HP Network Node Manager iSPI Performance for Traffic Software Release Notes

for the Windows^® and Linux operating systems

Software version: 10.00

Publication date: July 2014

For the latest additions to release notes, see http://support.openview.hp.com/selfsolve/document/KM00940855/binary/nnm_ispi_Traffic_ReleaseNotes_10.00.html.

This document is an overview of the changes made to the HP Network Node Manager iSPI Performance for Traffic Software (NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic). It contains important information that is not included in books or Help. You can find information about the following in this document:

What's New in This Release?

The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic contains new features, feature enhancements, and other changes.

New Features

The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic contains these new features:

• Support for NetFlow from Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA): The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic supports parsing and reporting the NetFlow from ASA devices, version 8.2(x). HP recommends that you configure the ASA devices to export NetFlow for flow-teardown events only.
• Support for flexible NetFlow: The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic supports Flexible NetFlow with v9 export format configured with normal cache. The Flexible NetFlow record must contain the Input Interface Index field.
• Support for random sampled NetFlow: The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic supports Random Sampled NetFlow for v5 and v9.
• Identifying the flow direction: The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic now identifies, collects, and processes the ingress, egress, or both IP flow data records on a specific interface.
• Sampling flow records: The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic enables you to sample flow records received at the Leaf Collector based on the sampling rate and mode of sampling. When you enable sampling, the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic processes one out of every N flow records, where N is the sampling rate configured in the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic. You can sample the records randomly or based on the maximum value of byte counter.
• Noise reduction: The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic enables you to drop all the flow records that are considered as noise. You can configure the noise threshold value with which the byte counter of flow records is compared when Noise Reduction is enabled. The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic considers the flow records with value of byte counter less than this threshold value as noise and drops these records. It is assumed that such records do not affect the calculation of top contributors.
• Bandwidth utilization for Top-N reports: The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic enables you to view Bandwidth Utilization for incoming and outgoing traffic data on an interface. The Bandwidth Utilization is now also available in the Top Conversations, Top TOS, and Top Destinations reports.
• TOS to DSCP and IP precedence mapping: For all the TOS-based reports, you can view the DSCP and IP Precedence codes corresponding to the Type of Service.
• Secure communication between Master and Leaf Collector: The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic enables you to configure secure communication between Master Collector and Leaf Collector. You can also configure secure communication between Master and Leaf Collectors when configured in Global Network Management setup.
  You can use the Leaf Collector system´s self-signed certificate to enable the Master Collector to use HTTPS protocol to communicate with Leaf Collector systems. For detailed instructions, see the Enabling Security between the Master and the Leaf Collector section in the HP Network Node Manager iSPI Performance for Traffic Software Deployment Reference.
• Application mapping rules using OR: The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic enables you to create expressions to define application mapping rules using multiple Boolean Operators, AND and OR.
• Dashboard views: The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic Analysis workspace now provides Dashboard views. These views contain multiple panes of data that provide details on the selected node or interface in a "portal-like" view. The Dashboard views are populated from the data displayed in the Analysis Pane.
• Quicklaunch ReportViews: The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic provides Quicklaunch ReportViews that includes shortcuts to most commonly used reports. You can also create your own customized reports and add shortcuts to the Quicklaunch ReportViews. For more information, see the Using Report Views in the HP Network Node Manager iSPI Performance for Metrics Online Help.

Changes

• Data collection for the Interface Traffic_1_min reports is not enabled by default. For information on how to enable the data collection for the Interface Traffic_1_min reports, see the Configuring Master Collectors section in the HP Network Node Manager iSPI Performance for Traffic Software Online Help.

  Note: Upgrading the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic from the version 9.10 or 9.20 to the version 10.00 does not automatically stop the data collection for the Interface Traffic_1_min reports and these reports continue to show data even after upgrade.

• The Interface Traffic_15_min reports are renamed as Interface Traffic Aggregated reports.

Documentation Updates

• Interactive Installation Guide

  Pre-installation requirements, as well as instructions for installing NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic, are documented in an interactive version of the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic Interactive Installation Guide.

  The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic Interactive Installation Guide is included on the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic media as traffic_interactive_installation_en.zip file. For instructions explaining how to extract and view the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic Interactive Installation Guide, see the traffic_interactive_installation_en_README.txt file located at the root of the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic installation media.

• Deployment Reference

  The HP Network Node Manager iSPI Performance for Traffic Software Deployment Guide is renamed as HP Network Node Manager iSPI Performance for Traffic Software Deployment Reference.

Installation Notes

• The NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic provides the nmstrafficmountnpsshare.ovpl script to mount the NNMi shared directory on the Master Collector system when the Master Collector is installed on a system other than the NNMi management server. The script enables you to mount the shared directory created using the Common Internet File System (CIFS) only. To use the nmstrafficmountnpsshare.ovpl on Linux platform, make sure that the samba-utils and cifs-utils are installed on the Master Collector system.

• While installing the HP NNMi Extension for iSPI Performance for Traffic, make sure to use a Web Service Client user that has only printable alphanumeric ASCII characters in its user name or password (even on non-English systems).

• While installing the Master Collector, make sure that the password of the system user includes only printable alphanumeric ASCII characters (even on non-English systems).

Upgrade Notes

• HP recommends that you contact HP Support to upgrade the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic 9.10 to the version 10.00 in a high availability cluster.

• After upgrading the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic to the version 10.00, you must manually provide Master Collector's DNS lookup details again by using the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic Configuration console.
• After upgrading the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic 9.10 to the version 10.00, the flush record limit is automatically changed to 100000. Use the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic Configuration console to modify the value of the flush record limit.

Support Matrix

You can find the Support Matrix for this product that lists all software and hardware requirements at this location: HP Support matrices.

Known Problems, Limitations, and Workarounds

This release contains certain unresolved problems, some limitations, and there are workaround to help solve certain problems.

Known Problems

• When you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, the scrolling feature of the browser may not work occasionally for the views under the Traffic Analysis workspace
  Workaround: Refresh the browser
• When you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, tabs may occasionally disappear from the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic Configuration console.
  Workaround: Refresh the browser
• The Save & New feature does not work when you launch the Configure Traffic Threshold action from the Actions menu in the NNMi console.
  Workaround: Configure new thresholds by using the threshold configuration form in the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic Configuration Console
• Performance panels are not loaded successfully after minimizing and maximizing Analysis panes of the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic views.
  Workaround: Refresh the performance panel
• After launching a report directly from the Actions > Traffic Reports menu, if you try to open another report, the following error appears:
  Expression parsing error
  Workaround: Clear topology filter selections and open the report again.
• In a high availability (HA) cluster setup, while configuring the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic as an add-on product of NNMi, the following error messages appear after you run the nnmhaconfigure.ovpl command:
  ERROR: Configuring add-on product TRAFFIC.
ERROR: Registering add-on product TRAFFIC with NNM.
  Workaround: Ignore these errors.
• A null-pointer exception occurs when you try to configure a Leaf Collector to use a high port value (higher than 10000).
  Workaround: Configure the Leaf Collector to use a different port.
• Installation of the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic Master Collector and Leaf Collector on Linux system hangs when the shell, from which the installer is invoked, is set in the vi mode.
  Workaround: Before you begin the installation, make sure that the shell is not set in the vi mode. For example, the following options should not be set in the /etc/profile:

  • ksh -o vi
  • sh -o vi
  • bash -o vi
• Records are dropped at Metric Record Flusher due to insufficient Master Collector queue size.
  Workaround: Follow these steps:

  1. Open the nms-traffic-master.address.properties file under %TrafficDataDir%/nmsas/traffic-master/conf/.
  2. Add the line "flush.record.queue.size=1000000" and save the change made.
  3. Restart the master jboss process.
• After you upgrade from 9.1x to 10.00, Master Collector does not run with correct configuration after it starts up.
  Workaround: Restart the Master Collector.
• If you run the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic installer from a directory that has any characters other than the printable alphanumeric ASCII characters in its name, the installer may show warning messages and fail to install some files.
  Workaround: Make sure you extract the installation media in a directory or mount the media on a directory that has only the printable alphanumeric ASCII characters in its name.
• When the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic is installed in a Windows, non-English environment, the inventory views under the Traffic Analysis workspace do not show any data. The problem occurs only when the Master Collector is installed on a separate server (and not on the NNMi management server).
  Workaround: On the Master Collector system, manually add the user that was created by the nmstrafficmastersetuser.ovpl script to the Administrators group, and then restart the Master Collector by running the nmstrafficmasterstart.ovpl command.

Limitations

When you filter the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic reports based on the source port, the source port values are displayed as "0" in the report. If you drill down to view further detail from the source port value, the NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic displays an empty report.

HP Software Support

This web site provides contact information and details about the products, services, and support that HP Software offers. For more information, visit the HP Support web site at: HP Software Support Online.

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Acknowledgements

This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation.
(http://www.apache.org)

This product includes software developed by the Indiana University Extreme! Lab.
(http://www.extreme.indiana.edu)

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For the full Oracle license text, see the license-agreements directory on the NNMi product DVD.