Community
- Command Central
- MVP Program
- Monthly Mission
- Blogs
- Groups
- Events
- Media Vault
Products
- Observability
- Network Management
- Application Management
- IT Security
- IT Service Management
- System Management
- Database Management
Content Exchange
- SolarWinds Platform
- Server & Application Monitor
- Database Performance Analyzer
- Server Configuration Monitor
- Network Performance Monitor
- Network Configuration Manager
- SQL Sentry
- Web Help Desk
Free Tools & Trials

Nortel Config Uploads

Hello,

I'm looking to evaluate NCM but I've been unable to find any information on Thwack or the official documentation with the below question, so I'm coming here for assistance.

We already have NPM and it's been very helpful to us, but in order to implement NCM we need to verify how the product handles config uploads to Nortel/Avaya switches. We primarily run 2500, 4500 and 5500 series switches in our environment with two 8600s in the core.

If we were to download a config, change it, and upload it again, would NCM be able to generate actual .cfg files and transfer them via TFTP instead of, say, telnet command line? Some of the changes we plan on implementing with NCM will fail if we send configs line-by-line in plaintext; the session would end early from VLAN/IP changes and we would need someone onsite to resurrect the switches. The support for Cisco seems a little more clear as those switches are better able to manage multiple config files at once, but Nortel/Avaya does not have this functionality.

So, the question is, how does NCM handle .cfg files for Nortel switches? It would be a make-or-break purchase decision for us.

Find more posts tagged with

cfg

avaya

config

upload

nortel

Accepted answers

docwhite

No binary config file support at this time; sorry.

Doug

I should add that you could upload binary config files with NCM; but you would not be able to download or edit them, and NCM would fail if asked to do diffs and other operations involving binary config files.

All comments

docwhite

Hi,

So the question seems to come down to whether or not NCM can do TFTP transfers to Nortel/Avaya.

And the answer is ‘Yes.’

The key to getting this working properly is to set the UploadConfigIndirect command in your device templates (default dir C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\Orion\NCM\DeviceTypes); and adjusting the “Transfer Configs Using” property to TFTP in the device’s Node Details page (Win32 app).

In the Win32 app, double-click the relevant device and use the drop-down for "Transfer Configs Using" under the Communication settings group.

Let me know if this answers your questions.

Doug

dbsmith

Hi Doug, thanks for your reply.

This does answer part of my question - being able to upload .cfg and firmware files to the device will be very useful to us.

The next part of the question still stands - is NCM able to generate and edit actual .cfg files to be uploaded via TFTP, or will configs be created and uploaded as .txt? If NCM applies full configs line-by-line, we may lose connectivity to the switch during the process and this wouldn't be ideal at all. I'm not sure if your previous answer addressed this and I'd like to clarify.

Thank you!

docwhite

Are you asking if NCM supports generating and editing binary config files?

Doug

dbsmith

Yes, that would be a more succinct way of putting it. Is that possible?