Collection Tasks to Create Network Archives

In the Task Scheduler window, you can launch a collection task that creates a network model in a database, for use in the NorthStar Planner. You also have the option to archive the network model.

Tunnel design attributes that are configured in the Web UI are inherited by the NorthStar Planner, even though they are never pushed to the router. When you run Network Archive device collection, the tunnel information in the Planner (which came from the router) is merged with the tunnel information in the Controller (which includes design attributes that are not pushed to the router). The merged version is then available in the Planner.

The following design attributes that are configured in the Advanced, Design, and Scheduling tabs of the Provision LSP window in the web UI are inherited by the Planner via network archive collection:

Advanced tab: Symmetric Pair Group, Diversity Group, Diversity Level
Design tab: Routing Method, Max Delay, Max Hop, Max Cost
Scheduling tab: all scheduling information

To schedule a new collection task, navigate to Administration > Task Scheduler.

Click Add in the upper right corner. The Create New Task window is displayed as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Create New Task Window

Enter a name for the task and use the drop-down menu to select the task type Network Archive. Click Next to display the first Create New Task – Network Archive window as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Create New Task–Network Archive

Click the check boxes beside the options in this window to select or deselect them:

Process Equipment CLI

Equipment CLI data is collected in Netconf collection tasks that include the Equipment CLI option. The Process Equipment CLI option in Network Archive collection parses the Equipment CLI data collected in Netconf collection and generates the Inventory Report available in both the NorthStar Controller and the NorthStar Planner.

To view Hardware Inventory in the NorthStar Planner, you must run Netconf collection with the Equipment CLI collection option (collects the inventory data) and you must run Network Archive collection with the Process Equipment CLI option (processes the inventory data).
Archive network data after processing

This option makes the created model available in the NorthStar Planner under the Archives tab in the Network Browser window. Otherwise, the result of the Network Archive collection task is reflected in the new spec file for the Latest Network Archive in the NorthStar Planner, but it is overwritten by the next Latest Network Archive.
Note:
Network archives are, by default, retained for a period of 90 days (35 days in earlier releases) in the Cassandra database. To modify the default retention period:
1. Edit the value for dbCapacity, networkArchiveCapacity or networkArchiveDBCapacity in the /opt/northstar/web/config.json file in the NorthStar server.
2. Execute supervisorctl restart infra:prunedb.
  
  When you restart the prudedb process, the following files in the Cassandra database or temporary files are deleted:
  - network archives older than 90 days (defined by networkArchiveDBCapacity).
  - data in events table older than 14 days (defined by dbCapacity).
  - data in scratch or temporary files older than 14 days (defined by networkArchiveCapacity).

Include LDP traffic

This option loads the aggregated results of LDP traffic collection into the network model created by the Network Archive task. The LDP traffic is loaded as demand with 24 periods of statistics. You can choose up to 60 days’ worth of LDP traffic to be aggregated, using the specified aggregation statistic, into 24 data points that represent hours of the day. The options in the Aggregation Statistic drop-down menu are described in Table 1.

Note:

This option is only applicable if you have scheduled LDP traffic collection.

Table 1: Aggregation Statistics Options
Aggregation Statistic	Description
Max	For each of the 24 hours, the maximum of the sample values within that hour is used.
Average	For each of the 24 hours, the samples within that hour are averaged. If there are N samples for a particular hour, the result is the sum of the all the sample values divided by N.
80th, 90th, 95th, 99th Percentile (X percentile)	For each of the 24 hours, the X percentile value of the samples within that hour is used. The X percentile is computed from an equation that takes into consideration the average for the hour and the standard deviation. The result is that X percent of the sample values lie at or below the calculated value.

Selecting the Include LDP Traffic data option is required for full utilization and manipulation of traffic load data in the Network Planner.

Click Next to proceed to the scheduling parameters. The Create New Task - Schedule window is displayed as shown in Figure 3. You can opt to run the collection only once, or to repeat it at configurable intervals. The default interval is 15 minutes.
Figure 3: Device Collection Task, Scheduling

Instead of scheduling recurrence, you can select to chain the task after an already-scheduled recurring task, so it launches as soon as the other task completes. When you select the “Chain after another task” radio button, a drop-down list of recurring tasks is displayed from which to select.
Click Submit to complete the addition of the new collection task and add it to the Task List. Click a completed task in the list to display the results in the lower portion of the window. There are three tabs in the results window: Summary, Status, and History. Figure 4 shows an example of the Status tab for a complete Network Archive collection task.
Figure 4: Network Archive Collection Results, Status Tab
Access the archives in the NorthStar Planner.
The network archive files are stored in the Cassandra database and can be accessed from there through the NorthStar Planner. See Network Browser Window and Network Browser Recently Opened and Archived Networks in the NorthStar Planner User Guide.

Collection Tasks to Create Network Archives

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