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Cisco Networks

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Table of Contents

OVERVIEW

  • About the Cisco Networks app
  • Release notes
  • Performance benchmarks
  • Support and resources

INSTALLATION

  • Hardware and software requirements
  • Installation steps
  • Deploy to single server instance
  • Deploy to distributed deployment
  • Deploy to distributed deployment with Search Head Pooling
  • Deploy to distributed deployment with Search Head Clustering
  • Deploy to Splunk Cloud

USER GUIDE

  • Key concepts
  • Data types
  • Lookups
  • Configure the Cisco Networks app
  • Troubleshooting
  • Upgrade
  • Example Use Case-based Scenario

OVERVIEW

About the Cisco Networks app

Author Mikael Bjerkeland
App Version 2.8.0
Vendor Products Cisco Catalyst, ASR, ISR, Nexus, CRS and other IOS based switches, Wireless LAN Controller
Has index-time operations False
Create an index False
Implements summarization True: Data model, data model acceleration by default

The Cisco Networks app allows a Splunk® Enterprise administrator to analyze and visualize data from Cisco IOS and WLC devices, helping investigate the root causes of problems, trends and providing insight into your Cisco environment.

Scripts and binaries

No scripts or binaries are included.

Release notes

About this release

Version 2.8.0 of the Cisco Networks app is compatible with:

Splunk Enterprise versions 7., 8.
CIM 4.*
Platforms Platform independent
Vendor Products Cisco Catalyst, ASR, ISR, Nexus, CRS and other IOS based switches, Wireless LAN Controller
Lookup file changes cisco_ios_messages.csv
New features

Cisco Networks includes the following new features:

  • The overview page now supports grouping devices by roles (i.e. Core, Edge etc). The grouping is defined in the CSV file cisco_networks_host_to_role.csv
  • Route Monitoring support in the Routing dashboard
  • Help page updated with instructions on Route Monitoring
  • Multi tenancy support (COMMERCIAL USERS ONLY)
  • Real-time dashboard added. You now have the option to switch between real-time and historical mode
Removed features
  • SMART CALL HOME IS REMOVED ENTIRELY. If you require Inventory information, please get a NMS such as Cisco Prime Infrastructure.
Fixed issues

Version 2.8.0 of the Cisco Networks app fixes the following issues:

  • AppInspect validation for Splunk Cloud Classic.
Known issues

Version 2.8.0 of the Cisco Networks app has the following known issues:

Third-party software attributions

Version 2.8.0 of the Cisco Networks app incorporates the following third-party software or libraries.

Performance benchmarks

No performance tests have been performed, but the app has proved to perform well with the Splunk reference hardware running Splunk version 6.2 on daily data volumes of up to 200 GB in distributed environments, but will most likely work in larger distributed environments.

Support and resources

**This app is community supported on a best effort basis. In case you have needs for professional support billed by the hour, please contact the author.

INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION

Hardware and software requirements

Hardware requirements

Cisco Networks supports the following server platforms in the versions supported by Splunk Enterprise:

  • Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 (64-bit)
  • Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012 and 2012 R2 (64-bit)
  • Windows 7, and 8 and 8.1 (32-bit)
  • Windows Server 2008 (32-bit)
  • 2.6+ kernel Linux distributions (64-bit)
  • 2.6+ kernel Linux distributions (32-bit)
  • Solaris 10, 11 (64-bit)
  • Solaris 10, 11 (SPARC)
  • OSX 10.8 (Intel)
  • OSX 10.9 (Intel)
  • OSX 10.10 (Intel)
  • FreeBSD 8, and 9 (64-bit)
  • AIX 6.1, 7.1

Software requirements

To function properly, Cisco Networks requires the following software:

  • Cisco Networks Add-on (TA-cisco_ios), 2.7.1 or higher

Splunk Enterprise system requirements

Because this add-on runs on Splunk Enterprise, all of the Splunk Enterprise system requirements apply.

Download

Download the Cisco Networks app at https://apps.splunk.com/app/1352/.

Installation steps

To install and configure this app on your supported platform, follow these steps:

  1. In your Splunk Enterprise web interface, click on App(s) -> Manage Apps
  2. Click on Install app from file
  3. Select the file you downloaded, Click Upload, optionally selecting Upgrade app if you are upgrading from an earlier version. Restart Splunk if required
Deploy to single server instance

Follow these steps to install the app in a single server instance of Splunk Enterprise:

  1. In your Splunk Enterprise web interface, click on App(s) -> Manage Apps
  2. Click on Install app from file
  3. Select the file you downloaded, Click Upload, optionally selecting Upgrade app if you are upgrading from an earlier version. Restart Splunk if required
Deploy to distributed deployment

Install to search head

  1. In your Splunk Enterprise web interface, click on App(s) -> Manage Apps
  2. Click on Install app from file
  3. Select the file you downloaded, Click Upload, optionally selecting Upgrade app if you are upgrading from an earlier version. Restart Splunk if required

Install to indexers

This app should not be installed on indexers.

Install to forwarders

This app should not be installed on forwarders.

Deploy to distributed deployment with Search Head Pooling

Follow the same steps as Install to search head. In addition you should disable data model acceleration for the Cisco IOS Event data model OR scheduling in general on all but one search head.

Deploy to distributed deployment with Search Head Clustering

Follow the same steps as Install to search head.

Deploy to Splunk Cloud

Unknown

USER GUIDE

Key concepts for Cisco Networks

The Splunk Admin must know how to configure data inputs and how Splunk stores and searches data in different indexes and how roles apply to what indexes are searched.

Data types

This app provides search-time knowledge for the following types of data from Cisco IOS variants, NX-OS and WLC:

Search-time

  • cisco:ios - Syslog events from your devices
  • Cisco:SmartCallHome - Inventory data from your devices

These data types support the following Common Information Model data models:

Source Type CIM Data Models
cisco:ios Change Analysis
Authentication
Network Traffic
Cisco:SmartCallHome Inventory

Lookups

The Cisco Networks app contains 3 lookup files.

cisco_ios_facility_categories.csv

Provides the vendor's description of an event category based on the event's facility.

  • File location: lookups/cisco_ios_facility_categories.csv
  • Lookup fields: facility, vendor_category
  • Lookup contents: See the file contents

cisco_ios_messages.csv

Provides the vendor's recommended actions, explanations and message texts based on the event's facility, severity_id and mnemonic,

  • File location: lookups/cisco_ios_messages.csv
  • Lookup fields: facility, severity_id, mnemonic, vendor_message_text, vendor_explanation, vendor_recommended_action
  • Lookup contents: See the file contents

cisco_ios_variable_representations.csv

Not yet in use, but may be used to look up the variables from vendor_message_text to get a friendly explanation of the type of variable

  • File location: lookups/cisco_ios_variable_representations.csv
  • Lookup fields: vendor_variable_field, vendor_variable_type_of_information
  • Lookup contents: See the file contents

Configure Cisco Networks

Details of any configurations a user must make in order to get the app running.

Troubleshoot Cisco Networks

No data seen in the app

Cause

  • Cicso devices not configured or incorrectly configured for logging
  • Cisco Networks Add-on not installed

Resolution

  • Check the device configuration
  • Install the Cisco Networks Add-on

Upgrade Cisco Networks

  1. In your Splunk Enterprise web interface, click on App(s) -> Manage Apps
  2. Click on Install app from file
  3. Select the file you downloaded, Click Upload, selecting Upgrade app. Restart Splunk if required

Example Use Case

  • Find flapping ports
  • View configuration changes
  • View access list logs
  • View events by Cisco access point MAC address
  • View top events by device model, software and hostname
  • Identify rare and common log messages by facility, mnemonic and device type