Performing Maintenance Operations

This chapter describes how to back up and restore location server data and how to update the location server software. It also describes other maintenance operations.

This chapter contains the following sections:

•Recovering Lost Password

•Recovering a Lost Root Password

•Backing Up and Restoring Location Server Data

•Downloading Software to Location Servers

•Configuring NTP Server

•Defragmenting the Location Server Database

•Rebooting the Location Server Hardware

•Shutting Down the Location Server Hardware

•Clearing the System Database

Recovering Lost Password

To recover a lost or forgotten password for a location server, follow these steps:

Step 1 When the GRUB screen comes up, press Esc to enter the boot menu.

Step 2 Press e to edit.

Step 3 Navigate to the line beginning with "kernel," and press e.

At the end of the line put a space, followed by the number one (1). Press Enter to save this change.

Step 4 Press b to begin boot.

The boot sequence will commence and at the end the user will be given a shell prompt.

Step 5 The user may change the root password by invoking the passwd command.

Step 6 Enter and confirm the new password.

Step 7 Reboot the machine.

Recovering a Lost Root Password

To recover a lost or forgotten root password for a location server, follow these steps:

Step 1 When the GRUB screen comes up, press Esc to enter the boot menu.

Step 2 Press e to edit.

Step 3 Navigate to the line beginning with kernel and press e.

At the end of the line enter a space and the number one (1). Press Enter to save this change.

Step 4 Press b to begin boot sequence.

At the end of the boot sequence, a shell prompt appears.

Note The shell prompt does not appear if you have setup a single user mode password.

Step 5 You can change the root password by entering the passwd command.

Step 6 Enter and confirm the new password.

Step 7 Restart the machine.

Backing Up and Restoring Location Server Data

This information describes how to back up and restore location server data. It also describes how to enable automatic backup.

Backing Up Location Server Historical Data

Cisco WCS includes functionality for backing up location server data.

To back up location server data, follow these steps:

Step 1 In Cisco WCS, choose Services > Mobility Services.

Step 2 Click the name of the mobility services engine that you want to back up.

Step 3 Choose System > Maintenance.

Step 4 Click Backup.

Step 5 Enter the name of the backup.

Step 6 Enter the time in seconds after which the backup times out.

Note For location servers versions 2.1 or later, the timeout value is not required.

Note For location server versions 2.0 or later, the timeout indicates how long the full operation will take. The default value is 1800 seconds. For pre-2.0 versions of the location server, the timeout parameter refers only to the connection timeout value and a smaller value should be entered (120 seconds by default).

Step 7 Click Submit to back up the historical data to the hard drive of the server running Cisco WCS.

Status of the backup can be seen on the screen while the backup is in process. Three items will display on the screen during the backup process: (1) Last Status field provides messages noting the status of the backup; (2) Progress field shows what percentage of the backup is complete; and (3) Started at field shows when the backup began noting date and time.

Note You cannot run the backup process in the background while working on other location server operations in other Cisco WCS windows.

Note Backups are stored in the FTP directory you specify during the Cisco WCS installation.

Restoring Location Server Historical Data

You can use Cisco WCS to restore backed-up historical data.

To restore location server data, follow these steps:

Step 1 In Cisco WCS, choose Services > Mobility Services.

Step 2 Click the name of the location server that you want to restore.

Step 3 Choose System > Maintenance.

Step 4 Click Restore.

Step 5 Choose the file to restore from the drop-down menu.

Step 6 Enter the time in seconds after which restoration times out.

Note For location servers versions 2.1 or later, the timeout value is not required.

Note For location server versions 2.0 or later, the timeout represents how long the full operation will take (by default, the user interface suggest 1800 seconds). For older location servers, the timeout represents the connection timeout and you should use a small value (120 seconds by default).

Step 7 Click Submit to start the restoration process.

Step 8 Click OK to confirm that you want to restore the data from the Cisco WCS server hard drive.

When restoration is completed, Cisco WCS displays a message to that effect.

Enabling Automatic Location Data Backup

You can configure Cisco WCS to perform automatic backups of location data on a regular basis.

To enable automatic location data backup, follow these steps:

Step 1 In Cisco WCS, choose Administration > Background Tasks.

Step 2 Check the Mobility Service Backup check box.

Step 3 Select Enable Task from the Select a command drop-down menu. Click Go.

The backups are stored in the FTP directory you specified during the Cisco WCS installation.

Downloading Software to Location Servers

To download software to a location server, follow these steps:

Step 1 Verify that you can ping the location server from the Cisco WCS server or an external FTP server, whichever you are going to use for the application code download.

Step 2 In Cisco WCS, choose Services > Mobility Services.

Step 3 Click the name of the server to which you want to download the software.

Step 4 Choose Maintenance > Download Software (left).

Step 5 To download software, do one of the following:

•To download software listed in the WCS directory, select Select from uploaded images to transfer into the Server. Then, choose a binary image from the drop-down menu.

Cisco WCS downloads the binary images listed in the drop-down menu into the FTP server directory you have specified during the Cisco WCS installation.

Note If upgrading a location server installed with a pre-2.0 version, you must first download and decompress the file (gzip -d imageFilename) before installing the image. After decompressing the file, run the resulting *.bin installer file.

Note If you have a 2.0 or later version of the location server image already installed, the software image automatically decompresses during its download from WCS.

•To use downloaded software available locally or over the network, select the Browse a new software image to transfer into the Server and click Browse. Locate the file and click Open.

Step 6 Enter the time in seconds (between 1 and 1800) after which software download times out.

Step 7 Click Download to send the software to the /opt/locserver/installers directory on the location server.

Step 8 After the image is transferred to the location server, log into the location server CLI.

Step 9 Run the installer image from the /opt/installers directory by entering ./.bin locserver image. This installs the software.

Step 10 To run the software enter /etc/init.d/locserverd start.

Note To stop the software, enter /etc/init.d/locserverd stop, and to check status enter /etc/init.d/locserverd status.

Manually Downloading Software

If you do not want to automatically update the location server software using Cisco WCS, follow these steps to upgrade the software manually using a local (console) or remote (SSH) connection.

Step 1 Transfer the new location server software image onto the hard drive.

a. Log in as root, and use the binary setting to send the image from an external FTP server root directory. The release note format is similar to the following and changes with each release: CISCO-AIR-LOC2700-L-K9-x-x-x-x-64bit.bin.gz.

Note The location server software image is compressed at this point.

Note The default login name for the FTP server is ftp-user. 

Your entries should look like this example:


# cd /opt/installers  
# ftp <FTP Server IP address>  
Name: <login>  
Password: <password>  
binary  
get CISCO-AIR-LOC2700-L-K9-x-x-x-x-64bit.bin.gz  
<CTRL-Z> 
#

b. Verify that the image (CISCO-AIR-LOC2700-L-K9-x-x-x-x-64bit.bin.gz) is in the location server's /opt/installers directory.

c. To decompress (unzip) the image file enter the following command:

gunzip CISCO-AIR-LOC2700-L-K9-x-x-x-x-64bit.bin.gz

The decompression yields a bin file.


d. Make sure that the CISCO-AIR-LOC2700-L-K9-x-x-x-x.bin file has execute permissions for the root user. If not, enter chmod 755 CISCO-AIR-LOC2700-L-K9-x-x-x-x.bin.

Step 2 Manually stop the location server.

a. Log in as root and enter /etc/init.d/locserverd stop.

Step 3 Enter /opt/installers/CISCO--AIR-LOC2700-L-K9-x-x-x-x.bin to install the new location server image.

Step 4 Start the new location server software by entering the following command:

/etc/init.d/locserverd start

Caution Only complete the next step that uninstalls the script files, if the system instructs you to do so. Removing the files unnecessarily erases your historical data.

Step 5 Enter /opt/locserver/uninstall to uninstall the location server's script files.

Configuring NTP Server

You can configure NTP servers to set up the time and date of the 2700 and 2710 location appliances.

Note You are automatically prompted to enable NTP and enter NTP server IP addresses as part of the automatic installation script. You can rerun the automatic script at anytime to change settings. For more details on the automatic installation script, refer to the Cisco Wireless Location Appliance Getting Started Guide at the following link: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6386/prod_installation_guides_list.html

The /etc/ntp.conf file is the main configuration file in which you place the IP addresses or DNS names of the NTP servers you want to use (see the following example). 

server ntp.mydomain.com # my corporate NTP

server 192.168.2.5 # my second NTP

To get NTP configured to start at bootup, enter the following: 

[root@loc-server1]# chkconfig ntpd on

To start, stop, and restart NTP after booting, follow these examples: 

[root@loc-server1]# service ntpd start

[root@loc-server1]# service ntpd stop

[root@loc-server1]# service ntpd restart

After configuring and starting NTP, make sure it is working properly. To test whether the NTP process is running, use the following command: 

[root@loc-server1]# pgrep ntpd

You should get a response of plain old process ID numbers.

Enter the ntpdate -u serverIP command to force your server to become instantly synchronized with its NTP servers before starting the NTP daemon for the first time (see the following example). 

[root@loc-server1]# service ntpd stop

[root@loc-server1] ntpdate -u 192.168.1.100

Looking for host 192.168.1.100 and service ntp

host found: ntpl.my-site.com

12 Aug 08:03:38 ntpdate[2472]: step time server 192.168.1.100 offset 28993.084943 sec

[root@smallfry tmp]# service ntpd start

Note For more information on the NTP configuration, consult a Linux configuration guide.

Defragmenting the Location Server Database

Over time, the location server's database might get fragmented, which might lead to a decrease in the server's performance. To fix this problem, use Cisco WCS to defragment the database.

To defragment the location server database, follow these steps:

Step 1 In Cisco WCS, choose Services > Mobility Services.

Step 2 Click the name of the location server that you want to defragment its database.

Step 3 Choose System > Advanced Parameters (left).

Step 4 In the Advanced Commands section, click Defragment Database.

Step 5 Click OK to confirm that you want to defragment the location server's database.

Rebooting the Location Server Hardware

If you need to restart a location server, follow these steps:

Step 1 In Cisco WCS, choose Services > Mobility Services.

Step 2 Click the name of the location server that you want to reboot.

Step 3 Choose System > Advanced Parameters (left).

Step 4 In the Advanced Commands section (right), click Reboot Hardware.

Step 5 Click OK to confirm that you want to reboot the location server hardware.

The rebooting process takes a few minutes to complete.

Shutting Down the Location Server Hardware

If you need to shutdown a location server, follow these steps:

Step 1 In Cisco WCS, choose Services > Mobility Services.

Step 2 Click the name of the location server that you want to shutdown.

Step 3 Choose System > Advanced Parameters (left).

Step 4 In the Advanced Commands section (right), click Shutdown Hardware.

Step 5 Click OK to confirm that you want to shutdown the location server.

Clearing the System Database

To clear the database of a location server, follow these steps:

Step 1 In Cisco WCS, choose Services > Mobility Services.

Step 2 Click the name of a location server for which you want to clear its database.

Step 3 Choose System > Advanced Parameters.

Step 4 In the Advanced Commands section of the window (right), click the Clear Configuration button.

Note The Clear Configuration command clears the database not the configuration file.

Click OK in the confirmation pop-up window to clear the location server database. Click Cancel to stop the process.