APEX AIOps Infrastructure Observability: General Procedures to Onboard PowerSwitch Systems to APEX AIOps Infrastructure Observability

Onboarding Methods

OS10 and SONiC Enterprise devices can be onboarded to APEX AIOps Infrastructure Observability through the CloudIQ Collector. CloudIQ Collector is supported on PowerSwitch systems running OS10 10.5.3.0 or later and Enterprise SONiC version 4.1.x and later. CloudIQ Collector has been validated on OS10 Full Switch and SmartFabric Services modes.

Supported Devices

OS10# configure terminal
OS10(config)# eula-consent support-assist reject 
This action will disable Support Assist and erase all configured data. Do you want to proceed ?
[yes/no(default)]:yes
OS10(config)#

Onboarding PowerSwitch systems using CloudIQ Collector

CloudIQ Collector
The collector is a small virtual machine distributed as a vApp that enables the collection of data for PowerSwitch, Connectrix, and VMware systems. For PowerSwitch, the CloudIQ Collector communicates with the individual switches using REST API. A single collector can be used for PowerSwitch, Connectrix, and VMware systems. With collector version 1.15.4 and greater, a centralized gateway is used to connect to Secure Connect Gateway (SCG).  The deployment of a new integrated gateway (eVE) is no longer supported.

See Article Number: APEX AIOps Observability: The deployment of a new integrated gateway (eVE) is no longer supported

Centralized Gateway - CloudIQ Collector communicates with the Secure Remote Services Server by connecting to the Internet through the Secure Connect Gateway (installed independently of the CloudIQ Collector).


Figure 1: Centralized Gateway


Prerequisites

The Customer:

• PowerSwitch with OS10 10.5.3.0 or later, and Enterprise SONiC 4.1.x or later
• Ability to deploy a VMware vApp virtual machine that acts as the data collector
• An active ProSupport or higher contract
• Completed customer registration at Dell Support Site (for each user)
• Open port 9443 for access between the CloudIQ Collector and the Secure Connect Gateway.
• If the Secure Connect Gateway resides behind a firewall, open port 443 on the firewall for an outbound connection to the SupportAssist server

  https://esrs3-core.emc.com

The CloudIQ Collector:

• Does not support IPv6
• Must be running at least v1.11.0 (OS10) or v1.15.0 (SONiC 4.1.x)
• Requires read-only access to VMware vCenters

For a video Outline of this process, see: Onboarding PowerSwitch Devices to CloudIQ Using CloudIQ Collector

Download CloudIQ Collector

The CloudIQ Collector can be downloaded from the Dell Support site or the APEX AIOps Infrastructure Observability UI.

Download from the Dell Support site:

1. Log in to the Dell Support Page
2. Search for CloudIQ Collector
3. Download the latest CloudIQ Collector vApp

Download from APEX AIOps Infrastructure Observability UI:

1. Log in to the APEX AIOps Infrastructure Observability user interface
2. Select Admin > Collectors
3. Select Download a Collector at the top of the screen
4. Select Download Collector vApp

Figure 3: Collector Download Screen.

Deploying the CloudIQ Collector

1. Log in to vCenter
2. Select File > Deploy OVF Template
3. Select Upload files on the Select an OVA template page in the Deploy OVF template window, browse to and select the OVA file, and then select Next.
4. Enter the name of the VM and select the location where it will be installed on the Select a name and folder page, and then select Next.
5. Select the Destination compute resource for this operation on the Select a compute resource page, and then select Next.
6. Verify the template details on the Review details page, and then select Next.
7. Read and select I accept all license agreements on the License agreements page, and then select Next.
8. Select the Storage for the configuration on the Select storage page, and then select Next.
9. Select a Destination network for each source network in the Select Networks page, and then select Next.
10. In the Customized template page, enter the following information, and then select Next.

• Hostname
• IP Address in CIDR format (For example, XX.XX.XX.XX/24)
• Default Gateway
• DNS Server #1
• DNS Server #2 (if applicable)
• Search Domains (Multiple search domains are separated by spaces)

11. Review the host information in the Ready to Complete page.
12. If correct, select Finish to deploy the vApp.
13. Once the vApp is fully deployed, close the Deployment Completed Successfully window and power on the VM.

Configure the CloudIQ Collector

The CloudIQ Collector must be configured to the Centralized Gateway to send data securely back to Dell Technologies. 

Note: Only alphanumeric passwords are supported for any connection to the gateway.

Customers should verify that no special characters exist within their Dell support user account password used to configure the collector to the gateway. Once the connection is established, the customer may change the password back to something more secure. 
 

Option 1: Configure the CloudIQ Collector.

https://<collector-hostname>

• Dell Customer Support Username
• Dell Customer Support Password (no special characters)
• Gateway Hostname or IP Address
• Gateway port (9443 by default)

Figure 6: Configure Remote Services.

5. Create an administrator account for the Collector, and then select Next.

Figure 7: Create Administrator.

6. If required, select Yes, Configure to configure Active Directory users for the Collector. Otherwise, select No, Skip, and Finish.

Figure 8: Active Directory

7. Upon successful completion of the Collector configuration, select Continue to CloudIQ Collector Management UI.
8. Log in to the CloudIQ Collector UI using the credentials configured in step 5 - admin and password.

1. Ensure that the switches are properly configured before attempting to discover them with the CloudIQ 

• SONiC

• OS10

1. Enable the RESTCONF API service only on the switches operating in full switch mode. 
   1. To verify the mode

OS10# show switch-operating-mode
Switch-Operating-Mode : Full Switch Mode

2. Enter the configuration mode

OS10# configure terminal
OS10(config)#

OS10(config)# rest api restconf
OS10(config)# exit

2. RESTCONF API service is enabled by default on switches operating in SmartFabric Services mode.
   1. To verify the mode

OS10# show switch-operating-mode
Switch-Operating-Mode : SmartFabric Mode

show running -configuration | grep rest

2. Create a rest user account for CloudIQ Collector with appropriate privileges (Recommended).

• SONiC

sonic(config)# username <username> password <password> role operator

• OS10

OS10(config)# username <username> password <password> role netoperator

3. Select PowerSwitch from the left side menu.

4. Select the Add PowerSwitch button to configure access to switches individually.
5. Enter the switch details and select Validate and Add

Figure 10: PowerSwitch Details