Table Of Contents

Overview

What Is Prime Performance Manager

Server and Network Features

Graphical User Interface Web Features

Performance Features

Security Features

Integration Features

What Is Prime Performance Manager Architecture?

Overview

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This chapter describes the Cisco Prime Performance Manager and contains:

•What Is Prime Performance Manager

•What Is Prime Performance Manager Architecture?

What Is Prime Performance Manager

Using Prime Performance Manager, you generate statistics reports, key performance indicators for managed network elements. Prime Performance Manager provides:

•Server and Network Features

•Graphical User Interface Web Features

•Performance Features

•Security Features

•Integration Features

Server and Network Features

Prime Performance Manager:

•Provides administrative and reporting functions through a web browser.

•Supports large networks as described in the Server System Requirements in README in the User Documentation section from the Home page.

•Allows you to increase the scope of monitoring and reporting capacity by adding Units. See What Is Prime Performance Manager Architecture? section for more information.

•Provides a command-line interface (CLI).

•Allows units to connect to a gateway through the IP network and through a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Connection, across a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection, through a firewall. This VPN supports units connecting to a gateway through a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Connection and through a firewall.

Graphical User Interface Web Features

Prime Performance Manager provides an extensive Web 2.0 user interface on the Gateway that is used for viewing reports and performing administrative tasks. Prime Performance Manager v1.0 is supported on Internet Explorer 8.0 and Firefox 3.6.x.

Performance Features

Prime Performance Manager:

•Provides a large set of built-in reports.

•Enables you to define new reports or extend built-in reports through XML.

•Supports options to configure collection intervals, record aging and statistics export, using comma-separated values (CSV) format files.

•Supports third-party devices.

Security Features

Prime Performance Manager provides:

•HTTPS web access and SSL-enabled Gateway-Unit communication options

•Role-based password-protected access for multiple users

•Multiple user authentication methods (PAM-based and standalone)

•Web based and CLI based user management

•Password enforcement policies (aging, minimum length, and lockouts)

•Audit trails of all user actions and all access through the web interface

•Security logs

Integration Features

Prime Performance Manager:

•Integrates with Active Network Abstraction (ANA) for device inventory sharing and cross launching of Prime Performance Manager reports from ANA Network Vision.

•Provides Prime Performance Manager events and alarms to northbound management systems.

What Is Prime Performance Manager Architecture?

Prime Performance Manager architecture is designed to be a highly scalable collector of performance statistics, from SNMP-enabled devices. The software and functions are distributed across a single Gateway and a single or multiple Unit servers. Both the Gateway and Unit servers consist of multiple components.

The Gateway server is the single point of interface for administrators, users, and northbound systems. The Gateway server is also responsible for synchronizing administrative data to the Unit servers.

The Unit servers are a set of distributed servers that collect statistics for a subset of the devices that are managed by a Prime Performance Manager. Unit servers are instantiated, as needed, to address performance and scaling problems.

A single Unit process can coexist with a Gateway process on the same server and a Unit process can also be instantiated on a separate server. A unit server can be instantiated to address memory, CPU, and disk storage issues and it can monitor many devices.

Devices to be monitored, are distributed to or across a single or multiple Units, as directed by the Gateway server. For detailed information on Cisco Prime Performance Manager, see http://www.cisco.com/go/performance