Large Qty Switch Purchase not on our contracts

[lhoyle]

I hope to get this understood. We purchased a large amount of 2960x switches from a reseller. They did NOT convert the switches to our name, and when I have needed to RMA one, the reseller opens the TAC case for me under my CCO account.

I have inventoried these switches with my collector, but they do not appear on the portal - due to the serial numbers not being under our name. Is this correct for assuming this?

[npicard]

Hello,

The expected result is actually the opposite. The portal populates based on inventory found by your collector, THEN correlates with the Cisco databases to show you contract information. If the devices are registered under contracts you do not own or manage, you will see the devices, but only limited contract data.

I would first check to make sure that you not only discovered the devices, but also included them in your last collection prior to pushing your upload.

In viewing your portal data, I see 24 items in the 2960 family. Is the expectation that the number would be higher? 

[lhoyle]

Oh yes. On my collector I have over 1,000 LAN Switches. Based on 360 (approx) stores with 2.5 switches EACH (most have 3, some have 2). The only switches I see are the ones I manually entered before I found out I could copy and past a whole boatload of IP addresses in the field for "known IP addresses". Those switches that were uploaded in bulk using a text file of IP addresses show up in my collector, but not on the portal. Should I just open a TAC case?

[npicard]

If you have an active NLS1 or CSAS contract, yes, I would open a TAC case and request assistance with making sure these devices are being Discovered, Collected and Uploaded properly.

[CC Cisco · Accepted solution]

Hello,

There was recently a collector best practices webinar. I recommend that you watch the recording and see if helps with any concerns you might have.

Please find details about the webinar in the below location:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/document/12925501/cspc-collection-best-practices-qa

Regards,

Cesar

[lhoyle]

Thank you! I am watching this today!

[lhoyle]

In a nutshell, here is where I am, updated Monday morning 3/7/2016 after a weekend discovery, inventory, and upload (upload is still in process):

1. 2 of the 3 contracts associated with my profile are on the portal. Maybe the other is from a previous employer, but I doubt it.

2. One pair of my Nexus 7K's (which would be completely covered with 24x7x4hour coverage) shows up in my collector, when I run discovery, the results keep telling me that the device is already managed, but I cannot find it by SN or product ID

[npicard]

Hi Lewis,

I will try to address each point as listed but first I want to call out that I see that the upload that was triggered this weekend is still processing so you may not yet see all the information about its content in the portal.

1. Contracts display in the portal are based on the collected inventory, not your profile, therefore, even if you are associated with a contract, unless there is at least one covered device from said contract in inventory, that contract will not be listed.

I cross-referenced the three contracts that I believe you are referring to from your profile with the data in the portal and it does not appear that you have any covered devices from that contract in your inventory. I did a spot check using site ID's - there are some devices from some of those sites in the inventory, but the ones I found did not have any coverage.

2. Is this issue happening with all your Nexus 7K's or just some?

Also, I see that there are some days when you have pushed multiple uploads. Please try to wait until an upload has fully completed processing before you push a new one.

[lhoyle]

Thank you for your reply!

1. I have been instructed by my boss to get with our primary VAR for large equipment (like the 7k's, 5k's, ASR, etc) to get the contracts re-aligned and renewed. Hopefully, this will iron some of this issue out.

2. As far as the 7k's, its just the pair at our off-site data center. I have looked using the SN for the chassis and both sup's and its not there.

As far as the multiple uploads, chalk it up as a rookie mistake and being a little over zealous to get everything inventoried and uploaded. I now have a discover Fridays at 1730, and Inventory Saturdays at 1730, and upload on Sunday at 1730. I will resist all other urges to manually do these tasks. I have finally figured out how to get stuff on both sides of our MPLS networks discovered using CDP, ARP, and OSPF. Most everything is discovered now.

Thank you again for all of your help!

Lee