NCS 1 / LMS 4.2 packaging confusion

[jedavis]

Hi,

I have LMS 4.1 installed and want to get to 4.2.  I am a bit confused by the NCS packaging.  The product upgrade tool gives me access to these packages.  What do I need?  What do I want?  What is all this Small/Medium/Large stuff?

PMEDIA; DVD, Network Control System, Small

PMEDIA; DVD, Network Control System, Medium

PMEDIA; DVD, Network Control System, Large

PMEDIA; DVD, Network Control System, App

PMEDIA; DL-DVD, LAN Management Solution, Small

PMEDIA; DL-DVD, LAN Management Solution, Medium

PMEDIA; DL-DVD, LAN Management Solution, Large

PMEDIA; DL-DVD, LAN Management Solution, App

PMEDIA; DVD, LAN Management Solution, Windows

PMEDIA; DVD, LAN Management Solution, Solaris

PMEDIA; DVD, Network Control System (WAN), Small

PMEDIA; DVD, Network Control System (WAN), Large

PMEDIA; DVD, Network Control System (WAN), X-Large

PMEDIA; DVD, LMS, Remote Syslog Collector, Bootable

PMEDIA; DVD, LMS, Remote Syslog Collector, Non Bootable 

Thanks,

-Jeff

[Marvin Rhoads]

The small, medium and large options are pre-built OVA file images that can be loaded directly onto a VMware ESXi server. If you are using a physical server to run LMS and want to stay that course, you would choose from among

PMEDIA; DL-DVD, LAN Management Solution, App

PMEDIA; DVD, LAN Management Solution, Windows

PMEDIA; DVD, LAN Management Solution, Solaris

...for the downloadable image (iso file) or DVD (in which case you choose either the Windows or Solaris version).

[jedavis]

Ok Thanks Marvin.  I should have specified that I am running this on a physical W2K8 R2 machine.  So if I understand you correctly I would download the DVD, LAN Management Solution, Windows file for an iso image and the DL-DVD, LAN Management Solution, App file for the installable package.

What of the other software?  NCS is basically the WLCS software is it not?  Is it of any use outside the wireless realm?  And what is the purpose of the remote syslog collecttor software?

Thanks,

-Jeff

[Marvin Rhoads]

I believe you have it reversed:

PMEDIA; DL-DVD, LAN Management Solution, App - Downloadable media option (you can select either Windows or Solaris when you download). This will be an ISO file which you can install independent of physical media (or burn onto a blank DVD).

PMEDIA; DVD, LAN Management Solution, Windows - A DVD with the Windows program will be shipped to you.

Network Control System or NCS is the successor to the Wireless Control System (WCS). It and LMS will merge into a single product in a future release. For now, they are only bundled together under the Cisco Prime Infrastructure umbrella for licensing, support and market positioning purposes.

NCS-WAN is a "Stub" product (my term) with limited use cases for management of wired network device configurations. Most customers will not have a use for this if they are an LMS shop. It will fold into the combined LMS-NCS product also.

Remote syslog collector is a way to install the syslog collector function independent of (but integrated into) one's LMS server in order to better manage the workload and storage requirements of that function. It's primarily for very large (i.e., thousands of managed devices) installations.

[jedavis]

Thanks again Marvin your help has been invaluable. I thought for sure that someone else would encounter the same dilemma and would post this question, for surely I am not the only one that doesn't get this! (right?)

Before your latest reply I chose to click on PMEDIA; DVD, LAN Management Solution, Windows because I wanted an off-line copy of the software (i.e I wanted a DVD I could store).  Perhaps Cisco will also ship me a copy, but I got a downloaded iso image when I did so.  I still suspect that if I click on the App option I will get a zip/tar with the same content. No?

Also, although you didn't specify exactly how the off-line syslog collector works, I suspected that it was exactly what it says it is.  I just wasn't sure how it integrated into the base Ciscoworks.... er...  LMS .... um .... Cisco Prime... *cough* .... NCS 1.1 package. I find it interesting though that the non-bootable package is 3.08 GB while the bootable package is slightly less than 1 GB.  LMS 4.2 alltogether is 2.24 GB.  I am missing something here.

-Jeff

[jedavis]

Update - the metadata describing the non-bootable version of the syslog collector as a 3.08 GB file is incorrect.  It is exactly half that at 1.54 GB file.  Still.....

[jedavis]

Further update -

Choosing the PMEDIA; DVD, LAN Management Solution, Windows option gives me a 2.24 GB download of a file named LMS4_2_WIN.iso.  Choosing the

PMEDIA; DL-DVD, LAN Management Solution, App option I get a 8.63 GB (also incorrect really 4.32 GB) download of a file named Cisco_Prime_LAN_Management_Solution_4_2.iso. Clearly these are both iso images.  Clearly they are both iso images of LMS 4.2.  Why am I confused?