HP E VAN SDN Controller 2.7 Administrator's Manual
HPE VAN SDN Controller 2.7 Administrator Guide
Abstract
This guide is intended for network administrators and support personnel involved in:
• Configuring and managing HPE VAN SDN (Virtual Application Network Software-Defined Networking) Controller installations
• Registering and activating HPE VAN SDN Controller licenses
Part Number: 5200-0907
Published: March 2016
Edition: 1
© Copyright 2013, 2016 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for Hewlett Packard Enterprise products and services
are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting
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12.211 and 12.212, Commercial Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical Data for Commercial Items are licensed
to the U.S. Government under vendor's standard commercial license.
The HPE VAN SDN Controller license text can be found in /opt/sdn/legal/EULA.pdf. The HPE VAN SDN Controller incorporates materials from
several Open Source software projects. Therefore, the use of these materials by the HPE VAN SDN Controller is governed by different Open
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Links to third-party websites take you outside the Hewlett Packard Enterprise website. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has no control over and is not
responsible for information outside the Hewlett Packard Enterprise website.
Acknowledgments
Java® and Oracle® are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Open Source Software
For information on licenses for the open source software used by the HPE VAN SDN Controller, see the HPE VAN SDN Controller Open Source
and Third-Party Software License Agreements.
For information on acquiring the open source code for the HPE VAN SDN Controller, send an email to HPN-SDN-Open-Source-Query@hpe.com.
Contents
1 Introduction........................................................................................................10
About the HPE VAN SDN Controller...................................................................................................10
The HPE SDN ecosystem..................................................................................................................10
SDN Controller applications and the App Store.................................................................................12
Hewlett Packard Enterprise SDN information library..........................................................................12
Supported switches and OpenFlow compatibility ..............................................................................12
OpenFlow requirements................................................................................................................12
IPv6 traffic......................................................................................................................................13
2 Understanding the controller architecture.........................................................14
List of controller embedded applications............................................................................................15
OpenFlow Link Discovery ..................................................................................................................15
OpenFlow Node Discovery ................................................................................................................16
Path Diagnostics ................................................................................................................................17
Path Daemon......................................................................................................................................17
Topology Manager..............................................................................................................................19
Topology Viewer.................................................................................................................................20
3 Using the SDN controller UI..............................................................................21
Starting the SDN controller console UI...............................................................................................21
Default domain name, user name, and password.........................................................................22
About the user interface......................................................................................................................22
Banner...........................................................................................................................................23
Changing column widths...............................................................................................................23
SDN User window...............................................................................................................................23
User window screen details...........................................................................................................24
Changing the SDN user password................................................................................................24
Changing the background and text colors.....................................................................................25
Expanding the SDN user window..................................................................................................25
Collapsing the SDN user window..................................................................................................25
Logging out of the controller..........................................................................................................25
Navigation menu.................................................................................................................................25
About the navigation menu............................................................................................................25
Expanding or collapsing the navigation menu...............................................................................25
Navigation menu screen details....................................................................................................26
Alerts...................................................................................................................................................27
About alerts...................................................................................................................................27
Alerts screen details......................................................................................................................28
Viewing the alert notification counter.............................................................................................29
Viewing the ten most severe recent active alerts .........................................................................29
Acknowledging an alert.................................................................................................................30
Deleting an alert............................................................................................................................30
Configuring how alerts age out......................................................................................................31
Applications........................................................................................................................................32
About the application manager......................................................................................................32
Prerequisites for installing an application......................................................................................32
Applications screen details............................................................................................................33
Obtaining applications from the Hewlett Packard Enterprise SDN App Store...............................34
Adding or upgrading an application...............................................................................................34
Disabling (stopping) or enabling (starting) an application.............................................................35
Uninstalling an application.............................................................................................................36
Understanding application states and OSGi artifacts....................................................................36
Configuration components..................................................................................................................38
Contents 3
Using configuration component keys............................................................................................38
Configurations screen details........................................................................................................39
Basic Configurations view........................................................................................................40
Advanced Configurations view.................................................................................................41
System Configurations view.....................................................................................................43
Apps Configurations view.........................................................................................................45
Modifying a component configuration............................................................................................45
Modifying NTP server or date and time.........................................................................................46
Modifying Network settings............................................................................................................47
Modifying Logger settings..............................................................................................................48
Audit log..............................................................................................................................................49
About the audit log ........................................................................................................................49
Audit log screen details.................................................................................................................50
Deleting an audit log entry.............................................................................................................50
Configuring how audit log data ages out.......................................................................................50
Exporting and archiving audit log data..........................................................................................51
Licenses..............................................................................................................................................52
Licenses screen details.................................................................................................................52
Installing, activating, uninstalling, or transferring licenses.............................................................53
Team...................................................................................................................................................53
Support logs........................................................................................................................................53
About support logs.........................................................................................................................53
Support logs screen details...........................................................................................................54
Configuring the support log queue size ........................................................................................55
Exporting the support logs ............................................................................................................56
Packet listeners..................................................................................................................................56
Packet listeners display details.....................................................................................................57
OpenFlow Monitor..............................................................................................................................58
OpenFlow Monitor screen details..................................................................................................58
Summary for data path view....................................................................................................59
Ports for data path view...........................................................................................................60
Flows for data path view..........................................................................................................60
Groups for data path view........................................................................................................61
OpenFlow topology ............................................................................................................................61
Displaying the network Topology...................................................................................................62
Using keyboard shortcuts to change the display...........................................................................62
Changing switch and host node labeling..................................................................................63
Using the mouse to change the topology display.....................................................................65
Viewing node tooltips...............................................................................................................65
Changing the topology display using the View menu....................................................................65
Using Search............................................................................................................................66
Viewing port labels on switches...............................................................................................67
Viewing details.........................................................................................................................67
Using tools................................................................................................................................67
Using pin, Collapse All, Auto Refresh and Reload...................................................................67
Viewing the shortest path between two nodes .............................................................................68
Follow Flow..............................................................................................................................68
Highlight flow............................................................................................................................69
Viewing flow details for selected nodes.........................................................................................69
Viewing details on packet selection criteria for a data flow...........................................................69
OpenFlow Trace log............................................................................................................................69
About the OpenFlow Trace log......................................................................................................70
OpenFlow Trace screen details.....................................................................................................70
Starting, stopping, or clearing OpenFlow trace ............................................................................71
Displaying trace event details........................................................................................................71
4 Contents
Exporting the OpenFlow Trace log................................................................................................72
Filtering the OpenFlow trace log in a CSV file...............................................................................73
Changing the OpenFlow trace interval .........................................................................................74
OpenFlow Classes .............................................................................................................................75
About OpenFlow classes...............................................................................................................75
OpenFlow Classes screen details.................................................................................................76
Controller enforcement levels for OpenFlow classes....................................................................78
Changing the enforcement levels for OpenFlow classes..............................................................78
4 Hybrid mode for controlling packet forwarding..................................................80
Overview.............................................................................................................................................80
Learning more about hybrid mode......................................................................................................80
Viewing and changing the hybrid mode configuration........................................................................80
Coordinating controller hybrid mode and OpenFlow switch settings..................................................82
Supporting hybrid mode on OpenFlow switches...........................................................................82
Configuring controller settings to support hybrid mode.................................................................82
Limitations................................................................................................................................83
Controller packet-forwarding when hybrid mode is disabled..............................................................84
Controller packet forwarding when hybrid mode is enabled...............................................................85
5 License Registration and Activation..................................................................86
Overview of the license registration and activation process...............................................................86
License types, usage, and expiration.................................................................................................86
Preparing for license registration........................................................................................................87
Prerequisites for license registration.............................................................................................87
Identifying the Install ID displayed in the controller UI...................................................................87
Registering and activating a license...................................................................................................87
Registering your license and obtaining a license key.........................................................................88
Viewing your license information...................................................................................................90
Activating a license on the controller..................................................................................................92
Adding and activating a license using the controller UI.................................................................92
Activating a license using a script.................................................................................................93
Managing licenses..............................................................................................................................93
Transferring licenses.....................................................................................................................93
Deactivating licenses to prepare for transfer............................................................................94
Transferring licenses to a new platform...................................................................................95
Using Evaluation Licenses .................................................................................................................98
6 Configuring for High Availability.........................................................................99
High Availability best practices...........................................................................................................99
About teaming for High Availability.....................................................................................................99
Requirements for teaming................................................................................................................100
Team status......................................................................................................................................101
Controller status ...............................................................................................................................101
Manually synchronizing Cassandra database nodes using nodetool repair utility...........................102
Guidelines for running the nodetool repair utility.........................................................................102
Running the Cassandra nodetool repair command.....................................................................102
Configuring controllers to use the same local NTP servers..............................................................103
Viewing your team configuration using the UI..................................................................................104
Viewing team status....................................................................................................................104
Viewing team configuration and controller status........................................................................105
Viewing region configuration.......................................................................................................105
Viewing devices, datapaths, and debug logs..............................................................................106
Methods for configuring HA teaming................................................................................................106
Defining inputs for teaming in a configuration file.............................................................................107
Using a Python script from a controller to configure a team.............................................................109
Contents 5
7 Security............................................................................................................110
SDN Controller authentication .........................................................................................................110
Changing the default controller keystore and truststore to use CA signed certificates....................110
SDN Controller keystore and truststore locations and passwords ..................................................112
Encryption ........................................................................................................................................112
Built-in OpenFlow controller..............................................................................................................113
Creating a keystore and truststore for OpenFlow switch communication...................................113
Built-in OpenFlow controller keystore and truststore locations and passwords..........................113
REST authentication.........................................................................................................................114
OpenStack Keystone used for user and token management......................................................115
UUID Authentication....................................................................................................................115
PKI Authentication.......................................................................................................................116
Local vs Remote Keystone..........................................................................................................116
Keystone controller configuration................................................................................................117
Security .......................................................................................................................................117
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)...........................................................................................118
Assigning a user to a role.......................................................................................................118
API access requires authentication.............................................................................................120
Service and admin tokens ..........................................................................................................120
Controller code verification ..............................................................................................................121
Adding certificates to the jar-signing truststore ..........................................................................121
Running the SDN Controller Without Jar-Signing Validation ......................................................121
Revoking Trust .................................................................................................................................122
Revoking trust via truststore .......................................................................................................122
Revoking trust via CRL ...............................................................................................................122
SDN administrative REST API .........................................................................................................122
Virgo admin UI access via localhost only.........................................................................................123
Virgo console access disabled by default.........................................................................................123
JMX console enabled for local access only......................................................................................123
Creating the Cassandra keystore and truststore..............................................................................124
Cassandra keystore and truststore locations and passwords .........................................................125
Security procedure ...........................................................................................................................125
Security best practices......................................................................................................................126
8 Configuring OpenFlow instances....................................................................128
Configuring OpenFlow Instances with Multiple VLANs ...................................................................128
Configuring OpenFlow Instances with Single VLAN Identifier..........................................................128
Configuring OpenFlow instances to enable MAC group matching...................................................132
MAC group matching...................................................................................................................132
Switches that support MAC group tables and MAC group matching..........................................132
Configuration rules for OpenFlow instances and MAC groups...................................................132
Enabling or disabling MAC group matching on an OpenFlow instance......................................132
Prerequisites..........................................................................................................................132
Enabling MAC groups............................................................................................................133
Disabling MAC groups...........................................................................................................133
9 Backing up and restoring ................................................................................134
Backing up and restoring Best Practices..........................................................................................134
Backing up a controller ....................................................................................................................134
Backup operation ........................................................................................................................135
Backing up a controller ...............................................................................................................136
Downloading a backup from the controller to another location ..................................................136
Recommended backup practices ...............................................................................................137
Restoring a controller from a backup ...............................................................................................137
Restore operation .......................................................................................................................137
System restore requirements .....................................................................................................138
6 Contents
Restoring a controller from a backup..........................................................................................138
Distributed (team) backing up and restoring ....................................................................................140
Backing up and restoring the Keystone configuration and database...............................................140
10 Metrics...........................................................................................................141
Viewing metric data..........................................................................................................................141
About metrics...............................................................................................................................141
How metric values are processed..........................................................................................141
Metric identifiers.....................................................................................................................142
Viewing the application IDs for applications that have persisted metrics to disk.........................143
Viewing the metrics persisted by a specific application...............................................................143
Metrics returned by the metrics/apps/app_id command......................................................144
Viewing the primary tags for metrics persisted by an application................................................145
Viewing the secondary tags for metrics persisted by an application...........................................145
Viewing the names of metrics persisted by an application..........................................................146
Viewing information about a persisted metric identified by its UID..............................................147
Viewing the time-series values for a persisted metric identified by its UID.................................147
Viewing all controller JVM metrics....................................................................................................149
Viewing current metric data using a JMX client................................................................................149
Metrics that are viewable using a JMX client..............................................................................149
Prerequisites................................................................................................................................149
Connecting to the JMX server using the JConsole JMX client....................................................150
Selecting and viewing metrics using JConsole JMX...................................................................151
Generating a controller support report..............................................................................................152
11 Troubleshooting.............................................................................................155
REST API request returns HTTP code 401......................................................................................155
Controller not listening on port TCP/8443.........................................................................................155
Packets not received at the end point...............................................................................................156
Session expired message in the UI..................................................................................................156
Error running the config_sdn.py script with date/time/NTP option....................................................156
Licensing...........................................................................................................................................157
Redeem quantity error.................................................................................................................157
Install ID format errors ................................................................................................................157
Install ID errors ...........................................................................................................................157
Applications that use the Cassandra database are experiencing failures........................................158
Controller support log fills disk space, contains multiple “Too many open files” messages.............158
Application management errors........................................................................................................159
Application not starting and in disabled state..............................................................................159
Application in transitive state.......................................................................................................159
Application management exceptions................................................................................................159
Getting IllegalStateException: HTTP code 500...........................................................................159
Getting UnsafeConfigurationException, HTTP code: 403...........................................................160
Getting ApplicationDisableException, HTTP code: 500..............................................................160
Getting ApplicationEnableException, HTTP code: 500...............................................................160
Getting ApplicationInstallException, HTTP code: 500.................................................................161
Getting ApplicationUpgradeException, HTTP code: 500............................................................161
Getting ApplicationUninstallException, HTTP code: 500............................................................161
Getting ApplicationUploadException, HTTP code: 500...............................................................161
Getting ApplicationValidationException, HTTP code: 400...........................................................161
OpenFlow errors...............................................................................................................................162
Host location not learned by controller........................................................................................162
Switches constantly being disconnected and reconnected ........................................................162
Unexpected network or service problems in hybrid mode...........................................................162
Troubleshooting teamed environments............................................................................................163
Controllers dropped from team or unable to form team..............................................................163
Contents 7
Teaming framework does not run................................................................................................163
Controller becomes suspended...................................................................................................163
Unable to create team.................................................................................................................164
Controller and application data differs among controllers in a team...........................................165
Application data is not synchronized after a controller rejoins the team.....................................165
12 Support and other resources.........................................................................167
Accessing Hewlett Packard Enterprise Support...............................................................................167
Accessing updates............................................................................................................................167
Websites...........................................................................................................................................167
Customer self repair.........................................................................................................................168
Remote support................................................................................................................................168
Documentation feedback..................................................................................................................169
A curl commands................................................................................................170
About the curl commands in this document......................................................................................170
Getting an authorization token using a curl command.....................................................................171
Export audit log data as a CSV file using curl commands................................................................171
Licensing actions using curl commands...........................................................................................171
Obtaining an install ID.................................................................................................................171
Activating a license on the controller...........................................................................................172
Uninstalling licenses to prepare for transfer................................................................................172
Application manager actions using curl commands.........................................................................174
Listing applications......................................................................................................................174
Listing information about an application......................................................................................175
Getting application health status.................................................................................................175
Uploading an application (new or upgrade).................................................................................176
Installing a new application..........................................................................................................176
Upgrading an application.............................................................................................................177
Disabling an application...............................................................................................................177
Enabling an application...............................................................................................................178
Removing a staged application...................................................................................................178
Deleting an application................................................................................................................179
Viewing metric data using curl commands.......................................................................................179
Managing SNMP keys .....................................................................................................................179
Getting the SNMP keys...............................................................................................................179
Adding SNMP keys......................................................................................................................179
Deleting an SNMP key................................................................................................................180
Managing NETCONF keys ..............................................................................................................180
Getting the NETCONF keys........................................................................................................180
Adding NETCONF keys...............................................................................................................180
Deleting a NETCONF key...........................................................................................................180
Team configuration using curl commands........................................................................................181
Creating a team using curl...........................................................................................................181
Considerations when a controller team is formed using REST..............................................181
Configuring a controller team using curl.................................................................................182
Error log for team configuration ..................................................................................................184
Team alias node.....................................................................................................................186
Cassandra database maintenance in a team.........................................................................186
Disbanding a team using curl......................................................................................................186
Viewing the team configuration using curl...................................................................................187
Creating regions using curl..........................................................................................................188
Regions and device ownership..............................................................................................189
Failover behavior within a region...........................................................................................189
Failback behavior within a region...........................................................................................191
Adding a region using curl...........................................................................................................192
8 Contents
Adding a device to a region using curl........................................................................................193
Getting the configuration of all regions using curl.......................................................................193
Getting the configuration of a specific region using curl..............................................................194
Determining whether or not a controller owns a specific device using curl.................................194
Getting the owning controller and devices for a region using curl...............................................194
Getting the status of a specific region using curl.........................................................................195
Getting the status of all regions using curl..................................................................................196
Removing a device from a region using curl...............................................................................198
Removing a region using curl......................................................................................................198
B Scripts.............................................................................................................199
Restoring a controller........................................................................................................................199
Backing up a controller team............................................................................................................201
Restoring a controller team ..............................................................................................................206
C Using an external policy manager..................................................................211
D Performance testing........................................................................................212
E Examples of Metrics........................................................................................213
Index...................................................................................................................228
Contents 9
1 Introduction
This document describes the configuration and management of the HPE VAN SDN Controller
in standalone and team modes.
About the HPE VAN SDN Controller
The HPE VAN SDN Controller provides a unified control point in an OpenFlow-enabled network,
simplifying management, provisioning, and orchestration and enabling delivery of a new generation
of application-based network services.
In the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Software Defined Networking (SDN) architecture, the control
and data planes of the network are decoupled from each other, centralizing network intelligence
and abstracting the underlying network infrastructure from applications. Controller software
manages forwarding behavior for physical and virtual switches under its control via the
industry-standard OpenFlow protocol. Network ports, links, and topologies are all directly visible,
enabling centralized policy administration and more effective path selection based on a dynamic,
global view of the network. This dramatically simplifies the orchestration of multi-tenant
environments and the enforcement of network policy for both mobile clients and servers.
The HPE VAN SDN Controller is designed to operate in a variety of computing environments,
including campus, data center, service provider, private cloud, and public cloud. The HPE VAN
SDN Controller features:
• An enterprise-class platform for the delivery of a broad range of network innovations
• An extensible, scalable, and resilient controller architecture
• Compliance with OpenFlow 1.0 and 1.3 protocols
• Support for Hewlett Packard Enterprise and H3C OpenFlow-enabled switches
• Secure authentication using a local or remote Keystone server
• Controller teaming for distributed platform High Availability (HA)
• Embedded applications that provide common network services
• Open APIs enable SDN application developers to deliver innovative solutions that dynamically
link business requirements to network infrastructure using either custom Java programs or
general-purpose RESTful control interfaces, including functions to extend the controller
REST API and UI.
• Integration with HPE Intelligent Management Center (IMC). HPE IMC provides full controller
application life cycle management and monitoring, enhanced reporting and SDN network
visualization.
The HPE SDN ecosystem
SDN architecture separates the network control plane from the forwarding hardware on network
devices. Control can then be centralized, while forwarding remains distributed. SDN is based on
OpenFlow, which is a standards-based protocol allowing for a centralized-control plane in a
separate device (the controller).
OpenFlow is managed by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF). By separating the control
plane from the forwarding plane, SDN makes it possible for the network status and capabilities
to be exposed directly to the business service layer, so that business systems can request
services from the network directly. SDN applications thus provide higher level application direction
to the SDN controller. And freed from the control function, the forwarding plane can then provide
optimized packet processing at very high speeds.
The HPE VAN SDN Controller is the central building block of the HPE SDN ecosystem and
creates a platform for application development.
10 Introduction
The HPE SDN ecosystem includes the following:
• Infrastructure. The infrastructure layer is made up of network devices, typically but not
exclusively routers and switches. The devices are OpenFlow-enabled. An OpenFlow switch
consists of one or more flow tables and a group table, which perform packet lookups and
forwarding and provide an OpenFlow channel to the HPE VAN SDN Controller. The switch
communicates with the controller and the controller manages the switch via the OpenFlow
protocol. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has more than 50 switch models that are
OpenFlow-enabled.
• Control. HPE VAN SDN Controller provides centralized control and automation for an SDN
network. The controller controls policy and forwarding decisions, which are communicated
to the OpenFlow-enabled switches in the data center or campus network. A variety of Hewlett
Packard Enterprise and third-party SDN applications can leverage the controller to
automatically deliver the necessary business and network service levels.
• Applications. Hewlett Packard Enterprise and third-party SDN applications provide a true
end-to-end service level for network performance, quality of service, and security, which can
be tuned to an applications’ needs. For example, SDN applications can inspect flows, or
perform other network control functions via the HPE VAN SDN Controller. Hewlett Packard
Enterprise SDN applications include: HPE Network Protector SDN Application, HPE Network
Optimizer SDN Application and HPE Network Visualizer SDN Application.
The extensibility and open APIs of the HPE VAN SDN Controller allows new applications to
be created that make requests of the underlying network, without the need to physically
uproot or re-configure the underlying infrastructure. Northbound APIs utilize the REST
architecture and provide easy access to applications that are integrated directly in the
controller or off the controller. Native APIs, provided in Java, deliver support to Network
Control applications that are integrated directly in the controller.
• Management. The HPE Intelligent Management Center (IMC) VAN SDN Manager software
integrates with HPE IMC to provide administrators with a single interface to manage both
the traditional network and the SDN. The IMC VAN SDN Manager Software monitors and
manages all three layers of the SDN architecture: infrastructure, control, and application,
providing comprehensive management—including fault, configuration, accounting, monitoring,
and security for the controller and OpenFlow infrastructure. IMC provides full controller
application life cycle management and monitoring, reporting of network service status and
OpenFlow-related information, and SDN network visualization.
In addition, the HPE VAN SDN Controller provides REST and Java APIs that enable
applications to interact with the controller to receive alerts, to get information about the
network, devices, and controller, and to perform various network management tasks.
The HPE SDN ecosystem 11
SDN Controller applications and the App Store
The HPE VAN SDN Controller includes a default set of core network service applications that
are installed as modules with the controller. These embedded applications provide services such
as authentication, data persistence, logging and alerts. For details, see “Understanding the
controller architecture” (page 14).
The HPE VAN SDN Controller also provides a platform for developing and deploying SDN
applications. Several applications have been developed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise including
HPE Network Protector SDN Application, HPE Network Optimizer SDN Application, and HPE
Network Visualizer SDN Application. There are also SDN applications developed by third-party
partners. In addition, you can develop your own SDN applications.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s SDN applications as well as third-party SDN applications are
available through the Hewlett Packard Enterprise SDN App Store. Access the App Store at
www.hpe.com/networking/sdnappstore.
The HPE VAN SDN Controller includes an SDK providing the tools needed to develop applications
for the controller. The SDK includes documentation for both the Java and REST APIs as well as
all of the jar files necessary during compilation. A sample application is also included along with
API specifications. For details on how to develop applications for the controller, see the HPE
VAN SDN Controller Programming Guide.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise offers an SDN developer community, as well as forums, events, and
other services, to help developers and partners build and sell SDN applications.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise SDN information library
The following information is provided for the HPE VAN SDN Controller:
• HPE VAN SDN Controller Release Notes
• HPE VAN SDN Controller Installation Guide
• HPE VAN SDN Controller Administrator Guide
• HPE VAN SDN Controller and Applications Support Matrix
• HPE VAN SDN Controller Programming Guide
• HPE VAN SDN Controller REST API Reference
• HPE VAN SDN Controller Troubleshooting Guide
• HPE VAN SDN Controller Open Source and Third-Party Software License Agreements
The most recent versions of these documents are in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise SDN
information library at the following website: www.hpe.com/info/sdn/infolib.
Supported switches and OpenFlow compatibility
For information about supported network switches, OpenFlow versions, and switch configuration
requirements, see the HPE VAN SDN Controller and Applications Support Matrix.
CAUTION: OpenFlow switches in a controller domain should not be connected in a loop
topology with switches outside the domain. Allowing such connections can create broadcast
loops inside the OpenFlow network. For more on packet-forwarding decisions, see “Hybrid mode
for controlling packet forwarding” (page 80).
OpenFlow requirements
The controller must be connected to a network that includes one or more switches configured to
run OpenFlow. Hewlett Packard Enterprise recommends that you plan and implement the switch
OpenFlow configurations before connecting the controller to the network.
12 Introduction
NOTE: OpenFlow switches in the network must be configured to allow control by the HPE
VAN SDN Controller. In a controller domain, including a switch that does not support OpenFlow
or allow control by another HPE VAN SDN Controller creates separate clusters of OpenFlow
networks.
NOTE: Running the OpenFlow control mode on a specified switch VLAN disrupts the traffic
on that VLAN until the controller configures the required flow rules in the switch using the
OpenFlow controller API. You should create a separate VLAN for an OpenFlow control plane.
For information on configuring OpenFlow, see the latest OpenFlow Administration Guide for your
switch.
IPv6 traffic
IPv6 traffic running in the data plane of an OpenFlow network is supported when the controller
is operating with hybrid mode set to “true” (the default). In this state the controller is not aware
of the IPv6 traffic. However, with hybrid mode set to false (all packets sent to the controller),
the controller drops IPv6 packets, and they do not reach their destinations.
Supported switches and OpenFlow compatibility 13
2 Understanding the controller architecture
The HPE VAN SDN Controller software is built upon a Linux OS, Java 1.8, and OSGI (Virgo
stack and Equinox framework) and uses an Apache Cassandra distributed post-relational
database.
Keystone is an external service that provides authentication and high level authorization services.
It supports token-based authentication
REST API and GUI framework are used by SDN application developers for building applications
(RESTful web services and web based UIs).
Figure 1 HPE VAN SDN Controller software stack
The following gives a short description of the controller components:
• The controller Application Manager enables installing, upgrading, enabling (starting), disabling
(stopping), and uninstalling SDN applications on the controller.
• The Audit Log records events related to activities, operations, and configuration changes
initiated by an authorized user. The Audit Log is managed by the controller Audit Log service.
• The Alert Log records information about events that affect controller operation, and in some
cases indicate that some action is needed to correct a condition. Alerts are managed by the
controller Alert service.
• Client Mapper Service combines information known about a network client by the controller,
such as host IP address, host MAC addresses, and the connected datapath and port, with
information about the network client known by an outside policy manager, such as the Aruba
ClearPass policy manager, to provide information about network clients, including user
information, device information, and location information. This information is available via
the REST API only.
• The controller uses the embedded applications Topology Manager and Topology Viewer to
collect and display information about the OpenFlow network.
• The controller provides a framework to back up and restore controller and application state
in a backup file. The backup file can be copied and stored for later use. The stored backup
file can be uploaded to the controller.
14 Understanding the controller architecture
• The Distributed Coordination Framework is one of the high-availability features of the
controller. It provides the infrastructure for controller-to-controller communication and
coordination of state information for controllers in a controller team.
• The controller can be configured in a team. The teaming services of the controller keep the
runtime state of each controller in the team (active, unreachable, or suspended) up to date
and is used by other parts of the controller for functions related to high-availability.
• The Device Drivers model the capabilities of the devices and provide APIs for interacting
with different device types.
• The controller uses the embedded applications OpenFlow Link Discovery and OpenFlow
Node Discovery to discover information about the OpenFlow network.
• The OpenFlow controller (also called the core controller) handles the connections from
OpenFlow devices and provides the means for upper layers of software to interact with those
devices.
The HPE VAN SDN Controller includes a default set of core network service applications that
are installed with the controller (see “List of controller embedded applications” (page 15).
List of controller embedded applications
The HPE VAN SDN Controller includes a default set of core network service applications that
are installed as modules on the controller. The following applications are embedded in the
controller and are installed when you install the controller:
• OpenFlow Link Discovery
• OpenFlow Node Discovery
• Path Daemon
• Path Diagnostics
• Topology Manager
• Topology Viewer
OpenFlow Link Discovery
The OpenFlow Link Discovery application is the default OpenFlow link supplier application that
is installed with the controller. This application implements the
com.hp.sdn.supplier.LinkSuppliersBroker interface and uses LinkSupplierService
and LinkService APIs to create and maintain link information for OpenFlow datapaths that
register with the controller.
The OpenFlow Link Discovery application pushes flow-mods to steal discovery packets, injects
discovery packets to all ports on all datapaths, and discovers links on the controlled network by
listening for PACKET_IN messages. It discovers two types of links:
• direct links
• multi-hop links
The OpenFlow Link Discovery application distinguishes the link type by injecting two packets to
each port in an OpenFlow instance. These packets have the same Ethernet type (0x8999), but
are sent to different destination MAC addresses.
The ControllerManager configuration specifies the hybrid mode that has one of the following
values:
• hybrid.mode=true
The OpenFlow Link Discovery application installs a flow rule on every OpenFlow devices to
steal these packets. Packets that match this flow rule are forwarded to the controller from
List of controller embedded applications 15
the OpenFlow instance and port where they were received. Using the origin information
contained within the received packet, the controller derives the source and destination of
the link that this packet traversed and records a link between the OpenFlow instances.
The link type is derived from the destination MAC address of the packet (direct or multi-hop).
If a link is direct, it will be discovered as both direct and multi-hop from the reporting OpenFlow
instance, but the type direct has precedence over the type multi-hop, so the link is recorded
as direct.
• hybrid.mode=false
All packets are stolen to the controller by default. Therefore, the OpenFlow Link Discovery
application does not push flow rules to devices.
A controller-generated link discovery packet:
• Uses a non-standard protocol, BDDP, which uses a payload format similar to LLDP.
• Is sent to either a link-local MAC address (to discover direct links) or a multicast MAC address
(to discover multihop links).
The link-local MAC address is: 01:08:c2:00:00:0e
The multicast MAC address used for link discovery is: 01:1B:78:E9:7B:CD.
• Contains the source device and port that introduced the packet to the controlled network.
The OpenFlow Link Discovery application listens for PACKET_IN messages that contain the
BDDP protocol. Each discovery packet has the source device ID embedded within its payload,
and the destination device can be derived from the PACKET_IN message. This design enables
the OpenFlow Link Discovery application to populate the link table with information it learns from
such received packets.
NOTE: Because PACKET_IN messages that contain the BDDP protocol are for
controller-generated link discovery packets, no corresponding PACKET_OUT is sent back to the
device that sent the PACKET_IN.
The OpenFlow Link Discovery application also listens to device and interface events and registers
with the ControllerService API to send OpenFlow packets to datapaths.
If the OpenFlowLinkDiscoveryComponent configuration has age.multihop.links=true,
the OpenFlow Link Discovery application periodically injects discovery packets into the controlled
network to refresh the multihop links. Any multihop links that are not refreshed at the interval
configured for the multihop.poll.interval key are considered to be invalid and are removed
from the link table. Additionally, network events such as a port going down or a device status
change causes relevant links to be removed from the link table, and causes discovery packets
to be sent to all datapaths that are in a ready state.
OpenFlow Node Discovery
The OpenFlow Node Discovery application is the default OpenFlow node supplier application
that is installed with the controller. This application implements the
com.hp.sdn.supplier.NodeSuppliersBroker interface and uses NodeSupplierService
and NodeService APIs to create and maintain node information for OpenFlow datapaths that
register with the controller.
If the ControllerManager configuration has hybrid.mode=false, all packets are implicitly stolen
to the controller and processed by the OpenFlow Node Discovery application. If learn.ip=true,
the node discovery application in this case uses ARP, DHP and IP packets to discover the hosts.
16 Understanding the controller architecture
If the ControllerManager configuration has hybrid.mode=true:
• The OpenFlow Node Discovery application pushes flow-mods to controlled devices that
copy ARP packets or DHCP packets to the controller for processing and listens for
PACKET_IN messages that contain the ARP or DHCP protocol.
By default in hybrid mode, IP packets are not sent to controller. Based upon the information
supplied by these copied ARP, DHCP, and IP packets, and if learn.ip=true, the OpenFlow
Node Discovery application registers as a node supplier and supplies updates to the node
table. The controller administrator can configure the timeout value for nodes discovered by
each protocol by setting the value of the age key of the configurable component for that
protocol.
Only when learn.ip=true and some other application has pushed a flow that sends IP
packets to controller. will the controller receive IP packets. By default, in hybrid mode, IP
packets are not sent to controller.
The Node Manager does not update the node table for every PACKET_IN message it
receives. Specifically, PACKET_IN messages are ignored if the connected port is identified
by the Topology Manager as being part of the infrastructure.
NOTE: Because these PACKET_IN messages represent copies of packets that have
already been forwarded by the controlled device, no corresponding PACKET_OUT is sent
back to the device that sent the PACKET_IN.
• If the OfIpDiscoveryComponent configuration has learn.ip=true, the OpenFlow
Node Discovery application also listens for PACKET_IN messages that contain the IP
protocol, but does not explicitly push flow-mods to controlled devices that send IP packets
because doing so would drastically reduce network performance by overwhelming the control
plane.
Path Diagnostics
The Path Diagnostics application determines and verifies the path taken by trace packets from
a source host to a destination host. The application finds an existing flow that matches the
description of the trace packet, clones it with higher priority, and adds an additional action to
instruct the selected switch to send this packet back to the controller for status tally.
The Path Diagnostics application is available when the ControllerManager configuration has
hybrid.mode=false only.
Path Daemon
Path Daemon is a path-paving application that listens for all ARP and IPv4 PACKET_IN messages
and attempts to push flow-mods to datapaths along the forwarding path to ensure that such
packets get forwarded at line-rate. Path Daemon operates only when the entire network is
controlled by the controller (ControllerManager configuration has hybrid.mode=false and
there are no uncontrolled devices). Each PACKET_IN message processed by Path Daemon
results in a PACKET_OUT message and possibly a flow-mod getting pushed to one or more
controlled devices.
By default, the Path Daemon application pushes flow-mods that attempt to forward traffic using
MAC address and incoming port for ARP PACKET_IN messages, and using IPv4 address and
incoming port for IPv4 PACKET_IN messages. These flow-mods are only pushed when the
ControllerManager configuration has hybrid.mode=false. Specifically, the flow-mods will
match all packets that enter a specific switch on a specific port and they will match only packets
with the source MAC or IPv4 address and destination MAC or IPv4 address from the PACKET_IN
message. Any packets that match the flow-mod will be forwarded by the switch to the most
optimal destination port—determined by Path Daemon—for the packet to reach its intended
destination.
Path Diagnostics 17
The Path Daemon application is responsible for pushing end-to-end flows for all ARP and IPv4
flow misses that arrive at the controller. By default, Path Daemon is responsible for Layer-2
forwarding only. This component depends on other network service components like the Node
manager and the Path Selection manager.
Path Daemon does the following:
• Registers with the controller as a Director. Directors are allowed to send a packet out.
• Registers for ARP packets and IPv4 packets.
• Uses the Node Manager to get the end hosts corresponding to the source and destination
MAC addresses and the datapaths to which these hosts are connected. It makes use of the
Path Selection manager to get the end-to-end shortest path between the source and
destination hosts. It makes use of the controller to push flows to the datapaths. The flowchart
in Figure 2 provides more details of its operation.
• Path Daemon uses the following match fields when pushing a flow-mod. These match fields
have been chosen so that the flow modules are pushed on hardware tables in both
ProVision-based and Comware-based switches.
◦ Ether type: OFPXMT_OFB_ETH_TYPE
◦ Source MAC or IP address: OFPXMT_OFB_ETH_SRC or OFPXMT_OFB_IPV4_SRC
◦ Destination MAC or IP address: OFPXMT_OFB_ETH_DST or OFPXMT_OFB_IPV4_DST
◦ Input port: OFPXMT_OFB_IN_PORT
• Path Daemon also registers for Port Status Down messages. When such messages are
received, Path Daemon removes all flows configured for the impacted port, thereby causing
the PACKET_IN messages to again come to the controller.
Operational notes
The Path Daemon:
• Does not handle multicast or broadcast traffic
• Does not configure the reverse path along with the forward path
• Drops packets from sources that the controller has not learned
• Floods packets when their destinations are not known
• Does not support fast-failover
• Performance is topology-dependent, recommended for 100-200 node environments, and
can degrade when there is a larger number of nodes
18 Understanding the controller architecture
Figure 2 Path Daemon flowchart
Topology Manager
The Topology Manager provides topology information of the control domain. It also facilitates
shortest path traversals through the control domain by computing low cost next-hops or link edge
weight between any two datapaths in the control domain. Topology Manager creates the clusters
and broadcast tree to avoid loops and broadcast storms. The Topology Manager:
• Indicates whether a connection point is part of Infrastructure or is connected to an end host
• Indicates whether ingress broadcast traffic can be allowed through a specified connection
point
Topology Manager 19
• Determines if a path exists between two datapaths
• Identifies the shortest path between two datapaths based on hop count or link edge weight
• Provides enumeration of the grouping of datapaths into clusters of strongly connected nodes
• For a given datapath, provides information about the cluster to which the datapath belongs
• Provides information about number of datapaths, number of links, and number of clusters
in the current topology
The Topology Manager provides notifications to subscribed applications about changes in its
broadcast tree and cluster. Applications that subscribe to these notifications can use the
information to respond to changes in topology.
Topology Viewer
The Topology Viewer application creates and updates a network graph for visualizing the network
the controller discovers. In the UI, this graph is displayed in on the OpenFlow Topology screen.
The Topology Viewer uses the services of the Topology Manager and the Link Manager.
20 Understanding the controller architecture
3 Using the SDN controller UI
The SDN controller provides a console UI you can use as follows:
• View information such as alerts and logs and view OpenFlow information such as data flow
details, topology of discovered switches and end nodes including shortest path and view
OpenFlow classes that applications have registered.
• Perform actions such as acknowledging an alert, adding or enabling an application, exporting
log data and entering licensing information.
• Configure SDN controller components such as setting key values for alert policies.
The SDN controller also provides REST APIs you can use to program or configure the controller
and develop applications to run on the controller. For details on how to use the REST APIs and
how to develop applications, see the HPE VAN SDN Controller Programming Guide and HPE
VAN SDN Controller REST API Reference.
This chapter includes details on the following:
“Licenses” (page 52)“Starting the SDN controller console UI”
“Team” (page 53)“About the user interface” (page 22)
“Support logs” (page 53)“SDN User window” (page 23)
“Packet listeners” (page 56)“Navigation menu” (page 25)
Starting the SDN controller console UI
Access the SDN controller from a Chrome or Firefox supported browser. A message will be
displayed indicating if you are using an unsupported browser such as Internet Explorer.
1. Using a supported browser, access the controller UI:
https://<SDN_Controller_Address>:8443
Where <SDN_Controller_Address> is the IP address for your controller. The URI is
case sensitive.
For example: https://192.0.2.1:8443
2. Enter the User Name and Password credentials, then select Login.
For Example:
Default user name: sdn
Default password:skyline
“OpenFlow Monitor” (page 58)“Alerts” (page 27)
“OpenFlow topology ” (page 61)“Applications” (page 32)
“OpenFlow Trace log” (page 69)“Configuration components” (page 38)
“OpenFlow Classes ” (page 75)“Audit log” (page 49)
Starting the SDN controller console UI 21
3. Once you log in, the main controller screen is displayed. For more information about the
controller console UI, see “About the user interface” (page 22).
The Keystone default timeout is 1 hour. If it is more than 1 hour since you logged in a message
indicating that the session has expired is displayed. You must reload the page and log in again.
For details on changing the Keystone timeout value, see “Session expired message in the UI”
(page 156).
Default domain name, user name, and password
Default domain name: sdn
Default user name: sdn
Default password: skyline
About the user interface
NOTE: Descriptions for common areas, icons, and controls on the UI screen are listed after
the image.
Figure 3 Screen areas and menus
22 Using the SDN controller UI
1
Banner: Identifies the user interface.
Contains the alert notification counter and
links to the navigation menu, alert
information, and the SDN User window.
2
Alert notification counter: Displays the
current number of active alerts. Clicking this
icon displays the Alerts as of Today window
box.
3
SDN User window: Enables you to log out
of the controller, link to external websites,
change the theme for the controller, and
identify the version of controller software
currently in use.
4 8
Navigation menu: The primary menu for
navigating to controller and application
5
Navigation tree: Used to select the controller
or application screen to display in the details
pane. General is the controller navigation
tree. Navigation trees for installed
applications are displayed below or to the
right of the General navigation tree.
6
Details pane: Displays the detailed interface
for the controller or application resource
selected in the Navigation menu. When the
controller starts, it displays the Alerts screen.
7
Pagination control: Can appear on screens
that have lists of items. Use these controls to
view the listings page by page.
Listing control: Can appear on screens that
have lists of items. Use these controls to
resources. Contains the controller navigation select the number of items to display in a
tree, labeled General, and can contain single view. The Auto option displays all
additional navigation trees for installed items in a single screen. For listings
applications that integrate with the controller exceeding the length of the screen, you can
UI. Can be displayed as a pane (as shown) use the scroll bar on the right side of the
screen.or as a window that overlays the controller
screen (see “Expanding or collapsing the
navigation menu” (page 25)).
Banner
DescriptionScreen component
SDN Controller
Expands or collapses the “navigation menu” (page 25) as an overlay window.
Expands or collapses the controller “Alerts as of today” (page 29) window.
The number next to the icon is the “alert notification counter” (page 29), which provides a
count of the current active alerts.
Expands or collapses the “SDN User” (page 23) window.
Changing column widths
To change the column widths, drag the column head borders. For example:
• To narrow the Severity column width, click the border to the left of Date/Time and drag it
to the left.
• To change the width of the navigation menu pane, click and drag the divider between the
menu pane and the details pane.
SDN User window
The SDN User window displays as an overlay on the controller screen.
See also:
• “Changing the SDN user password” (page 24)
• “Changing the background and text colors” (page 25)
• “Expanding the SDN user window” (page 25)
SDN User window 23
• “Collapsing the SDN user window” (page 25)
• “Logging out of the controller” (page 25)
User window screen details
Figure 4 SDN user window
DescriptionScreen component
Logs the user out of the controller.Log out
Password
Change the SDN user password.Change SDN User
Links to websites outside of the controller:Links:
SDN Information Library
Links to the information library on the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Software-Defined Networking
website. The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Information Library for SDN provides links to the
technical documentation for the HPE VAN SDN Controller and the HP SDN applications. The
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Software-Defined Networking website provides fact sheets, case
studies, white papers, product summaries, technical and business documentation, and other
information to help you identify SDN solutions for your business needs.
SDN Community
Links to the Hewlett Packard Enterprise SDN community discussion forum website within the
HP Enterprise Business Community. This site offers resources such as:
• SDN discussion boards
• SDN development information
• An SDN knowledge base
Changes the theme for the controller UI:Set Theme:
Day
When selected, plain text is black and the background is white.
Night
When selected, plain text is white and the background is black.
Displays the version of the controller software that is running on this system.SDN Controller
Version:
Collapses the window.
Changing the SDN user password
To change the SDN user password:
1. Expand the SDN User window.
24 Using the SDN controller UI
2. Select Change SDN User Password.
3. In the Change SDN User Password dialog box, enter the Old Password, New Password,
and Re-enter New Password and click Apply. Or click Cancel to exit without changing the
password.
The SDN user password you can change on this screen is the Keystone user password not the
HPE Linux operating system password.
Changing the background and text colors
The background and text colors are part of the theme of the controller UI. To change the theme:
1. Expand the SDN User window.
2. In Set Theme:, select one of the following options:
• Day
• Night
Expanding the SDN user window
To expand the SDN User window, from the top banner, click .
Collapsing the SDN user window
To collapse the SDN User window, do one of the following:
• In the SDN User window, click .
• From the top banner, click .
Logging out of the controller
To log out of the controller UI:
• From the SDN User window, select Log out.
Navigation menu
About the navigation menu
The navigation menu is the primary menu for navigating to controller resources. The resources
included with the controller are described in this document. Applications installed on controller
might add resources to this menu.
Displays as a pane or an overlay window
You can display the navigation menu in the following ways:
• As a pane on the left side of the controller browser window.
• As a window that overlays part of the main screen of the controller browser window.
Contains one or more navigation trees
The navigation menu contains the General controller navigation tree and can contain additional
navigation trees for installed applications that integrate with the controller UI.
Expanding or collapsing the navigation menu
The navigation menu is displayed as a navigation pane by default. You can display the navigation
menu as a pane on the controller screen or as a window that overlays the controller screen.
Navigation menu 25
Expanding or collapsing the navigation menu as an overlay window
To display the navigation menu as an overlay window, from the top banner of the controller
screen, click .
To collapse the navigation window, do one of the following:
• In the window, click
• From the top banner, click HPE VAN SDN Controller.
Expanding or collapsing the navigation menu as a window pane
To expand or collapse the navigation menu as a window pane, click the following icon.
• When the navigation menu is expanded as a window pane, the icon is located on the right
side of the menu.
• When the navigation menu is collapsed, the icon is located in the left margin of the controller
screen.
Navigation menu screen details
General
Alerts
Applications
Configuration
Audit Log
Licenses
Support Logs
DescriptionScreen component
Displays the navigation tree for the resources that are provided with the controller. By
default, the General controller navigation tree is expanded and the Alerts screen is
selected and displayed.
To display the screen for another resource, select the resource in the navigation tree.
Displays the Alerts screen. This screen provides details on alerts and allows you to
acknowledge alerts and unacknowledge alerts back to an active state. For more
information, see “Alerts” (page 27).
Displays the Applications screen. This screen provides details on your controller
applications and allows you to add, upgrade, uninstall, enable and disable these
applications. For more information, see “Applications” (page 32).
Displays the Configurations screen. This screen lists the configurable components of the
controller and allows you to modify key values. For more information, see “Configuration
components” (page 38).
Displays the Audit Log screen. This screen displays audit log records related to activities,
operations and configuration changes initiated by an authorized user, such as, installing
an application. For more information, see “Audit log” (page 49).
Displays the Licenses screen. This screen provides details on licenses and allows you
to enter a license. For more information, see “Licenses” (page 52).
Displays the Team screen. For more information, see “Team” (page 53).Team
Displays the Support Logs screen. This screen displays support log records of internal
controller operations that can be used by a support engineer for troubleshooting an SDN
installation. For more information, see “Support logs” (page 53).
OpenFlow Monitor
OpenFlow Topology
26 Using the SDN controller UI
Displays the OpenFlow Monitor screen. This screen lists the Data Path IDs and descriptive
information for the active switches. For more information, see “OpenFlow Monitor” (page
58).
Displays the OpenFlow Topology. Displays a topology of discovered switches and end
nodes in the controller domain. For more information, see “OpenFlow topology ” (page
61).
DescriptionScreen component
OpenFlow Trace
OpenFlow Classes
Packet Listeners
Other navigation menu
items
Alerts
About alerts
Alerts give notification of events that affect controller operation, and in some cases indicate that
some action is needed to correct a condition.
When controllers are operating in a team, alerts generated by any team member are visible in
the Alerts screen for all active team members.
By default, alerts are in an unacknowledged, active state. An alert must be in an active state to
appear in the following places:
Displays the OpenFlow Trace screen. OpenFlow conversations are captured in messages
to and from the controller and the OpenFlow devices it manages and displayed on this
screen. For more information, see “OpenFlow Trace log” (page 69).
Displays the OpenFlow Classes screen. This screen shows the OpenFlow classes that
applications have registered with the controller. For more information, see “OpenFlow
Classes ” (page 75).
Displays the Packet Listeners screen. This screen displays details on the packet listeners
that are currently running on the controllers. For more information, see “Packet listeners”
(page 56).
May include additional navigation trees for installed applications that integrate with the
controller UI.
• The alert notification counter
• The Alerts as of today window
See also:
• “Viewing the alert notification counter” (page 29)
• “Viewing the ten most severe recent active alerts ” (page 29)
• “Acknowledging an alert” (page 30)
• “Deleting an alert” (page 30)
• “Configuring how alerts age out” (page 31)
Alerts 27
Alerts screen details
Figure 5 Example of global alerts screen
Refresh
Acknowledge
Severity
DescriptionScreen component
Updates the alerts displayed on the screen. The controller does not update the display
as new alerts are generated. Use this action to refresh the display.
Changes the selected alert to an acknowledged state. The controller displays the
alert in gray text. Use this action to indicate that you have read the alert.
Changes the selected alert to an active, unacknowledged state.UnAcknowledge
Indicates the state of the alert:Alert text color
• The controller displays active, unacknowledged alerts the alert in the text color
corresponding to the controller theme. For example, when the controller theme
is daylight, the active alerts appear in black text.
• The controller displays the selected alert in blue text. Click an alert to select it.
• The controller displays acknowledged alerts in gray text.
Indicates the severity of the alert.
DescriptionIcon
Informational
Warning
Critical
28 Using the SDN controller UI
Indicates the date and time the alert was generated.Date/Time
Describes the alert in human readable text.Description
Indicates which component or application generated the alert.Origin
DescriptionScreen component
Topic
Controller ID
Indicates the category for this alert. Multiple origins can contribute alerts to the same
topic.
Identifies the controller that generated the alert. The controller is represented as a
hexadecimal number. When you use controller teaming, this ID enables you to identify
which controller in the team generated the alert.
Viewing the alert notification counter
The alert notification counter is displayed in the top banner and appears on all controller screens.
This counter indicates the number of active alerts:
• The controller increments this counter when each new alert occurs.
• The controller decrements this counter when you acknowledge an alert or when the controller
deletes an alert according to the alert policies set for aging out alerts (for details see,
“Configuring how alerts age out” (page 31).
Figure 6 Alert notification counter
Viewing the ten most severe recent active alerts
To display a summary of up to 10 alerts ranked by severity (highest to lowest) and then by date
and time (newest to oldest):
• In the top banner, click .
The Alerts as of today window is displayed.
Alerts 29
Figure 7 Example of the Alerts as of today window
To close the window, do one of the following:
• To close the window and display the Alerts screen, click All.
• At the bottom of the window, click the collapse icon ( ).
• In the top banner, click either the alert counter number or .
Acknowledging an alert
To acknowledge an alert from the Alerts as of today window:
1. Click the alert to select it.
2. Click Acknowledge.
The controller removes the alert from the Alerts as of today window, displays the alert in
gray text on the Alerts screen, and decrements the alert notification counter by one.
To acknowledge an alert from the Alerts screen:
1. Click the alert to select it.
2. Click Acknowledge.
The controller displays the alert in gray text on the Alerts screen, and decrements the alert
notification counter by one.
Deleting an alert
You can acknowledge an individual alert, but you cannot clear or delete the alert.
The controller deletes alerts according to the configured alert age-out policy. To configure the
age-out policy, see “Configuring how alerts age out” (page 31)
30 Using the SDN controller UI
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