Working with the User Interface

Prime NCS (WAN) is a web-based application. Tabs on the user interface are either specific to a particular Cisco Prime product or can be shared across multiple Cisco Prime products. The options on application tabs are displayed when you rest your cursor on the tab.

Not all tabs or options are activated if any of your installed Cisco Prime products are not enabled through licensing.

This chapter contains the following sections:

•Understanding Interface Components

•Common Tasks

•Common Tasks For Dashboards

•Searching for Devices or SSIDs

•Monitoring Background Tasks

Understanding Interface Components

The following sections provide details on the Prime NCS (WAN) user interface components that are visible on most of the pages:

•Global Toolbars

•Filters

Global Toolbars

Prime NCS (WAN) contains static global toolbars at the top-right of the page (see Figure 2-1):

Figure 2-1 Global Toolbar—Top-right

•Login name—Indicates your current login name. Click the arrow to change your user preferences, change your password, or log out.

•Search—See Searching for Devices or SSIDs for more information.

•Refresh—Refreshes the current active page.

•Help—Launches Prime NCS (WAN) online help.

•Settings—Allows you to specify settings for the current active page. Click the down triangle to view available options. The triangle icon does not appear on pages for which you cannot change settings.

The global toolbar on the bottom-left of the page includes:

•Tools—Contains links to:

–Reports: Report Launchpad, scheduled run results, and saved report templates

–Task Manager: Jobs dashboard, background tasks

–Packet Capture

•Help—Launches online help, the feedback form, and About Prime NCS (WAN)

Prime NCS (WAN) contains the following static global toolbar at the bottom-right of the page (see Figure 2-2):

Figure 2-2 Global Toolbar—Bottom-right

•Alarm Browser—Launches the alarm browser within the active page (bottom half of the page).

•Alarm Summary—Launches the alarm summary window, displaying all critical, major, and minor alarms.

•Critical, Major, and Minor—Launches the alarm browser, listing the devices or sessions that contain the alarms.

Filters

You can use the Filter feature to display specific information on the Prime NCS (WAN) interface. The Filter icon is provided wherever the data is displayed in a tabular format. The following types of filters are available:

•Quick Filter

•Advanced Filter

Quick Filter

This filter allows you to narrow down the data inside a table by applying a filter to a specific table column or columns. To apply different operators, use the Advanced Filter option.

To launch the quick filter, choose Quick Filter from the Filter drop-down menu.

To clear the Quick Filter, click the Filter button.

Advanced Filter

This filter allows you to narrow down the data in a table by applying a filter using multiple operators such as Does not contain, Does not equal, Ends with, Is empty, and so on. For example, you can choose the filter pattern by table column names and operator from the drop-down menu. In addition, you must enter filter criteria based on the data available in the Prime NCS (WAN) database.

To launch advance filtering, choose Advanced Filter from the Filter drop-down list.

Figure 2-3 Advance Filter

To save the filter criteria used in the Advance filter (see Figure 2-3):

1. Enter the advance filter criteria, then click Go.

The data is filtered based on the filter criteria.

2. Click the Save icon.

The Save Preset Filter window appears.

3. Enter a name for the preset filter and click Save.

Common Tasks

You can perform the following actions from nearly any Prime NCS (WAN) screen:

•Changing Your Password

•Changing Your Active Domain

•Monitoring Alarms

•Using 360° View

•Launching Help

Changing Your Password

Step 1 Click the down arrow next to your username (at the top-right of the screen, to the left of the search box) and choose Change Password.

Step 2 Click the information icon to review the password policy.

Step 3 Enter a new password as directed.

Step 4 Click Save.

Changing Your Active Domain

Step 1 Rest your cursor on the Virtual Domain and click the icon that appears to the right.

Step 2 Choose a domain from the list of domains of which you are a member.

Monitoring Alarms

At the bottom of the window, rest your cursor on Alarm Summary or Alarm Browser to get information on the latest active alarms.

Using 360° View

The 360° view provides detailed device information including device status, interface status, and associated device information. You can see the 360° view from nearly all screens in which device IP addresses are displayed.

To launch the 360° view of any device, rest your cursor on a device IP address, then click the icon that appears.

Note The features that appear on the 360° view differ depending on the device type.

Table 2-1 360° Features

360° View Feature
Description

Device status

Indicates whether the device is reachable, is being managed, and is synchronized with the Prime NCS (WAN) database.

Tool icons

Allow you to launch the Alarm Browser, ping the device, and run traceroute on the device.

Modules tab

Lists the device modules and their name, type, state, and ports.

Alarms tab

Lists alarms on the device, including the alarm status, time stamp, and category.

Interfaces tab

Lists the device interfaces and the top three applications for each interface.

Neighbors

Lists the device neighbors, including their index, port, duplex status, and sysname.


Launching Help

You can access online help by:

•Clicking the question mark icon at the top right of any Prime NCS (WAN) screen.

•Choosing Help > Online Help from the Help menu at the bottom-left of any Prime NCS (WAN) screen.

Common Tasks For Dashboards

Dashboards display at-a-glance views of the most important data in your network. A quick scan of a dashboard should let you know if anything needs attention. Dashboards generally provide status and alerts, monitoring, and reporting information. Dashboards contain dashlets with visual displays such as tables and charts.

See Configuring Dashboards for more information.

Configuring Dashboards

Dashboards contains dashlets with visual displays such as tables and charts. Click the Settings icon to change the dashboards.

Note After upgrading, the arrangement of dashlets in the previous version is maintained. Therefore, dashlets or features added in a new release are not displayed. Click the Settings icon, then choose Manage Dashboards to display new dashlets.

Adding Dashboards

Step 1 Click the Settings icon, then choose Add New Dashboard.

Step 2 Enter a name for the new dashboard, then click Add.

Step 3 Choose the new dashboard and add dashlets to it. See Working with Dashlets for more information.

Restoring Default Dashboards

Step 1 From the Home page, click the Edit Dashboard icon.

Step 2 Click Manage Dashboards.

Step 3 Choose a dashboard from the list.

Step 4 Click Reset.

Working with Dashlets

Dashboards contains dashlets with visual displays such as tables and charts. Rest your cursor on any dashlet, and the icons shown in Figure 2-4 appear at the top-right corner of the dashboard.

Figure 2-4 Dashlet Icons

1

Click to change the dashlet title, refresh the dashlet, or change the dashlet refresh interval. (To disable refresh, uncheck Refresh Dashlet.)

2

Refresh the dashlet.

3

Maximize the dashlet. If you maximize the dashlet, a restore icon appears allowing you to restore the dashlet to its default size.

4

Collapse the dashlet so that only its title appears. If you collapse the dashlet, an expand icon appears.

5

Remove the dashlet.


Searching for Devices or SSIDs

Prime NCS (WAN) provides the following methods for searching for devices or SSIDs:

•Using Quick Search

•Using Advanced Search

You can access the search options from any page within Prime NCS (WAN).

Using Quick Search

For a quick search, enter a partial or complete IP address or name.

Note You can also enter a username if you are searching for a client.

To quickly search for a device, follow these steps:

Step 1 In the Search text box, enter the complete or partial IP address, device name, SSID, or MAC address of the device for which you are searching.

Step 2 Click Search to display all devices that match the Quick Search parameter.

The search results display the matching item type, the number of items that match your search parameter, and links to the list of matching results.

Step 3 Click View List to view the matching devices from the Monitor or Configuration page.

Using Advanced Search

To perform a more specific search for a device in Prime NCS (WAN), follow these steps:

Step 1 Click Advanced Search from the search menu.

Step 2 In the New Search dialog box, choose a category from the Search Category drop-down list.

Step 3 Choose all applicable filters or parameters for your search.

Note Search parameters change depending on the category you selected.

Step 4 To save this search, check the Save Search check box and enter a unique name for the search in the text box.

Step 5 Click Go.

Running Saved Searches

Note Saved searches apply only to the current partition.

To access and run a previously saved search, follow these steps:

Step 1 Click Saved Search.

Step 2 Choose a category from the Search Category drop-down list.

Step 3 Choose a saved search from the Saved Search List drop-down list.

Step 4 If necessary, change the current parameters for the saved search.

Step 5 Click Go.

Monitoring Background Tasks

A background task is a scheduled program running in the background with no visible pages or other user interfaces. In Prime NCS (WAN), background tasks can be anything from data collection to backing up configurations. You can monitor background tasks to see which background tasks are running, check their schedules, and find out whether the task was successfully completed.

Step 1 Choose Tools > Task Manager > Background Tasks to view scheduled tasks. The Background Tasks page appears.

Step 2 Choose a command from the drop-down list:

–Execute Now—Run all of the data sets with a checked check box.

–Enable Tasks—Enable the data set to run on its scheduled interval.

–Disable Tasks—Prevent the data set from running on its scheduled interval.