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Use the Distribution Manager application to distribute policies to network devices. These sections describe the use of Distribution Manager, and other tasks associated with distribution policies.
These sections describe the basics for how to use the Distribution Manager interface, and how to configure its operational settings.
Start Distribution Manager whenever you want to distribute new or changed policies to selected devices.
Determine the policy changes you wish to make. Use the Policy Manager to create new policies or change existing policies.
Select Tools>Distribution Manager in the Policy Manager to start the Distribution Manager. Or, click the Distribution button on the Policy Manager tool bar.
The Distribution Manager main window (Figure 7-1) is divided into three panes.
The tree view pane contains a folder for each job to be distributed. The job folder contains a list of the devices for which you have added or changed policies in the Policy Manager. When the job is selected, the devices are displayed in the list view pane.
The list view pane displays two different views, Jobs Summary or Contents of a selected Job. Select the Root of the Tree view to see Jobs Summary in the List View pane. When jobs are viewed, the information displayed is Job Name, Database Name, Total (number of) Devices, Written Devices, Date/Time and (Job) Status. To see the devices of a certain Job, select a job in the tree view or double click the job in the summary view. In this view you can see all the devices (routers) that are contained in the selected job folder. These are the devices to which the new or changed policy will be distributed.
The status of each job or device is displayed in the column next to the device. Table 7-1 explains the status of jobs and Table 7-2 explains the status of devices.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
Not-Applied | No policies have been sent to any of the devices in this job. |
In-Progress | The system is in the process of writing the new policies to the devices in this job. |
Completed | The new policies have been written to all the devices in this job. |
Failed | Writing new policies to one or more devices failed. If you selected "Stop if error occurred" in the Job Option tab of the Option menu window, the entire job was stopped at this failure and the new policies were not written to any of the remaining devices. If you did not select this option the new policies were written to the remaining devices. Click on the job title in the Tree View pane to see which devices failed. |
Stopped | You stopped the distribution of new policies to devices in this job. To resume the distribution of new policies select Devices>Resume, or click on the Resume icon. Select the job title in the Tree View pane to see the list of devices which have not yet received the new policies. |
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
Not-Applied | New policies have not been sent to this device. |
In-Progress | The system is in the process of writing the new policies to this device. |
Completed | The new policies have been written to this device successfully. |
Unchanged | The new policies in this job do not affect this device. |
Failed | The system was unsuccessful in writing the new policy to the device. |
The log message pane displays event messages. Messages have four levels of severity; Informational, Warning, Error and Fatal Error. The log message window has two tabs to display two types of log messages, System Logging messages and Job/Device Logging messages.
System log messages describe events occurring on the network. An example is "Database has been saved" for a specific job.
The second tab alternates between Job and Device messages depending upon which is selected. Select a job in the tree view to display Job log messages or select a device in the list view to display log messages for that device only. The Job log displays messages for all the devices in the job.
You can change the main Distribution Manager window to display information according to your preferences. Table 7-3 lists the available commands for changing the main Distribution Manager window.
| If you want to... | Command | Description |
|---|---|---|
Display or hide the tool bar | View>Toolbar | The tool bar is the row of short-cut buttons beneath the menu. When Toolbar is checked on the View menu, the tool bar is displayed. |
Display or hide the log pane | View>Log | The log pane displays log messages for the system, job or device. Select the System tab to display the system messages. The Job/Device tab toggles between job messages and device messages depending upon whether a job is selected in the tree view pane or a device is selected in the list view pane. |
Display or hide the status bar | View>Status Bar | The status bar is at the bottom of the window, and displays informative messages as you use Distribution Manager. When Status Bar is checked on the View menu, the status bar is displayed. |
You can use the Distribution Manager's Option window to change the Distribution Manager window appearance, logging display, and operation.
Step 1 Select Devices>Options in the main Distribution Manager window. The Options window is opened, Figure 7-3.
Step 2 Select the desired options. Table 7-4 describes the settings you can configure for Distribution Manager.
| Tab | Field | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Jobs | Stop if error occurred | Check this box if you want to stop writing the QoS commands to the remaining devices in the job. | This is normal mode. |
Configure one device at a time | Check this box to write QoS commands to one device at a time instead of multiple devices at once. Distribution Manager waits for a Resume command to write QoS commands to the next device. |
| |
Show Unchanged Devices | Check this box to display all devices, including those not affected by the new policy. |
| |
Logs | Number of job to show | Shows the number of jobs for which messages are displayed in the Logging pane (lower pane of the Distribution Manager window). | Select the field and type a number to change the default (10). |
Number of system log messages to show | Shows the total number of logging messages to be displayed in the Logging pane. | Select the field and type a number to change the default (50). | |
Number of jobs to store | Displays the total number of jobs for which log messages are saved. | Select the field and type the number of jobs for which you wish to save messages. | |
Number of system log messages to store | Displays the number of general logging messages to be saved. | Select the field and type the number of messages you wish to save. |
If Policy Manager is not running, you can start it from the Distribution Manager interface.
Select Tools>Policy Manager, or click on the Policy Manager button in the tool bar.
From the Distribution Manager interface, you can close just Distribution Manager, or exit both Distribution Manager and Policy Manager.
Make sure that all distribution activities are complete, or have been stopped. Also, ensure that all new policies have been saved in Policy Manager.
You can write policy changes or new policies to the network devices. You can write new policies to devices in a job sequentially, simultaneously, or individually. You can also view the status of each device as the distribution occurs.
Ensure that all the policy changes required have been made in the Policy Manager application.
Step 1 
Select a job in the tree view pane. This displays all the devices affected by the new policies.
Step 2 Select Devices>Apply, or click the Apply button in the tool bar.
You can view policy distribution actions in the Status column of the list view pane.
The Status column entry changes as the distribution actions occur.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
Not-Applied | New policies have not been sent to this device yet. |
In-Progress | The system is in the process of writing the new policies to this device. |
Completed | The new policies have been written to this device successfully. |
Unchanged | Devices that are not affected by the selected job, that is, the new policies for the currently selected job do not affect these devices. |
Unknown | The device has not been located on the network. |
Failed | The system was unsuccessful in writing the new policy to the device. |
Devices carry a "Not-Applied" or "Unchanged" status until the distribution process starts.
You can stop the distribution process at any time. The stop takes effect at the end of writing the new policy to the current device.
The system remembers the devices that have not been completed so that you can resume at a later time. If you do not wish to complete the job you must remove the policy changes to the devices from the database in Policy Manager.
Step 1 
Select the job you want to stop from the tree view window.
Step 2 Select Devices>Stop or click the Stop button.
When a policy distribution has been stopped before completion, you may resume the distribution of that policy from where it was stopped.
The incomplete jobs will still be present even if you exited and re-started the Distribution Manager. The system remembers the policies for each device and if the policies have been distributed.
Start Distribution Manager.
Step 1 
Select the job you want to restart.
Step 2 Select Devices>Resume, or click the Resume button on the tool bar.
You can view the IOS commands for each device in a job that is being modified by a policy change. Only the Incremental change that are applied to the device in that Job are shown.
Step 1 Select the device for which you want to see the IOS Commands.
Step 2 Select Device>View Device Commands.
Log messages of Distribution Manager actions are available in the log message pane. Log messages are divided between system messages, job and device messages. Job and device messages occupy the same tab, and one or the other is displayed depending upon which is highlighted in the tree or view panes.
System messages are specifically about the system operation and actions.
Job/device messages describe actions related to the writing of new policies to a device. Job messages are the accumulation of messages for all the devices in the job. Device messages pertain to the specific device selected in the list view pane.
If the message log pane is not visible, select View>Logging.
Step 1 Select the System Logging tab to see system messages.
Step 2 Select a job in the tree view pane and select the Job Logging tab to see all the log messages for the job.
Step 3 Select a device in the list view pane and select the Device Logging tab to see all the log messages for the selected device.
There are four types of log messages that may appear, informational messages, warning messages, error messages, and fatal error messages. The messages and explanations appear below.
Message Connected to Master Policy Server at address.
Explanation System status message.
Message Policy Manager is connected to the QoS Manager Service.
Explanation System status message.
Message Policy Manager is disconnected from the QoS Manager Service.
Explanation System status message.
Message Distribution Manager is connected to the QoS Manager Service.
Explanation System status message.
Message Distribution Manager is disconnected from the QoS Manager Service.
Explanation System status message.
Message Configured successfully.
Explanation The device has been successfully configured with the new policy.
Message Database has been saved.
Explanation Status message.
Message Job number has started.
Explanation The indicated job is now running.
Message Job numbers cancelled by user.
Explanation The user cancelled the indicated jobs.
Message Job number ended with status name.
Explanation The indicated job has ended as described by the status.
Message New database has been saved.
Explanation A new database was saved.
Currently there are no warning messages.
Message No SNMP connection to device.
Explanation The system was unable to make a SNMP connection.
Message Error in building the configuration.
Explanation The system was unable to build the configuration.
Message Incomplete xxxxx policy statement in database.
Explanation Information is missing from the policy in the database.
Message Missing parameter in name policy.
Explanation The designated policy is missing one or more parameters
Message Out of ACL resources for name policy.
Explanation There are insufficient resources for the indicated policy.
Message Out of custom queue-list resources.
Explanation There are insufficient resources for custom queue-list.
Message Out of priority-list resources.
Explanation There are insufficient resources for the priority-list
Message Configuration error, interface does not exist on the device.
Explanation The indicated interface does not exist on the specified device.
Message Configuration error, missing device name.
Explanation The device name was lost while building the configuration.
Message device name is not a Cisco device.
Explanation The indicated device is not supported by QoS.
Message Can not identify policy action.
Explanation The policy action is not within the range of commands for this device
Message Failed to calculate ratio in custom queuing policy.
Explanation The ratio used in custom queuing was not calculated or was not calculated properly.
Message Telnet error: device, host.
Explanation A Telnet communications error occurred.
Message Telnet communication initialization failed: device, host.
Explanation Telnet could not make contact with the device or host.
Message Invalid precedence value: value.
Explanation This is not an acceptable value.
Message Invalid priority queue level: number.
Explanation The priority queue number does not fit within the priority queueing range.
Message Job ID number is invalid.
Explanation This Job ID number does not fit within Job ID parameters
Message Failed to find message ID number in message.ini.
Explanation The system could not find this message in the message file.
Currently there are no fatal error messages.
You can print Distribution Manager activity logs for the system, all jobs, individual jobs, or individual devices.
Step 1 Select Tools>Reports.
This opens a menu allowing you to choose from All Jobs, System Logs, Job Logs or Device Logs. (See Figure 7-5.)
Step 2 Select a report type.
The report is displayed.
Step 3 Select File>Print, to print the report. This opens the MS Windows print command window.
Step 4 Select File>Save, to save the report in another directory.
Tools None Displays the summary information for each job, along with the device details for each job. Tools None Displays the system log, which contains messages concerning the functioning of the QoS Policy Manager system. Tools None Displays the log of the selected job, which contains Telnet and IOS software messages produced while the job was being applied to the network. Tools None Displays the log of the selected device, which contains Telnet and IOS software messages produced while the device was being configured.
Table 7-6: Distribution Manager Reports
Menu
Command
Toolbar Button
Description
If you want to print the log messages for a specific job or device, you must have previously select it in the tree view or list view.
Step 5 Select File>Print. This opens the MS Windows printer command window.
Step 6 Select the Print button.
Posted: Mon May 15 10:04:57 PDT 2000
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