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Deploying Configuration to Devices

When you make configuration changes in Build mode, the changes are not deployed to devices automatically. You must manually deploy the changes to devices in Deploy mode.

To start deploying configuration changes:

  1. Click Deploy in the Network Director banner.

  2. Select a node in the View pane that contains the devices to which you want to deploy.

  3. In the Tasks pane, select Configuration Deployment > Deploy Configuration Changes.

    Depending upon the type of approval mode you select different windows are displayed.

    If you select the Auto Approval mode, the Devices with Pending Changes page opens in the main window, listing the devices within the selected node that have pending configuration changes.

    If you select the Manual Approval mode, the following two sections open in the main window:

    • Devices with recent configuration changes—This section lists the devices with pending changes (along with the details of the change) performed by the user currently logged into the system.

    • Change Requests—This section lists the change requests created by the user currently logged into the system.

This topic describes:

Selecting Configuration Deployment Options

Based on the approval mode, you can choose to deploy the device configuration changes in the following ways:

  • When you select the auto approval mode, the page Devices with Pending Changes open. From the Devices with Pending Changes page, you can:

Table 1 describes the information provided in the table on the Devices with Pending Changes page. Only the subset of devices within the selected object that have pending configuration changes are listed in the table.

Table 1: Devices with Pending Changes Page

Table Column

Description

Check box

Select to perform an action on the device in that row

Name

Device name

IP Address

Device IP address

Model

Device Model

OS Version

Operating system version running on device

Connection State

State of the connection to the device:

  • Up—Network Director can communicate with the device.

  • Down—Network Director cannot communicate with the device. You cannot deploy configuration to devices that are down.

Configuration State

Indicates whether the device’s configuration is in sync with Network Director’s version:

  • In Sync—The configuration on the device is in sync with the Network Director configuration for the device.

  • Out Of Sync—The configuration on the device does not match the Network Director configuration for the device. This state is usually the result of the device configuration being altered outside of Network Director.

    You cannot deploy configuration on a device when the device is Out Of Sync. To resolve this state, use the Resynchronize Device Configuration task in Deploy mode.

  • Synchronizing—The device configuration is in the process of being resynchronized.

  • Sync failed—An attempt to resynchronize an Out Of Sync device failed.

Configuration Changes

Click to view pending configuration changes for a device. The Pending Changes window opens.

If you select the Manual Approval mode, the windows Devices with recent configuration changes and Change Requests opens.

From the Devices with recent configuration changes window, you can:

  • Create a device configuration change request approval and submit it for approval. Upon submission, all device changes made by an operator are validated and all the approvers are notified of the details of the proposed change request by e-mail. For more information, see Creating a Change Request.

  • View configuration changes that are pending on a device by clicking View in the Configuration Changes column. For more information, see Viewing Pending Configuration Changes.

  • Validate that the pending changes for a device are compatible with the device’s configuration . For more information, see Validating Configuration.

  • Discard the pending configuration changes. For more information, see Discarding the Pending Configurations.

Note:

You cannot delete a device from the Devices with Pending Changes list. To remove a device from the list, you must undo the Build mode configuration changes that placed the device on the list.

Table 2 describes the information provided in the table on the Devices with recent configuration changes page.

Table 2: Devices with recent configuration changes

Table Column

Description

Name

Indicates the name of the device and profile node.

Below each device node, a profile node is listed.

Change Type

Indicates the type of the configuration change done to the device.

Associations Added

Lists the ports that are added to that profile.

Associations Deleted

Lists the ports that are deleted from that profile.

Configuration

Click to view pending configuration changes for a device. The Pending Changes window opens.

Deployment State

Indicates the deployment state of a change request.

From the Change Requests window, you can:

Table 3 describes the information provided in the table on the change requests submitted for the devices for which configuration changes are sought.

Table 3: Change Requests

Table Column

Description

Check Box

Select to perform an action on the device in that row.

Change Request No

Indicates the change request number of the change request that is waiting to be deployed.

Title

Indicates the title name of the change request.

Created On

Indicates the change request creation date.

Approver

Indicates the username of the configuration approver.

Last Action On

Indicates the date on which the change request status is changed.

Approval Status

Indicates whether a change request is approved or rejected by the approver.

Deployment Status

Indicates whether a change request is deployed after the approval.

History Icon

Records the audit trial details of a change request, such as operation performed on a change request during a given period of time, username of the approver or operator, and so on.

Using the Change Request Details Page

Use the Change Request Details window to view the details of the change request before you either approve or reject a change request. This window provides you the details such as change request number, title, username of the user who created the change request, change request creation date and so on. A Devices table is also displayed showing the deployment status. Table 4 describes the fields in this table.

Table 4: Change Request Details

Column

Description

Name

Indicates the name of the device and profile node. Below each device node, a profile node is listed.

Change Type

Indicates the type of the configuration change done to the device.

Associations Added

Lists the ports that are added to that profile.

Associations Deleted

Lists the ports that are deleted from that profile.

Configuration

Click to view pending configuration changes for a device. The Pending Changes window opens.

Deployment Status

Indicates the deployment state of a change request.

Creating a Change Request

To create a change request for device configurations approval:

  1. Click Create Change Request in the Devices with recent configuration changes page.

    The Create Change Request page opens.

  2. Enter the change request number.

    You can either enter a number or retain the autogenerated number in this field.

  3. Enter an appropriate title name for the change request.
  4. Optionally, you can enter comments for the device configuration changes.
  5. Click Submit.

    The Create Change Request page opens, listing the change request details such as change request number, title, and comment, along with the change request submission job details. A Devices table is also displayed showing the validation status of the device and configuration generated for that device.

  6. Click Close.

    A new change request entry with the status Pending Approval is added to the Change Request section.

Validating Configuration

When you deploy configuration changes to a device, validation checks are performed to validate that the pending changes are compatible with the device. You can also perform this validation without deploying.

Note:

You can also verify the configuration from the Build mode by clicking Tasks > Domain Management > Validate Pending Configuration.

To validate that the pending changes for devices are compatible with the device configuration:

  1. For Auto Approval mode, select up to ten devices in the Devices with Pending Changes page.
    Note:

    For Manual Approval mode, you cannot choose the devices for which validation needs to be done. All the configuration changes for all the devices are validated.

  2. Click Validate Pending Configuration Changes.

    The Configuration Validation window opens. See Using the Configuration Validation Window for a description of the window.

Discarding the Pending Configurations

Use the Discard Local Configuration Changes Results window to discard all the pending configurations that were made on a device. Once you discard the local configuration changes on a device, the configuration state of the device changes to In Sync or Out of Sync based on the system of record (SOR) mode set for the Junos Space Network Management Platform. If the SOR mode is set to Network as system of record (NSOR), then the configuration state changes to In Sync and if the SOR mode is set to Junos Space as system of record (SSOR), then the configuration state changes to Out of Sync.

To discard the configuration changes:

  1. For Auto Approval mode, select the devices for which you want to discard the pending configuration and click Discard Pending Configuration.

    The Discard Local Configuration Changes Results window opens displaying the status of the discard pending configuration job.

  2. Click Close to close the Discard Local Configuration Changes Results window.

Viewing Pending Configuration Changes

To view pending configuration changes for a device, click View in the Pending Changes column.

The Pending Changes window opens. See Using the Pending Changes Window for a description of the window.

Using the Pending Changes Window

Use the Pending Changes window to view the pending Network Director changes for a device. Table 5 describes the fields in this window.

Table 5: Pending Changes Window

Field

Description

Name

Lists each selected device. Expand a device by clicking its plus sign to see its pending changes. Each pending change to a profile or other configuration object for the device is listed.

State

Describes the nature of the pending change to the configuration object. These are the possible states:

  • Added—The profile or configuration object was added to this device.

  • Removed—The profile or configuration object was removed from the device

  • Updated—The profile or configuration object was updated.

Configuration

Click View to view the pending configuration changes for a device. The Pending Configuration window opens. See Using the Configuration or Pending Configuration Window for information about the window.

Note:

The device configuration state must be In Sync for you to view the pending configuration changes.

Close

Click to close the window.

Using the Configuration or Pending Configuration Window

Use the Pending Configuration window to view the configuration changes that will be deployed to a device when a job runs. Use the Configuration window to see changes that were deployed to a device when a completed job ran. The configuration changes are shown in these formats:

  • Select the XML View tab to view the configuration changes in XML format. This view shows the XML-formatted configuration that will be deployed to the device’s Device Management Interface (DMI), which is used to remotely manage devices.

  • Select the CLI View tab to view the configuration changes in CLI format. This view shows the Junos configuration statements that will be deployed to the device.

In both views, the content is color-coded for easier reading:

  • Black text indicates configuration that is already active on the device, and will not be changed if you deploy.

  • Green text indicates configuration that will be added if you deploy.

  • Red text indicates configuration that will be removed if you deploy.

Using the Deploy Configuration Errors/Warnings Window

Use the Deploy Configuration Errors/Warnings window to view the results of deploying configuration to a device. The Errors/Warnings in validating the device configuration pane shows the results of configuration validation by Network Director. The Errors/Warnings in Updating Device configuration pane shows the results of configuration validation on the device.

Using the Configuration Validation Window

Use the Configuration Validation window to validate that the pending changes for a device are compatible with the device’s configuration. Table 6 describes this window.

Table 6: Configuration Validation Window

Table Column

Description

Object name

Lists the devices you selected for validation. Click the arrow next to a device to expand it. If there are no errors or warnings, one item labeled No Validation warnings appears. If the device has errors or warnings, they appear under the device. The device contains a list of the profiles that caused errors or warnings. Expand a profile name to see the of errors and warnings it caused.

Errors/Warnings

Describes the error or warning.

Deploying Configuration Changes to Devices Immediately

To deploy configuration changes to devices immediately:

  1. Select the device or devices in the Devices with Pending Changes page.
  2. Click Deploy Now.

    The Deploy Options window opens.

  3. In the Deploy Options window, enter a job name in the Deployment Job Name field, then click OK.

    The configuration deployment job runs. The Deploy Configuration window opens and shows the results of the deployment job. For a description of fields in this window, see Deploy Configuration Window.

Scheduling Configuration Deployment

To schedule configuration deployment to devices:

  1. Select the device or devices in the Devices with Pending Changes page.
  2. Click Schedule Deploy.

    The Deploy Options window opens.

  3. Use the Deploy Options window to schedule the configuration deployment. See Specifying Configuration Deployment Scheduling Options for a description of the window.

Specifying Configuration Deployment Scheduling Options

Use the Deploy Options window to schedule configuration deployment jobs. Table 7 describes the actions for the fields in this window.

Table 7: Deploy Options Window

Field

Action

Deployment Job Name

Enter a job name.

Date and Time

Enter the job’s start date and time.

OK

Click to accept changes and exit the window.

Cancel

Click to cancel changes and exit the window.

Editing Change Requests

You can edit a change request to change the profile that was added to a device or delete some of the profile associations. After editing a change request, you can resubmit the change request for approval. While editing a change request, if you try to delete all the profile associations in a given change request, the system prompts a message that a change request should have at least one valid association. Deleting all the associations in a change request makes it invalid. Hence, you cannot delete all the associations in a given change request. However, you can delete a change request itself to delete all the associations for that change request.

Note:

You are unable to delete a change request or an association of a change request if an association is in pending removal state.

You are unable to edit a change request that is in Cancelled, Deployed, Rollback Success, or Rollback Failed state.

To change a profile or delete the profile associations of a change request:

  1. Select the change request in the Change Requests pending action page to edit.
  2. Click Edit.

    The Edit Change Request window opens.

  3. Click the call out symbol to change the profile and choose the new profile that you want to assign the change request.
  4. To delete a profile association, click Delete
  5. Click Save.

    The Edit Change Request window opens, listing the change request details such as change request number, title, and comment, along with the change request submission job details. A Devices table is also displayed showing the validation status of the device and configuration generated for that device.

  6. Click Close.

Deleting Change Request

Sometimes you might need to delete a change request from the change request list. A change request is assigned with profile associations. If you delete a change request, all the associations of that change request are also deleted.

To delete a change request:

  1. Select the change request or change requests in the Change Requests pending action window.
  2. Click Delete.

    The Delete Change Request window opens, displaying the message: Are you sure you want to delete Change Request?.

  3. Click Yes to delete the change request; else click No.

    If you clicked Yes, the message: Change Request deleted successfully appears.

  4. Click OK.

Resubmitting a Change Request

You can resubmit only those change requests that are in Pending Approval, Pending Deployment, Deploy Failed, and Create Failed state. You are unable to resubmit change requests in Deployed, Cancelled, Rollback Success, or Rollback Failure state.

In certain situations, a device can go out of sync while a user is creating a change request for that device. The change request is created, but the configuration changes for that change request are not generated. You can select the change request and resubmit it after the device is in sync again, which generates the configuration for this change request. You can resubmit change requests only for devices that have pending configuration changes.

To resubmit a change request:

  1. Select the change request in the Change Requests pending action window to edit.
  2. Click Resubmit.

    A warning message pops up indicating if you want to resubmit the change request.

  3. Click Yes.

    The Resubmit Change Request window opens, listing the change request details such as change request number, title, and comment, along with the change request submission job details. A Devices table is also displayed showing the validation status of the device and configuration generated for that device.

  4. Click Close.

Performing a Rollback

In case of any misconfigurations, you can choose to roll back a configuration that has already been deployed to the device. The following conditions apply for a rollback operation:

  • The maximum number of change requests that you can roll back is the rollback limit specified in Preferences.

  • Change requests are rolled back in reverse chronological order; the later change requests are rolled back first. If there are any conflicting change requests, roll back is not supported. For example, assume that a user assigns port profile P1 to ge-0/0/1 and creates a change request CR1 and deploys the profile. After this, if the user edits P1, creates another change request CR2 and deploys and removes P1 from the port by assigning some other port profile and deploys device changes or configurations as part of CR3. If the user now tries to roll back CR1, an error message about the conflicting change requests CR2 and CR3 is shown. To roll back CR1, the user must roll back CR3, then CR2, and then CR1.

To roll back a device:

  1. Select the device in the left navigation pane for which you want to perform the roll back operation.
  2. Select Rollback Configuration Changes task under Configuration Deployment.
  3. All the devices with previously stored configuration of the device are listed in the working area of the right pane.

    You can view the stored configuration also user can view the difference of the current device configuration and stored configuration.

  4. Choose the configuration for which you want to perform the roll back.
    Note:

    You can choose only one rollback configuration out of the available configurations per device however you can choose multiple devices.

  5. Click Rollback.

    A rollback job is started with all the selected devices and all the devices are resynchronized after the configuration is pushed.

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