Table Of Contents

FAQs

Status questions

Procedural questions

Questions about configuration

FAQs

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This appendix answers frequently asked questions, in the following sections:

•Status questions

•Procedural questions

•Questions about configuration

Status questions

This section concentrates on checking status of devices, DSC, communications, and so on.

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Question: How can I talk to the switches if the DSC is down? In the network status view, everything is gray at my site: the DSC, the distribution switch, and the access switch?

Answer: That's a good question. You need to contact the DSC through its serial line interface:

a. Verify that it is powered on.

b. Verify that it is plugged into the network.

c. Try to ssh to it first.

d. Now try the serial cable.

Answer: You can also see what the last known IP address was in the tooltip and try to ping to SSH to that.

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Question: The status change I'm looking for doesn't seem to be showing up?

Answer: Look for other changes related to this one and see if they took place. Look at the device logs. Be sure the DSC appliance and processes are both operational.

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Procedural questions

These questions and answers concern how to do something.

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Question: How do I save the model I've been working on?

Answer: You can export it using the toolbar's right-facing export-arrow icon. OverDrive automatically provides a pd2 extension to the filename.

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Question: How do I import a model?

Answer: Go to the domain you want to replace, and use the toolbar down-arrow to open a file browser so you can specify a pd2 file.

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Question: Can I import a model so it merges with the domain?

Answer: Sorry. Your import replaces the domain.

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Question: Why do I get an "admin already exists" error when I import a pd2 file into the root domain in my model?

Answer: Admin is a special user when at the root. Your pd2 file is trying to replace that user with its own definition of a user named admin. None of the attributes of the root admin will be replaced or deleted.

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Question: Where is the go-back button?

Answer: There isn't a go-back button. But, the full domain tree path, better known as bread crumbs, is shown above the domain tree navigator. This tells you where your currently highlighted object is in the domain tree. The domain path shown at the top of the browse/edit view is another locator of where you are. Even better, the Show List icon in the upper right of those views brings you to a list of all the open windows, kind of like TurboTax brings you to a list of all your tax forms.

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Question: There seem to be old screens in the browse view.

Answer: If you open an information or edit window in the browse view and do not click Submit or Cancel, it stays in the view and gets overlaid with others that come later and don't get dismissed. You need to submit or cancel them before they go away.

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Questions about configuration

These questions and answers relate to configuration.

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Question: How many DSCs can be at one site?

Answer: One.

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Question: How many devices can be assigned to one DSC?

Answer: Multiple.

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Question: What are good suggestions for DSC names? What about sites? Devices?

Answer: We advocate naming sites something meaningful and quickly decipherable, for example, Boston or Boston State Street Branch, depending on the granularity of your networks' sites. The DSC and device names are typically shorter, so, for example, BOS001 might be a good name for a DSC at one branch, and BOS002 at another. For devices, typically you might want to use the model name followed by a string of numbers or characters to help distinguish it from others of the same type.

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Question: What kinds of information are appropriate for comment fields for devices?

Answer: Generally, IP addresses; initially, perhaps, device type and/or manufacturer; record of VLAN and IP address pools (coherency region)

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Question: What's the bare minimum of equipment and software? Just give me an idea.

Answer: To start actively managing the network, you need the following:

•A running LDAP server on the network, and the NSV engine must have its URL

•One or more DHCP servers available, and you need their IP addresses

•One or more DSC appliances (one per site)

•The name and password for each DSC

•For each switch:

–Command Line Interface (CLI) access method (telnet or ssh); a CLI username and password

–SNMP Version (1, 2c, or 3); for SNMPv3: the SNMP username, authorization password, and private passphrase; for SNMPv1 or v2: SNMP read community; SNMP write community

•For each router, the same needs as for a switch

•Installed certificate domain

•IPsec tunnel IP address and IP interface

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