Adding and Importing
Inventory Data

Adding Devices to Your Network Inventory

Adding Single Devices

Importing Devices from a File

Importing Devices from a Local NMS

Importing Devices from a Remote NMS

Adding and Importing
Inventory Data

After you install Essentials, you need to populate the network inventory with devices. Use the inventory administration options to do the following:

For detailed information on Adding and Importing Inventory Data, refer to the online help.

Adding Devices to Your Network Inventory

The Essentials package lets you manage and track your network inventory. You can import multiple devices using the appropriate import feature or import only a few devices simply by adding them individually.

After you establish how you will add devices, you can begin populating your network inventory. You can use the following methods:

Add a single device
Import from a file
Import devices from a local NMS database
Import devices from a remote NMS database

Each method supplies basic device information to the Essentials software. Use Add Devices to add individual devices. Use File Import to add multiple devices based on parameters specified in a comma separated values (CSV) file. Use the NMS database import methods to import device information from a supported NMS.

Adding Single Devices

Scenario: You have just installed the Essentials package, and you want to add a small number of devices to your network inventory.

To get started, you might want to install just a few devices. Performing this task will give you a basic understanding of device integration and the kind of information maintained for each device. When adding a small number of devices, use the Add a Single Device method. This method uses online dialog boxes in which you enter access information and optional user attributes for each device.

To add a single device, perform the following steps:

Step 1 Select Admin > Inventory > Add Devices.

The Add a Single Device dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-1.)

Figure 2-1: Add a Single Device Dialog Box

Step 2 Enter the access information in the Add a Single Device dialog box, then click Next.

The Add Passwords dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-2.)

Note If the device is running Terminal Access Controller Access Control System (TACACS), enter the TACACS username, TACACS password, Enable TACACS username, and Enable TACACS password fields. If you are using Software Management or Device Configuration or managing Cisco 2500 single Flash bank (SFB) devices, you must enter the Read-Write community string. (You should also enter the Telnet passwords.) Otherwise, upgrades will not succeed.

Figure 2-2: Add Passwords Dialog Box

Step 3 Enter and verify the passwords in the Add Passwords dialog box, then click Next.

The Enter Authentication Information dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-3.)

Figure 2-3: Enter Authentication Information Dialog Box

Step 4 Enter and verify the TACACS and local user names and passwords, then click Finish.

The Single Device Add dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-4.)

Figure 2-4: Single Device Add Dialog Box

Step 5 To add another device, click Add Another and repeat steps Step 2 through Step 4. Otherwise, click View Status.

The Add/Import Status Summary dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-5.)

Figure 2-5: Add/Import Status Summary Dialog Box

To view the status of added devices, click on the Device Status links. The Add/Import status conditions are described in Table 2-1.

Table 2-1: Add/Import Status Conditions

Condition Description

Managed

Devices whose inventory information is tracked on the Essentials server.

Alias

Unmanaged devices that have the same interface information as a managed device but a different name reintroduced via a file add or import.

Pending

Unmanaged devices that can still become managed.

Conflicting

Unmanaged devices with the same domain naming system (DNS) and network host name as a currently managed device, but with one or more password elements that are different from the managed device.

Suspended

Unmanaged devices you have suspended in the Pending or Not Responding list or a managed device you deleted from the Essentials server.

Not Responding

Devices that are on an unknown host, are unavailable, are not responding to ICMP Echo requests, are not responding to SNMP Get requests, or do not support RFC 1213 (SNMP MIB II) attributes.

You can take the following actions:

Resubmit them

Delete them

Suspend them

Change device passwords

Show details

Check Read-Write community strings

Condition	Description
Managed	Devices whose inventory information is tracked on the Essentials server.
Alias	Unmanaged devices that have the same interface information as a managed device but a different name reintroduced via a file add or import.
Pending	Unmanaged devices that can still become managed.
Conflicting	Unmanaged devices with the same domain naming system (DNS) and network host name as a currently managed device, but with one or more password elements that are different from the managed device.
Suspended	Unmanaged devices you have suspended in the Pending or Not Responding list or a managed device you deleted from the Essentials server.
Not Responding	Devices that are on an unknown host, are unavailable, are not responding to ICMP Echo requests, are not responding to SNMP Get requests, or do not support RFC 1213 (SNMP MIB II) attributes. You can take the following actions: Resubmit them Delete them Suspend them Change device passwords Show details Check Read-Write community strings

Note When you are integrating a large number of devices, as with one of the import operations, some of those devices initially appear in the Pending list. You can periodically click Update to refresh the Add/Import Status Summary dialog box to display more current information.

Now that you have added devices to your network inventory, you can configure device views, schedule inventory polling and collection, run reports, and perform other network management tasks. Before you do so, read the following sections to learn how to import devices from a file or from a local or remote database.

Importing Devices from a File

Scenario: You have used the Add a Single Device option to add devices to your network inventory. Now you want to manage a larger number of network devices. You decide to import device information from a file.

You can import multiple devices by extracting data into a CSV file or device integration file (DIF) that you can later specify as input to the Essentials database. For ease of use, Cisco strongly recommends the CSV format. CSV and DIF formats are described in Appendix A, "File Import Format."

If you are migrating from CiscoWorks to Essentials, refer to Appendix B, "Migrating from CiscoWorks Classic to Essentials."

Create the file using your own application, script, query language program, or other means. After you create your file, direct the device import operation to use the file as input.

To import a file, perform the following steps:

Step 1 Select Admin > Inventory > Import from File.

The File Import dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-6.)

Figure 2-6: File Import Dialog Box

Step 2 In the File Name field, enter the fully qualified path name of the file to import (for example, /db/cisco/file.txt), or click Browse and select a file.

If you click Browse, the Browse dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-7.) The default directory is displayed in the File Name field. You can select another directory by entering the path name or by clicking a directory name in the list and clicking OK.

Note

Figure 2-7: Browse Dialog Box

Step 3 Click OK.

The How to Resolve Conflicts dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-8.)

Figure 2-8: How to Resolve Conflicts Dialog Box

Step 4 Select one of the following:

Use data from Imported Devices---When a conflict occurs, the imported device information overwrites existing device information.
Use data from Managed Devices---When a conflict occurs, the existing device information remains and the imported information is ignored.
Resolve conflicts after importing (the default)---After the import, select the information for the device integration process used to manage each device.

Step 5 Click Finish to finish the import.

The Add/Import Status Summary dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-5.)

Step 6 Click the Device Status links to view device status. The Add/Import Status conditions are described in Table 2-1.

Step 7 Click Update to update the status information.

For additional information about importing devices from a file, refer to the online help.

Importing Devices from a Local NMS

You can import multiple devices from a local NMS; however, prerequisites depend on which NMS you are importing from, which are listed in Table 2-2.

Note Your login determines whether you can use this option.

NMS	Prerequisite
CiscoWorks (UNIX only)	bin must be a member of the CiscoWorks group; Sybase must be running.
HP OpenView	HP OpenView must be running.
CiscoWorks for Switched Internetworks (CWSI) 2.1 and 2.2	bin must be a member of the "known networks" database group.
CastleRock SNMPc (Windows NT only)	must have CiscoWorks Windows.

Table 2-2: Prerequisites for Importing Devices from a Local NMS

NMS Prerequisite

CiscoWorks (UNIX only)

bin must be a member of the CiscoWorks group; Sybase must be running.

HP OpenView

HP OpenView must be running.

CiscoWorks for Switched Internetworks (CWSI) 2.1 and 2.2

bin must be a member of the "known networks" database group.

CastleRock SNMPc (Windows NT only)

must have CiscoWorks Windows.

Scenario: You have just installed the Essentials package and you want to import the basic device information contained in a CiscoWorks database residing on the local host.

To import devices from a local NMS, perform the following steps:

Step 1 Ensure that your device Read community strings are accurate.

For HP OpenView, ensure that HP OpenView is running on the local host.
For CiscoWorks, ensure that the Sybase server is running on the local host and that the user bin is a member of the CiscoWorks group (defaults to cscworks).

Step 2 Ensure that the user bin is a member of the CiscoWorks group before you start the Essentials web server. If bin is not a member of the CiscoWorks group, add it to the group, then stop and restart Essentials.

Step 3 Select Admin > Inventory > Import from Local NMS.

The Local NMS Import dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-9.)

Figure 2-9: Local NMS Import Dialog Box

Step 4 Select the source database type from the NM Product drop-down list, for example, CiscoWorks.

Step 5 Select the reconciliation criterion:

Use data from imported devices---When a conflict occurs, the imported device information overwrites existing device information.
Use data from managed devices---When a conflict occurs, the existing device information remains and the imported information is ignored.
Resolve conflicts after importing (the default)---After the import, select the information for the device integration process used to manage each device.

Step 6 Select special options:

Select the Cisco devices only check box if you want to import only Cisco devices. Leave the Cisco devices only check box unselected if you want to import both Cisco and non-Cisco devices.
Select the Customize check box to specify values for nondefault settings (optional).

The options depend on the NMS you are using.

Step 7 Click Next.

The Add/Import Status Summary dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-10.)

Figure 2-10: Add/Import Status Summary Dialog Box

Step 8 Click the Device Status links to view device status, then click Update to update the status. (See Table 2-1 for device status descriptions.)

For additional information about importing devices from a local NMS database, refer to the online help.

Importing Devices from a Remote NMS

You can populate your Essentials server with device inventory data by importing the data from a supported network management system (NMS) database residing on a remote host. Device import supports the following NMS databases (see the Essentials release notes for supported versions). The remote server must be a UNIX (not Windows NT) machine.

CiscoWorks for Switched Internetworks (CWSI)
HP OpenView
CiscoWorks

You can import multiple devices from a remote NMS; however, prerequisites depend on the NMS you are importing from. (See Table 2-3.)

Note Your login determines whether you can use this option.

NMS	Prerequisite
CiscoWorks	The remote user must be a member of the CiscoWorks Group. The Sybase server must be running on the remote host.
HP OpenView	HP OpenView must be running.
CiscoWorks for Switched Internetworks	The remote user must be a member of the group bin and the group of the Known Networks Database.

Table 2-3: Prerequisites for Importing Devices from a Remote NMS

NMS Prerequisite

CiscoWorks

The remote user must be a member of the CiscoWorks Group. The Sybase server must be running on the remote host.

HP OpenView

HP OpenView must be running.

CiscoWorks for Switched Internetworks

The remote user must be a member of the group bin and the group of the Known Networks Database.

Scenario: You have just installed the Essentials package and you want to import the basic device information contained in the database of a supported network management system residing on a remote host.

Before You Begin

Ensure that your device Read community strings are accurate.
Ensure that your local Essentials server has remote access to the remote username. You must be able to run the remote shell as the specified user on the remote host.
Ensure that the remote server is configured as follows:
- An .rhosts file is in the remote user's home directory and contains an entry for the Essentials server.
- The /etc/hosts. equiv file on the remote server cannot contain any statements that disallow access by the Essentials server.
- For CiscoWorks, the remote user is a member of the CiscoWorks group. On UNIX, the remote userid is part of cscworks (or the group entered when CiscoWorks was installed) in /etc/group.
- For CiscoWorks, the Sybase server is running on the remote host and the Sybase database uses the default query server name CW_SYBASE.
- For CWSI, the remote user is a member of the group bin and a member of the CWSI Known Network database group. This database group must have write access to the Known Network database.
- For HP OpenView, HP OpenView is running on the remote host.

To import basic device information residing on a remote host, perform the following steps:

Note Ensure that the remote shell daemon is running on the remote host.

Step 1 Select Admin > Inventory > Import from Remote NMS.

The Remote NMS Import dialog box appears. (See Figure 2-11.)

Figure 2-11: Remote NMS Import Dialog Box

Step 2 Select the database you are importing from (CWSI, HP Openview, or CiscoWorks) from the NM Product drop-down list box. Only applicable products appear in this list.

Step 3 Enter the network name of the host on which the remote NMS resides in the Host Name field.

Step 4 Enter the name of the remote user in the User Name field.

Step 5 Open the .rhosts file in the home directory (of the user specified in the User Name field) on the remote system hosting the NMS database, then enter the remote server name:

myhost.cisco.com bin

Step 6 Select one of the following from the Reconciliation Criteria list.

This specifies the conflict resolution method to apply if there is a conflict between a device you try to import and a managed device with the same host and domain name. Reconciliation criteria include the following:

Use data from imported devices---When a conflict occurs, the imported device information overwrites existing device information.
Use data from managed devices---When a conflict occurs, the existing device information remains and the imported information is ignored.
Resolve conflicts after importing (the default)---After the import, select the information for the device integration process used to manage each device.

Step 7 Select special options:

Cisco Devices Only---Device filtering is performed only for CiscoWorks and HP OpenView. (Devices are filtered based on the SNMP variable "sysObjectId.")
Customize---Non-Cisco devices are imported. You can also enter device information. If you select Customize, the Import Options dialog box appears. The available options depend on your NMS database. After completing the Import Options dialog box, click Finish to begin importing.

Step 8 Click Next.

The Add/Import Status Summary dialog box displays the number of devices that are managed, alias, pending, conflicting, suspended, and not responding. You can click any of these statuses to view the devices in that state. (See Figure 2-5.)

Step 9 Click the Device Status links to view device status. Click Update to display the most recent information. See Table 2-1 for device status descriptions.

Step 10 Remove the entry after the import is completed.

For additional information about importing devices from a remote NMS database, refer to the online help.

This completes the chapter on Inventory.

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