managing an enterprise wlan with cisco prime ncs & wcs
DESCRIPTION
How to use Cisco Prime Network Control System (NCS) & WCS to deploy and manage your wireless network, an advanced technical deep-dive. Includes migration tips from WCS to NCS. Learn More: http://www.cisco.com/go/wirelessTRANSCRIPT
BRKEWN-2011
Managing an Enterprise WLAN with Wireless Control System (WCS)
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 2
§ The Role of WCS/NCS in the Network § Introducing Cisco Prime Network Control System § Planning and Deploying a Wireless Network § Monitoring § Tools and Troubleshooting § Reporting § Advanced Topics § WCS to NCS Migration
Session Agenda
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 3
§ Original session objective: The objective of this session is to show WCS’s role in the network and its lifecycle, and to demonstrate WCS features and how they can be used to perform practical tasks; the session also provides suggestions and best practices on topics where appropriate
§ Modified session objective: Since Cisco Prime Network Control System (NCS) has been announced, this session will cover WCS and introduce NCS in the context of WCS in terms of common areas and key differences.
Session Objective
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 4
The Role of WCS/NCS in the Network
Introducing Cisco Prime Network Control System (NCS)
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 6
What is Network Control System (NCS)?
§ Single platform for consolidated view of wired and wireless access infrastructure and endpoints
§ Built on the foundation of Cisco WCS, provides complete lifecycle management of wired and wireless access networks
§ Provides monitoring of endpoint security policy integration with Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
§ All existing functionality in WCS is also supported in NCS
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 7
Increased Scale 15,000 lightweight AP’s 5,000 aIOS AP’s 5,000 switches
Unified Access and Services Management
Manage access layer of network – wireless and wired Wireless NetOps Wired NetOps SecOps
Enhanced UI “drag and drop” customization, advanced filters (list pages), improved page navigation
Comprehensive Identity M&T
Integrated user/device monitoring and troubleshooting with Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
Reporting Enhancements
Increased reporting scale, optimization
NCS – Key Enhancements
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 8
Device WCS Devices Supported
NCS Devices Supported
Cisco Lightweight Access Points
3,000 15,000
Cisco Autonomous Access Points
1,250 5,000
Cisco Switches 0 5,000
NCS – Increased Device Scale
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 9
Virtual Appliance Physical Appliance
Appliance Delivery Models
Application & Components
OS
Cisco-branded Hardware (1RU)
Cisco Provided
Application & Components
OS
Cisco Provided
Customer Provided
Virtual Infrastructure
Discontinuation of software binaries - Replaced by new Complete Appliance Model
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 10
Physical Appliance Virtual Appliance
Hardware and software from Cisco (OS and NCS pre-installed)
VMware image (OS + NCS) Supported on: • VMware ESX/ESXi version 3.5 • VMware ESX/ESXi version 4.1
15,000 lightweight AP’s 1,200 WLC’s 5,000 aIOS AP’s 5,000 switches
Large: 15K/1.2K/5K/5K Medium: 7.5K/600/2.5K/2.5K Small: 3.5K/240/1K/1K
Cisco hardware appliance • Not supported on WLSE
hardware
High-end: 8x2.93GHz CPU/1GB DRAM/300GB HD
Standard: 4x2.93 GHz/12 GB/200 GB Low-end: 2x2.93 GHz/8 GB/150 GB
Appliance-Based Solution
Planning and Deployment
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 12
§ Using Planning Tool § Setting up Network Elements via WCS/NCS
Controller Configuration Groups
Configuration Template LaunchPad
Controller Auto-Provisioning
Configuration Auditing Methods
§ Provisioning Maps and Context-Aware Service
Planning and Deployment
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 13
Launching the Planning and Editing Tools § Create a new Campus/Building
§ Create a floor you want to plan for (import floor plan)
§ Pick “Planning Mode” or “Map Editor” from the drop-down menu
Planning Mode—High-Level Options § Add AP: Allows adding new Access Points to the Map
§ Delete AP: Remove existing Access Points from the Map
§ Map Editor: Edit the floor plan to draw objects such as light/thick walls, light/heavy doors, cubicles, glass, coverage areas, perimeters, markers, etc.
§ Synchronize with Deployment: Pull in currently deployed and placed Access Points on the floor to tweak existing deployment
§ Generate Proposal: Generates a document that maybe provided to a 3rd party deployment company; additionally, also provides various heat maps
Planning—Overview
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 14
§ Accounts for objects and obstacles on a floor
For a precise RF propagation model display (predictive heat maps) Attenuation characteristics for objects and obstacles help predictive engine
§ Helps specify areas and regions such as:
Coverage Area and Markers—used for location notifications
Perimeter—defines the outer boundary Location Inclusion and Exclusion Regions — used for location events and
notifications § Objects and obstacles that may
be specified: Walls (Light and Heavy)—2dB and 13dB Cubicle (Walls)—1dB Doors (Light and Heavy)—4dB and 15dB Glass (doors, windows, walls)—1.5dB
Planning Tool—Map Editor
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 15
Planning Tool—Options
Specify AP Prefix and AP Placement method (automatic vs. manual)
Selecting AP type determines the antenna choices available for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz band
Select the protocol (band) and minimum desired throughput per band that’s required for this plan
Data and Voice provide “safety margins” for design help. Safety margins help design for certain RSSI thresholds (detailed in online help).
Enable planning mode for advance options for data, voice, location and others
Location typically requires a denser deployment than data and the location checkbox helps plan for the advertised location accuracy
Location with monitor-mode factors in AP(s) that could be deployed to augment location accuracy
Both the “Demand” and “Override…” options allow for planning for any special cases where there’s a high-density of client presence such conference rooms or lecture halls
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 16
Planning Tool—Customize Plan
Clicking an AP in the plan allows customization (added, deleted or simply modify properties) before a proposal may be generated
Default suggestions after running the planning tool present AP deployment choices and ability to switch between data and signal strength heatmap
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 17
Planning Tool—Proposal
Proposal Contents: § Floor Plan Details
§ Disclaimer/Scope/Assumptions
§ Proposed AP Placement
§ Coverage and Data Rate Heatmap
§ Coverage Analysis
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 18
What Are Config-Groups? § An easy way to group controllers logically § Provides a way to manage controllers with similar configurations
Extract templates from existing controller to provision Schedule configuration sets Cascade Reboot
§ Manage Mobility Groups, DCA, and Configuration Auditing When Are Config-Groups Used? § Group sites together for easier management for:
Mobility Groups DCA and Regulatory Domain Settings Schedule remote configuration changes
§ Groups sites to ensure compliance with configuration policies
Configuration — Config-Groups Overview
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 19
Configuration-Groups How-To: Setup
• Select and add later: Only create the config group and then add controllers and templates at another time • Copy Templates from controller: Copy templates from one of the controllers currently in WCS and then apply them to controllers in this config group. Note, if controllers’ templates are not already discovered, they can be discovered from the “Configure – Controllers” page
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 20
Configuration-Groups How-To: Setup
§ Adding Controllers: Controllers in WCS are presented and can be moved over to the newly config group
§ Applying Templates: Discovered or already present template(s) can then be applied to controller
§ Auditing: Ensure template-based audit is selected in audit settings and then audit controllers in group to ensure they comply with policies
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 21
§ Template order is very important! § Background audit is performed during network
and controller audit § Background audit and audit enforcement can
only run when template-based audit is selected (under Administration—Settings)
§ WLC(s) may be part of multiple configuration groups so be careful while setting mobility group names
Configuration-Groups: Things to Remember
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 22
What Are Configuration Templates? § Sets of configurations that may be applied to devices at system/global level
§ May be re-used to modify already applied configurations
§ May be used to replicate configuration to other devices added subsequently
§ May be to used to schedule configuration changes
§ May be to used to audit against
Types of Templates § Controller templates
§ Lightweight AP templates
§ Autonomous AP migration templates
§ Controller and Autonomous Command-Line templates
Configuration—Templates Overview
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 23
Controller Template LaunchPad
Tree-based hierarchy continues to exist as left-hand navigation
All-in-one, high-level view of template categories in WCS which may be expanded or collapsed for easier navigation and viewing
Each template provides a callout icon which, on mouse-over, provides easy to understand description of what the template is and how it may be used to configure certain attribute(s).
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 24
§ Templates are added to WCS database when a WLC is first added to WCS
§ Template names can be changed to more meaningful names after discovery
§ Additional configuration changes on the WLC may be pulled in to WCS via the “Discover templates from controller” option
Templates: Things to Remember—1
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 25
§ Upon configuration refresh from WCS, template associations may be deleted or maintained
§ Use the “Templates Applied to Controller” option to see a mapping of existing templates (pushed from WCS)
Templates: Things to Remember—2
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 26
§ WLAN override feature was re-designed and merged under AP Groups—WCS does provide backward compatibility so newer releases (5.2 and above) provision this differently
§ WCS supports template creation for WLC’s dynamic interfaces
Templates: Things to Remember—3
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 27
§ Easy way to identify configuration gaps between WCS and WLC
Manual on-demand audit capability
Automatic audits based on “configuration sync” background task
§ Allows easy reconciliation in the event of a configuration mismatch
§ Helps ensure WLCs comply with configuration policies
Configuration—Auditing
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 28
Quick Audit Summary and Reconciliation
Audit Summary Restore or Maintain Config
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 29
Audit Settings
§ Audit Mode Basic Audit: Perform an audit on current WLC configuration and compare
it with the configuration in WCS
Template-Based Audit: Perform an audit on current WLC configuration with respect to applied templates, config groups’ background templates and then the configuration in WCS
§ Audit On All Parameters: Audit on entire WLC configuration
Selected Parameters: Audit on selected parameters from the templates
Audit Settings
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 30
What Is Auto-Provisioning?
§ Ability to automatically detect and configure new WLCs (locally or at remote sites)
§ Allows detection based on multiple criterion: Hostname, MAC Address or Serial number (.cfg file on TFTP server)
§ Adds WLC to WCS for further configuration after provisioning
When Would You Use It?
§ Large distributed deployments
§ Limited IT resources
§ Streamline operations and eliminate configuration mismatches
Configuration—Auto-Provisioning
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 31
Controller Auto-Provisioning
§ Monitor Only: Controllers matched by this filter will not be configurable by WCS in the auto provision process
§ Filter Mode: Choose from hostname, MAC Address or Serial number to match the WLC
§ Config Group Name: Add the auto-provisioned WLC(s) to their own config group for easier management since these might share common policies
§ Input Device: Select from single or multiple devices to provision. Selecting CSV option provides a link to download a sample file to understand the syntax.
§ Device Configuration: Other device parameters that can be configured at this stage.
After hitting “Submit”, the filter is saved with one entry for the “member” you just added. At this point, you may add other members (WLCs) to this filter as well. This filter also creates a WLC config file in WCS’s TFTP directory. Ensure your DHCP server’s option 150 points to WCS Server
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 32
Scheduled Image Download to Controller
• Provides option to schedule software download (FTP/TFTP) to controllers. • Task can be saved for future scheduling. • Reboot can be scheduled at a future date/time. • Email notification can be sent after completion of download.
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 33
Scheduling AP Pre-Image Download
• Provides option to schedule image download to AP. • Reboot can be scheduled at a future date/time. • Email notification can be sent after completion of download.
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 34
Why Maps? § Track wireless clients and tags, and play location history across campus § Track and mitigate rogue devices § Display Chokepoints § Display Mesh AP relationships § Integrate outdoor wireless mesh with Google Earth § Represent wireless coverage on campus, and plan for growth § View Channel and Tx Power plans provisioned by RRM § View AP and RF Profile at the floor level § Provision and display coverage areas, markers and other objects and use
them with location notifications § Post-Deployment: VoWLAN and Location Readiness tools
Configuration—Maps
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 35
Maps Layout
Hierarchical Layout for easy navigation
Default View of Campus, Buildings, and Floors can be easily changed with
the “Quick Filters”
Building view provides a quick glance in to floors’ status and alarm summary
for easier troubleshooting
Adding Campus or Buildings are made easy with the drop-down menu actions through an
easy wizard that walks you through provisioning floor plans and APs
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 36
Maps Layout—Floor View
Quickly Add/Remove Layers that may be placed on the floor plan and heat maps
Mouse-over on objects on the map provides quick object
summaries
Commonly used map actions are ever-present
in icon format
Display and locate interference sources and zone of interference
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 37
Maps Layout—Floor View
Quickly Add/Remove Layers that may be placed on the floor plan and heat maps
Mouse-over on objects on the map provides quick object
summaries
Commonly used map actions are ever-present
in icon format
Display and locate interference
sources and zone of interference
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 38
WCS Map Export/Import
• Provides ability to export maps from one WCS to target WCS. • Can select all maps or subset. • Export/import of map includes both map and AP’s placed on MAP. • Exported via tar gzipped XML file. • Import process ungzips/untars XML file automatically.
Real-Time Heat Maps
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 40
Real-Time Heatmaps
NCS provides: § AP-to-AP RSSI measurements reflected
in heat maps § Option to switch between real-time (new)
and predictive (legacy) heat maps
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 41
Real-Time Heat Maps
Real-time heatmap (NCS)
Predictive heatmap (WCS)
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 42
Real-Time Heat Maps + Rx Neighbors
Provides list of neighboring AP’s and RSSI value that they “hear” the
selected AP
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 43
Advantages of Real-Time Heat Maps
§ Provides graphical view of RSSI based on set of nearest AP’s vs. AP transmit power (predictive heat map)
§ Configurable options: § Min. number of APs § Recomputation interval
Monitoring
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 45
§ General Monitoring Dashboard Concepts
§ Client-Related Monitoring Client Details and Client List Pages Client Dashboard
§ Using Search § NCS: Monitoring Autonomous APs § NCS: Monitoring Switches § Alarms and Events
Setting up Alarm Summary Differentiation Between Alarms and Events Severity and Layout Customization Setting Up Notifications and Help Desk-Like Usage
Section Agenda: Monitoring
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 46
§ Canned tabs of high-level system views
§ Ability to add/remove tabs
§ Ability to add/remove components within tabs
§ Customize individual components
§ Introduction of trending information at system level
§ Quick drill-downs
Monitoring—WCS Dashboard Concepts
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 47
Customizing WCS Dashboard
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 48
Customizing and Historical Trending
Custom Tab
Custom Components
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 49
§ WCS presents many intuitive ways to arrive at information
§ Ability to drill-down to an individual client-level detail from dashboard
§ Ability to drill-down with the help of “Quick Filters”
§ Ability to sort on different attributes in client list pages
§ Ability to perform and save intelligent searches
§ Ability to customize list layout, items per page and content
§ Perform advance context-sensitive actions (such as launching a report from AP page) from page drop-downs
§ Consistent breadcrumbs for navigational assistance
Information Layout and Workflow Concepts
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 50
System-Level to Drill-Down
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 51
Quick Filters, Custom List Layout
Edit List Pages for content relevant to you
Use Quick Filters or Column Sorting to arrange information relevant to the task
NCS UX/UI Enhancements
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 53
NCS Homepage “drag and drop”
dashboard customization
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 54
Data customization per dashlet
Dashlet Customization
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 55
Using Search
Global Search Capability
§ Searches can be performed on partial input
§ Search output provides configuration and monitor links based on device type found
§ Search parameters include IP Address, Usernames, MAC Addresses, SSIDs ,Rogues and AP Names
Advanced searches can be saved for easy future reference and use
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 56
Common Steps in a Troubleshooting Scenario:
§ Lookup a client: MAC Address, Username, IP Address, Client type, Client state, From AP Details Page (example below)
§ Where is the client now (and how is their RF profile)
§ Where has this client been (Location playback, session and AP history)
§ Active troubleshooting
Monitoring—Client-Related Workflow
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 57
Monitoring: Client Details—1
Basic Client Properties—can be expanded for further details
Client Association, Session History and Roam Reason
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 58
Monitoring: Client Details—2
Client AP Association History
Client Statistics
Wired/Wireless Client Monitoring
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 60
Client Status: Wireless
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 61
Monitoring: Wired Clients
Session details Security details General client information
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 62
Wired Client Details
Provides connectivity details for wired client including switch/port info, authorization details
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 63
Client Status: Wired
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 64
Track Clients
Create policy for tracking one or more clients detected on
the network
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 65
Unknown Users
Assign username to client on network not
authenticated via ISE.
Autonomous AP Support
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 67
Managing Autonomous Access Points
NCS 1.0 will provide: § Autonomous AP monitoring § Autonomous AP reports § Client Visibility
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 68
Autonomous AP Reports
Provides visibility into operation of aIOS AP’s
Switch Monitoring
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 70
Switch Summary
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 71
VLAN Information
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 72
Spanning Tree Details
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 73
What Are Events? § An occurrence of a condition (or change in condition) in the network
managed by WCS § Not necessarily generated for every condition but could be a result
of a pattern or threshold match by the WLC § Events may not be useful in their raw form (unless troubleshooting,
for example) and usually need further processing What Are Alarms? § Correlated events result in alarms (WCS allows looking up event history for
alarms) § Both Alarms and Events are categorized by severities
Critical Major Minor Warning Informational
Monitoring—Alarms and Events
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 74
Alarm System and Logic Simplified
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 75
Alarms Layout and Search Expandable Widget
persistent across WCS
Alarms Sorted by Categories and Severities are
hyperlinked to quickly drill-down
Granular Alarm searches can be performed via the
“Advance Search” feature, and saved for future re-use
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 76
Alarms Ac>ons and Customiza>ons
Alarm message details
Quick access to Alarm Ac>ons
Customizable Layout
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 77
Working with an Alarm
Manage Alarms
Trace Alarm Source
Historical Data. Note “First Seen” and “Last Seen”
Manage Security
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 78
Northbound Event No>fica>ons
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 79
§ It’s common to ignore email configuration in WCS
§ WCS sends email notifications for “Major” events only!
§ Acknowledged alarms suppress email notifications even if the severity changes
§ Help! My alarms seem to have disappeared! Alarms that get cleared move in to the “Cleared” state so be sure to check
cleared alarms (or look under event history)
§ Clearing an alarm does not remove it from WCS database (deleting it does)
§ Alarm severities can be customized from “Administration— Settings—Alarms”
§ Alarm acknowledgement works on individual alarm instance (and not on category or condition)
§ Even if traps are disabled on WLC, WCS could generate alarms from the regular polling it performs
Alarms—Things to Remember
Tools and Troubleshoo>ng
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 81
§ Client Troubleshooting Tool § Voice Audit Tool § Location Tools
Section Agenda: Troubleshooting
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 82
§ An easy way to identify client-related issues from within WCS, without the need for extensive WLC debugs
Look at the client’s current state (and at what stage of the connection they might be having issues at)
Allows for real-time troubleshooting and log retrieval from the WLC
Allows for looking up historical, and relevant client and AP events
Allows integration with ACS View Server for authentication log retrieval
§ But, first things first—common problems:
Watch out for misconfigured clients (common areas are WLAN profile settings, authentication and encryption settings, and any advanced extensions that might not be required
Ensure WLC settings match the provisioned client profiles (security, SSID broadcast, WLAN override, etc.)
Ensure data rate settings on the WLC (Mandatory, Supported and Disabled rates)
Look for client exclusion settings (easy way to find excluded clients is via the ‘quick filter’ in “Monitor—Clients” page
Client Troubleshooting Tool
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 83
Client Troubleshooting—Launch Points
Multiple Launch points to initiate client
troubleshooting tool allows for diverse
workflow integration
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 84
Client Troubleshooting—Examples
Identify whether the problem occurs at 802.11 or higher layers
Suggestions on where to look and how to potentially resolve
the error condition(s)
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 85
Client Troubleshooting—Examples
Provides visibility into logs, event history, and related CleanAir
information
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 86
NCS: Wired Client Troubleshooting
Client connectivity status/issues
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 87
APs Detecting a Specific Client
List of APs that heard client probe requests, 802.11 band, RSSI, how
long ago AP heard this client
Client MAC address
ISE Integration
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 89
NCS and ISE Integration
§ NCS leverages ISE API for posture assessment and report generation
§ Ability to drill-down to an individual client-level security details
§ Ability to troubleshoot client connectivity issues
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 90
NCS + ISE: Client Posture and Profiling
ISE determines client to be Microsoft
Workstation based on device fingerprinting
Client authenticated using 802.1x via ISE
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 91
Client Troubleshooting: Wireless Client
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 92
Client Troubleshooting: Wired Client
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 93
§ Allows auditing current network configuration from a VoWLAN deployment perspective
§ Use default rules and thresholds based on Cisco best practices
§ Ability to customize the rules to match your network and requirements
§ Provides a simple report with a list of configuration gaps
Voice Audit Tool
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 94
Voice Audit—Example
Voice Audit Tool Report
Customizable Rules
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 95
Voice Readiness Tool—Example
Simple, post-deployment tool to verify or correct AP deployment and
provides a way to determine VoWLAN readiness by band, and
RSSI cutoff values
© 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKAGG-2011 95
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 96
Location Accuracy Tool—Example
Determine Accuracy Probability, Correct Deployment
Test with Clients, Tags,
Exciters
Schedule Accuracy Tests
© 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKAGG-2011 96
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 97
Location Readiness—Example
Simple, post-deployment tool to verify or correct AP deployment and provides information on what areas are under the Cisco recommended
estimates
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 98
Sending Network Details to TAC
Option to send directly to TAC or download file
Input TAC case number directly into WCS for sending captured files
Select network and device info to attach to TAC case
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 99
Device Data Collection
Execute controller CLI commands and easily
capture command output
Repor>ng
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 101
§ Report LaunchPad § Report Customizations
Multi-Level Filtering
Customizing Report Output
Multi-Level Sorting in Report Output
§ Report Scheduling § NCS + ISE Reporting
Section Agenda: Reporting
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 102
Report LaunchPad
Report LaunchPad – Easy Drill-Down
Callouts – Report Descriptions
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 103
Report Customization
Multi-Level Filters
Customized Reports
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 104
Graphical Report Content
Graphical Reporting
Graphical Summaries
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 105
Client Summary Report - Endpoint Type
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 106
NCS + ISE: Report Cross-Launch New set of reports launched from NCS cross-launches reports in ISE.
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 107
NCS + ISE: Report Cross-Launch
Advanced Topic
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 109
§ At the heart of the high-availability design is the “Health Monitor” (HM) Process
Other components in WCS are JVM (WCS), Database, and Apache webserver
§ HM is sub-divided into smaller components: Core HM: Configures, maintains state and starts/stops the HA configuration across
WCS servers
Heartbeat: Responsible for maintaining communication between the primary and secondary servers (over HTTPS, port 8082); timeout is set to two seconds, with three retries
Application Monitor: Communicates with the WCS framework components on the primary server
DB Monitor: Configures database replication
File Sync: Identifies file changes, compression, and statistics maintenance
High-Availability—Components and Operation
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 110
§ Both the primary and failover WCS servers should run the same software version
§ Both the primary and failover WCS servers should be running on the same OS type (can’t mix Windows and Linux installs)
§ Email server and receiver must be configured (used for notifications)
§ Communication between the primary and failover WCS must be enabled on HM port if firewall is in the path
§ Failover mode must be carefully selected (and remembered): manual vs. automatic
§ Authentication key is created during the install, and is used by the primary and failover WCS servers for communication (and also logging into the HMweb page)
§ HM available at: https://ip.address:HMport (example: https://10.10.10.200:8082)
High-Availability—Things to Know
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 111
§ Available in release 5.2 and above
§ Requires the WCS “PLUS” license (only on the primary server)
§ Feature supports failover of up to two primary WCS servers to one backup server
WCS High-Availability—Things to Know
Primary Secondary 1 Low-end WCS 1 Low or higher-end WCS 1 Standard WCS 1 Standard or higher WCS 1 High-end WCS 1 High-end WCS
Primary Secondary 2 Low-end WCS 1 Standard or higher WCS 2 Standard WCS 1 Standard or higher WCS 2 Standard WCS 1 High-end WCS
§ Suggested deployment matrix in a 2:1 model
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 112
§ No longer BASE and PLUS license (now single-tier license), so HA is available at no extra charge
§ Feature supports failover of one primary NCS servers to one backup server
§ Functionally the same as WCS HA
NCS High-Availability—Things to Know
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 113
Virtual Domains What They Are (or do) What They’re Not (or don’t do) Quick way to partition WCS objects Not necessarily a complete replacement
for RBAC (for example, via TACACS+)
Allows users to be mapped to separate virtual domains at the time of creation
If none specified, users are added to the “root” virtual domain by default
Separate Reports, Controllers, Access Points, Search, Templates, Config Groups, Alarms and other objects
Don’t separate Google Earth Maps, Auto-Provisioning, MSEs, and Ethernet Switches
Objects may be assigned to multiple domains at the same time
Avoid changing configurations from multiple domains management simple
“root” domain is a superset of all sub-domains
Not all objects are available at the “root” level – objects such as Search and Reports are domain specific
Only the “root” domain may location, and any other email notifications
For more caveats, visit: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/wcs/5.2/configuration/guide/5_2virtual.html
WCS to NCS Migra>on
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 115
Why Upgrade from WCS to NCS?
§ Increased scale (total device count: 25K) § Wired/wireless integrated management:
manage access layer § 64-bit architecture: increased memory
footprint § Appliance mode: no need for customer for
procure server (HW, OS + patches) § Tight integration with Cisco ISE: device
posture enforcement, AAA
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 116
Cisco WCS to Cisco Prime NCS Migration
Database Migration
1:1 Upgrade Must be on WCS
7.0.164.0 or 7.0.164.3
WCS 7.X is the last release running on CiscoWorks Wireless LAN Solution Engine (WLSE)
Cisco Prime NCS Cisco WCS 7.0.X Licenses
WCS Base License (Examples: WCS-APBASE-X or
WCS-WLSE-APB-X) Prime NCS License (Example: L-NCS-1.0-X) WCS Plus License
(Examples: WCS-Plus-X or WCS-WLSE-Plus-X)
Multi-tier License Model Single-tier License Model
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 117
Greenfield Deployment: Why WCS?
§ Wired/wireless integrated management: manage access layer (infrastructure and endpoints)
§ Appliance model (physical and virtual/VM): no need to procure server (HW, OS + patches)
§ High device scale: up to 25K infrastructure devices
§ State of the art UI
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 118
Key Takeaways
§ Wired/wireless access – infrastructure and endpoints – need to be managed together
§ WCS and NCS provide full lifecycle management
§ NCS builds on the features/functionality of WCS and adds wired management
§ Easy migration from WCS to NCS – both platform and learning curve
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 119
§ Cisco Prime Network Control System (NCS) Datasheet http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/wireless/ps5755/ps11682/ps11686/ps11688/
data_sheet_c78-650051.html
§ NCS Learning Modules http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11686/
tsd_products_support_online_learning_modules_list.html
§ TACACS+ Configuration Example http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk809/technologies_tech_note09186a0080851f7c.shtml
Helpful Links
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Presentation_ID 120
Thank you.