

Tips

Distribution Manager does not stop in the middle of writing to a device. The stop occurs at the end of the current device to which system is writing, but before the next device starts.
You can also click the Stop button in the tool bar.
If you exit Distribution Manager, the incomplete jobs will still be present unless you remove them from the database.

Resuming a Stopped Policy Distribution

When a policy distribution has been stopped before completion, you may resume the distribution of that policy from where it was stopped.

The incomplete jobs will still be present even if you exited and re-started the Distribution Manager. The system remembers the policies for each device and if the policies have been distributed.

Before You Begin

Start Distribution Manager.

Procedure

Step 1

Select the job you want to restart.

Step 2 Select Devices>Resume, or click the Resume button on the tool bar.

Viewing the IOS Commands

You can view the IOS commands for each device in a job that is being modified by a policy change. Only the Incremental change that are applied to the device in that Job are shown.

Figure 7-4 View of IOS Commands

Procedure

Step 1 Select the device for which you want to see the IOS Commands.

Step 2 Select Device>View Device Commands.

Reading the Log Messages

Log messages of Distribution Manager actions are available in the log message pane. Log messages are divided between system messages, job and device messages. Job and device messages occupy the same tab, and one or the other is displayed depending upon which is highlighted in the tree or view panes.

System messages are specifically about the system operation and actions.

Job/device messages describe actions related to the writing of new policies to a device. Job messages are the accumulation of messages for all the devices in the job. Device messages pertain to the specific device selected in the list view pane.

Before You Begin

If the message log pane is not visible, select View>Logging.

Procedure

Step 1 Select the System Logging tab to see system messages.

Step 2 Select a job in the tree view pane and select the Job Logging tab to see all the log messages for the job.

Step 3 Select a device in the list view pane and select the Device Logging tab to see all the log messages for the selected device.

Log Messages

There are four types of log messages that may appear, informational messages, warning messages, error messages, and fatal error messages. The messages and explanations appear below.