FAQs

This chapter contains the following sections:

General FAQs

What languages are supported by the Cisco Business Dashboard Lite?

Currently only English is supported. In future release Cisco Business Dashboard Lite is planned to be translated into the following languages:

  • Chinese

  • French

  • German

  • Japanese

  • Portuguese

  • Spanish

Discovery FAQs

What protocols does Cisco Business Dashboard Lite use to manage my devices?

Cisco Business Dashboard Lite uses a variety of protocols to discover and manage the network. Exactly which protocols are using for a particular device will vary between device types.

The protocols used include:

  • Multicast DNS and DNS Service Discovery (aka Bonjour, see RFCs 6762 & 6763)

  • Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP)

  • Link Layer Discovery Protocol (see IEEE specification 802.1AB)

  • RESTCONF (See https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-netconf-restconf/)

  • Proprietary web services APIs

How does Cisco Business Dashboard Lite discover my network?

The Cisco Business Dashboard Lite builds an initial list of devices in the network from listening to mDNS advertisements. The Cisco Business Dashboard Lite then connects to each device using a supported protocol and gathers additional information such as CDP & LLDP adjacency tables. This information is used to identify additional devices in the network, and the process repeats until all devices have been discovered.

Does Cisco Business Dashboard Lite do network scans?

The Cisco Business Dashboard Lite does not actively scan the broader network. You may explicitly search the IP address ranges for manageable devices. If this is done, then the dashboard will attempt to connect to webserver HTTPS ports on each IP address in the specified ranges to determine if a device is manageable.

Configuration FAQs

What happens when a new device is discovered? Will its configuration be changed?

If network configuration profiles have been enabled, then that configuration will be applied to newly discovered devices.

What happens when I disable a network configuration profile?

Configuration for the device will not change.

Security Consideration FAQs

What port ranges and protocols are required by Cisco Business Dashboard Lite?

The following table lists the protocols and ports used by Cisco Business Dashboard Lite:

Table 1. Cisco Business Dashboard Lite - Protocols and Ports

Port

Direction

Protocol

Usage

TCP 4443

Inbound

HTTPS

 Secure web access to the Dashboard.

TCP 443

Outbound

HTTPS

Management of devices with secure web services enabled.

Access Cisco web services for information such as software updates, support status, and end of life notices.

UDP 5353

Inbound/Outbound

mDNS

Multicast DNS service advertisements from the local network. Used for device discovery.
What Cisco servers does Cisco Business Dashboard Lite communicate with and why?

The following table lists the Cisco servers that Cisco Business Dashboard Lite communicates with, and the purpose of that conversation:

Table 2. Cisco Business Dashboard Lite - Cisco Servers

Hostname

Purpose

apix.cisco.com

Used to retrieve software update information and product lifecycle information. This server is only used if software updates or lifecycle reporting are enabled in System > Privacy Settings.

dl.cisco.com

download-ssc.cisco.com

Used to download software update files from Cisco.

These servers are only used if software updates are enabled in System > Privacy Settings and you execute an upgrade operation for a network device or for Cisco Business Dashboard Lite.

cloudsso.cisco.com

Used to authenticate Cisco Business Dashboard Lite prior to communicating with apix.cisco.com. This server is only used if software updates or lifecycle reporting are enabled in System > Privacy Settings.

What processes are required by Cisco Business Dashboard Lite?

The following table lists the processes used by Cisco Business Dashboard Lite:

Table 3. Cisco Business Dashboard Lite - Processes

Process

Additional Details
Dashboard Essential Processes

“<Install Directory>/jdk/bin/javaw.exe” … -jar “<Install Directory>/lib/launcher.jar”

The main Cisco Business Dashboard Lite server application

“<Install Directory>/jdk/bin/java.exe” … -jar “<Install Directory>/lib/cbdlite.jar”

Web Server

“<Install Directory>/mongodb/bin/mongod.exe” ……

Database services
Does Cisco Business Dashboard Lite have ‘backdoor’ access to my devices?

No. When Cisco Business Dashboard Lite discovers a supported device, it will attempt to access the device using credentials provided in Administration > Device Credentials page.

How secure are the credentials stored in Cisco Business Dashboard Lite?

Credentials for accessing Cisco Business Dashboard Lite are irreversibly hashed using the SHA512 algorithm. Credentials for devices are reversibly encrypted using the AES-128 algorithm.

How do I recover a lost password for the web UI?

If you have lost the password for all the admin accounts in the web UI, you can recover the password by logging on the server of the Dashboard Lite, open the Dashboard Lite Server Application, and click the Tools > Recover Password menu. This tool resets the password for the cisco account to the default of cisco, or, if the cisco account has been removed, it will recreate the account with the default password.