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Foglight for NMS Integration 5.6.4.6 - Installation Guide

Installing and Enabling Foglight for NMS Integration

Foglight for NMS Integration is distributed in a CAR file, NMSIntegration-5_6_4_2.car.
Installing and enabling this cartridge on the Management Server adds the NMS integration capabilities to Foglight and makes their components available for use. When a cartridge is installed and enabled, all of its components become part of the Management Server.
The following procedure describes the process of installing and enabling Foglight for NMS Integration using the browser interface. Another way to install and enable cartridges is through the fglcmd command-line interface. For more information about the available fglcmd commands, see the Command-Line Reference Guide.
To install and enable the Foglight for NMS Integration:
1
On the navigation panel, under Dashboards, choose Administration > Cartridges > Cartridge Inventory.
2
On the Cartridge Inventory dashboard, click Install Cartridge.
The Install Cartridge dialog box appears.
Figure 1. Install Cartridge dialog box
3
In the Install Cartridge dialog box, click Browse, and navigate to the NMSIntegration-5_6_4_2.car file that you want to install.
4
Ensure that the Enable on install check box is selected.
5
Click Install Cartridge.
The Processing message box appears.
Figure 2. Processing message box
After a few moments, the Operation(s) Complete message box appears, indicating a success.
Figure 3. Operation(s) Complete message box
6
Click OK to close the Operation(s) Complete message box.
7
Observe the list of installed cartridges.
The lists of installed cartridges on the Installed Cartridges and Core Cartridges tab refresh, showing the installed cartridges contained in the Foglight for NMS Integration.
Figure 4. Installed Cartridges tab
Figure 5. Core Cartridges tab
From here, you can proceed to deploying the NMS Agent package. For more information, see Deploying NMS Agent Packages to Agent Managers.

Deploying NMS Agent Packages to Agent Managers

Foglight for NMS Integration uses NMS Agent instances to collect information from Foglight NMS. Installing and enabling the Foglight for NMS Integration on the Management Server makes its NMS Agent package available for deployment.
The NMS Agent uses the Agent Manager for communication with the Management Server. Foglight for NMS Integration can monitor Foglight for NMS Integration NMS environments remotely. For that reason, the Agent Manager does not need to be installed on each individual host you want to monitor. In most scenarios you only need to deploy the NMS Agent package to the Agent Manager on the Management Server.
The following procedure describes the deployment process using the Agent Status dashboard. This administrative dashboard is useful for deploying the agent package one host at a time.
Another way to deploy agent packages is through the fglcmd command-line interface. For more information about the available fglcmd commands, see the Command-Line Reference Guide.
To deploy the NMS Agent package:
1
Log in to the Foglight browser interface.
2
On the navigation panel, under Dashboards, click Administration > Agents > Agent Status.
The Agent Status dashboard appears in the display area.
Figure 6. Agent Status dashboard
3
On the Agent Status dashboard, click Deploy Agent Package.
The Deploy Agent Package wizard appears.
Figure 7. Deploy Agent Package wizard
 
* 
TIP: To have a monitored host available for selection, the Agent Manager must be up and running on that host, and connected to the Foglight Management Server.
4
Specify the Agent Manager to which you want to deploy the NMS Agent package.
In the Deploy Agent Package wizard, on the Host Selector page, select the system on which the Agent Manager is running, and click Next.
If the system name does not appear in the list, check that its Agent Manager is active and connected to the Management Server.
The Deploy Agent Package wizard refreshes, showing the Agent Packages page.
Figure 8. Agent Packages page
5
In the Deploy Agent Package wizard, on the Agent Packages page, select the NMSAgent.gar package, and click Next.
The Deploy Agent Package wizard refreshes, showing the Summary page.
6
In the Deploy Agent Package wizard, on the Summary page, verify that the host name and package are correct, and click Finish.
The Deploy Agent Package wizard closes, and the Agent Status dashboard refreshes, showing in the Tasks area that the Deploy Agent Package task is in progress. After a few moments, a green icon appears in the Status column, indicating a successful deployment.
If agent deployment is not successful, there are several things you can do to troubleshoot the deployment failure. For more information, see the online help for the Agent Status dashboard.
From here, you can proceed to create NMS Agent instances and start their data collection. For more information, see Configuring NMS Agents for Data Collection.

Configuring NMS Agents for Data Collection

After successfully deploying the NMS Agent package, you need to create an NMS Agent instance for each Foglight NMS environment that you want to monitor. Creating NMS Agent instances creates agent processes on the Agent Managers.
Next, configure the agent properties before starting the data collection.
When an agent connects to Foglight, it is provided with sets of properties that it uses to configure its correct running state. Each newly created NMS Agent instance is provided with a set of default properties. Some of these properties are used to connect to the monitored Foglight NMS environment and you must configure them prior to starting the agent’s data collection.
Finally, activate the NMS Agent to start the agent process on the Agent Manager, and to begin its data collection.
After enabling data collection, it might take some time for the monitoring data to appear in the browser interface. This delay is caused by a number of factors, including the time Foglight NMS takes to aggregate collected data and makes it available for collection by the NMS Agent (an average of five minutes), and the frequency of data collection intervals configured for the Foglight NMS server and the NMS Agent. If needed, you can configure the frequency of collection intervals for the NMS Agent in the agent properties. For more information about data collection and aggregation in Foglight NMS, see the product documentation.
The following procedure describes the process of creating and activating NMS Agent instances, modifying the agent properties, and starting their data collection, using the Agent Status dashboard. Another way to create agent instances and start their data collection is using the fglcmd command-line interface. For more information about the available fglcmd commands, see the Command-Line Reference Guide.
To configure an NMS Agent instance for data collection:
1
Log in to the Foglight for NMS Integration browser interface.
2
On the navigation panel, under Dashboards, choose Administration > Agents > Agent Status.
The Agent Status dashboard appears in the display area.
Figure 9. Agent Status dashboard
3
On the Agent Status dashboard, click Create Agent.
The Create Agent wizard appears with the Host Selector page open.
Figure 10. Create Agent wizard
4
Specify the monitored host that you want to use to monitor with the NMS Agent.
In the Create Agent wizard, on the Host Selector page, select the system on which the Agent Manager is running, and click Next.
If the system name does not appear in the list, check that its Agent Manager is active and connected to the Management Server.
The Create Agent wizard refreshes, showing the Agent Type and Instance Name page.
 
* 
IMPORTANT: If the NMS Agent type is not listed, you need to deploy the NMS Agent package to that host. For more information, see Deploying NMS Agent Packages to Agent Managers.
5
On the the Agent Type and Instance Name page, select NMSAgent.
6
Specify the name of the NMS Agent instance that you are about to create.
•
To have Foglight for NMS Integration assign a generic name, ensure that Generic Name is selected.
•
To use a specific agent name, select Specify Name, and in the Name box that appears, type the agent name.
7
Click Next.
The Create Agent wizard refreshes, showing the Summary page.
8
In the Create Agent wizard, on the Summary page, verify that the host name and agent name are correct, and click Finish.
The Create Agent wizard closes, and the Agent Status dashboard refreshes, showing in the Tasks area that the Deploy Agent Package task is in progress. After a few moments, a green icon appears in the Status column, indicating a successful deployment.
9
Configure the properties of the newly created NMS Agent instance.
a
On the Agent Status dashboard, select the newly created NMS Agent instance, click Edit, and chose Edit Properties from the menu that appears.
The Agent Status dashboard refreshes, showing the NMS Performance Agent properties in the display area.
Figure 11. NMS Agent properties
b
Edit the NMS Agent properties.
•
NMS URL: Type the URL containing the host name on which the Foglight NMS server is running and the port number to connect to.
For example, if you are logging in to Foglight NMS running on a host named Host1 over a non-secure port, type http://Host1:5054.
•
NMS user name: Type the user name required to log in to Foglight NMS. If you want to store this information in an Agent Manager credential, leave this property blank and see Storing Foglight NMS user names and passwords as agent credentials for additional configuration details.
•
NMS password: Type the password associated with the specified user name required to log in to Foglight NMS. If you want to store this information in an Agent Manager credential, leave this property blank and see Storing Foglight NMS user names and passwords as agent credentials for additional configuration details.
•
Prefix all NMS hostnames with NMS Site Name: Type the site name values from NMS for each device that you want to pre-pend to all Foglight host name values in NMS version 6.7.
•
Stop agent on connection failure: If the agent encounters a connection failure to the NMS server, indicate if you want the agent to continue to attempt collecting data from the NMS server.
•
Exclude Dependencies with any endpoint as Switch or Router/IpSLA: Indicate if you want the NMS Agent to report these types of dependencies to Foglight by setting it to True or False, as required.
•
Excluded Host List: Specify the list containing the hosts that you do not want the NMS Agent to monitor. If you are specify an IP range, both IP addresses in a range need to be fully qualified. For example, 10.10.1.1-10.10.1.240 represents a valid IP range, while 10.10.1.1-240 does not.
 
* 
IMPORTANT: List-based properties are accessible to all agent instances of the same type. If you select and modify a list that is already used by another NMS Agent instance, the changes affect that agent as well. The recommended approach is to clone and modify an existing list, that way none of the existing agents are affected.
•
Included Role List: Specify the list containing the roles that you want the NMS Agent to monitor.
•
Excluded Protocol List: Specify the list containing the network protocols that you do not want the NMS Agent to monitor. Each entry in the list is a regular expression.
•
Excluded Application List: Specify the list containing the application that you do not want the NMS Agent to monitor. Each entry in the list is a regular expression.
•
Excluded Port List: Specify the list containing the network ports that you do not want the NMS Agent to monitor. Each entry in the list represents a port range consisting of a start and an end port number.
•
Dump Metric Data: Indicate if you want the NMS Agent to write the metric data XML to the agent log by setting it to True or False, as required. If this option is enabled, you also need to set the Agent Manager debug level to 1.
•
Dump Alert Data: Indicate if you want the NMS Agent to write the alert data XML to the agent log by setting it to True or False, as required. If this option is enabled, you also need to set the Agent Manager debug level to 1.
•
Dump Flow Data: Indicate if you want the NMS Agent to write the flow data XML to the agent log by setting it to True or False, as required. If this option is enabled, you also need to set the Agent Manager debug level to 1.
•
Dump Flow Top N Data: Indicate if you want the NMS Agent to write the flow top N data XML to the agent log by setting it to True or False, as required. If this option is enabled, you also need to set the Agent Manager debug level to 1.
Note
It is recommended to have only one of the Dump Data XML from NMS Server for Collection on Debug options set to True.
•
Collector Config: Specify the list containing the data collection frequency.
c
When finished, click Save, then click the Back To Agent Status button.
10
Activate the newly created NMS Agent instance and start its data collection.
On the Agent Status dashboard, select the row containing the agent instance that you want to activate, and click Activate.
After a few moments, tthe Agent Status dashboard refreshes, showing a green checkmark in the Status column.
11
On the Agent Status dashboard, ensure that the row containing the NMS Agent instance whose data collection you want to start is selected, and click Start Data Collection.
After a few moments, tthe Agent Status dashboard refreshes, showing a green right-facing arrow in the Collecting Data column.
 
* 
TIP: It may take a few minutes for the agent to access Foglight NMS and start collecting metrics from it. While you wait for the process to finish, you can check the agent's log file and see if there are any error messages. To do that, on the action panel, click New Window to open a new browser interface window, navigate to the Agent Status dashboard, select the agent instance, and click Get Log. For complete information about agent logs, see the Administration and Configuration Help.

Storing Foglight NMS user names and passwords as agent credentials

Foglight can monitor different resources in an organization. Some of these resources can be secured while others are not. Your organization may have specific security policies in place for authorizing access to the monitored Foglight NMS server. You have an option of storing the user name and password in the NMS Agent properties or in the Agent Manager credentials. Storing user names and passwords in agent credentials is a recommended approach because it is easier to manage and is also more secure in that credential data is encrypted, while the data in agent properties is saved and sent as plain text.
Start by adding a new credential of the User and Password type and then specify the user name and password needed to access the monitored Foglight NMS server. Finally, provide the name and the IP address of the machine on which the Foglight NMS server is running, and ensure the credential is released to the Agent Manager that is managing the monitoring NMS Agent.
The following procedure describes the required configuration. For complete information about credentials in Foglight, see the Administration and Configuration Help.
To create a credential for accessing the Foglight NMS server:
1
Log in to the Foglight for NMS Integration browser interface.
2
On the navigation panel, under Dashboards, click Administration > Credentials.
The Credentials dashboard appears in the display area.
Figure 12. Credentials dashboard
3
On the Credentials dashboard, click Manage Credentials.
The Manage Credentials dashboard appears in the display area.
Figure 13. Manage Credentials dashboard
4
On the Manage Credentials dashboard, click Add.
5
In the Select the Type of Credential to Add list that appears, click User Name and Password.
Figure 14. Select the Type of Credential to Add list
The Add A New “User Name and Password” Credential wizard appears with the Credential Properties page open.
Figure 15. Add A New “User Name and Password” Credential wizard
6
On the Credential Properties page, in the User Name box, type the user name needed to access the Foglight NMS server. In the Password and Confirm Password boxes, type the password needed to access the Foglight NMS server, and click Next.
The Add A New “User Name and Password” Credential wizard refreshes, showing the Credential Name and Lockbox page.
Figure 16. Credential Name and Lockbox page
7
Specify the credential name and the lockbox in which you want to store it.
a
On the Credential Name and Lockbox page, type the credential name. For example:
Account for Monitoring Foglight NMS
b
Ensure that the credential you are creating is stored in a lockbox that is released to the Agent Manager.
The System lockbox, selected by default, is the lockbox available to all Agent Managers in your system. This lockbox is not password-protected. If you want to store this credential in a different lockbox, you can select one in the list (if they exist), or create a new one by clicking Add.
c
Click Next.
The Add A New “User Name and Password” Credential wizard refreshes, showing the Resource Mapping page.
Figure 17. Resource Mapping page
8
On the Resource Mapping page, click Add.
The New Resource Mapping Condition dialog box appears.
Figure 18. New Resource Mapping Condition dialog box
9
Create a resource mapping condition. Click Add and specify the following values:
•
Usage: NMS Monitoring
•
Access Resources Using: Target Host Name
•
Equal or Not Equal: equals
•
Matching Type: Exact Match (Case Sensitive)
•
Evaluate This Condition: Selected
•
Matching Values: Click Add a New Domain Name and type the fully qualified name (including the domain name) of the host running the monitored Foglight NMS server.
The New Resource Mapping Condition dialog box closes and the Resource Mapping page refreshes, showing the newly created mapping condition.
Figure 19. Resource Mapping page
10
Add another condition to include the monitored server’s IP address.
11
On the Resource Mapping page, in the Resource Mapping table, in the Add ‘AND’ Condition column, click Add , and in the New Resource Mapping Condition dialog box that appears, add a new condition using the following parameters:
•
Access Resources Using: Target Host Address
•
Equal or Not Equal: equals
•
Matching Type: Exact Match (Case Sensitive)
•
Evaluate This Condition: Selected
•
Matching Values: Click Add a New IP Address and type the address of the host running the monitored Foglight NMS server.
12
On the Resource Mapping page, click Finish.
The Add A New “User Name and Password” Credential wizard closes, and the Manage Credentials dashboard refreshes, showing the newly created credential in the list.
Figure 20. Manage Credentials dashboard
13
If you chose to store this credential in a new lockbox in Step b, ensure the lockbox is released to the appropriate Agent Manager.
To do that, return to the Credentials dashboard and click Manage Lockboxes. On the Manage Lockboxes dashboard that appears, select the lockbox and click the Release to Credential Clients column.
 
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