Pattern-Based Matching

In standard adoption rules, a site and device group are explicitly specified. In Pattern-Based matching, site and device group assignment is defined based on variables that represent the FQDN and DNS-Suffix of the device. The device reports to ExtremeCloud IQ Controller. The assignment is based on the matching criteria for the $FQDN or $DNS-SUFFIX variables.

Note

Before you define a Pattern-Based adoption rule, you must create a site and device group using a name that will match the name defined by the variables. Coordinate your variable definitions with the names of your existing sites and device groups. Then, create the adoption rules configuring variables with specific index definitions that will result in a match to the site name or device group name that you created.

An adoption rule is comprised of a filter definition and a site and device group definition. First, the rule matches the device attributes to the defined filter criteria. Then the rule assigns those devices to a site or device group based on the $FQDN or $DNS-SUFFIX variable values that match existing sites and device groups.

The FQDN and DNS suffix must follow a consistent format for Pattern-Based matching to be successful. One Pattern-Based rule definition can assign devices to any number of configured sites and device groups based on successful variable matches. When the defined pattern does not match an existing site or device group, an error is logged and ExtremeCloud IQ Controller continues evaluating the next adoption rule.

Example

$FQDN[x:y]

Uses the sub-string of the Fully-Qualified Domain Name reported by the device, from character at position x to character at position y. The first character is position 1 (not 0). The value of y must be greater than or equal to the value of x.

Site example — Use this variable $FQDN[x:y] to specify a site. My existing site is named SITE_RDU. I define my site variable pattern as SITE_$FQDN[6:8]. The AP reports the FQDN as “ap510RDU.cath.extremenetworks.com”. Based on the variable definition index [6:8], the AP is assigned to site named SITE_RDU. Because I have a site named SITE_RDU, this AP will be placed in a device group within that site. For Pattern-Based matching to work in this example, you must have a site previously configured that is named "SITE_RDU". If that site does not exist, an error is logged and the rules engine continues evaluating adoption rules.

Device Group example — Specify a device group pattern “AP510-$FQDN[6:8]”. The AP reports a FQDN as “ap510RDU.cath.extremenetworks.com”. Based on the variable definition index [6:8], the AP is assigned to the device group named AP510-RDU. For Pattern-Based matching to work, in this example, you must have a device group previously configured that is named AP510-RDU. If that device group does not exist, an error is logged and the rules engine continues evaluating adoption rules.

$DNS-SUFFIX[x:y]

Uses the sub-string of the Domain Name Server suffix reported by the device, from character at position x to character at position y. The first character is position 1 (not 0). The value of y must be greater than or equal to the value of x. The DNS suffix is the FQDN with the hostname removed. When the AP reports the FQDN “ap510i.RDU.extremenetworks.com”, then the DNS suffix is “RDU.extremenetworks.com”.

My existing site is named Site_RDU. My variable is defined as Site_$DNS-SUFFIX[1:3]. Variable index [1:3] results in a site named Site_RDU. Characters 1 to 3 in the DNS suffix results in RDU.

If you are consistent with the naming convention for sites, device groups, and FQDNs, you will be able to use one rule to assign any AP regardless of the specific AP model or domain name.