SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Administrator Guide

381 Pages·2017·5.07 MB·English

ADMINISTRATOR GUIDE
Network Configuration
Manager
Version 7.7
LastUpdated:Monday,October9,2017
Retrievethelatestversionfrom:https://support.solarwinds.com/@api/deki/files/9928/OrionNCMAdministratorGuide.pdf
Copyright © 2017 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved worldwide.
No part of this document may be reproduced by any means nor modified, decompiled, disassembled,
published or distributed, in whole or in part, or translated to any electronic medium or other means
without the written consent of SolarWinds. All right, title, and interest in and to the software and
documentation are and shall remain the exclusive property of SolarWinds and its respective licensors.
SOLARWINDS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS OR OTHER TERMS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, ON SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION FURNISHED HEREUNDER INCLUDING
WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES OF DESIGN, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL SOLARWINDS, ITS SUPPLIERS, NOR ITS LICENSORS
BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING IN TORT, CONTRACT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY EVEN
IF SOLARWINDS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
The SOLARWINDS and SOLARWINDS & Design marks are the exclusive property of SolarWinds Worldwide,
LLC and its affiliates, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or
pending registration in other countries. All other SolarWinds trademarks, service marks, and logos may be
common law marks, registered or pending registration in the United States or in other countries. All other
trademarks mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and may be or are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Version 7.7, revised 10/9/2017
pagei
Table of Contents
Introduction to SolarWinds NCM 1
Why should I install SolarWinds NCM? 1
Key features of SolarWinds NCM 1
How does SolarWinds NCM work? 3
Common tasks 5
Schedule daily backups of config files 5
Change the community string on multiple nodes 5
Verify success by comparing configs 6
Block a MAC address on a wireless access point 6
Back up the running configuration 6
Block a MAC address on a wireless access point 7
Verify success by comparing configs 7
Change an interface description 8
Back up the running configuration 8
Update the interface descriptions 8
Verify success by checking the interface description 9
Upgrade IOS and firmware 9
Block all private addresses with an access control list 9
Back up the running configuration 9
Update the access control list for a group of nodes 9
Verify success by comparing configs 10
Customize the login banner of a device 10
Modify the login banner 11
Verify success by comparing configs 11
Create a CRON expression 12
pageii
ADMINISTRATOR GUIDE: NETWORK CONFIGURATION MANAGER
Example 12
Get started with NCM 13
SNMP communication 13
Add nodes to NCM 13
Add an individual node 13
Add nodes via Network Discovery 14
Select network devices for monitoring in NCM 16
Select the results of a network discovery 16
Communication and logging options 17
Set node communication defaults 17
Set node communication default parameters 17
Override default settings for a specific node 17
Define and apply global device logins 18
Set communication limits 18
Log events for a detailed record of SolarWinds NCM functions 18
Enable verbose log information 18
Enable session tracing 19
Enable SSL communication with SolarWinds NCM 19
Node management 20
Manage SolarWinds NCM nodes 20
Find a specific node 20
Add or edit a node 20
View node interface details 20
View the interface details of a specific node 21
Firmware vulnerability data 21
Firmware vulnerability reports 21
Available reports 21
View firmware vulnerability reports 23
pageiii
Troubleshoot firmware vulnerability reports 23
Vulnerability summary 23
Access firmware vulnerability settings 24
Add firmware vulnerability files 24
Save an XML source to your SolarWinds NCM server 24
Access firmware vulnerability settings 24
Change the vulnerability announcements folder 25
Add direct URLs 25
Download firmware vulnerability data and import into SolarWinds NCM 25
Verify the vulnerability announcements folder 25
Download firmware vulnerability data and import into SolarWinds NCM 25
Manage end of support and end of sales (EOS) 26
Refresh EOS dates 26
Assign EOS dates 26
Ignore devices in EOS Management 27
Export EOS information 27
Filter EOS data 27
Delete EOS data 28
Search for network addresses 28
How does SolarWinds NCM find addresses? 28
Find IP addresses 29
Find MAC addresses 29
Find hostnames 29
SolarWinds NCM macros 30
Supported macro types 30
Custom macros 30
Access custom macros 31
Create a custom macro 31
pageiv
ADMINISTRATOR GUIDE: NETWORK CONFIGURATION MANAGER
Edit a custom macro 31
Delete a custom macro 31
Find connected port for a host: SolarWinds NPM integration 31
Search for connected ports 32
Unmanage and remanage nodes 33
Access the management page 33
Unmanage nodes 33
Remanage nodes 33
Manage Orion Web Console user accounts 34
Create users 34
Create users based on existing Active Directory or local domain accounts 35
Set user account access 36
Limit users to specific network areas 38
Set user level login credentials 38
Restrict user access to network areas by applying limitations 39
Using the Account Limitation Builder 40
Create limitations based on custom properties 40
Delete account limitations 40
Patterns for limitations 41
Set default menu bars and views for users 41
Configuring audible web alerts 42
Change account passwords 43
Firmware upgrades 44
Set up the storage location and firmware repository 44
Integrity of firmware images 45
Firmware upgrade templates 45
Add a firmware upgrade template 45
Firmware upgrade template settings 46
pagev
Import a firmware upgrade template 46
Perform a firmware upgrade operation 46
Add a firmware upgrade operation 47
Upgrade Options 47
Determine image paths 47
Config comparison 48
Operation statuses for firmware upgrades 48
Additional actions for firmware upgrade operations 48
Cancel a firmware upgrade operation 49
Rollback a firmware upgrade operation 49
Re-execute a firmware upgrade operation 49
Review a firmware upgrade operation 49
Configuration files 50
Setup required for binary configs 50
Download configuration files in NCM 51
Downloading from a single node 51
Downloading from multiple nodes 51
Enable a new config type 52
Enable a new config type for a device 52
Enable the config and policy caches 52
Edit config files 53
Upload the edited config file 53
Troubleshooting: Confine recognition of the command prompt during download 53
Compare configs 54
Define comparison criteria 54
Create a new regular expression 55
Edit a regular expression 55
Enable or disable a regular expression 55
pagevi
ADMINISTRATOR GUIDE: NETWORK CONFIGURATION MANAGER
Delete a regular expression 55
Comparison criteria: exclusion examples 55
Comparison results overview 56
Execute a script on a node 56
View the results 56
Upload a config 57
Upload a config to one or more nodes 57
Import config files 57
Import a config file 58
What is a baseline? 58
Set a baseline 58
Remove a config file as a baseline 58
Baseline your entire network 59
Clear all baselines to reset the comparison point for config changes 59
Upload configuration changes 60
Upload an entire configuration 60
Create a config archive for local or network storage 60
Create a config archive for local storage 60
Create a config archive for network storage 61
Real time change detection 61
Real time change detection requirements 62
Configure real time change detection 62
Access real-time change detection settings 62
Step 1: Manually configure your devices to send syslog or trap messages 63
Step 2: Configure alerts and filters triggered by syslog and trap messages 63
Step 3: Config changes 66
Step 4: Config downloads and notifications 67
Step 5: Enter NCM SMTP server details 67
pagevii
Step 6: Enable real time config change notifications 67
Limit real time notification download operations 67
Run syslog and trap services as administrator 68
Search for config files in the web console 68
Delete config files from the database 68
Automate config file purges 69
Device templates 70
Gather the information you need 70
Best practices for device command templates 72
Communication process diagrams 74
Create device templates in SolarWinds NCM 75
Create a device template using the interactive wizard 76
Create a device template with the XML editor 76
Edit a device template 76
Edit a device template with the interactive wizard 76
Edit a device template with the XML editor 77
Confirm the device template is working 77
Sample CLI device command templates 78
Cisco IOS example 78
Nortel BayStack 380 example 79
SCP example of config upload and download 79
Create a menu-based command template 80
Command template commands 83
Pre-command and command template variables 85
Pre-command device template entry example 87
Preclude pseudoterminal setup with command template variables 87
Declare a special command prompt with command template variables 87
Switch user context with command template variables 87
pageviii
ADMINISTRATOR GUIDE: NETWORK CONFIGURATION MANAGER
Respond to post-login interaction requests with command template variables 88
Troubleshoot device connections 88
F5 device template behavior 89
Device setup prerequisites 89
Template details 89
Command scripts 90
Create an executable command script 90
Use variables in scripts 90
Troubleshoot script execution 90
Example variable script 91
Define script variables 91
Reference variables with variables 91
Inventory 92
Run an inventory scan 92
Run a complete inventory scan 92
Run an inventory scan on a single node 92
Schedule an inventory scan 92
Adjust inventory settings 93
View inventory status 93
Policy reports 94
Create a policy report 94
Schedule a policy report 95
Remediate a policy violation 95
Export a policy report to THWACK 95
Export a policy report as a file 96
Import a policy report 96
Edit a policy report 96
Delete a policy report 96
pageix