This document describes three supported methods that you can use in order to collect device data and upload it to the Cisco Smart Net Total Care™ portal. When you upload your device data into the portal, it enables Cisco to analyze and enrich your support information and workflows.

Note: In order to collect and upload your device data to the portal, you must first register your company for Smart Net Total Care services through the portal onboarding site and gain access to the portal.

There are three primary methods that you can use in order to collect and upload your device data to the portal:

• You can manually upload your data through a comma-separated values (CSV) file import.
• You can use a third-party collector, such as Netformx or SolarWinds.
• You can use the Cisco Common Services Platform Collector (CSPC).

All three of these methods provide a secure way to upload your data into the portal. The upload of collected data is performed over an end-to-end secure channel. Files are encrypted and transferred securely to the Cisco data center.

Tip: For more information about the security of the CSPC, refer to the Security and Cisco Smart Net Total Care Service whitepaper.

Regardless of the method that you use in order to collect and upload your device data, the portal stores and manages the data so that it can provide secure access to all of the users. With up-to-date installed-base information, you can leverage portal capabilities such as automated workflows for service coverage management and actionable alerts that are specific to your devices.

The sections that follow provide more details about the three supported collection and upload options.

CSV File Import

The CSV file import capability provides a lightweight mechanism that you can use in order to manually upload your inventory data. This is the simplest and quickest way to obtain reports with device data.

If you are a small to medium-sized company with a relatively stable network (not many changes), then this method is a good choice for you. You can use the CSV file import feature in order to upload your initial inventory or to update your current inventory data that has already been uploaded by any of the three collection methods.

Tip: Because this is a manual process, and the device data is entered into a spreadsheet, carefully review the information that you enter into the fields of the CSV file. Refer to the Cisco Smart Net Total Care CSV File Import Capability application note, and use it as a guide in order to ensure that your data is properly formatted. There are eight fields (columns) in the sample file; the first four fields are mandatory and other four fields are optional.

The information that is provided in the portal reports is affected by the amount of information that you provide in the CSV file. For example, if you do not include optional information, such as the software type or software version, then the reports do not contain correlated alert details.

Third-Party Collectors

The Smart Net Total Care Service supports data uploads directly to the portal via third-party collectors such as Netformx and SolarWinds.

Note: The use of a third-party collector requires a license that is not included with the Smart Net Total Care Service.

With minor configuration adjustments, you can use your current third-party system in order to discover, collect, and upload your inventory data to Cisco so that it can be analyzed and viewed in the portal.

Third-party collector capabilities vary with each vendor, but the reports that are generated from a third-party device can provide the same level of device detail that the CSPC collector can provide. However, some third-party devices are not permanently installed in your network, so the collection and upload is completed on-demand and cannot be scheduled. This necessitates a greater manual effort.

Tip: If you want to use a third-party collector, then refer to the Provide Data to Smart Net Total Care Through the Netformx Collector page for examples that you can use in order to get started. For details about the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, refer to the Provide Data to Smart Net Total Care Through the SolarWinds NCM page.

Cisco CSPC

The CSPC is a modular, flexible, reusable platform that collects data from the customer network devices. This collector is available as a virtual machine.

Once you deploy the CSPC, the collector can be used in order to:

• Discover your installed base.
• Collect various data from the installed-base devices.
• Upload data to the portal.

Tip: Refer to the CSPC Self-Service Quick Start Guide for more details about how to download, deploy, and configure the CSPC software.

The CSPC collector allows you to schedule regular device discovery, collection, and data upload so that you can automate the process and ensure that the latest installed-base information is always available to you in the portal reports.

Additional Information

You can view the status of your inventory uploads directly from the portal, regardless of the collection and upload method that you use. In order to check the upload status, log into the portal and click Upload Processing in the left navigation pane. The progress statuses for all of your uploads appear in the right pane, as shown here:

After your data is available in the portal, you can begin to leverage the Smart Net Total Care service advantages and proactively manage your installed base.