cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
cancel
1957
Views
0
Helpful
1
Replies

Facebook Forum - CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution 4.0

ciscomoderator
Community Manager
Community Manager

Join Joe Clarke as he takes your questions on LMS4.0 .

Joe Marcus Clarke has been with Cisco since 1998, working on the network  management TAC team in North Carolina. As a network management  distinguished support engineer, he handles world-wide network management  escalations particularly those pertaining to CiscoWorks, SNMP, Network  Analysis Module, and embedded management. He has done development and  testing for CiscoWorks since the good ol' CRM 1.1 days, and is  responsible for such CiscoWorks plug-ins as JT, JET, and logrot. He has  also been helping to test and extend the Tcl engine in IOS, the Embedded  Event Manager (EEM), Embedded Syslog Manager (ESM), and Smart Call Home  (SCH). Joe is extremely active on the Cisco Support Communities (aka  NetPro) network management forum where he provides assistance to  customers on a wide variety of network management issues. He is CCIE  #5384 as well as a Sun Certified Java Programmer, Sun Certified System  Administrator, Sun Certified Network Administrator, and a Sun Certified  Security Administrator.

What is a Facebook Forum?
Facebook forum are online conversations, held at a pre-arranged time in a Facebook community.

How Do I Participate?

On the day of the event, go to http://www.facebook.com/CiscoSupportCommunity.Once you go to our Facebook fan page, be sure and click "Like" to become a member of our Facebook community!

1 Reply 1

ciscomoderator
Community Manager
Community Manager

Here's a condensed summary of our discussion with Joe Clarke in a Q&A format.

Q. What are the major differences between LMS 4.0 and LMS 3.2?

A. The major differences between LMS 3.2 and  4.0 centers around the UI and user experience. In LMS 3.x, we had very  distinct application boundaries. LMS was composed of applications like  Resource Manager Essentials for inventory, configuration, software, and  syslog management. Campus Manager for Topology and user tracking, Device  Fault Manager for SNMP-based fault managemen,. Internetwork Performance  Monitor for network-based performance management, And Health and  Utilization Monitor for device performance.



In LMS 4.0, the same features still exist (in  fact, the add capabilities provided by HUM are included out-of-the-box),  but the application boundaries have been blurred.  This presents a  consistent, homogeneous user interface and task-driven user experience.   Users  tend to find this approach more intuitive when performing  management tasks on the device and the network.  Additionally, because  the different features of LMS are more tightly integrated, we can do  more out-of-the-box management such as poll for device availability and  utilization as soon as a device is managed by LMS.


Some of the other notable features in LMS 4.0  are built-in role-based access control. In previous versions of LMS, one  had to integrate LMS with Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS) to  do role customization, and limit user access to specific devices. In LMS  4.0, these features are built right in.


LMS 4.0 also offers new configuration templates  to help provision devices for entire solutions or with recommended  Cisco solutions.


The  last new feature to highlight is the Work Centers.  LMS 4.0 provides  compartmentalized work centers to facilitate monitoring and deployment  of Cisco solutions like EnergyWise, TrustSec, Auto Smart Ports, and  Smart Install.


Q. What is the difference in  Cisco LMS and other network management software available in the market ?
A. LMS leverages Cisco's knowledge of its own  devices to provide very in-depth management capabilities when compared  to other NMSes.  The configuration and software management capabilities  are very rich. 


Q. I have an setup of 30 -  40 Access layer switches and 6 L3 switches and I would like to manage  all of them without hassle, sitting in one place. How do I start?
This new Template Center is different from the  LMS 3.x Netconfig in that the templates dictate how the UI is drawn.   The templates can specify what fields a user is presented with, do  validation on their input, and provide context-sensitive help.  Moving  forward, we plan to expose more of the template design capabilities to  users so that they can take full advantage of this capability.


LMS offers a discovery component that can find  all of your access and L3 switches using a combination of CDP, ping  sweeps, as well as some other protocols. Once the devices have been  discovered, they will automatically be managed, and presented in the LMS  monitoring dashboard. From here you will be able to perform all of the  various management tasks such as config collection, troubleshooting,  fault management, etc.
Q. I'm new to the Cisco world so please bear  with me.  My question for you is what are the recommended hardware  specifications in order to run LMS 4.0 efficiently?
It depends  on the number of devices and platform (Windows vs. Solaris). Server  requirements are specified at  http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/ciscoworks_lan_management_solution/4.0/install/guide/prereq.html .


In  general, LMS 4.0 benefits from good I/O response time and good (read:  multiple) CPUs.
The I/O concern is more apparent in 4.0 than with  previous versions.


Q. To be frank, I had  tried LMS 3.5 earlier.. but it felt a bit complicated. It was not easy  to use categories, buttons tips etc. Is anything being done towards this  end?
A. The new UI is designed to  combat some of the complexity factor.  We really wanted to make things  more intuitive, reduce mouse clicks, and present more relevant  information in one place.  We're continuing to evolve this within the  LMS 4.x release train.  Not sure exactly what version you mean by 3.5  (we never had a 3.5), but if you used 3.x and you found it confusing, I  would recommend you try 4.0.
You can download a free 90-day  eval from http://www.cisco.com/go/nmsevals.  This will give you a good understanding of the new UI and new  capabilities in 4.0.


Q. I even hear people  saying Nagios is easy to install and configure. Is there any lite  version of the LMS tool, so that we can install and use, just what we  need, but not the complete bundle?

A.LMS 4.0 is all or nothing.  However, it comes in a  variety of licenses.  You can get LMS 4.0 for 50 devices. The resources  required will depend on the number of devices being managed.


Q.  Does LMS 4.0 support third party (i.e. non-Cisco) devices?
A. Yes, it does; but only in a limited  fashion. In previous versions of LMS, non-Cisco devices were managed  only using basic MIB-II attributes, but those devices counted against  the number of licensed devices. In LMS 4.0, we recognize non-Cisco  devices, manage them using the same MIB-II features, but do not count  them against the number of licensed devices. A full list of non-Cisco  devices known to LMS can be found at https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-14507


Q.  Not quite sure which version of LMS my company is running so I am  assuming it's an early version possibly v2.5.  If so would you need to  walk up so to say the installation or can you install v4.0 over v2.5?   Or would it be better to uninstall v2.5 then reinstall v4.0?
A. You can use the doc at https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-12853 to understand the different versions of LMS. For upgrades, I always  recommend starting with a clean system (either a new system or one where  LMS has been uninstalled). Install 4.0 from scratch, then restore the  previous backup (if the version of LMS you are currently running is  supported in the data migration path). The migration instructions can be  found at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/ciscoworks_lan_management_solution/4.0/install/guide/dmg.html . We support migration from LMS 2.6, 2.6 SP1, LMS 3.0, 3.0.1, 3.1, and  3.2.



Q How do I use LMS to perform  power management of my network?
A.  As I mentioned earlier, one of the new features of LMS 4.0 is the Work  Centers.  One of these Work Centers focuses on EnergyWise. EnergyWise is  Cisco's architecture for defining power policies and monitoring those  policies across a domain of d


The EnergyWise Work Center enables you to quickly  provision devices for EnergyWise, including setting up the domain and  defining the power policies.  Once EnergyWise is deployed, the EW  dashboard within the Work Center shows you how m


Tips from Joe Clarke:
When you first  login to LMS 4.0, you will be presented with the LMS 4.0 Getting Started  workflow. This will walk you through a step-by-step path to get LMS up  and running (including adding users, periodically checking for software  and device updates, and discovering devices).


At the top of the Getting Started screen there  is a video link. This link will take you to some video modules  explaining the different aspects of LMS in a more instructional way.  Those can also serve as a great resource to quickly get up to speed on  the various management features.


LMS can provide you reports that tell you what chassis  and modules are end of life as well as what security incidents to which  your devices may be vulnerable.


Did you know we are also working on a 4.0.1 release to  add support for Medanet management as well as fix some bugs we've  discovered in 4.0?   We expect to be ready with that release around  April of this year.


You can catch the  complete discussion at http://www.facebook.com/CiscoSupportCommunity/posts/160056404041450

Review Cisco Networking for a $25 gift card