This article is authored by Matt Schmitz,
Technical Solutions Specialist,
Cisco’s Global Virtual Engineering (GVE) DevNet group.
Visit the GVE DevNet GitHub web page
Networks proceed to get extra advanced with so many new units and providers to help – however there’s one fixed that by no means adjustments: the necessity for good monitoring instruments! It’s all about having the proper knowledge factors on the proper time and introduced in the proper approach.
With IoT sensors turning into extra frequent & many units coming with embedded sensors, we have now extra info obtainable than ever earlier than. Now the query turns into: “How do we use all of this information?” While some sensors might supply their very own customized instruments or reporting software program, others may solely expose an API. In both case, the metrics gained’t be useful if we will’t discover or use the information in a approach that works for us.
So how will we deliver all of our sensor telemetry right into a single place and show it in a helpful approach? One methodology is to put in writing scripts to question all our sensors & units, then push these knowledge factors right into a time-series database, like InfluxDB. Once we have now all that knowledge collected in a single place, we will use Grafana to create customized dashboards to maintain observe of what we care about. This approach we will pull all of our telemetry into one single reporting device, then construct customized graphs & dashboards to show the information precisely how we’d like it.
What might this appear like in follow? Well, let’s check out a number of examples of the place our group helped Cisco clients construct customized reporting instruments.
While every instance beneath had distinctive units and challenges, the overall aim was the identical: Collect telemetry to make use of for customized dashboarding, reporting, and/or alerting. In every case we utilized a bit of little bit of customized code to gather metrics from units & import them into an Influx database. Then, we constructed dashboards in Grafana to show historic & real-time knowledge in a approach that helped tackle the shopper’s distinctive challenges.
DOM Telemetry Monitoring
In this instance, we labored with a buyer who was on the lookout for a greater option to proactively monitor their giant fiber-based community. Using the Digital Optical Monitoring (DOM) telemetry supplied by the fiber transceivers, they may look ahead to efficiency traits & get alerted rapidly when points occurred. Our group used a mixture of Python & Ansible to periodically question community units for the optical telemetry. The collected telemetry was used to construct a dashboard that confirmed real-time & trending well being statistics. Optionally, the shopper might allow Webex push notifications when transceivers exceeded predefined thresholds. This enabled the shopper to rapidly reply to degrading connection well being & tackle points earlier than service-impacting outages occurred. Check out pattern code & directions within the DOM Telemetry repo.
Meraki MT Dashboard
In this instance, we had a buyer who needed to maintain observe of temperature deviations between scorching & chilly aisles of their knowledge heart. The buyer had already bought Meraki MT temperature sensors and deployed them to every rack. However, they needed a greater methodology of aggregating & visualizing the temperature and humidity knowledge. To meet the shopper’s wants, we constructed a customized flask dashboard that displayed every row of racks & the present temperatures on every sensor. This helped create a simple visualization for buyer engineers to find temperature deviations in every row. This dashboard included mixture graphs to show historic & trending knowledge for every scorching or chilly aisle. Check out pattern code & directions within the Meraki MT repo.
PoE Measurement
For our last instance, we wanted to supply a customized system to observe vitality utilization inside a brand new business constructing. The constructing was geared up with good lighting powered by Cisco’s Catalyst Digital Building (CDB) Switches. Since all the lights within the constructing could be powered by Power over Ethernet (PoE), we had been in a position to question the CDB switches to gather energy consumption on a per-port foundation. Providing this telemetry in a dashboard format allowed the shopper to maintain observe of vitality utilization throughout the constructing, which enabled them to fulfill their price & sustainability targets. Check out pattern code & directions within the PoE Measurement repo.
Get pattern code & directions
These days there may be greater than sufficient knowledge obtainable to deal with our monitoring & reporting wants, however we simply want to determine one of the best ways to make the most of that info. With a bit of little bit of customized code & a number of nice open-source instruments, it’s simpler than ever to construct easy monitoring and reporting dashboards.
If you’re curious about studying extra in regards to the examples, take a look at the hyperlinks beneath. Each repository comprises the pattern code & directions for use it in your personal community:
About our GVE group
The Global Virtual Engineering (GVE) DevNet group works with Cisco clients to assist deliver their automation concepts to life. Together with Cisco Account Teams, we discover alternatives the place clients want a bit of assist getting began with automation or integration initiatives. We develop easy examples to showcase what is feasible with a bit of little bit of customized code. Many of those instance initiatives are printed on the GVE DevNet GitHub web page and shared with the neighborhood.
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