Simple end user switch control

lmcintire · ‎03-25-2010

I have a situation where a remote, fiber connected location needs to be disconnected most of the time. In certain situations a person with very limited computer ability would need to enable a single switch port to bring this remote connection on-line. It is not possible to simply disconnect the fiber and re-connect it when needed.

Is there a management solution where a single icon or script could enable a single switch port making it very simple to do?

Thanks very much

Martin Ermel · ‎03-25-2010

perhaps the "Embedded Menu Manager" could do this; I have not tested it but with this feature, you should be able to configure a user on the device that gets a simple menu with options to choose from. So he is restricted to the menus you have defined for him. Behind the menue there is a defined command set that gets executed.

support for EMM starts with IOS 12.4(20)T

here is a link to EEM:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/netmgmt/configuration/guide/nm_emm_ps10591_TSD_Products_Configuration_Guide_Chapter.html#wp1055457

and an example screenshot of EEM from a Cisco presentation about "Device Manageability Instrumentation (DMI)" of Bruno Klauser:

lmcintire · ‎03-25-2010

OK. That may work. I was thinking of a more overall management suite like HP Openview or similar.

Martin Ermel · ‎03-25-2010

I assume you are talking about Cisco devices ....

If you are talking about one site and need some network managment tool, HP OpenVierw would be oversized as well as LMS would be. For Cisco devices there is also the Cisco Network Assistent which is free and supports up to 40 devices, but does not support the complete cisco hardware:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5931/index.html

If you just want the remote-site to configure basics, there is also a GUI frontend on the devices to configure such things like port shut/ no shut. Just ensure that the http or https server on the device is enabled. (this could be the quickest way to implement, I think)

The method mentioned in my first post could restrict the user to one single command - and could be a solution if he should not do any kind of network management.

lmcintire · ‎03-25-2010

Yes, Cicso devices. Users will not have the level of computer skill to be creating telnet connections but I suppose that could be scripted.

Thank you,
Lyle

Joe Clarke · ‎03-25-2010

I think scripting will probably be your best choice. It doesn't sound like you need a huge solution for this, and a script could be turned into a nice desktop icon. The script could simply be a wrapper around an SNMP Set operation to set the admin status of the port to up. For example, assuming the ifIndex of the switchport was 1, you could have a one-line script do:

snmpset -c private -v 1 10.1.1.1 ifAdminStatus.1 i 1

And the port would be brought up.

lmcintire · ‎03-25-2010

Perfect, thank you.