Getting Started with Cisco Network Assistant Version 5.4 Americas Headquarters Cisco Systems, Inc. 170 West Tasman Drive San Jose, CA 95134-1706 USA http://www.cisco.
THE SPECIFICATIONS AND INFORMATION REGARDING THE PRODUCTS IN THIS MANUAL ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. ALL STATEMENTS, INFORMATION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS IN THIS MANUAL ARE BELIEVED TO BE ACCURATE BUT ARE PRESENTED WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. USERS MUST TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR APPLICATION OF ANY PRODUCTS.
CONTENTS Preface v Audience Purpose i-v i-v Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request CHAPTER 1 What Is Network Assistant? 1-1 CHAPTER 2 Network Assistant Features 2-1 Front Panel View Topology View 2-2 2-3 Menu Bar, Toolbar, and Feature Bar Menu Bar 2-4 Toolbar 2-5 Feature Bar 2-6 Network Assistant Modes Wizards 2-8 2-9 Privilege Levels 2-9 Updates for Network Assistant Online Help 3 2-9 2-10 Installing Cisco Network Assistant Installing Network Assistant Starting Netw
Contents Hostnames 4-2 Passwords 4-3 Communication Protocols 4-3 Community Information 4-3 Creating a Community 4-3 Discovering and Adding Devices 4-3 Manually Adding Members 4-4 Converting a Cluster to a Community 4-4 Verifying a Community 4-4 APPENDIX A Configuring a Catalyst 4500 Series Switch for Network Assistant Management A-1 Network Assistant-Related Features and Their Defaults A-1 Configuring Your Switch for Network Assistant A-2 Minimum Configuration to Access Catalyst 4500 from Network Assist
Preface Audience This guide is for system administrators, network managers, and other users who want to manage standalone network devices and device groups through a GUI. It presents Cisco Network Assistant, known as Network Assistant, as a solution. Purpose The purpose of this guide is to give users information to start using Network Assistant. It consists of these chapters: • Introduction—What Network Assistant is and what it does.
Getting Started with Cisco Network Assistant vi OL-6194-07
CH A P T E R 1 What Is Network Assistant? Network Assistant is an application that you can use to manage standalone devices and device groups—communities and clusters—from anywhere in your intranet. You can perform multiple configuration tasks without using command-line interface (CLI) commands.
Chapter 1 What Is Network Assistant? • If a community member fails, Network Assistant can continue to manage the other members. If a cluster command device fails, Network Assistant cannot manage the other members of the cluster unless a cluster standby device has been configured. • Communities have fewer restrictions than clusters about where members are located and how they are connected to each other. For more information on cluster member restrictions, see the online help.
CH A P T E R 2 Network Assistant Features Network Assistant simplifies the management of communities or clusters by offering a GUI, alternative modes for configuring network devices, two levels of access, and comprehensive online help. Figure 2-1 shows the main features of the GUI.
Chapter 2 Network Assistant Features Front Panel View • Menu Bar, Toolbar, and Feature Bar, page 2-4 • Network Assistant Modes, page 2-8 • Wizards, page 2-9 • Smartports, page 2-9 • Privilege Levels, page 2-9 • Updates for Network Assistant, page 2-9 • Online Help, page 2-10 Front Panel View When Network Assistant connects to a community or a cluster, you can display the Front Panel view of your device by clicking the Front Panel on the toolbar or by choosing Monitor > View > Front Panel on
Chapter 2 Network Assistant Features Topology View Figure 2-2 Front Panel View and Port Popup Window 200739 1 2 1 Member devices 2 Check boxes to show devices 3 3 Settings popup window Topology View When Network Assistant connects to a community or a cluster, the Topology view appears by default. If you change this default, you can see the Topology view by clicking Topology view on the toolbar or by choosing Monitor > Views > Topology.
Chapter 2 Network Assistant Features Menu Bar, Toolbar, and Feature Bar Figure 2-3 Topology View and Device Popup Windows 2 200744 1 1 Note Device popup window 2 Link popup window When you are managing a community, the Topology view displays all the devices in that community. To display a different community, you must connect to that community.
Chapter 2 Network Assistant Features Menu Bar, Toolbar, and Feature Bar • Window—navigate to open the Network Assistant windows. • Help—open the online help. Toolbar Table 2-1 lists the toolbar options from left to right on the toolbar. Table 2-1 Toolbar Option Toolbar Icons and Buttons Icon Task Connect Connect Network Assistant to a community, a cluster, or a standalone device. Refresh Update the views with the latest status. Print Print a Network Assistant window or help topic.
Chapter 2 Network Assistant Features Menu Bar, Toolbar, and Feature Bar Table 2-1 Toolbar Icons and Buttons (continued) Toolbar Option Icon Task Topology Display the Topology view. Legend Display the legend, which describes the icons, labels, and links. Help for Active Window Display the help topic for the active, open window. You can also click Help from the active window or press the F1 key. Feedback Open a Web page where you can leave feedback about your experience with Network Assistant.
Chapter 2 Network Assistant Features Menu Bar, Toolbar, and Feature Bar Figure 2-4 shows the feature bar. Feature Bar 200755 Figure 2-4 The features are grouped under menus. When you click a menu item, the configuration window for the feature opens. Access modes affect the availability of features; some are not available in read only mode. For more information about how access modes affect Network Assistant, see the “Privilege Levels” section on page 2-9.
Chapter 2 Network Assistant Features Network Assistant Modes Network Assistant Modes You can use Network Assistant in these modes: • Expert Mode—Configures a feature in a single window. Network Assistant is in expert mode by default. To run a feature in expert mode choose Expert in the Application menu. To access the online help in expert mode, click Help in the window.
Chapter 2 Network Assistant Features Wizards Wizards All wizards contain Wizard in their names on the feature bar. Like guide mode, wizards provide a step-by-step approach for completing a specific configuration task. Unlike guide mode, wizards do not prompt you to enter information for all of the feature options. Instead, they prompt you to enter minimal information and use the default settings of the remaining options to set default configurations. Wizards are not available for read only access levels.
Chapter 2 Network Assistant Features Online Help Online Help Network Assistant provides comprehensive online help that explains configuration and monitoring tasks. Sometimes the information in a help topic differs for different devices. In these cases, the right pane of the Help window contains all the versions of the topic, each labeled with the hostnames of the devices it applies to.
CH A P T E R 3 Installing Cisco Network Assistant This chapter describes how to install Cisco Network Assistant and how to connect it to a device or an existing community. For information about the requirements needed to install Network Assistant, see the Release Notes at:http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5931/prod_release_notes_list.html Installing Network Assistant To install Network Assistant on your PC, follow these steps: 1. Go to this web address: http://www.cisco.com/go/NetworkAssistant.
Chapter 3 Installing Cisco Network Assistant Connecting to Network Assistant Connecting to Network Assistant Use the Connect window in Network Assistant to connect to a community or cluster. Figure 3-1.shows the Connect window. To connect Network Assistant to a device: Step 1 From the Connect window, enter the IP address of the device. • For an existing community, select its name from the pull-down menu. For an existing cluster, select the IP address.
Chapter 3 Installing Cisco Network Assistant Connecting to Network Assistant When the connection occurs, the Network Assistant window is in connect mode. The toolbar adds icons that represent device features. Similarly, the feature bar fills with menus that list the device features that Network Assistant manages. Event Notification Network Assistant informs you of events that it detects by putting an event icon on the status bar and under devices in the Topology view.
Chapter 3 Installing Cisco Network Assistant Connecting to Network Assistant Getting Started with Cisco Network Assistant 3-4 OL-6194-07
CH A P T E R 4 Planning and Creating Communities This chapter provides the concepts and procedures for planning and creating communities by using Network Assistant. It contains these sections: • Planning a Community, page 4-1 • Creating a Community, page 4-3 For information about using Network Assistant to configure communities, see the online help. Planning a Community This section describes the guidelines, requirements, and caveats that you should understand before you create a community.
Chapter 4 Planning and Creating Communities Planning a Community Community Device Limit The combined number of Catalyst switches, Cisco access routers, and PIX firewalls in a community cannot exceed 40. There are no limits on individual device types. There is no limit on the number of Cisco Aironet Access Points. Note Even though the devices in a Catalyst 3750 switch stack function as a single switch, they count as individual switches against the combined limit and individual device limits.
Chapter 4 Planning and Creating Communities Creating a Community Passwords When connecting to a community, Network Assistant prompts you for each unique password that has already been assigned for members of the community. Network Assistant attempts to use these passwords to connect to other devices. You are prompted for a password only if the previously entered password does not work for a device.
Chapter 4 Planning and Creating Communities Creating a Community 3. Click the Advanced button if you want to set an HTTP port other than 80, the default port. Enter the HTTP port number that you want to use. Click OK. 4. Enter the IP address for the starting device, and click Discover Neighbors. 5. In the Devices Found list, select candidate devices that you want to remove. a.
A P P E N D I X A Configuring a Catalyst 4500 Series Switch for Network Assistant Management This appendix describes how to configure a Catalyst 4500 series switch for Network Assistant. It also lists the Network Assistant feature defaults for the switch.
Appendix A Configuring a Catalyst 4500 Series Switch for Network Assistant Management 1. You need to set an IP address in each switch for community device discovery and for the cluster commander. 2. Port number on the Network Assistant and the Catalyst 4500 series switch must match. 3. You can only change this value for a cluster of devices. Port number on the Network Assistant and on the Catalyst 4500 series switch must match. Value can be changed to any non-default number above 1024. 4.
Appendix A Configuring a Catalyst 4500 Series Switch for Network Assistant Management REVIEW DRAFT—CISCO CONFIDENTIAL Additional Configuration Required to Manage a Community Note If you have enabled clustering, disable clustering before configuring a community. If you plan to use a community, define an IP address on each switch: Command Purpose Step 1 Switch# configuration terminal Enter global configuration mode.
Appendix A Configuring a Catalyst 4500 Series Switch for Network Assistant Management Command Purpose Step 6 Switch(config-if)# end Return to privileged EXEC mode. Step 7 Switch# show running-config Verify the configuration.
INDEX adding members A 4-3 automatic discovery accessing 4-2 to 4-3 candidates communities 4-2 adding automatic discovery automatic discovery of members adding members 4-3 defined considerations 4-2 4-3 requirements non-CDP-capable devices 4-4 4-1 See also community member 4-2 communication protocols See also CDP community information community names composition C 4-3 4-3 4-2 4-2 converting a cluster to a community creating candidates automatic discovery in communities 4-3 d
Index D N device limits in a community Network Assistant 4-2 discovery, communities connecting See automatic discovery 3-2 installing procedure introduced F starting 3-1 1-1 3-1 features Front Panel view menu bar 2-2 online help online help 2-10 privilege levels 2-9 Topology view 2-3 wizards O 2-4 2-10 P 2-9 passwords in communities H privilege levels 4-3 2-9 hostnames in communities 4-2 S Smartports Advisor I 2-9 starting Network Assistant 3-1 installing Network A