Audience

This intermediate level course is for IBM Business Partner, service support, and customer technical support personnel.

Prerequisites

You should have:

Basic UNIX and Linux operating skills needed for installation and maintenance activities used in the class. Ability to create users and groups, create and change permissions on directories, use FTP, and experience with text editors such as vi.
Basic understanding of network device configuration process needed to understand what ITNCM is attempting to automate. Understand how to log into a network device, enter its configuration mode, and to save and install changes.
Basic understanding of TCP/IP networking protocol is needed to understand how ITNCM accesses devices. DNS name resolution, connection protocols (for example, SSH, telnet), and understanding typical issues preventing connectivity to servers is very useful in troubleshooting issues.
Basic understanding of database technology is needed to help understand how data is stored and to understand scalability and data availability and resiliency.

Objectives

Describe the details of the scalable nature of the ITNCM architecture
Describe the capabilities of the Application Programming Interface and the integration points into the Netcool solutions stack
Operate the ITNCM graphical user interface to plan, approve, and implement network changes
Implement the ITNCM security model to define user/group view, add, modify and delete rights within the network
Describe the concepts of SmartModel technology and the added value it provides to configuration management systems
Use the customization capabilities of ITNCM to allow it to access and manage network devices in the network
Implement the ITNCM workflow to ensure all changes receive the correct level of approvals
Describe the quality checks and rollback capabilities inherent in the ITNCM's configuration change processes
Use the ITNCM device terminal to create secure and fully logged access to device's command line interfaces
Design and create configuration change templates that offer advanced search and replace functionality
Use out of band change technology to ensure device configurations are synchronize with configuration management database
Implement the ITNCM OS upgrade technology to automate network device operating system upgrade
Implement standard device support for devices lacking SmartModel technology through command line interface interaction
Install the ITNCM software and SmartModel device drivers
Use the ITNCM administrative toolset for full lifecycle management of the solution
Use the ITNCM logging facilities to troubleshoot issues with software

Course Outline

Architecture
Integration with the Netcool Suite
Queue Manager
Resource Browser
User preferences
Discovering and the import network
Configuration navigation and changes
Terminal access to devices
Device synchronization
Command set overview
Command set execution
Command set CSV execution
Approving changes
Searching
Defining version differences
Reports
Authentication methods
Security model and framework
Groups and users
What is modeling?
Intelligent configuration management
Security sets
Device interaction
Actual model versus model
Generalized resources
Overview and resolution strategy
Managing unmodeled commands
Configuring resources
Approval tickets versus UOW
Controlling the flow of tickets
Scheduling
Server time issues
UOW decomposition and task execution
Worker server resource
Concurrency
Optimizing execution
UOW execution order
Warnings from system UOW and Draft conflicts
Change quality checks and workflow
Rollback
UOW performance
Dequeue and requeue
IBM Device Terminal overview
IBM Device Terminal administration
IBM Device Terminal logging
IBM Device Terminal command filtering
Native versus modeled command sets
Modeled: Add, Delete, and Modify command sets
Modeled: Testing command set
Modeled: Search and replace command sets
Modeled: Parameterizing command set
Applying command sets
Review application logs
Review drivers log
UOW failure categories
Upgrade process flow
OS registry and OS specification
Update boot parameters in configuration
Custom parsing of device data
Execute OS upgrade

Overview

Configuring
Management
Define XPATH
Parameterize XPATH
Annotating
Steps to support standard device
Unknown devices

Pre-requisites

Install base
Install drivers
Starting and stopping
Driver optimization
Database sizing
Java Web Start
Logging
Clearing caches
Systems manager
Command line utilities
Housekeeping
Tuning application and operating system

Programme scope, delivery arrangements and suitability are confirmed during enquiry.