Configuration harvesting

• Configuration Harvest Profiles
  • Script driven profiles that can use either the Telnet or Ssh protocol to connect to managed devices
    • We've built in automated “intelligence” to simplify the scripts (eg. auto detect connection protocol Telnet/Ssh)
  • Scripts can issue commands, and command output can be “Checked-in” to storage in the backend
    • You can store whatever is appropriate for the device. “show running-config”, “show version”, “show vlans”, show... what ever you think is needed
    • Each “output” type can be saved with different Type/Name,
  • Scripts can set parameters like “Command Timeout”, “Prompt” strings (what character is expected for the devices command prompt.
  • Smart Filter
    • This is an “intelligence” feature
    • Smart Filter takes care of command output that always changes.
      • For example, System Uptime in the “show version” command on Cisco routers
    • Smart Filter performs first pass of harvesting
    • Smart Filter then performs second pass harvesting 1.25 minutes later.
    • Smart Filter removes lines that have changes between first pass and second pass
      • The resulting output is then sent to backend to check for any changes
    • Smart filter removes the need to have manual filters defined to avoid “constantly changing” content producing a new version every day
  • Since the scripts are c# based, ad-hoc processing can be performed
    • For example, maybe there are lines that change often that Smart filter cannot detect.
    • Maybe you want config harvest to force a config save (eg “wr mem” for Cisco) when it runs.
  • Config Harvest Profiles are secured using the platform security system
  • Config Harvest Profiles can be shared across customers

 

• Config Harvest Access Profiles
  • Store access usernames/passwords for use in config harvesting
  • Contains Connect Username and Password and Enable Username and Password
  • Access Profiles are “owned” by a customer
  • Access Profiles are secured using the platform security system

 

• Device Config Harvest Configuration/Operation
  • A device is assigned a Config Harvest Profile and a Config Harvest Access Profile
  • A Target Hour for harvesting is assigned
  • Full logs and results are available
  • Immediate Harvest can be requested

 

• Config Harvest Document Presentation
  • Display grouped by Document Type and Name
  • Versions listed with Summary of changes for this version
  • Ability to download or view document
  • Ability to select two documents and compare difference
    • Comparison show Added and Removed text using colour coding.

Some screen shots follow to illustrate the feature.
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​Config Harvest Administration

​If you click the “?” icon, you get a help screen on what is available to the scripts.

Configuration Harvesting Access Profiles is where you set access usernames/passwords. In the future, this is where we will add “Use Tacacs” when we get the Tacacs system operational.

​In the device details page itself, we now have a Config Harvest menu item.

You can see how the Profile/Access Profile is assigned, and the Harvesting controls like “View Log”, “Results” and “Harvest Now”. Also, you can check the check-box on two documents, and the “Compare” button will be enabled. When you click “Compare”, a popup shows the differences between the files.

For the Config Harvest engine, you can get full logs. It is also possible to embed “Log Statements” inside the config harvest profile scripts so when you are diagnosing a script issue, you can get log output.
 
We’ve highlighted some info that we think is useful.

Error handling also shows in logs, so if there is a connection issue, or authentication failure, you can see that too.