Profile Overrides - List of Critical Resources

Critical resources are device IP addresses or interface destinations on the network inter-operated as critical to the health of the network. The critical resource feature allows for the continuous monitoring of these addresses. A critical resource, if not available, can result in the network suffering performance degradation. A critical resource can be a gateway, a AAA server, a WAN interface, or any hardware or service on which the stability of the network depends. Critical resources are pinged regularly by the access point. If there is a connectivity issue, an event is generated stating a critical resource is unavailable. By default, no critical resource policy is enabled, and one needs to be created and implemented.

Critical resources can be monitored directly through the interfaces on which they are discovered. For example, a critical resource on the same subnet as the access point can be monitored by its IP address. However, a critical resource located on a VLAN must continue to monitored on that VLAN.

Critical resources configured for access point profiles, can be overridden at the device level. To override an access point profile's critical resource configuration:

  1. Go to Configuration → Devices → Device Overrides.

    The Device Overrides screen displays. This screen lists devices within the managed network.

  2. Select an access point.

    The selected access point's configuration menu displays.

  3. Expand Profile Overrides, and select Critical Resources.

    The List of Critical Resources screen displays by default.

    Click to expand in new window
    Profile Overrides - Critical Resources - List of Critical Resources Screen

    The screen lists the destination IP addresses or interfaces (VLAN, WWAN, or PPPoE) used for critical resource connection. IP addresses can be monitored directly by the access point or controller. However, a VLAN, WWAN, or PPPoE must be monitored behind an interface.

  4. To set or override an existing critical resource configuration, click Edit.

    Click Add to add a new critical resource and connection method.

    Click to expand in new window
    Critical Resources Screen - Adding a Critical Resource
  5. If you are adding a new critical resource, in the Critical Resource Name field, provide a name up to 32 characters.
  6. Select Use Flows so that the critical resource will monitor using firewall flows for DHCP or DNS instead of ICMP or ARP packets.

    This reduces the amount of traffic on the network. This setting is disabled by default.

  7. Select Sync Adoptees to sync adopted devices to state changes with a resource-state change message .

    This setting is disabled by default.

  8. Use the Offline Resource Detection drop-down menu to define how critical resource event messages are generated.

    Options include Any and All. If you select Any, an event is generated when the state of any single critical resource changes. If you select All, an event is generated when the state of all monitored critical resources change.

  9. Use the Monitor Criteria drop-down menu to select either rf-domain-manager, cluster-master or All as the resource for monitoring critical resources by one device and updating the rest of the devices in a group.

    If you select rf-domain-manager, the current rf-domain manager performs resource monitoring, and the rest of the devices do not. The RF-domain-manager updates any state changes to the rest of the devices in the RF Domain.

    With the cluster-master option, the cluster master performs resource monitoring and updates the cluster members with state changes.

    With a controller-managed RF Domain, set Monitoring Criteria to All because the controller might not know the VLAN bridged locally by the devices in the RF Domain monitoring DHCP.

  10. In the Monitor Via field, select the IP option to monitor a critical resource directly (within the same subnet) using the provided IP address as a network identifier.
  11. In the Monitor Via field, select the Interface check box to monitor a critical resource using the critical resource‘s VLAN, WWAN1 or PPPoE1 interface.

    If you select VLAN, use the spinner control to define the destination VLAN ID used as the interface for the critical resource.

  12. In the Resources table, click + Add Row and define the following parameters:

    IP Address

    Provide the IP address of the critical resource. This is the address used by the access point to ensure the critical resource is available. Up to four addresses can be defined.

    Mode

    Set the ping mode used when the availability of a critical resource is validated. The options are:

    • arp-only – Use only the ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) for pinging the critical resource. ARP is used to resolve hardware addresses when only the network layer address is known.

    • arp-and-ping – Use both ARP and ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) for pinging the critical resource and sending control messages (for example, device not reachable or requested service not available).

    Port

    Provide the port on which the critical resource is available. Use the spinner control to set the port number.

    VLAN

    Using the spinner control, define the VLAN on which the critical resource is available.

  13. Click OK to save the critical resource configuration changes.

    Click Reset to revert to the last saved configuration.