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The Cisco Prime Network Registrar server status dashboard in the web user interface (web UI) presents a graphical view of the system status, using graphs, charts, and tables, to help in tracking and diagnosis. These dashboard elements are designed to convey system information in an organized and consolidated way, and include:
Significant protocol server and other metrics
Alarms and alerts
Database inventories
Server health trends
The dashboard is best used in a troubleshooting desk context, where the system displaying the dashboard is dedicated for that purpose and might be distinct from the systems running the protocol servers. The dashboard system should point its browser to the system running the protocol servers.
You should interpret dashboard indicators in terms of deviations from your expected normal usage pattern. If you notice unusual spikes or drops in activity, there could be communication failures or power outages on the network that you need to investigate.
Starting from Cisco Prime Network Registrar 9.0, the Dashboard feature is available on the regional cluster also. It provides System Metrics chart by default. It allows you to display the server specific (DHCP, DNS, and CDNS) charts for various clusters. This can be configured in the Chart Selections page.
To open the dashboard in the web UI, from the Operate menu, choose Dashboard.
System Metrics—See the "DHCP General Indicators" section in Cisco Prime Network Registrar 9.0 Administrator Guide.
 Tip |
These are just the preset selections. See Selecting Dashboard Elements to Include for other dashboard elements you can select. The dashboard retains your selections from session to session. |
Each dashboard element initially appears as a table or a specific chart type, depending on the element:
Note the green box next to each dashboard element name in the above image. This box indicates that the server sourcing the information is functioning normally. A yellow box indicates that server operation is less than optimum. A red box indicates that the server is down. These indicators are the same as for the server health on the Manage Servers page in the regular web UI.
Graphed lines and stacked areas in the charts follow a standard color and visual coding so that you can immediately determine key diagnostic indicators at a glance. The charts use the following color and textural indicators:
If Magnified Chart is the selected Chart Link, you can magnify a chart in a separate window by clicking the chart. In magnified chart view, you can choose an alternative chart type from the one that comes up initially (see Other Chart Types).
 Note |
Automatic refresh is turned off for magnified charts. To get the most recent data, click the Refresh icon next to the word Dashboard at the top left of the page. |
To convert a chart to a table, see the "Displaying Charts as Tables" section. You cannot convert tables to a graphic chart format.
Each chart initially includes a color-coded legend. To turn off the legend display on the main dashboard page, see the "Displaying or Hiding Chart Legends" section. Removing the legend renders the graphic chart size relatively larger, which can be helpful if you have many charts displayed. You cannot remove legends in magnified views.
Dashboard elements rendered as tables have data displayed in rows and columns. The following dashboard elements are preset to consist of (or include) tables:
Note |
If you view a table in Expert mode, additional data might appear. |
Dashboard elements rendered as line charts can include one or more lines plotted against the x and y axes. The three types of line charts are described in the following table.
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Type of Line Chart |
Description |
Dashboard Elements Rendered |
|---|---|---|
|
Raw data line chart |
Lines plotted against raw data. |
|
|
Delta line chart |
Lines plotted against the difference between two sequential raw data. |
|
|
Rate line chart |
Lines plotted against the difference between two sequential raw data divided by the sample time between them. |
|
Tip |
To get the raw data for a chart that shows delta or rate data, enter Expert mode, set the Chart Link to Data Table, then click the chart. The Raw Data table is below the Chart Data table. |
Dashboard elements rendered as stacked area charts have multiple related metrics plotted as trend charts, but stacked one on top of the other, so that the highest point represents a cumulative value. The values are independently shaded in contrasting colors. (See the image below for an example of the DHCP Server Request Activity chart shown in Figure 1 rendered as a stacked area chart.)
They are stacked in the order listed in the legend, the left-most legend item at the bottom of the stack and the right-most legend item at the top of the stack. The dashboard elements that are pre-set to stacked area charts are:
The other chart types available for you to choose are:
Tip |
Each chart type shows the data in distinct ways and in different interpretations. You can decide which type best suits your needs. |
You can open a help window for each dashboard element by clicking the title of the element.
To customize the dashboard display, you can:
Refresh the data and set an automatic refresh interval.
Expand a chart and render it in a different format.
Convert a graphic chart to a table.
Download data to comma-separated value (CSV) output.
Display or hide chart legends.
Configure server chart types.
Reset to default display
Each chart supports:
Resizing
Drag and drop to new cell position
Minimizing
Closing
Each chart has a help icon with a description of the chart and a detailed help if you click the chart title.
Note |
The changes made to the dashboard/chart will persist only if you click Save in the Dashboard window. |
Refresh each display so that it picks up the most recent polling by clicking the Refresh icon.
You can set the cached data polling (hence, automatic refresh) interval to:
Disabled— Does not poll, therefore does not automatically refresh the data.
Slow— Refreshes the data every 30 seconds.
Medium— Refreshes the data every 20 seconds.
Fast (the preset value)— Refreshes the data every 10 seconds.
You can choose to display a graphic chart as a table when you magnify the chart by clicking it. At the middle of the top of the dashboard display are the controls for the chart links (see the image below)
Click the Data Table radio button. When you click the chart itself, it opens as a table. The preset display format is Magnified Chart.
You can dump the chart data to a comma-separated value (CSV) file (such as a spreadsheet) when you magnify the chart by clicking it. In the Chart Link controls at the top of the page (see the above image), click the CSV Export radio button, then click the chart. A Save As window appears, where you can specify the name and location of the CSV file.
You can include or exclude the color-coded legends for charts on the main dashboard page. You might want to remove the legends as you become more familiar with the data and track it on a slightly larger chart display. In the upper-right of the dashboard display are the controls for the legend display (see the image below). The preset value is Visible.
You can decide how many dashboard elements you want to display on the page. At times, you might want to focus on one server activity only, such as for the DHCP server, and exclude all other metrics for the other servers. In this way, the dashboard becomes less crowded, the elements are larger and more readable. At other times, you might want an overview of all server activities, with a resulting smaller element display.
You can select the dashboard elements to display from the main Dashboard page by clicking Chart Selections in the Dashboard Settings dialog. Clicking the link opens the Chart Selection page (see Figure 1).
You can set the default chart types on the main dashboard view. You can customize the server charts in the dashboard to display only the specific chart types as default.
To set up default chart type, check the check box corresponding to the Metrics chart that you want to display and choose a chart type from the Type drop-down list. The default chart types are consistent and shared across different user sessions (see the image below).
Note |
You can see either the CDNS or DNS Metrics in the Dashboard Settings > Chart Selection page based on the service configured on the server. |
Tip |
The order in which the dashboard elements appear in the Chart Selection list does not necessarily determine the order in which the elements will appear on the page. An algorithm that considers the available space determines the order and size in a grid layout. The layout might be different each time you submit the dashboard element selections. To change selections, check the check box next to the dashboard element that you want to display. |
The above image displays the Charts Selection table in the regional web UI. The Clusters column is available only in regional dashboard and it displays the list of local clusters configured. You can add the local cluster by clicking the Edit icon and then by selecting the local cluster name from the Local Cluster List dialog box.
To change selections, check the check box next to the dashboard element that you want to display.
Specific group controls are available in the drop-down list, Change Chart Selection , at the top of the page. To:
Click OK at the bottom of the page to save your choices, or Cancel to cancel the changes.
These DHCP metric elements are available in the dashboard:
The DHCP Server Request Activity dashboard element rendered as a stacked area chart traces the totals in the change rate of incoming DHCP packet activity. The chart is available if you choose DHCP Metrics : DHCP Server Request Activity in the Chart Selection list.
The resulting stacked area chart plots the following trends:
The DHCP Server Request Activity data shows the pattern of server traffic based on incoming DHCP requests. The trend should be fairly consistent, with spikes in the number of Invalid packets being a sign that there is some misconfigured data on the network. Note that DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 invalid packet activity is grouped together.
Check your DHCP server configurations if there is a sudden spike in activity, especially in the number of invalid request packets. Set your server logging to report where the activity is occurring. Spikes or drops in activity can indicate network or power outages that are worth investigating. Spikes in activity can also indicate a faulty client, malicious client activity, or a recovery after a power failure or outage that results in pent-up requests.
The DHCP Server Response Activity dashboard element rendered as a stacked area chart traces the totals in the change rate of outgoing DHCP packet activity. The chart is available if you choose DHCP Metrics : DHCP Server Response Activity in the Chart Selection list.
The resulting stacked area chart plots the following trends:
The DHCP Server Response Activity data shows the pattern of server traffic to answer DHCP requests. The trend should be fairly consistent, with spikes in the number of Total Dropped packets being a sign that there is some misconfigured data on the network. Note that DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 dropped packet activity is grouped together.
Check your DHCP server configurations if there is a sudden spike in activity, especially in the number of total dropped response packets. The response activity should match the request activity, except for the normal time shift, and the same diagnostics apply.
The DHCP Buffer Capacity dashboard element rendered as a table shows the number of allocated requests and responses, and a line chart that plots the number of requests and responses in use. The element is available if you choose DHCP Metrics: DHCP Buffer Capacity in the Chart Selection list.
The resulting table and line chart plots:
The DHCP Buffer Capacity data shows the pattern in the use of DHCP request and response buffers. If the buffers begin to increase in an abnormal pattern, there are measures you can take without trying to compensate by increasing the number of allocated buffers.
If you see increasing and consistent exceeding of the buffer threshold, find the reason why the server is running slowly. Possible reasons include high degrees of logging, slow DHCP extensions or LDAP servers, or overload, such as with chatty clients or frequent rebooting of cable modem termination systems (CMTSs). You might need to increase the buffer sizes.
The DHCP Response Latency dashboard element rendered as a stacked area chart shows the trend in the response packet latency (the time interval between the request packet and its ensuing response). The chart is available if you choose DHCP Metrics: DHCP Response Latency in the Chart Selection list.
Tip |
You must also set the collect-sample-counters DHCP server attribute for this data to display, with the enhanced-sample-counters attribute also set for further granularity. These attribute values are preset. If you are concerned about achieving maximum performance, unset these attributes. (See the "Displaying Statistics" section in Cisco Prime Network Registrar 9.0 Administrator Guide.) |
The resulting stacked area chart plots response latencies at the intervals:
The chart shows the trend in response packet latency as an indicator of how long it takes to respond to incoming packets. The gradations in the latency periods are stacked.
High response packet latency is similar to high buffer usage for troubleshooting purposes. Look for slow LDAP servers or DHCP extensions, high levels of logging, or disk I/O bottlenecks.
The DHCP DNS Updates dashboard element rendered as a table shows the related DNS server and its current state, and how many pending DNS updates are occurring between it and the DHCP server. The table is available if you choose DHCP Metrics: DHCP DNS Updates in the Chart Selection list.
The resulting table shows:
A high level of pending updates to a specific DNS server indicates that the server is unreachable or unavailable, or its address is wrong.
Check into the reachability of the associated DNS servers if the pending update rate spikes, or ensure that the address of the associated server is correct.
The DHCP Address Current Utilization dashboard element rendered as a table shows the DHCPv4 address utilization (how many assigned addresses exist) for a particular address aggregation, which can be a scope, network, or network plus selection tag. The table is available if you choose DHCP Metrics: DHCP Address Current Utilization in the Chart Selection list.
The resulting table shows:
The chart shows a table with four columns: the scope name, its in-use and total addresses, and the percentage of address utilization based on the previous two columns. The chart is available only if the DHCP server enhanced-sample-counters attribute is enabled.
Because of this, do not use the name default-aggregation-addr-trap-config for a trap configuration you create.
If the percentage of utilized addresses is high, the addresses reached a saturation point. It might be necessary to reassign addresses from a different scope.
The DHCP Failover Status dashboard element rendered as two parallel trend charts that show the current and partner server state and the binding updates and acknowledgments sent and received between the two failover partners. The charts are available if you choose DHCP Metrics: DHCP Failover Status in the Chart Selection list.
Note |
The failover status is only for the first failover pair in the related servers list. |
The display is a table along with two rate line trend charts that shows the failover status for the first failover pair for the related servers:
Along with some state data, the display is split into two line trend charts that are inverses of each other. Each chart compares the binding updates with the acknowledgments. The top chart pairs the binding updates received with the acknowledgments sent; the bottom chart pairs the binding updates sent with the acknowledgments received.
If the Partner State value is other than 10, check the configuration of the partner server. The updates sent and received data should also be fairly level.
The DHCP General Indicators dashboard element rendered as a table shows the server state, reload data, and lease counts. The table is available if you choose DHCP Metrics: DHCP General Indicators in the Chart Selection list.
The resulting table shows:
The table indicates the server state, process start time (via the Cisco Prime Network Registrar server agent), and reload data, and also provides lease statistics. The top set of data compares the DHCPv4 leases actually in effect with those configured; the bottom set of data does the same for DHCPv6 leases.
Time of last reload is important for determining if recent changes to the server configuration occurred from a reload operation. It can also help pinpoint when server changes were last applied, if other indicators show a marked, unexpected behavioral change. Be sure to preserve log files since the last reload.
A drop or increase in leases might indicate a power or network outage, but it can also indicate a normal variation depending on lease times and usage patterns. The number of scopes or prefixes indicated might also require some evaluation and possible reconfiguration. If the server state is Down, all the DHCP chart indicators show a red status box, so no data will be available. In the case of a server that is down, restart the server.
The DHCP Server Lease Data dashboard element, rendered as chart, shows the number of leases per second for the DHCP server. This chart is available if you choose DHCP Metrics: DHCP Server Lease Data in the Chart Selection page.
The chart displays:
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