OVA Collector Serial Number?

[kondic]

Hello,

I have recently downloaded the OVA image for the collector.  It is requesting an entitlement license.  I've pieced together it needs to be registerd at the portal, which I managed to supply all the required fields except for Collector Serial Number.  The tutorials / docs seem to state this will be automagically filled in, but shockingly, reality is different than the documentation.  It is not automagically populated.

Can anyone advise where I can obtain / find this serial number for the collector OVA image to register it in the portal?

Thank you!

[npicard]

I have moved this question to the main community so that it can be visible to all.

[Lynden Price]

Hi Kondic,

It's an interesting question because, since it is a VM, you can actually put anything for the serial number as long as it doesn't match any other registered collector serial number. There is of course no way for you to know this. What we've been doing is going to this website to get the Unix epoch time:

http://www.epochconverter.com/

Which generates a unique 10 digit number that we can use for the serial number. If in the very unlikely event that it overlaps with an existing number, you can generate a new one and it should work.

That being said, CSPC 2.4 (which you most likely have) is not currently supported for the SNTC 3.x portal. To enable the features of the SNTC portal, you currently have two options:

1) Wait until the release of CSPC 2.5, after which you will have access to a link to download the 2.5 OVA. Earlier versions require a TAC engineer to deploy and configure. The announcement of this release will be posted to the community.

2) Use the file import feature on the SNTC portal:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/document/12566046/csv-file-import-sntc-3x-application-note

You can access the portal itself by going here:

https://tools.cisco.com/smartservices/

Here is a link to the portal user guide that should go into more detail about the full list features you can use and reports you can generate:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/document/12566066/smart-net-total-care-portal-user-guide

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you,

Lynden

[kondic]

Thanks for the info Lynden; this clarifies things on a few fronts!  

While I apprecaite an announcement once it is released, in the interim, is there an ETA available for the release of  CSPC 2.5, or at least a ballpark (days, weeks, months, years?).  

Thank you!

[Lynden Price]

They've already finished CSPC 2.5, we're really just waiting for the OVA to be built and QAed, so maybe a week or two.

Glad I was able to help!

-Lynden