Cisco: UC VOS Applications PowerPack Release Notes, version 108

Version 108 of the Cisco: UC VOS Applications PowerPack adds support for FIPS mode, a credential test, and updates to the content libraries.

  • Minimum Required SL1 Version: 8.7.0

Before You Install or Upgrade

Ensure that you are running version 8.7.0 or later of SL1 before installing "Cisco: UC VOS Applications" PowerPack version 108.

For details on upgrading SL1, see the relevant SL1 Platform Release Notes.

Installation or Upgrade Process

To install version 108 of the Cisco: UC VOS Applications PowerPack, perform the following steps:

By default, installing a new version of a PowerPack will overwrite all content in that PowerPack that has already been installed on the target system. You can use the Enable Selective PowerPack Field Protection setting in the Behavior Settings page (System > Settings > Behavior) to prevent the new version of the PowerPack from overwriting local changes for some commonly customized fields.

If you are currently using the Dynamic Applications in this PowerPack to monitor devices, collection errors might occur for one or two polling cycles during the installation of a new version. To prevent collection errors during an upgrade, you can optionally disable collection for monitored devices before performing the following steps and re-enable collection after the upgrade.

To install this PowerPack:

  1. Familiarize yourself with the Known Issues for this release.
  2. See the Before You Install or Upgrade section. If you have not done so already, upgrade your system to the 8.7.0 or later release.
  3. Download the "Cisco: UC VOS Applications" version 108PowerPack from the Support Site to a local computer.
  4. Go to the PowerPack Manager page (System > Manage > PowerPacks). Click the Actions menu and choose Import PowerPack. When prompted, import "Cisco: UC VOS Applications" version 108.
  5. Click the Install button. For details on installing PowerPacks, see the chapter on Installing a PowerPack in the PowerPacks manual.

See the manual Monitoring Cisco Voice Operating System (VOS) Applications for instructions on using the new PowerPack.

Features

This release includes the following features:

  • Dynamic Applications and Run Book Actions that discover, model, and collect data from all VOS applications and their component devices
  • Event Policies and corresponding alerts that are triggered when VOS applications and devices meet certain status criteria
  • Device Classes for each of the VOS applications and devices monitored
  • Sample credentials for discovering VOS applications and devices

Enhancements and Issues Addressed

The following enhancements and addressed issues are included this release of the "Cisco: UC VOS Applications" PowerPack:

  • The PowerPack was updated to authenticate API requests using SHA256 hashing. This method is required when running a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS)-compliant installation of the ScienceLogic platform and is supported in versions 8.4.2 and later of the platform.

    • NOTE: The platform still supports OpenSSL MD5 hashing for non-FIPS-compliant installations.

    NOTE: For more information about authenticating API requests using SHA256 or MD5 hashing, see the manual Using the ScienceLogic API.

  • A credential test was added to the PowerPack to validate that the credential works as expected.
  • The "Cisco VOS SOAP - Example" credential now uses "https://%D" in the URL field.
  • The "Cisco: VOS AXL Performance" and "Cisco: VOS Ramfs Performance" Dynamic Applications will no longer automatically align to Cisco Unity Connection, Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM & Presence, or Cisco Unified Contact Center Express. The API used by the Dynamic Applications is not available on those products.
  • The "Cisco: CUC Cluster Status Alignment" and "Cisco: IM&P Cluster Status Alignment" Dynamic Applications will no longer automatically align to support Cisco 9.x versions. The API does not provide the cluster status on 9.x versions.
  • The "Cisco: IM&P Cluster Status" Dynamic Application has been updated to utilize the 11.x and 12.x IM&P releases.
  • An issue was addressed in which an error occurred when the "Cisco: VOS Node Classification and Cluster Creation" Dynamic Application would run.
  • An issue was addressed in which an error occurred when VOS components were moved from one collector to another.
  • The formula in the "Cisco: VOS Abnormal IO/Seconds" alert was updated to fix alerts that were appearing in error.
  • The "Cisco: CUC Cluster Status" Dynamic Application was updated to fix an erroneous event that was occurring in the device log.

Known Issues

The following known issues affect version 108 of the Cisco: UC VOS Applications PowerPack:

  • An issue in versions 8.x and 9.x of the Cisco Unified Communications products affects the TLS handshake with version 8.x of SL1. This issue might cause some Unified Communications devices to exhibit CPU usage of 100% during initial discovery and nightly auto-discovery.
  • The "Cisco: PAWS Services Configuration" Dynamic Application might display some blank fields for older Cisco Unified Communications products because the PAWS API does not provide the applicable data. This issue does not affect newer Cisco Unified Communications products.
  • Cisco Unified Communications products under high CPU load may return HTTP 401 Unauthorized to API requests. This will display in SL1 as "Failed to query VOS object - authentication issue. Response code:401." This message typically indicates an issue with the credential's username and password or the permissions of the associated account. It can also indicate the Cisco Unified Communications product is too busy to process and respond to the API request.

Workarounds

An issue related to how versions 8.x and 9.x of the Cisco Unified Communications products handle the TLS handshake from version 8.x of SL1 can trigger 100% CPU usage during initial discovery or nightly auto-discovery. This is not an issue when using version 7.x of SL1.

Workaround for Initial Discovery

  1. Discover the Cisco UC device as a Pingable device. To do this, run a standard discovery session using an SNMP credential. For details on discovery, see the manual Discovery and Credentials.
  2. Align the "Cisco: VOS Node Classification and Cluster Creation" Dynamic Application with the Cisco UC device. When doing so, specify the credentials that you created for Cisco UC VOS applications. For details on the Cisco UC VOS credentials and manually aligning Dynamic Applications, see the manual Monitoring Cisco Voice Operating System (VOS) Applications.
  3. After you align the Dynamic Application with the Cisco UC device, SL1 will start building the component tree that includes all the nodes in the Cisco UC device cluster.
  4. After the component tree is built, if the cluster is of type Unity Connection (CUC) or IM and Presence, manually align the corresponding "Cluster Status" Dynamic Application (such as "Cisco: CUC Cluster Status", "Cisco: Unity Cluster Status SNMP", or "Cisco: IM&P Cluster Status") to the top-level cluster node.

The credential for the "Cluster Status" Dynamic Application might be different from the credential used to align the "Cisco: VOS Node Classification and Cluster Creation" Dynamic Application in step 2.

Workaround for Nightly Discovery

  1. Go to the Device Components page (Registry > Devices > Device Components).
  2. Find the UC VOS cluster device (top-level device) and click its wrench icon ().
  3. In the Device Properties page, unselect the checkbox Dynamic Discovery.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the cluster's child devices.