Setting Up the Network

This chapter contains the following sections:

Discover the Network by Scanning the IP Addresses (Optional)

The Cisco Business Dashboard Lite builds an initial list of devices in the network from listening to mDNS (aka Bonjour, please check your device setting to make sure Bonjour is enabled on the Management VLAN) 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.

Cisco Business Dashboard Lite may not always be able to discover network devices in other VLANs or subnets using only the automated discovery processes. When this occurs, it can be beneficial to have the dashboard explicitly search the IP address ranges associated with those VLANs or subnets. To search an IP address range, do the following:

  1. Navigate to Administration > Discovery.

  2. Specify the IP address ranges to search.

  3. Click Save.

Based on the input, the Dashboard Lite will search the specified address ranges for devices with an active web server and attempt to connect to the device HTTPS port (443) using the credentials provided. If the dashboard is successful in accessing the device, it will be added to the inventory and will be managed in the same way as any other device in the network.

Learn About Your Network

You may use the Inventory to see detailed information about all the devices in your network. The Inventory page provides a list of all discovered devices in a tabular view. You can filter the list to restrict the devices displayed and click on individual devices to see more information about that device.

Customizing the Monitoring Dashboard

You may customize the monitoring dashboard to suit your requirements using the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Select Dashboard from the navigation at the left of the screen. The default dashboard will be displayed.

Step 2

To relocate individual widgets within the dashboard, click on the gear icon at the top right of the dashboard and select the Edit Mode option. Click and hold to drag each widget to the desired location. To resize a widget, click and hold on the edge or corner of the widget to resize.

Step 3

To add a new widget to the dashboard, click the gear icon at the top right of the dashboard and select to add a widget. Select the desired widget from the list. To remove a widget from the dashboard, click remove widget ✖ icon in the top right corner of the widget when in edit mode.

Step 4

Once the dashboard is laid out correctly, click the gear icon at the top right of the dashboard and select View Mode to lock the changes in place.

Step 5

To change the behavior of a widget, click edit widget configuration icon in the top right of the widget. Use the drop-down lists to select the specific device or interface the widget should monitor.

Customizing Notification Generation

Monitoring Profiles control the data that is collected from devices and the notifications that are generated. You may customize the behavior of notifications using the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Navigate to Assurance > Monitoring > Monitoring Profile.

Step 2

The screen displays the different notification and reporting monitors. You can enable and disable individual monitors using the controls provided.

Step 3

The notification monitors have additional settings that can be modified by clicking the Edit icon for the monitor. The settings will vary between monitors, but include the notification types that should be generated, the severity of the notification, and the thresholds that should trigger the notification.

Configuring the Network

Updating Firmware for Devices (Optional)

The Dashboard Lite will notify you if there are firmware updates available for the devices in your network, and an Update Firmware icon will be displayed against the device in several areas of the user interface.

To update firmware for a single device or multiple devices, follow the steps below:

Procedure

Step 1

Click on the device in the Inventory to display the Basic Info panel.

Step 2

Open the Action panel and click on the Upgrade firmware to latest button. The Dashboard will download the necessary firmware from Cisco and apply the update to the device. The device will reboot as part of this process.

Step 3

You can view the progress of the upgrade by clicking on the Job Center icon in the top right of the user interface.

Creating Configuration Profiles

The Dashboard allows you to easily apply common configuration to all your network devices. You can create network configuration profiles following the steps below:

Procedure

Step 1

Navigate to any profile menu under Provision > Network Configuration.

Step 2

A Time Management profile contains settings for the time zone, daylight savings, and NTP.

Step 3

A DNS Resolvers profile contains settings for the domain name, and the DNS servers to use.

Step 4

A VLAN profile contains the details for one or more VLANs.

Step 5

You can enable, disable and update a profile using the controls provided. You can view the progress of the configuration by clicking on the Job Center icon in the top right of the user interface.

Backing Up Device Configurations

The Dashboard Lite allows you to back up the configurations of your network devices. To back up the configuration for a single device or multiple devices, follow the steps below:

Procedure

Step 1

Click on the device in the Inventory to display the Basic Info panel.

Step 2

Open the Action panel and click Backup Configuration button. Optionally, you can add a note describing this backup in the window that appears. The Dashboard Lite will copy the running configuration of the device.

Step 3

You can view the progress of the backup by clicking on the Job Center icon in the top right of the user interface.