Extreme Networks Ridgeline Guide, Ridgeline 3.0 User Manual
Ridgeline Concepts and Solutions Guide
Software Version 3.0
Extreme Networks, Inc.
3585 Monroe Street
Santa Clara, California 95051
(888) 257-3000
(408) 579-2800
http://www.extremenetworks.com
Published: February 2011
Part Number: 100396-00 Rev. 01
AccessAdapt, Alpine, Altitude, BlackDiamond, EPICenter, Essentials, Ethernet Everywhere, Extreme Enabled,
Extreme Ethernet Everywhere, Extreme Networks, Extreme Standby Router Protocol, Extreme Turbodrive, Extreme
Velocity, ExtremeWare, ExtremeWorks, ExtremeXOS, Go Purple Extreme Solution, Ridgeline, ScreenPlay, Sentriant,
ServiceWatch, Summit, SummitStack, Triumph, Unified Access Architecture, Unified Access RF Manager, UniStack,
the Extreme Networks logo, the Alpine logo, the BlackDiamond logo, the Extreme Turbodrive logo, the Summit
logos, and the Powered by ExtremeXOS logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Extreme Networks, Inc. or
its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries.
Active Directory is a registered tradement of Microsoft.
sFlow is a registered trademark of InMon Corporation.
XenServer is a trademark of Citrix.
vCenter is trademark of VMware.
Specifications are subject to change without notice.
All other registered trademarks, trademarks, and service marks are property of their respective owners.
© 2011 Extreme Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Ridgeline Concepts and Solutions Guide
Table of Contents
Preface......................................................................................................................................................... 9
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................................9
Terminology ......................................................................................................................................................9
Conventions ...........................................................................................................................................................10
Related Publications...............................................................................................................................................11
Chapter 1: Ridgeline Overview................................................................................................................13
Introduction.............................................................................................................................................................13
Ridgeline Features .................................................................................................................................................13
Inventory Management ...................................................................................................................................16
Network Views ................................................................................................................................................17
Device Groups and Port Groups .....................................................................................................................17
Map Views.......................................................................................................................................................17
Ridgeline Scripts .............................................................................................................................................17
The Alarm Manager ........................................................................................................................................17
The Configuration Manager and the Firmware Manager ................................................................................18
The IP/MAC Address Finder ...........................................................................................................................18
Real-Time Statistics ........................................................................................................................................18
Ridgeline Reports............................................................................................................................................19
Role-based Access Management ...................................................................................................................19
Distributed Server Mode .................................................................................................................................19
EAPS Monitoring and Configuration Verification.............................................................................................20
Ridgeline Software Architecture .............................................................................................................................20
Extreme Networks Switch Management.................................................................................................................21
SNMP and MIBs..............................................................................................................................................21
The Remote Monitoring (RMON) MIB......................................................................................................22
Traps and Smart Traps ...................................................................................................................................22
Device Status Polling ......................................................................................................................................22
Telnet Polling ...........................................................................................................................................22
Edge Port Polling Using the MAC Address Poller....................................................................................23
Updating Device Status with the Ridgeline Database..............................................................................23
Extreme Networks Device Support .................................................................................................................23
Third-Party Device Support .............................................................................................................................23
Chapter 2: Getting Started with Ridgeline ............................................................................................. 25
Starting Ridgeline ...................................................................................................................................................25
Starting the Ridgeline Server ........................................................................................................................26
Starting the Ridgeline Server in a Linux or Solaris Environment .............................................................26
Launching the Ridgeline Client .......................................................................................................................26
Getting Help ...........................................................................................................................................................29
Working with Ridgeline Windows ...........................................................................................................................29
Modifying Table Views ....................................................................................................................................31
Sorting Table Rows..................................................................................................................................31
Resizing Table Columns ..........................................................................................................................31
Moving Table Columns ............................................................................................................................31
Removing Columns From a Table ...........................................................................................................31
Moving Tabbed Windows in Ridgeline ............................................................................................................32
Ridgeline User Roles..............................................................................................................................................32
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Creating the Device Inventory ................................................................................................................................32
Using Discovery ..............................................................................................................................................33
Adding Devices Individually ............................................................................................................................34
Setting Up Default Device Contact Information...............................................................................................35
Using Network Views..............................................................................................................................................36
Device Groups and Port Groups .....................................................................................................................38
Map Views.......................................................................................................................................................38
Displaying Device Inventory Information ................................................................................................................39
Viewing Device Properties......................................................................................................................................40
Opening a Telnet Session to a Device ...................................................................................................................41
Collecting Device Information for Extreme Support ........................................................................................43
Managing Device Configurations and Firmware.....................................................................................................44
Using the Ridgeline Alarm Manager.......................................................................................................................45
Predefined Alarms...........................................................................................................................................45
The Alarm Log Browser ..................................................................................................................................46
Using Basic Ridgeline Reports ...............................................................................................................................46
Chapter 3: Organizing Devices and Ports Into Groups ........................................................................ 51
About Ridgeline Groups .........................................................................................................................................51
Displaying Groups in the Network Views Folder .............................................................................................51
Group Membership Guidelines .......................................................................................................................53
Managing Device Groups and Port Groups............................................................................................................53
Creating a Group.............................................................................................................................................53
Adding a Device to a Device Group ................................................................................................................54
Adding Ports to a Port Group ..........................................................................................................................55
Adding Ports from a Single Device to a Port Group .................................................................................55
Adding Ports from Multiple Devices to a Port Group................................................................................57
Copying or Moving Groups .............................................................................................................................58
Removing Devices or Ports from Groups........................................................................................................59
Modifying the Properties of a Group ...............................................................................................................59
Displaying Group Details.................................................................................................................................60
Exporting Group Information ...........................................................................................................................61
Chapter 4: Using Map Views ...................................................................................................................63
About Network Topology Maps ..............................................................................................................................63
Map Elements .................................................................................................................................................65
Device Nodes ...................................................................................................................................65
Subgroup Nodes...............................................................................................................................66
Hyper Nodes.....................................................................................................................................66
Decorative Nodes .............................................................................................................................66
Text Nodes .......................................................................................................................................66
Clouds...............................................................................................................................................66
Links .................................................................................................................................................66
Navigating Maps .............................................................................................................................................68
Zooming In and Out on a Map .................................................................................................................68
Using the Navigation Box.........................................................................................................................68
Creating Maps ........................................................................................................................................................69
Creating a Map for a Device Group ................................................................................................................70
Specifying Map Properties ..............................................................................................................................70
Laying Out the Map.........................................................................................................................................71
Creating User-Defined Links ...........................................................................................................................71
Removing Inactive Links from the Map ...........................................................................................................72
Adding Graphic Elements to the Map .............................................................................................................73
Adding a Device Annotation............................................................................................................................74
Exporting Maps ...............................................................................................................................................74
Deleting Maps .................................................................................................................................................75
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Chapter 5: Provisioning Network Resources ........................................................................................ 77
Provisioning Example.............................................................................................................................................77
Creating a VLAN .............................................................................................................................................77
Modifying a VLAN ...........................................................................................................................................80
Troubleshooting for Provisioning Tasks .................................................................................................................83
Viewing Logged Information about Provisioning Tasks..........................................................................................84
Chapter 6: Managing Ethernet Services................................................................................................. 87
E-Line Service ........................................................................................................................................................87
E-LAN Service........................................................................................................................................................88
Bandwidth Profiles ..........................................................................................................................................89
Configuring Ethernet Services................................................................................................................................89
Creating an Ethernet Service ..........................................................................................................................89
Modifying an Ethernet Service ........................................................................................................................94
Creating a Customer Profile............................................................................................................................95
Creating a Bandwidth Profile...........................................................................................................................96
Viewing Ethernet Services Information...................................................................................................................98
Using the All Table and All Map View .............................................................................................................98
Using the Services View .................................................................................................................................99
Displaying Ethernet Service Details .....................................................................................................................100
Chapter 7: Importing Services ..............................................................................................................103
Importing E-Line and E-L AN Services.................................................................................................................103
Chapter 8: Managing PBB Networks .................................................................................................... 113
SVLANs, BVLANs, CVLANs and ISIDs................................................................................................................114
Configuring BVLANs ............................................................................................................................................114
Creating a BVLAN.........................................................................................................................................115
Modifying a BVLAN .......................................................................................................................................116
Viewing PBB Information......................................................................................................................................118
Displaying PBB Details.........................................................................................................................................120
BVLAN, CVLAN, and SVLAN Details............................................................................................................121
ISID Details ...................................................................................................................................................122
Chapter 9: Managing and Monitoring VPLS Domains ........................................................................ 123
Hierarchical VPLS (H-VPLS)................................................................................................................................124
VPLS Support in Ridgeline...................................................................................................................................125
Viewing VPLS Information....................................................................................................................................125
Displaying VPLS Details.......................................................................................................................................127
Displaying Pseudowire Details......................................................................................................................127
Configuring VPLS.................................................................................................................................................128
Running VPLS Configuration Scripts ............................................................................................................128
Chapter 10: Managing VLANs ...............................................................................................................131
Configuring and Monitoring VLANs with Ridgeline...............................................................................................131
Configuring VLANs...............................................................................................................................................132
Provisioning VLANs ......................................................................................................................................132
Creating a VLAN ....................................................................................................................................132
Modifying a VLAN ..................................................................................................................................136
Running VLAN Configuration Scripts ............................................................................................................138
Viewing VLAN Information ...................................................................................................................................139
Displaying VLAN Details.......................................................................................................................................140
Viewing VLAN Services Information..............................................................................................................140
Displaying VLAN Details for an Individual Device .........................................................................................141
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Displaying VMAN Details ..............................................................................................................................141
Categorizing VLANs With Network Names ..........................................................................................................141
Creating a Network Name.............................................................................................................................141
Assigning VLANs to a Network Name...........................................................................................................142
Filtering the VLANs Table Based on Network Name ....................................................................................142
Chapter 11: Managing Virtual Machines ..............................................................................................145
Overview ..............................................................................................................................................................145
Introduction to the XNV Feature....................................................................................................................145
VM Port Configuration............................................................................................................................145
VM Authentication Process....................................................................................................................146
Ridgeline Authentication .................................................................................................................146
Network (VMMAP) Authentication ..................................................................................................146
Local Authentication .......................................................................................................................146
File Synchronization...............................................................................................................................146
Network Management and Inventory .....................................................................................................147
Example XNV Configuration .........................................................................................................................147
Managing the XNV Feature, VM Tracking............................................................................................................148
Limitations .....................................................................................................................................................148
Identifying VMMs and VMs ...........................................................................................................................149
Virtual Machine Manager Table .............................................................................................................149
Adding and Importing VMs............................................................................................................................150
Editing VM Manager Settings........................................................................................................................151
Deleting a VM Manager ................................................................................................................................152
Enabling VM Tracking On a Switch...............................................................................................................152
Editing List of Devices and Ports ..................................................................................................................156
Policy Match Condition Combinations..................................................................................................................159
Creating a Virtual-Port Profile...............................................................................................................................159
Attaching Policies, VPPs, and VMs......................................................................................................................161
Attaching a VPP to a VM...............................................................................................................................162
Attaching a Policy to a VPP ..........................................................................................................................165
Detaching VPPs ...................................................................................................................................................167
Detaching a VPP from a VM .........................................................................................................................167
Detaching a VPP from a Policy .....................................................................................................................168
Viewing Information on the VMs Tab....................................................................................................................169
All Table and All Map Views..........................................................................................................................169
Device Group/Subgroup Views .....................................................................................................................171
VM Details View ............................................................................................................................................172
VM Properties view ................................................................................................................................172
NIC Tab..................................................................................................................................................173
History Tab-VM Movement History ........................................................................................................173
Device Details with VM Monitoring................................................................................................................174
VM Monitoring Audit Log...............................................................................................................................175
Chapter 12: Managing Your EAPS Configuration ...............................................................................177
Configuring EAPS ................................................................................................................................................177
Creating an EAPS Domain............................................................................................................................178
Modifying an EAPS Domain..........................................................................................................................179
Creating a Shared Link ..........................................................................................................................180
Deleting an EAPS Domain ............................................................................................................................180
Viewing EAPS Information ...................................................................................................................................181
The EAPS Map View.....................................................................................................................................182
EAPS Node Icons ..................................................................................................................................182
Link Status .............................................................................................................................................183
Displaying EAPS Domain Details.........................................................................................................................184
Displaying EAPS Details for a Selected Device............................................................................................184
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Verifying EAPS Information..................................................................................................................................185
Running EAPS Reports........................................................................................................................................186
EAPS Summary Report ................................................................................................................................186
EAPS Log Reports ........................................................................................................................................187
Chapter 13: Managing Network Security.............................................................................................. 189
Security Overview ................................................................................................................................................189
Management Access Security ..............................................................................................................................189
Using RADIUS for Ridgeline User Authentication .........................................................................................190
Configuring a RADIUS Server for Ridgeline User Authentication ..........................................................190
Example: Setting up a VSA to Return Ridgeline Role Information.........................................................191
Example: Setting the Service Type for a Built-in Ridgeline Role ...........................................................192
Securing Management Traffic .......................................................................................................................192
Using SNMPv3 for Secure Management ...............................................................................................192
Using SSHv2 to Access Network Devices. ............................................................................................193
Securing Ridgeline Client-Server Traffic .......................................................................................................194
Monitoring Switch Configuration Changes ...........................................................................................................195
Using the MAC Address Finder ............................................................................................................................196
Using Alarms to Monitor Potential Security Issues...............................................................................................196
Device Syslog History...........................................................................................................................................197
Network Access Security with VLANs ..................................................................................................................198
Chapter 14: Policies ............................................................................................................................... 201
Overview ..............................................................................................................................................................201
Viewing Policies for Devices .........................................................................................................................202
Creating a New Policy ..........................................................................................................................................203
Copying a Policy to Create a New Policy......................................................................................................209
Editing a Policy..............................................................................................................................................210
Deleting a Policy ...........................................................................................................................................211
Detaching a Policy ........................................................................................................................................212
Attaching a Policy..........................................................................................................................................212
Categorizing Policies............................................................................................................................................213
Categorizing Policy Rules .............................................................................................................................214
Creating and Managing Roles ..............................................................................................................................214
Viewing Active Policies for Devices...............................................................................................................214
Chapter 15: Tuning and Debugging Ridgeline ....................................................................................215
Monitoring and Tuning Ridgeline Performance ....................................................................................................215
Disabling Ridgeline Management for a Device ......................................................................................215
Polling Types and Frequencies .....................................................................................................................216
SNMP Polling.........................................................................................................................................216
MAC Address Polling .............................................................................................................................216
Telnet Polling .........................................................................................................................................217
Performance of the Ridgeline Server ............................................................................................................217
Tuning the Alarm System .....................................................................................................................................217
Disabling Unnecessary Alarms .....................................................................................................................218
Limiting the Scope of Alarms ........................................................................................................................219
Using Device Groups and Port Groups for Alarm Scopes .....................................................................221
The Alarm and Event Log Archives...............................................................................................................221
Using the MIB Poller Tools...................................................................................................................................221
Defining a MIB Collection..............................................................................................................................222
The MIB Poller Summary ..............................................................................................................................223
Loading, Starting and Stopping a Collection ..........................................................................................224
The MIB Collection Detail Report...........................................................................................................224
The MIB Poller Detail Report .................................................................................................................225
Viewing the XML Collection Definition ...................................................................................................226
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Exporting the Collected Data .................................................................................................................226
The MIB Query Tool......................................................................................................................................226
Reconfiguring Ridgeline Ports..............................................................................................................................227
Using the Ridgeline Debugging Tools ..................................................................................................................228
Reconfiguring the FreeRadius Server ..................................................................................................................228
Chapter 16: Creating and Running Ridgeline Scripts.........................................................................229
About Ridgeline Scripts ........................................................................................................................................229
Bundled Ridgeline Scripts .............................................................................................................................230
The Ridgeline Script Interface ..............................................................................................................................230
Managing Ridgeline Scripts..................................................................................................................................232
Creating a New Ridgeline Script ...................................................................................................................233
Specifying Run-Time Settings for a Script.....................................................................................................236
Specifying Permissions and Launch Points for a Script ................................................................................237
Running a Script............................................................................................................................................238
Importing Scripts into Ridgeline ....................................................................................................................242
Categorizing Scripts ......................................................................................................................................243
Specifying an Ridgeline Script as an Alarm Action .......................................................................................244
Configuring Script Tasks ...............................................................................................................................244
Using the Audit Log to Troubleshoot Ridgeline Scripts ........................................................................................246
Audit Log View ..............................................................................................................................................246
Filtering the Audit Log View ...................................................................................................................247
Displaying Audit Log Details for a Script .......................................................................................................247
Rerunning a Script ........................................................................................................................................248
About ExtremeXOS Scripts ..................................................................................................................................248
Chapter 17: Using Identity Management .............................................................................................. 249
Identity Management Software License ...............................................................................................................249
Overview ..............................................................................................................................................................249
Role-Based Access Control..................................................................................................................................250
Roles, Policies, and Rules ............................................................................................................................250
Roles......................................................................................................................................................250
Policies...................................................................................................................................................251
Role Hierarchy ..............................................................................................................................................251
Role Inheritance ............................................................................................................................................253
LDAP Attributes and Server Selection ..........................................................................................................254
Enabling Monitoring on Switches and Ports .........................................................................................................254
Editing Monitored Device Ports ............................................................................................................................259
Disabling Monitoring......................................................................................................................................260
Enabling Role-based Access Control on New Devices ........................................................................................261
Disabling Role-based Access Control...........................................................................................................265
Creating Roles......................................................................................................................................................265
Defining a New Role .....................................................................................................................................266
Creating a Child Role with Conditions Inherited from Its Parent............................................................268
Creating a Child Role with Conditions Inherited from a Different Role ..................................................271
Viewing Roles ...............................................................................................................................................272
Viewing Role Details ..............................................................................................................................273
Editing Roles .................................................................................................................................................274
Deleting Roles...............................................................................................................................................275
Policy Match Condition Combinations..................................................................................................................276
Attaching Policies to Roles............................................................................................................................276
Deleting a Policy Attached to a Role.............................................................................................................278
Error and Results Handling ...........................................................................................................................279
Configuring Directory Servers ..............................................................................................................................279
Viewing the Server Directory.........................................................................................................................280
Managing Global Directory Servers ..............................................................................................................280
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Configuring a New Directory Server..............................................................................................................280
Editing LDAP Client Properties .....................................................................................................................283
Deleting a Directory Server ...........................................................................................................................285
Viewing Network User Information .......................................................................................................................286
Network User Dashboard Reports ................................................................................................................286
Users Table...................................................................................................................................................287
Active Users Tab....................................................................................................................................288
Inactive and Active Users Tab ...............................................................................................................289
Displaying Network User Details ..........................................................................................................................290
Displaying Identity Management Reports.............................................................................................................292
Chapter 18: Managing Network Device Configurations and Updates ...............................................293
Archiving Device Configurations...........................................................................................................................293
Baseline Configurations .......................................................................................................................................294
Identifying Changes in Configuration Files....................................................................................................295
Automatic Differences Detection...................................................................................................................295
Device Configuration Management Log ...............................................................................................................296
Managing Firmware Upgrades .............................................................................................................................297
Automated Retrieval of Firmware Updates from Extreme.............................................................................297
Detection of Firmware Obsolescence for Network Components...................................................................297
Appendix A: Troubleshooting ...............................................................................................................299
Troubleshooting Aids............................................................................................................................................299
About Ridgeline Window ...............................................................................................................................299
Enabling the Java Console ...........................................................................................................................300
Ridgeline Client Issues.........................................................................................................................................300
Ridgeline Database ..............................................................................................................................................301
Ridgeline Server Issues .......................................................................................................................................302
VLAN Management ..............................................................................................................................................305
Alarm System .......................................................................................................................................................305
Ridgeline Inventory...............................................................................................................................................307
Printing .................................................................................................................................................................307
Reports.................................................................................................................................................................308
Configuration Manager.........................................................................................................................................308
Appendix B: Configuring Devices for Use With Ridgeline ................................................................. 309
Configuring Ridgeline as a Syslog Receiver ........................................................................................................309
Setting Ridgeline as a Trap Receiver...................................................................................................................310
The Ridgeline Third-party Device Integration Framework ....................................................................................310
Ridgeline Inventory Integration .....................................................................................................................311
The Abstract Type Library XML file........................................................................................................311
The OID folder .......................................................................................................................................314
The dpsimages.zip File ..........................................................................................................................314
Telnet Integration ..........................................................................................................................................315
Alarm Integration...........................................................................................................................................316
Editing the Events.xml file......................................................................................................................316
Adding the MIB(s) to Ridgeline ..............................................................................................................317
Launching Third Party Applications...............................................................................................................317
Appendix C: Using SSH for Secure Communication ..........................................................................319
Overview of Tunneling Setup ...............................................................................................................................319
Step 1: Install PuTTY on the Ridgeline Client ......................................................................................................320
Step 2: Configure the PuTTY Client .....................................................................................................................320
Step 3: Installing OpenSSH Server ......................................................................................................................323
Step 4: Configure Microsoft Firewall to Allow SSH Connects ..............................................................................328
Step 5: Initiate Ridgeline Server/Client Communication.......................................................................................330
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Appendix D: Configuring RADIUS for Ridgeline Authentication ....................................................... 331
Step 1. Create an Active Directory User Group for Ridgeline Users ....................................................................331
Step 2. Associate Users with the Ridgeline Group...............................................................................................332
Step 3. Enable Ridgeline as a RADIUS Client .....................................................................................................334
Step 4. Create a Remote Access Policy for Ridgeline Users ...............................................................................336
Step 5. Edit the Remote Access Policy to add a VSA..........................................................................................341
Step 6. Configure Ridgeline as a RADIUS Client .................................................................................................347
Appendix E: Ridgeline Utilities .............................................................................................................349
Package Debug Info Utility ...................................................................................................................................349
Port Configuration Utility.......................................................................................................................................350
The DevCLI Utility ................................................................................................................................................351
Using the DevCLI Commands.......................................................................................................................352
DevCLI Examples .........................................................................................................................................353
Inventory Export Scripts .......................................................................................................................................354
Using the Inventory Export Scripts................................................................................................................354
Inventory Export Examples ...........................................................................................................................356
The SNMPCLI Utility.............................................................................................................................................356
Using the SNMPCLI Utility ............................................................................................................................357
SNMPCLI Examples .....................................................................................................................................358
The AlarmMgr Utility.............................................................................................................................................358
Using the AlarmMgr Command.....................................................................................................................358
AlarmMgr Output...........................................................................................................................................360
AlarmMgr Examples......................................................................................................................................360
The FindAddr Utility..............................................................................................................................................361
Using the FindAddr Command......................................................................................................................361
FindAddr Output............................................................................................................................................363
FindAddr Examples.......................................................................................................................................363
The TransferMgr Utility.........................................................................................................................................363
Using the TransferMgr Command.................................................................................................................364
TransferMgr Examples..................................................................................................................................366
The ImportResources Utility .................................................................................................................................366
Using the ImportResources Command .........................................................................................................366
Importing from a File.......................................................................................................................367
Importing from an LDAP Directory..................................................................................................367
Importing from an Windows Domain Controller or NIS Server .......................................................367
ImportResources Examples ..........................................................................................................................368
FreeRadius Server Configuration Commands.......................................................................................
...............368
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Ridgeline Concepts and Solutions Guide
Preface
This preface provides an overview of this guide, describes guide conventions, and lists other useful
publications.
Introduction
This guide provides the required information to use the Ridgeline software. It is intended for use by
network managers who are responsible for monitoring and managing Local Area Networks, and
assumes a basic working knowledge of:
● Local Area Networks (LANs)
● Ethernet concepts
● Ethernet switching and bridging concepts
● Routing concepts
● The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
NOTE
If the information in the Release Notes shipped with your software differs from the information in this
guide, follow the Release Note.
Terminology
When features, functionality, or operation is specific to the Summit, Alpine, or BlackDiamond switch
family, the family name is used. Explanations about features and operations that are the same across all
Extreme switch product families simply refer to the product as the “Extreme device” or “Extreme
switch.” Explanations about features that are the same for all devices managed by Ridgeline (both
Extreme devices and others) are simply refer to “devices.”
Ridgeline Concepts and Solutions Guide
9
Conventions
Conventions
Tab le 1 and Ta bl e 2 list conventions that are used throughout this guide.
Table 1: Notice Icons
Icon Notice Type Alerts you to...
Note Important features or instructions.
Caution Risk of unintended consequences or loss of data.
Warning Risk of permanent loss of data.
.
Table 2 : Text C o nve n tions
Convention Description
Screen displays This typeface represents information as it appears on the screen.
Screen displays bold This typeface indicates how you would type a particular command.
The words “enter”
and “type”
[Key] names Key names appear in text in one of two ways. They may be
Words in bold type Bold text indicates a button or field name.
Words in italicized type Italics emphasize a point or denote new terms at the place where they are defined in
When you see the word “enter” in this guide, you must type something, and then
press the Return or Enter key. Do not press the Return or Enter key when an
instruction simply says “type.”
• referred to by their labels, such as “the Return key” or “the Escape key.”
• written with brackets, such as [Return] or [Esc].
If you must press two or more keys simultaneously, the key names are linked with a
plus sign (+). For example:
Press [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del].
the text.
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Ridgeline Concepts and Solutions Guide
Related Publications
The Ridgeline documentation set includes the following:
● Ridgeline Reference Guide
● Ridgeline Concepts and Solutions Guide (this guide)
● Ridgeline Installation and Upgrade Guide
● Ridgeline Release Notes
● Ridgeline License Agreement
Both the Ridgeline Reference Guide and the Ridgeline Concepts and Solutions Guide can be found online in
Adobe Acrobat PDF format in the
docs subdirectory of the Ridgeline installation directory.
You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5.0 or later (available from
http://www.adobe.com free of
charge) to view these manuals.
The Ridgeline software also includes context-sensitive online Help, available from the Help menu in
each Ridgeline window.
Other manuals that you will find useful are:
● ExtremeWare Software User Guide
● ExtremeWare Command Reference Guide
● ExtremeXOS Concepts Guide
● ExtremeXOS Command Reference Guide
For documentation on Extreme Networks products, and for general information about Extreme
Networks, see the Extreme Networks home page:
● http://www.extremenetworks.com
Customers with a support contract can access the Technical Support pages at:
● http://www.extremenetworks.com/services/eSupport.asp
The technical support pages provide the latest information on Extreme Networks software products,
including the latest Release Notes, information on known problems, downloadable updates or
patches as appropriate, and other useful information and resources.
Customers without contracts can access manuals at:
● http://www.extremenetworks.com/services/documentation/
Ridgeline Concepts and Solutions Guide
11
Related Publications
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Ridgeline Concepts and Solutions Guide
Ridgeline Overview
1
CHAPTER
This chapter describes:
● The features of the Ridgeline
● The Ridgeline software architecture and components
● Overview of Ridgeline switch management
™
software
Introduction
Today's corporate networks commonly encompass hundreds or thousands of systems, including
individual end user systems, servers, network devices such as printers, and internetworking systems.
Extreme Networks
management tools to meet those needs.
The Ridgeline (Ridgeline) Management Suite is a scalable full-featured network management tool that
simplifies configuration, troubleshooting, and status monitoring of IP-based networks. Offering a
comprehensive set of network management applications providing the ability to configure, monitor,
troubleshoot, and manage the network and its elements, Ridgeline delivers on both the basic
requirements of network management while adding valuable and intuitive features that help save time
by streamlining common tasks.
Ridgeline offers a comprehensive set of network management applications that are easy to use from a
workstation configured with a web browser and the Java plug-in. The Ridgeline application and
database support three of the most popular operating environments in the marketplace, Microsoft
Windows, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Sun Microsystems’ Solaris.
™
recognizes that network managers have different needs, and delivers a suite of
Ridgeline Features
In large corporate networks, network managers need to manage systems “end to end.”
Ridgeline is a powerful, flexible and easy-to-use application for centralizing configuration,
troubleshooting, and status monitoring of IP-based networks of Extreme Networks switches and
selected third-party devices, regardless of the network size.
Ridgeline establishes a new benchmark for accommodating convergence applications by offering
intuitive user interfaces and by reducing the complexity of managing converged networking
Ridgeline Concepts and Solutions Guide
13
Ridgeline Overview
environments. Ridgeline’s open architecture accommodates a multi-vendor, service-rich environment
that enables voice-class availability and the enforcement of robust security policies.
● Operational Simplicity. Simplicity begins with a detailed real-time view of the entire network.
Ridgeline’s maps provide users with an overview of every element of the network and how they all
connect at Layer 2 and Layer 3. Centralized configuration management and firmware management
simplifies the configuration and maintenance of your network elements. These functions can be
performed simultaneously on groups of devices anywhere on the network as well as on devices
individually.
● Voice-Class Availability. Ridgeline’s availability is greatly enhanced by granular health and status
monitoring of the network. Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching (EAPS) protocol support within
Ridgeline enhances a highly available Extreme Networks switching environment. The Real Time
Statistics feature provides a graphical representation of utilization and error statistics for multiple
ports on a device, device slot, or within a port group.
● Point-and-click network provisioning. Ridgeline’s provisioning features simplify network
configuration tasks with selectable options in dialog boxes. Ridgeline automatically validates the
options you’ve selected prior to deploying the configuration to managed devices, ensuring that the
configuration is correct before it goes into production.
● Comprehensive Security. Ridgeline provides multiple features that control and monitor the security
features on Extreme Networks’ products, including creation and management of VLANs easily
throughout the network. The IP/MAC Address Finder tool can locate any MAC address on your
network.
● Hierarchical grouping for devices and ports. Ridgeline allows you to assemble the devices and
ports in your network into groups and subgroups, and view information about them or manage
them at a group level. You can organize your network into a hierarchy of groups, with subgroups
for campuses, buildings, and individual rooms.
● Integrated network topology maps. Ridgeline’s network topology map feature is integrated with the
device group functionality, so that when you create a device group, you have the option of selecting
the Map view of the group, which causes Ridgeline to generate a network topology map, populated
with the devices in the group. Ridgeline automatically adds any links that exist between the device
nodes, and organizes them into submaps as appropriate. You can further customize your maps with
background images, decorative nodes and clouds, and user-specified links.
● Overlay views of VLANs in network maps. Information about the VLANs configured on the
devices in your network is readily accessible from Network View windows. VLAN services
information (VMAN, VLAN aggregation, VLAN translation, and Private VLAN) is incorporated into
network topology maps.
● Advanced scripting capabilities. Ridgeline includes an interface for creating and executing scripts
on your managed devices. Scripts created in Ridgeline can include ExtremeXOS CLI commands, as
well as commands and constructs in the Tcl scripting language. Scripts bundled with Ridgeline ease
common network configuration tasks. Ridgeline scripts can also be configured as script tasks, which
can run automatically at designated times.
● Multi-platform capability. The Ridgeline server supports Sun SPARC and Intel platforms, and the
Microsoft Windows, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Solaris operating environments. Clients on any of
these platforms can connect to servers on any platform.
● Support for multiple users with security. Users must log in to the Ridgeline application, and can be
granted different levels of access to the application features based on their assigned role. Three basic
predefined roles are provided, and additional user roles can be created. Telnet and SSH access to
Extreme switches can also be controlled based on the user identity. To protect sensitive data from
being intercepted or altered by unauthorized access, Secure Shell 2 (SSHv2) protocol and HTTPS
protocols are provided. These protocols encrypt traffic between the switch management port and the
Ridgeline.
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● Support for third-party devices. Any device running a MIB-2 compatible SNMP agent can be
discovered by Ridgeline and monitored at a basic level. These devices can appear on a topology
map, with basic status and alarm handling based on MIB-2 functionality. Based on Ridgeline’s Third
Party Integration Framework, selected appliances from Extreme Networks partners can be integrated
into Ridgeline in a robust fashion that allows reporting, alarm management, and monitoring with
graphical front and back panel views.
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Ridgeline Overview
● Manage large numbers of devices. Ridgeline server can manage up to 2000 devices with a single
installation of the Ridgeline software. For even larger networks, you can split the management task
among several Ridgeline servers in a distributed server mode that lets you monitor the status of
those servers from a single client.
● VPLS discovery and visualization. Ridgeline can discover the Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS)
configuration on the managed devices in your network, and display an overlay view of selected
VPLS instances, including information about specific pseudo wires. Ridgeline scripts can create
VPLS instances and configure devices as VPLS peers.
● PBB discovery, visualization, and provisioning. Ridgeline identifies the Service VLANs (SVLANs),
Backbone VLANs (BVLANs), Customer VLANs (CVLANs), and Extended Service ID (ISID)
instances in your Provider Backbone Bridge (PBB) networks. You can display an overlay view of a
selected PBB network, along with detailed information about PBB components in Ridgeline tables.
Ridgeline’s PBB provisioning feature allows you to create BVLANs on selected devices, ports, or
links, as well as modify and delete existing BVLANs.
● Ethernet service provisioning. Using the service provisioning wizard, you can create E-Line (point-
to-point) and E-LAN (multipoint-to-multipoint) services. You can select the devices and ports that
make up the service, specify the transport method (VLAN, VMAN, or PBB), create and apply
bandwidth profiles, then validate the configuration and deploy it on your network.
The Ridgeline features are described in more detail in the following sections. The rest of this manual
describes how to best use these features to manage various aspects of your network. For detailed
instructions on using specific features of Ridgeline see the context-sensitive online Help available from
the Help menu at the top of Ridgeline windows. The Ridgeline Reference Guide also provides a detailed
description of the functionality of each Ridgeline feature.
Inventory Management
Ridgeline keeps a database of all devices managed by the software. Any Ridgeline user with read-only
access to this feature can view status information about the switches currently known to Ridgeline.
Ridgeline provides a discovery function to discover the components of your network. Users with the
appropriate access (roles with read/write access) can use this feature to discover Extreme devices as
well as any third-party devices running a MIB-2 compatible SNMP agent. Devices may be discovered
by specific IP address or within a range of IP addresses. Third-party devices that support SNMP version
3 (SNMPv3) are discovered as SNMP version 1 (SNMPv1) and are added to the Ridgeline database as
SNMPv1 devices. Network devices can also be added to the Ridgeline database manually.
Once a network device is known to the Ridgeline database, you can copy it to a specific device group,
and configure it using a Device Manager (ExtremeWare Vista for Extreme devices). Ridgeline also
allows you to set a device to unmanaged status so that Ridgeline will not poll and can ignore traps
when a device is scheduled for maintenance.
Ridgeline also provides a command-line utility that lets you create device groups and import large
numbers of devices into the database through scripts, to streamline the process of adding and
organizing devices for management purposes. These utilities are described in Appendix E “Ridgeline
Utilities”.
Ridgeline displays detailed information about individual devices through a front panel image that
provides a visual device representation, with associated detailed configuration and status information.
Any Ridgeline user can view status information about the network devices known to Ridgeline. Users
with the appropriate access permissions can also view and modify configuration information for those
switches.
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Network Views
Ridgeline’s Network Views provide at-a-glance information about the devices, device groups, and port
groups in your network. You can display summary information about the devices or ports, links
between devices, VLANs, and EAPS domains, and you can select individual devices in tables or maps
to view detailed information about them.
Device Groups and Port Groups
Ridgeline has a powerful grouping feature that allows you to assemble groups of devices and ports, and
view information about them or manage them at a group level. You can organize your devices and
ports in a logical group structure, and administer and view status of components within the individual
groups. Graphical representations of device groups can appear in Network Views
Map Views
Ridgeline’s maps allow you to view Ridgeline-managed devices and the links between devices
graphically, as a set of maps. These maps can be organized into sets of submaps that allow you to
represent your network as a hierarchical system of campuses, buildings, floors, closets, or whatever
logical groupings you want.
1
A Ridgeline map is a graphical representation of a device group. When you create a device group, you
have the option of selecting the Map view of the group, which causes Ridgeline to generate a network
topology map, populated with the devices in the group.
Ridgeline also adds any links that exist between the device nodes. You can customize the resulting
maps by moving elements, adding new elements, such as links, “decorative” (non-managed) nodes, and
text, and customizing the device nodes themselves. Information about the links and devices in maps is
displayed graphically, with colored icons indicating device alarm level and state of the links between
devices.
Ridgeline Scripts
Ridgeline scripts are files containing CLI commands, control structures, and data manipulation
functions that can be executed on managed devices. Ridgeline scripts support syntax and constructs
from ExtremeXOS 12.1 (and higher) CLI scripts and the Tcl scripting language. Ridgeline includes a
number of bundled scripts that can perform such tasks as downloading firmware, uploading/
downloading configuration files, and configuring VLANs.
Ridgeline scripts can be run manually from the Ridgeline client, or you can configure them as script
tasks, which can run automatically at designated times.
The Alarm Manager
The Ridgeline Alarm System provides fault detection and alarm handling for the network devices
monitored by the Ridgeline software. This includes Extreme devices and some third-party devices—
those that the Ridgeline software can include in its database. The Alarm Manager also lets you define
your own alarms that will report errors under conditions you specify, such as repeated occurrences or
exceeding threshold values. You can specify the actions that should be taken when an alarm occurs, and
you can enable and disable individual alarms.
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Ridgeline Overview
Fault detection is based on SNMP traps, RMON traps, Syslog messages, and some limited polling. The
Alarm Manager supports SNMP MIB-2 and the Extreme Networks private MIB. You can also configure
alarms based on certain event thresholds, or on the content of Syslog messages. When an alarm occurs
you can specify actions such as sending e-mail, forwarding a trap, running a program, running a script,
sending a page, or sounding an audible alert.
The Configuration Manager and the Firmware Manager
The Ridgeline Configuration Manager provides a mechanism and a graphical interface for uploading
and downloading configuration files to and from managed devices. The Ridgeline Firmware Manager
can download ExtremeWare software images and BootROM images to Extreme Networks devices, or to
Extreme modules that include software.
The Configuration Manager provides a framework for storing the configuration files, to allow tracking
of multiple versions. Configuration file uploads can be performed on demand, or can be scheduled to
occur at regular times—once a day, once a week, or at whatever interval is appropriate.
The Configuration Manager also includes a facility to create and edit ExtremeXOS scripts, then deploy
them to managed devices.
The Firmware Manger can be configured to automatically track the firmware versions in Extreme
devices, will indicate whether newer versions are available, and can automatically retrieve those
versions from Extreme if desired.
The IP/MAC Address Finder
The IP/MAC Address Finder lets you search for specific network addresses (MAC or IP addresses) and
identify the Extreme Networks switch and port on which the address resides. You can also use the IP/
MAC Finder to find all addresses on a specific port or set of ports. If you have enabled Ridgeline’s
periodic MAC Address polling, which does polls for edge port address information, you can perform a
fast address search by just searching the Ridgeline database for this information. Alternatively you can
direct Ridgeline to search the FDBs of specific Extreme switches. You can export the results of your
search to a file, either on the server or on your local (client) system.
Real-Time Statistics
The Statistics feature of the Ridgeline software provides a graphical presentation of utilization and error
statistics for Extreme switches in real time. The data is taken from Management Information Base (MIB)
objects in the etherHistory table of the Remote Monitoring (RMON) MIB. You can choose from a variety
of styles of charts and graphs as well as a tabular display.
You can view data for multiple ports on a device, device slot, or within a port group, optionally
limiting the display to the “top N” ports (where N is a number you can configure). You can also view
limited historical statistics for an individual port. If you choose to view a single port, the display shows
the value of the selected variable(s) over time, and can show utilization history, total errors history, or a
breakdown of individual errors.
In addition, the Statistics feature lets you “snapshot” a graph or table as a separate browser page. You
can then save, print, or e-mail the page.
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Ridgeline Reports
Ridgeline Reports are HTML pages that can be accessed separately from the main Ridgeline user
interface, without logging on to Ridgeline. Ridgeline reports do not require Java, so reports can be
loaded quickly, even over a dial-up connection, and can be viewed on systems that cannot run the
Ridgeline client. Reports can be printed using your browser’s Print function.
The Reports capability provides a large number of predefined HTML reports that present a variety of
types of information from the Ridgeline database. You can also create your own reports by writing Tcl
scripts. Further, within the Reports Module are several useful tools such as a MIB Browser and other
tools that can provide Ridgeline system information.
Reports can also be accessed from within Ridgeline. A Summary report is displayed on the Ridgeline
Home page, which provides basic information on the status of Ridgeline devices and alarms. From this
report you can access other more detailed reports.
Role-based Access Management
All Ridgeline users must log on with a user name and password in order to access Ridgeline features.
Ridgeline initially provides four user roles:
● Monitor role: users who can view status information only.
● Manager role: users who can modify device parameters as well as view status information.
● Administrator role: users who can create, modify and delete Ridgeline user accounts as well as
perform all the functions of a user with Manager access.
● Disabled role: users whose account information is maintained, but who have no access to any
features of the product.
1
An Administrator user can create additional roles, can modify the capabilities available under each role,
and can add and delete Ridgeline users, as well as enable or disable access for individual users.
By default, Ridgeline provides its own authentication and authorization for Ridgeline users. However,
through Ridgeline Administration, Ridgeline can be configured to act as a Remote Authentication Dial
In User Service (RADIUS) client, allowing it to use an external RADIUS server to authenticate Ridgeline
users. As an option, the external RADIUS server can be configured to return user role information as
well as the user authentication.
As an alternative, Ridgeline can be configured to act as a RADIUS server, providing authentication for
Ridgeline users as well as for other devices such as Extreme switches. However, the RADIUS server
built into Ridgeline should only be used for demonstration or testing purposes, and should not be used
to provide primary authentication services in a production environment. The Ridgeline RADIUS server
is not sufficiently robust to perform as the authentication server in a production environment.
Distributed Server Mode
To manage very large numbers of network devices, or devices that are geographically distributed, the
management task can be divided up between multiple Ridgeline servers. Each server in the server
group is updated at regular intervals with network summary and status information from the other
servers in the group. From the Ridgeline home page, a client attached to any one of the servers in the
server group can view summary status information from the other servers in the group in addition to
the standard Network Summary report. The Ridgeline client also lets the user easily navigate between
the different servers in the group to see detailed management information about the devices managed
by those servers.
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Ridgeline Overview
EAPS Monitoring and Configuration Verification
Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching (EAPS) provides “carrier-class” network resiliency and
availability for enterprise networks. Ridgeline monitors EAPS rings from Network Views. You can
identify and display the status of EAPS rings, including Master and Transit nodes, link status, and a
variety of status information. Detailed status information is provided in multiple tables for domains,
devices and links.
You can also run a configuration verification which produces a report that details any configuration
errors detected among your EAPS nodes or domains.
Ridgeline Software Architecture
The Ridgeline software is made up of three major functional components:
● The Ridgeline Server. The server is responsible for managing security and communicating with the
managed objects, database, and client systems.
● The Ridgeline Database. The database is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS),
which is used as both a persistent data store and a data cache.
● The Ridgeline Client. The client is a Java application downloaded on demand from the server to a
workstation running a supported browser and the Java plug-in. To start the client, a user points his
or her browser to the Ridgeline server and clicks the Log on to Ridgeline link. The client application
is then automatically downloaded to the user’s workstation and started.
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Ridgeline Concepts and Solutions Guide
Figure 1 illustrates the architecture of the Ridgeline software.
Figure 1: Ridgeline Software Architecture
1
Extreme Networks Switch Management
Ridgeline primarily uses the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to monitor and manage the
devices in the network. The Ridgeline server periodically does a status poll of the devices it is managing
to determine if the devices are still accessible. It also does a full detailed poll of each device at longer
intervals. This interval for this less frequent detailed polling can be adjusted on each individual device.
The Ridgeline software also gives you the ability to gather device status at any time using the Update
devices option under the View menu.
To avoid the overhead of frequent device polling, the Ridgeline software also uses a mechanism called
SmartTraps to identify changes in Extreme device configuration. In addition, standard SNMP MIB-2
traps can be used to define alarms for a large variety of other conditions.
SNMP and MIBs
Ridgeline uses SNMP whenever possible to obtain information about the devices it is managing, and to
implement the configuration changes made through Ridgeline.
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Ridgeline Overview
The Remote Monitoring (RMON) MIB
Ridgeline can use statistics gathered from the Remote Monitoring (RMON) MIB to provide utilization
statistics on a port-by-port basis, if RMON is supported and enabled on the Extreme devices Ridgeline
is managing. Utilization and error statistics can be displayed within the Real-Time Statistics application,
which provides a number of chart, graph, and tabular display formats. The Ridgeline Alarm Manager
also provides the ability to define threshold-based RMON rules for generating trap events that can be
used in Ridgeline alarm definitions.
Traps and Smart Traps
Fault detection is based on Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps, syslog messages, and
some limited polling. The Alarm System supports SNMP Management Information Base-2 (MIB-2), the
Extreme Networks private MIB, Remote Monitoring (RMON) traps, and selected traps from other MIBs.
The Ridgeline software uses a mechanism called SmartTraps to identify changes in Extreme device
configuration.
When an Extreme switch is added to the Ridgeline database, the Ridgeline software creates a set of
SmartTraps rules that define the configuration change events that the Ridgeline server needs to know
about. These rules are downloaded into the Extreme switch, and the Ridgeline server is automatically
registered as a trap receiver on the switch. Subsequently, whenever a status or configuration change
takes place, the ExtremeWare software on the switch uses the SmartTraps rules to determine if the
Ridgeline server should be notified. These changes can be changes in device status, such as fan failure
or overheating, or configuration changes made on the switch through the ExtremeWare CLI or
ExtremeWare Vista.
For non-Extreme devices, Ridgeline does not automatically register itself as a trap receiver; you must
manually configure those devices to send traps to Ridgeline. See “Configuring Devices for Use With
Ridgeline” on page 309 for information on configuring devices to send traps to Ridgeline.
Device Status Polling
Ridgeline uses several types of polling to monitor the status of the devices it manages. Since device
polling adds a certain amount of traffic load to the network, Ridgeline tries to minimize the amount of
polling that it does, and many aspects of its polling algorithms are configurable.
Ridgeline polls for basic device status approximately every five minutes using SNMP. This poll interval
can be changed in Ridgeline Administration under the Server Properties for SNMP. Ridgeline also polls
periodically for detailed device status information. By default, this interval is 30 minutes for Extreme
modular chassis switches, and 90 minutes for Extreme stackable chassis switches. The detailed polling
interval can be set for individual devices. The detailed polling gets more complete information, still
only polls for information that has changed; a manual Update Devices action is required to retrieve all
information about the device. An Update Devices action is performed automatically whenever the
Ridgeline client application is started.
Telnet Polling
When it is not possible to use SNMP to obtain information from Extreme devices, Ridgeline uses Telnet
polling instead. Ridgeline uses Telnet polling to obtain MAC address information for edge ports from a
device Forwarding Database (FDB) and to obtain netlogin information. Telnet polling is also used to
obtain power supply IDs for Alpine devices.
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Optionally, you can use SSH2 instead of Telnet to communicate with Extreme Networks devices. This
requires that you run a version of ExtremeWare or ExtremeXOS that supports SSH.
You can disable Telnet polling if necessary through the Server Properties for Devices in Ridgeline
Administration. However, you will lose the ability to collect edge port information via FDB polling, as
well as netlogin information.
Edge Port Polling Using the MAC Address Poller
Ridgeline can maintain information about the MAC and IP addresses detected on Extreme switch edge
ports by polling the FDB tables of the Extreme switches it is managing. If MAC address polling is
enabled, Ridgeline uses Telnet polling to retrieve FDB information at regular intervals based on the
settings of server properties in the Ridgeline Administration.
MAC address polling can be enabled or disabled globally. If enabled, it can then be disabled for
individual devices or for specific ports on devices.
Ridgeline distinguishes edge ports from trunk ports based on whether the port is running the Extreme
Discovery Protocol (EDP) or the Link layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP). Ridgeline assumes that ports
that run EDP or LLDP are trunk ports, and ports that do not run EDP or LLDP are edge ports.
However, trunk ports on non-Extreme devices that do not support EDP or LLDP may be identified
incorrectly as edge ports. You can disable MAC address polling on individual ports to prevent Ridgeline
from polling these trunk ports for MAC addresses.
1
Updating Device Status with the Ridgeline Database
A user with an appropriate role (a role with read/write access) can use the Update devices option
under the View menu to update the device status in the Ridgeline database when the user believes that
the device configuration or status is not correctly reported by Ridgeline. The Update Devices action
causes Ridgeline to poll the switch and update all configuration and status information except for
uploaded configuration files. The SmartTraps rules are also reset in case the user has accidentally
deleted the trap receiver or any SmartTrap rules.
Extreme Networks Device Support
Extreme Networks devices running the ExtremeXOS or ExtremeWare software (version 6.2 or later) are
supported by most features in Ridgeline. Some features, such as the EAPS monitoring function, require
more recent versions of the software. See the Ridgeline Release Notes for specific information about the
hardware and software versions supported by this release of the Ridgeline software.
Third-Party Device Support
Any device running a MIB-2 compatible SNMP agent can be discovered by Ridgeline, and saved in the
database. All devices in the database can also appear on a topology map. The Alarm Manager can
handle basic MIB-2 SNMP traps from any device in the database, including RMON traps from devices
with RMON enabled. The Statistics feature can display statistics for any device with RMON enabled.
Ridgeline’s third-party integration framework allows selected devices to be integrated into Ridgeline
with a higher level of functionality. Devices integrated through this framework may include devicespecific front and rear panel views, additional SNMP trap support, and the ability to launch external
applications from within Ridgeline, if appropriate.
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Ridgeline Overview
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Getting Started with Ridgeline
2
CHAPTER
This chapter covers how to use some of the basic features of the Ridgeline system:
● Starting Ridgeline
● How to get help
● Working with Ridgeline windows
● Ridgeline user roles
● Adding devices to Ridgeline
● Using Network Views
● Displaying device inventory information
● Viewing device properties
● Opening a Telnet session to a device from Ridgeline
● Managing device configurations and firmware
● Using the Ridgeline Alarm Manager
● Using Basic Reports
Starting Ridgeline
The Ridgeline software consists of a server component that runs on a Windows, Solaris or Red Hat
Enterprise Linux server, and a client component, which can be launched from a Web browser.
Once the Ridgeline server is running, multiple clients can connect to it. The Ridgeline software supports
multiple administrator users, with different roles that determine the Ridgeline functions each user can
perform.
This chapter assumes you have successfully installed (or upgraded to) the current Ridgeline software
version—version 3.0 or later—and that the Ridgeline server is running.
If you have not yet installed version 3.0, see the Ridgeline Installation and Upgrade Guide for instructions.
The Ridgeline Installation and Upgrade Guide is included in the Ridgeline product package along with the
Ridgeline software CD, and is also available in Adobe PDF format on the CD, and from the Extreme
Networks web site.
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Getting Started with Ridgeline
Starting the Ridgeline Server
The Ridgeline Server consists of two components:
● The Ridgeline Database Server
● The Ridgeline Server
Both components must be running in order to run the Ridgeline client.
In a Windows environment, the Ridgeline server components are installed as services. By default, the
two Ridgeline Server components will start automatically when you boot the server. At installation, you
can optionally specify that the components be started manually. If you chose this option, see the
Ridgeline Installation and Upgrade Guide for to instructions for starting the Ridgeline server components
manually.
Starting the Ridgeline Server in a Linux or Solaris Environment
To start the Ridgeline server, enter the following commands in the order shown:
/etc/init.d/RidgelineDB20 start
/etc/init.d/RidgelineServer20 start
You must have administrative rights to access init.d files.
Launching the Ridgeline Client
The Ridgeline Client initialization process makes use of Java Web Start technology. Java Web Start allows
you to obtain files necessary to run the Ridgeline Client directly from the Ridgeline Server by pointing a
browser to the Ridgeline Server and clicking on a hyperlink. The download and installation of the
Ridgeline software on the client system takes place automatically.
Each time you launch the Client, Ridgeline checks whether you have the most current version. If you do
not, Ridgeline automatically updates the client files on your system.
Client initialization using Java Web Start requires that the client system have a certain version of the
Java plug-in installed. If the client system does not have this required Java version, then you are
directed to a location where you can download the correct version.
The Ridgeline Client application can be launched on systems running one of the following operating
environments:
● Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP Professional with SP1 or later, or Windows 2003/2008
Server running on an Intel Pentium-compatible CPU
or
● Solaris 10
or
● Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 5
A Ridgeline Client requires a monitor that supports 1024 x 768 resolution, and at least 16-bit color. Your
system display settings must be set for at least 65536 colors. See the Ridgeline Installation and Upgrade
Guide for memory, CPU, disk and other requirements.
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To launch the Ridgeline Client, you need to have the following information:
● The name or IP address of the Ridgeline Server to which the Client should connect
● The HTTP port that the Client uses to communicate with the server (the default is 8080). This is the
HTTP port you entered when you installed the Ridgeline Server.
To launch the Ridgeline Client, do the following:
1 Launch your web browser.
2 Enter the URL for your Ridgeline Server, in the form:
http://<host>:<port>/
Replace <host> with the name or IP address of the system where the Ridgeline Server is running.
Do not use
Replace
localhost as the host.
<port> with the TCP port number that you assigned to the Ridgeline web server during
installation.
NOTE
If you configured your Ridgeline Server to use the default web server port 80, you do not need to
include the port number. However, the port used by Ridgeline is 8080 by default, so in most cases you do need
to include the port.
2
3 The Ridgeline Welcome page appears.
Figure 2: Ridgeline Welcome Page
4 Click the Log on to Ridgeline link.
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Getting Started with Ridgeline
5 Ridgeline checks if your system is running the correct version of the Java plug-in. If you are not
running the correct version, you are directed to a page where you can download the correct version.
If you are running the correct version of the Java plug-in, the Ridgeline Client software is
downloaded from the Ridgeline Server and installed on the local system.
6 After the software is downloaded, you are prompted whether you want to run the application. Click
Run to continue.
7 The Ridgeline Log On screen appears, and you are prompted for a username and password.
Figure 3: Ridgeline Log On Screen
8 If this is the first time you are logging in to Ridgeline, enter admin in both the Username field and
the Password field. Click Log on to connect to the Ridgeline server.
9 After a successful login, the Ridgeline 3.0 Home screen appears displaying the Network Summary
Report, as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Ridgeline Home Screen
See “Ridgeline Reports” in the Ridgeline Reference Guide for an explanation of this report.
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