Help me understand LMS 3.0 Databases - and Device sync between them

jkittle99 · ‎09-24-2007

I've recently blown away my LMS 2.6 installation (having problems, was not really worth spending time on with 3.0 available) - so I've installed 3.0, and now I'm trying to get all my devices discovered and imported. I keep cracking my skull on the interactions between all the device databases - from CM to the DCR, to RME, and DFM. I don't have a good understanding of how all these device databases interact, and how I should add things, and get them to move from one area to another. Just a few hours of playing around in LMS 3.0 has my head spinning - I've got devices in CM that aren't in DCR, and I'm just plain confused. I'm sure this has been discussed in detail before, but I'm still coming up stupid after my forum searches. Is there a good URL I should visit to get an easy to understand breakdown of how this all flows - or is somebody brave enough to give it a shot to explain it to me.

Thanks!

David Stanford · ‎09-24-2007

Each of the applications - CS, RME, DFM, CM, and IPM each have their own database. There are links between CS and the other databases, but in LMS 2.5 there is the concept of DCR.

What this is, is a way to sync devices between applications. If a device is added to CS the other applications can look at it and add it, provided the needed credentials are there.

If you have a device that is in Campus Manager it should be known in Common Services. If not, then you need to determine if it is a managed device and then if it is managed it should appear in CS.

Once it is in CS then RME, DFM and IPM can learn about it if it is supported by each app.

DCR is just a new method of synchronizing the devices in one app to another.

jkittle99 · ‎09-25-2007

So where is the best place to add a new device? Campus Manager, Common Services, where?

Where do I "manage" an unmanaged device? I see managed devices that I added in Common Services, but the things I discovered in Campus Manager I can't find where to manage them so that common services can see them.

jkittle99 · ‎09-25-2007

A little more detail - Common services discoverd 48 devices. I manually added 12 of those in Common Services prior to the Campus discovery. Common services doesn't see the remaining devices, nor permit me to manage them - is there somewhere else I go to do this?

David Stanford · ‎09-25-2007

So you added 12 manually to Common Services and then Campus picked up 36 more? CM does discovery based upon devices found in CS and its own seed devices. It then places them in the DCR.

How many others were discovered in CM, not clear from above???

jkittle99 · ‎09-25-2007

I think I've figured out my problem.

1) Campus had a bad SNMP community string. Oddly enough, it would discover the devices, but not inventory them. I was under the impression that it would use the default credentials that I configured in Common Services.

2) So now that I've got some device import working - and things flowing between components, I discovered another anomoly. I have actually discovered IP phones (not like in User / Phone tracking) but just like my routers and switches. They are "unreachable" as would be expected - I'm not sure why it discovered them in the first place. Odd. I seem to be capped out at 125 devices - my guess is that it would have actually discovered all the rest . - I'm assuming this is some magic number related to the eval key?

My ap1200's are also showing up with an IP address instead of a name - they are configured with hostnames the same as the rest of my gear, any clue why it's just grabbing the address?