Cisco Network Management software options

kyle woodhouse · ‎04-16-2013

Hi,

I wanted to see if anyone can give me a quick breakdown on the differences between some Network Management software titles. I dont know when you would use each one or what the limitations are of each.

CNA - Cisco Network Assistant

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/netmgtsw/ps6504/ps5931/product_data_sheet0900aecd8068820a.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/cisco_network_assistant/version5_0/release/notes/OL12210a.html

CCP - Cisco Config Professional

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/routers/ps9422/data_sheet_c78_462210.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/cisco_configuration_professional/v2_7/rlsnts/ccp_v27_rel_notes.html

CCA - Cisco Config Assistant

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/netmgtsw/ps7256/ps7287/data_sheet_c78-682273.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/cisco_configuration_assistant/version3_2_1/release/Notes/cca_3_2_1_relnotes.html

Cisco Prime LMS (are their different versions or products here?)

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/netmgtsw/ps6504/ps6528/ps11200/data_sheet_c78-697479.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/ciscoworks_lan_management_solution/4.2.3/release/notes/lms4_2_3_release_notes.html

CiscoWorks (depreciated? Now Prime?)

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/netmgtsw/ps6504/ps6528/ps2425/data_sheet_c78-534877.html

I have been looking over the realease notes for each product trying to draw some conclusion on which titles support or dont support certain products.

Has anyone used these and can give a quick answer for when you would use each and if there are any gotchas or limits to watch out for?

It looks like Prime is a paid for product but will any of the free solutions (CNA, CCP, CCA) work with all enterprise level products (2950, 2960, 3560, 3750, 4948, 4900 4500 switches and 1800, 1900, 2800, 2900, 3800, 3900 routers) or do you have to use Prime to get a product that will mange these devices?

Thank you in advance.

Marvin Rhoads · ‎04-16-2013

CNA CCP and CCA are free products. Useful for what they do but limited in their scalability.

CNA - focused mostly on switches. Limited number of devices. Useful for CiscoView-like and network map capabilities. Limited configuration tools. Some limited monitoring tools.

CCP - pretty powerful configuration tool for setting up routers. Especially useful for some lesser known configuration bits like QoS and zone-based firewall setup. Also very useful at doing security lockdown. Some limited monitoring tools.

CCA - haven't used this personally.

Prime LMS - the most mature product for wired network management. Successor to CiscoWorks. Covers routers, switches and more. Includes full featured Fault, Configuration and Performance management component. Can be challenging for a small shop, especially if you don't follow one of the deployment or configuration guides out there.

Ciscoworks - end of sales as of April 2011 @ Version 3.2

There's also Prime Infrastructure - primarily right now the successor to the wireless management tools WCS and NCS. It's accreting the features of LMS and is the strategic product but not yet ready to fill LMS's shoes.

prashantrecon · ‎04-20-2013

Hi Marvin,

i am currently try to explore cisco prime Infra 1.3 and facing some problem.

1 : i have set the admin password at startup config but this password is not working(i am pretty sure that i have enter the same password)

2: Can i change the prime lan infra clock setting from it,s GUI

3: i am not able to see the end client assosiate to a cisco switch(C3750 )

4: i want to know can i use cisco infra to monitor broadcast on a switch port level.(suppose switch 1's port 10 client making broadcast ,can i monitor that)

is there is any videos avialable for cisco prime infra 1.2/1.3 .

Thanks,

Prashant

Rob Johnson · ‎04-21-2013

1 : i have set the admin password at startup config but this password is not working(i am pretty sure that i have enter the same password)

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps12239/products_password_recovery09186a0080beb914.shtml

2: Can i change the prime lan infra clock setting from it,s GUI

From the CLI only---

prashantrecon · ‎04-21-2013

Thanks

i have some more query

i want to know can i use cisco infra to monitor broadcast on a switch port level.(suppose switch 1's port 10 client making broadcast ,can i monitor that)

i am faciing one more problem ,

i am not able to see the end client assosiate to a cisco switch(C3750 ) . c

What else we can do with cisco prime infra at monitoring level

Thanks ,

Prashant

Marvin Rhoads · ‎04-21-2013

Prashnant,

Cisco has published a series of 17 videos on Cisco Prime Infrastructure on their YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Cisco?feature=watch

Click on "Technology, Cisco Prime" after going to the above link and you should see the entire series to choose among.

prashantrecon · ‎04-21-2013

Thanks

i have some more query

i want to know can i use cisco infra to monitor broadcast on a switch port level.(suppose switch 1's port 10 client making broadcast ,can i monitor that)

i am faciing one more problem ,

i am not able to see the end client assosiate to a cisco switch(C3750 ) . c

What else we can do with cisco prime infra at monitoring level

Thanks ,

Prashant