I have some recommendations for Cirrus. * When doing a refresh on the Node List, it would be a nice feature to have a Collapse All for the nodes. - All set * Using the Import Wizard, when selecting Nodes allow the ability to sort by column titles - Supposed to be working but I still can'f find it * Using the Import Wizard, have a check box that when checked hides all nodes that have already been imported. * Alphabetize the Password drop-down lists. * The ability to turn on/off the Auto-complete feature of the Password Lists. * The ability to keep the newest x configs. Other than that...I love this tool.

Ok, so I just completed the survey of what I want to see in the new version of Cirrus, but left one thing out. IN the node list you can set Cirrus to monitor Nodes, but the problem with that is when I enable it on 879 devices it takes a realy long time to do anything in Cirrus after its enabled. What I would like to see is the ablility to set up node monitoring on individual groups like (Cisco PIXFirewall 501). I would find this useful, as I have over 570 pix 501s in the field and when they show as down, its most likely because a site is closed. At that point I can delete the node and prevent it from having scheduled jobs running against it. I hope this makes since.

FYI - there is a fundamental flaw that we found with the installation of this add-on. Your SQL server account must be an SA account, able to create the DB tables. However, the cirrus application should not run day-to-day under an SA account. Here is what we had to do to get it working.. - we created an SQL user account, gave it SA rights for the install of Cirrus. Then backed it down just having ownership of the Cirrus DB. This should be sufficient for Cirrus to create more tables, etc within that DB, but not have any access outside of that DB on the SQL server, which is desired from a security perspective. - in order to get this windows add on to work, we had to bump the db account back up to SA status, do an inventory on ONE node, this let's it create the tables in the DB that are needed. Then we backed the db account down to only ownership rights to the Cirrus DB again. - From that point on, we were able to inventory other windows boxes fine, now that the tables had been created. Seems like the way that Cirrus connects to the DB is requiring full SA access, which shouldn't be the case. It should only need to connect to the DB required, of which it should have complete ownership (R/W) of the DB. This should be sufficient to write tables, etc that it needs to do. This is the way Orion works to my knowledge and is correct. During the Orion install, you are prompted for a SA account (used to create the DB and tables, etc), THEN you are prompted for a DB access account (used for the application to access the DB), that can manage only that DB, no the entire server. Cirrus never prompted for that and thus I think some stuff related to SQL security was left out. Seems like the Cirrus Dev group needs to incorp. some of the configuration/security features of Orion into the product... I've got more suggestions/findings I'll post later in the forums... Chad quote:Originally posted by RyanJett Jon, After installing the Windows Server Inventory Add-on, you should see three new .ConfigMgmtInventory files in the \SolarWinds\Configuration Management\Inventory folder: 50-Windows-Services.ConfigMgmtInventory 51-Windows-Software.ConfigMgmtInventory 52-Windows-Accounts.ConfigMgmtInventory If you do not see these files, reinstall the add-on package. If these files do exist, restart Cirrus and then select Inventory Settings from the Inventory menu. You should see a list of Inventory options including the default groups "Standard" and "Cisco". In addition to those groups, there should be a new group called "Windows" with three Inventory options to choose from. If you still do not see these Inventory options, did you install Cirrus in the default location? And if not, did you install the add-on to the same \SolarWinds folder that Cirrus was installed to? The fastest way to check would be to do a search for folders named "SolarWinds". If you see more than one instance, this is likely the cause of the problem. If none of this resolves your issue, feel free to email me at ryan.jett@solarwinds.net Ryan Jett SolarWinds.Net 918-307-8100

Believe it or not, I would like to see Solarwinds include an honest to goodness local Help file with the install of ALL their products rather than relying on a Web based help format.

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Recommendations

Mithrilhall

I have some recommendations for Cirrus.

When doing a refresh on the Node List, it would be a nice feature to have a Collapse All for the nodes. - All set
Using the Import Wizard, when selecting Nodes allow the ability to sort by column titles - Supposed to be working but I still can'f find it
Using the Import Wizard, have a check box that when checked hides all nodes that have already been imported.
Alphabetize the Password drop-down lists.
The ability to turn on/off the Auto-complete feature of the Password Lists.
The ability to keep the newest x configs.

Other than that...I love this tool.

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DonYonce

Mithrilhall,

Those are excellent ideas for improvement.

1) Here are a couple of methods to collapse all on Node List refresh.
Select File->Settings. From the "Node List" panel (top one in the list) select the expansion level from the "Automatically expand the Node List to the XXXXX level" drop down. If you set this to Group, the Node List will be collapsed after a refresh.

Another method is to hold down the Control key and click on any '+' or '-' at the Group level in the Node List. This will Collapse/Expand everything at that level. But... I do not reccomend this approach for expanding all Nodes and showing Configs. Expand to all Configs does not work, you should expand them one at a time.

2)You are correct, the column sorting within the Import Wizard no longer functions. We'll look into it.

3)Hiding all duplicate Nodes is a good idea. Thanks !

4)Alphabetize the password drop downs works... kind-of. If the passwords in the databases are NOT excrypted, the passwords are sorted alphabetically. If they are encrypted, the encrypted version is sorted alphabetically, then they are decrypted and displayed. Oops, we goofed here. That little bug sqeaked through testing. Thanks for letting us know.

5)Turning off the auto-complete for passwords is not possible at this time.

6)There are a couple ways to "keep the newest xx configs". One method is to simply display only the last xx configs in the Node List. Select File->Settings. There is a slider on the "Node List" panel that allows from 1 to 100, or all configs to be displayed when the Node List is expanded. For example... if you set the slider to 10 configs. The last 10 configs will be displayed in the Node List when expanded. When you right-click on the Node and select "Edit Selected Node". All the Configs are available on the "Configuration History" tab. So... this change affects the number of Configs displayed, all Config are still kept in the database. (by the way... there is a release of Configuration Management where this does not function correctly, Setting the scroll bar to anything less that "All Configs" will cause the Node List to display "Loading Configs ..." or nothing)

A second method is to "Purge Old Configs". Select Configs->Purge Old Configs. From this dialog, you can delete all Configs from the database except the last XX. In a future release, "Purge Configs" will be available as an Scheduled Job. We purposely disabled the "Purge Old Configs" Scheduled Job in the current release.

One more item about "Keep the last xx Configs".....
A "Only Download Changes" option will be added to the Config Download process that will compare the download to the last config in the database. If there are no changes, the downloaded Config will not be added to the database. This would allow you to only store Configs that have changed in the database.

Mithrilhall

Thanks Don...and I just wanted to say that this is one amazing tool.

Keep up the good work!

Mithrilhall

Another feature I would love to have is when scheduling a job and choosing "Execute Command Script on Devices" the ability to save the output to a text file and to a specific location.

I would also love to see a "Run Code Snippets" by right-clicking a node; such as the Show menu in the picture and have the ability to move items in the list up or down.

www.apartmenthost.com/.../cirrus.jpg

DonYonce

You can right-click on a Snippet and select "Upload to Devices".
This will bring up an Execute Command window with the devices you selected listed and the command script containing the Snippet. It's two clicks instead of one.

As for rearranging the Show menu. Select "File->Customize Menus and Toolbars". The customization dialog will pop up.
Leave the dialog up and ignore it for now. While the customization dialog is up, you can rearrange any menu or toolbar.

For example, click on the "Show" menu to display it. Then simply drag and drop each item from anywhere in the menu to anywhere else. You can also move menus, toolbars, etc.

One more thing.... the items from any tab in the customization dialog can be added to any menu.
Simply drag them out of the list and onto a menu or toolbar.

Have fun !

DonYonce

Also... select "File->Customize Menus and Toolbars". Once the customization dialog is displayed, you can now change the icon or text for any menu item or toolbar.

For example... click on the "Show" menu to display it. Now right-click on any item to change the image or text.

snowjay

So far I love this tool, so much easier than the clunky old CW2k. I do however have one recommendation/request/feature enhancement that I think would really be beneficial to some of us.

How about autodiscovery based on CDP? Sometimes switches will be put into service with out our (HQ) knowledge so it slips through the cracks and configs aren't backed up etc... During an inventory Cirrus is already capturing CDP details from each switch, but it would be nice to have anything new showing up on those CDP list be automatically added. Or maybe at the very least an Inventory Change report that can show if CDP info has changed.

Just an idea.

Mithrilhall

I see there are some formatting differences between the two:

Config Snippets --> Upload to Devices...

Right-Click node --> Show -->

I've created a new Config Snippet "sh bridge address-table" and I've created an Add/Edit Show Command "sh bridge address-table".

Using the Show menu the format is fine but when I use the upload Config Snippet to device the formatting is incorrect.

DonYonce

What a great idea !

quote:Originally posted by snowjay

So far I love this tool, so much easier than the clunky old CW2k. I do however have one recommendation/request/feature enhancement that I think would really be beneficial to some of us.

How about autodiscovery based on CDP? Sometimes switches will be put into service with out our (HQ) knowledge so it slips through the cracks and configs aren't backed up etc... During an inventory Cirrus is already capturing CDP details from each switch, but it would be nice to have anything new showing up on those CDP list be automatically added. Or maybe at the very least an Inventory Change report that can show if CDP info has changed.

Just an idea.

Mithrilhall

Don, any clue if my suggestion about saving the results of a show command or an upload config snippet to a text file (like you can do in Kiwi's Cattools 2)?

DonYonce

Saving the results of any scheduled job to a file will be added.
You can save the results of a "show command" by selecting File->Export.

I'm not sure what you mean by "saving the results of an upload config snippet". If you are talking about after uploading a config snippet interactively, you can save the results by selecting File->Export.
If you are talking about save to a file from a scheduled job, that is being added.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Mithrilhall

I was referring to saving to a file from a scheduled job.

Thanks

ladato

I'm adding my requests to the bunch:

1) Config backup more often than once per day (I know I can set up several jobs, but the possibility of overlap is there. I'd rather be able to back up every xx hours)

2) After download, automatically compare the config to the previous version.

3) IF a config has changed, the ability to launch an action (effectively, a config change becomes a "trigger" to an alarm). That action might be to email the difference, send a syslog message or (holy grail) force the old config back on the device.

Thanks again for building yet another amazing tool.

DonYonce

Leon,
Try this.... open Windows Scheduled Tasks. There you will see a list of the Config Management jobs. Right-Click on the job and select "Properties". You can now change the schedule from daily to hourly. Select "Schedule" tab and click on the "Advanced" button. For example: you can create a schedule that starts every morning at 6:00 AM and runs for 12 hours, repeating every 2 hours. This would start the download every two hours from 6:AM to 6:PM. You get the idea ...

"Only download changes" is in development right now. This was supposed to be in the initial release, but had some quirky issues and was postponed.

Notification of changes is in development also. Automatic download directly after a change notification is also in the works.

The "force the change back to the original" as an Action upon recognizing a change has happened is working in the lab. But, I'm not happy with it yet. We need to put a little more intelligence in the compare and transfer first. We need to release the indirect transfer methods (FTP, TFTP, SNMP, etc) before I'd feel comfortable with automatic changes to customer networks based on an Alert / Action.

Leon, you hit the nail on the head. That's the kind of stuff being worked on.

BryanBecker

I'd like to see during the inventory if its polling for arp table to also poll the current routing table.

BB

DonYonce

Bryan,
The device inventory can be extended easily. Cirrus is using the Sonar Inventory Engine that previously was only available to OEM partners. It can be extended to included other device details and other Vendor specific information.

I'll build you an example inventory add-on to collect the Route Table

Which one do you want ?
IP-FORWARD-MIB:ipCidrRouteTable
IP-FORWARD-MIB:ipForwardTable
RFC1158-MIB:ipRoutingTable

You probably want IP-FORWARD-MIB:ipCidrRouteTable

BryanBecker

quote:Originally posted by Don Yonce

Bryan,
The device inventory can be extended easily. Cirrus is using the Sonar Inventory Engine that previously was only available to OEM partners. It can be extended to included other device details and other Vendor specific information.

I'll build you an example inventory add-on to collect the Route Table

Which one do you want ?
IP-FORWARD-MIB:ipCidrRouteTable
IP-FORWARD-MIB:ipForwardTable
RFC1158-MIB:ipRoutingTable

You probably want IP-FORWARD-MIB:ipCidrRouteTable

Whichever gives me the same output of a show ip route from the Cisco CLI.

BB

DonYonce

The IP Route Table Inventory package should be available in the Cirrus Customer Area in a couple days.

A Windows Inventory package will also be available. The Windows Inventory package will collect Installed Software Packages, Services, and Windows Accounts from Windows servers and workstations. The Windows Installed Software inventory works with Juniper routers also. It collects the list of installed packages on Juniper devices.

Reports and Inventory views are included in these packages.

These are both free add-ons to Cirrus customers with maintenance.

BryanBecker

Got another one :

Need the ability to have a fallback mode of accessing a device. Like have SSH 1st and if that doesn't work then try telnet.

BB

trm33

When will the Windows Inventory package be available?

RyanJett

quote:Originally posted by trm33

When will the Windows Inventory package be available?

Both Inventory add-ons are available in the Customer Area of the SolarWinds website. Once logged in, click "Additional Components" and then click "Additional Components for Cirrus" to download the Inventory packs.

Ryan Jett
SolarWinds.Net
918-307-8100

jonchill

I've just looked in the additional components for Cirrus and there is nothing there.

Jon

greg

All,

In order to download the additional components, you must be a licensed Cirrus customer with maintenance.

Try this link:
support.solarwinds.net/.../Unsupported.cfm

HTH,
Greg

greg

Bryan,

I agree on the fallback, would be a great feature. I will try to get that in one of the upcoming releases.

Thanks,
Greg

RyanJett

Jon,

We found an issue with the Cirrus maintenance accounts and have resolved it. You should now be able to see the additional components. If you cannot, you may want to refresh your browser, or maybe even clear your browser cache. If you still cannot see these downloads, email support@solarwinds.net to get this resolved.

Ryan Jett
SolarWinds.Net
918-307-8100

jonchill

Ryan

Thanks for that managed to download them now. They don't seem to work though, nothing new is shown in the inventory settings, there are two install log files in the Config management installs folder so I assume they installed OK.

Any ideas?

Jon

RyanJett

Jon,

After installing the Windows Server Inventory Add-on, you should see three new .ConfigMgmtInventory files in the \SolarWinds\Configuration Management\Inventory folder:

50-Windows-Services.ConfigMgmtInventory
51-Windows-Software.ConfigMgmtInventory
52-Windows-Accounts.ConfigMgmtInventory

If you do not see these files, reinstall the add-on package.

If these files do exist, restart Cirrus and then select Inventory Settings from the Inventory menu. You should see a list of Inventory options including the default groups "Standard" and "Cisco". In addition to those groups, there should be a new group called "Windows" with three Inventory options to choose from.

If you still do not see these Inventory options, did you install Cirrus in the default location? And if not, did you install the add-on to the same \SolarWinds folder that Cirrus was installed to? The fastest way to check would be to do a search for folders named "SolarWinds". If you see more than one instance, this is likely the cause of the problem.

If none of this resolves your issue, feel free to email me at ryan.jett@solarwinds.net

Ryan Jett
SolarWinds.Net
918-307-8100

jonchill

Ryan

Got it working, thanks for the info.

I've now run the inventory on a couple of our servers and routers, but when I come to view the services, installed apps, accounts and routing tables nothing shows up in the inventory even though it shows it going through the motions on the inventory screen.

Our servers are Windows 2003 SP1 and routers are 2600's.

Jon

trm33

On the installed software inventory the version of an installed software package is being shown as 1.2 when it should be 1.20.2.2 is there a way to have Cirrus show the full version?

Thanks Tim

BryanBecker

Greg/Solawinds....any update on some of the suggestions we have made here and when they will be part of a release. I had :

1. Need the ability to have a fallback mode of accessing a device. Like have SSH 1st and if that doesn't work then try telnet.
2. In the "view selected job's log" to show the most recent information at the top of the log, not at the bottom
3. In the config change report - need the option to just compare to the latest config not the "baseline" config
4. It would be nice to run a full inventory each night and some sort or partial one every few hours. A partial one could inclucde arp/route tables/up down status.

What I'm looking for is the similar functionality as Ciscoworks where you can schedule major and minor acquisitions. Again maybe have a minor acquisition every 4 hours to get updated arp/route infor used for the find address and then a major acquisition once day to get full stats.

Thanks,

BB

Mithrilhall

Any news on saving the results of a scheduled job to a text file?