What's new in Drivers 20

Use this information to review the new and updated drivers in the Drivers 20 release.

Drivers 20 upgrade paths

When upgrading to Drivers 20 from a previous drivers version, follow the upgrade paths listed in the following table, depending on your system configuration:
Table 1. Drivers 20 upgrade paths
Netcool Configuration Manager version Driver upgrade path
Netcool Configuration Manager 6.3.0.6 Install Drivers 20 as described in Drivers 20 installation of these release notes.
Note: This includes the installation of the separate compliance definitions using the new individual compliance installers for each SmartModel package.
Netcool Configuration Manager 6.4.x Install Drivers 20 as described in Drivers 20 installation of these release notes.
Note: This excludes the installation of the separate compliance definitions.

Installation changes from Drivers 19 to Drivers 20

The following list summarizes the installation changes from Drivers 19 to Drivers 20:

Netcool Configuration Manager Standard Device and Standard Basic Device packages
The Netcool Configuration Manager Standard Device and Standard Basic Device package now contains several individual standard installers.
Netcool Configuration Manager SmartModel Device packages
For Netcool Configuration Manager SmartModel Device packages, the packages have been redesigned to be more flexible to meet customers' unique needs. They now consist of the following packages: SmartModel Basic Device, SmartModel Cisco Device, SmartModel Juniper Device, SmartModel Other Device, SmartModel Archive Device, and SmartModel Complex Device. Each package contains individual installers for each category with the exception of SmartModel Archive Device, which only consists of the master installer.

New drivers

The Drivers 20 release contains the new and updated drivers listed in the following table. The table provides the vendor, part number, device type, supported models, supported operating systems, and driver types associated with the new drivers.
Table 2. New drivers
Vendor Part No Type Supported models Supported operating systems Driver name / driver file name Package
Arista CN850EN Switch 7xxx 4.x arista_switch_7xxx_4.x / AristaSwitch7xxx4x.bin SmartModel Other
Brocade CN86EN Router 54xx 6.x Brocade_router_54xx_6.x / BrocadeRouter54xx6x.bin Standard Model
Brocade CNA87EN Switch ICX 8.x Brocade_switch_icx_8.x / BrocadeSwitchICX8x.bin Standard Model
Cisco CNA89EN Router Asr5k 17.x cisco_router_asr5k_17.x / CiscoRouterasr5k17.bin Standard Model
Cisco CN87TEN Router 76xx IOS 15.x cisco_router_76xx_15.x / CiscoRouter76xx15x.bin SmartModel Cisco
Cisco CN87XEN Router AP3xxx IOS 15.x cisco_router_ap3xxx_15.x / CiscoRouterAP3xxx15x.bin SmartModel Cisco
Cisco CN84AEN Switch SRW 6.x cisco_switch_srw_1.x / CiscoSwitchSRW1x.bin SmartModel Cisco
Cisco CN849EN Switch Nexus4K 6.x cisco_switch_nexus4k_6.x / CiscoSwitchnexus4k6x.bin SmartModel Cisco
Cisco CNA8FEN Switch Nexus4K 7.x cisco_switch_nexus4k_7.x / CiscoSwitchnexus4k7x.bin SmartModel Cisco
Cisco CN86GEN Switch Nexus7K 6.x cisco_switch_nexus7k_6.x / CiscoSwitchnexus7k6x.bin SmartModel Complex
Cisco CNA8HEN Switch Nexus7K 7.x cisco_switch_nexus7k_7.x / CiscoSwitchnexus7k7x.bin SmartModel Complex
F5 CNA8AEN LoadBalancer BigIP 11.x F5_loadbalancer_bigip_11.x / F5LoadBalancerBigIP11x.bin Standard Model
Huawei CNA8BEN Router Cx600 5.x Huawei_router_cx600_5.x / HuaweiRoutercx6005x.bin Standard Model
IBM CNA8CEN Tivoli Networkmanager 3.x Ibm_tivoli_networkmanager_3.x / IBMTivoliNetworkManager3x.bin Standard Model
Juniper CNA8DEN Standard-router Xx xx Juniper_standard-router-xx-xx / JuniperStandard-Routerxxxx. Standard Model
Juniper CN84REN Switch QFX Junos 12.0 binjuniper_switch_qfx_12.0 / JuniperSwitchQFX12x.bin SmartModel Juniper
Juniper CN84KEN Router Mxxx Junos 14.0 juniper_router_mxxx_14.0 / JuniperRouterMxxx130.bin SmartModel Juniper
Juniper CN84PEN Switch Ex Junos 14.0 juniper_switch_ex_14.0 / JuniperSwitchEX130.bin SmartModel Juniper
Juniper CN86LEN Router Tx Junos 14.0 juniper_router_tx_14.0 / JuniperRouterTx130.bin SmartModel Complex
Riverbed CNA8GEN Wan Steelhead-xx50 9.x riverbed_wan_steelhead-xx50_9.x / RiverheadWANSteelheadxx509x.bin SmartModel Other
Riverbed CNA8IEN Wan Steelhead-6050 9.x riverbed_wan_steelhead-6050_9.x / RiverheadWANSteelhead60509x.bin SmartModel Complex

New features

The following new features have been implemented in Drivers 20:
Updated Apache Commons net jar
Netcool Configuration Manager had been lagging on the version of ApacheCommensnet.jar.
This update will help with connection issues, lots of fixes have been implemented that affect different issues that were in Netcool Configuration Manager.
Limit the number of redundant calls to the device
Change ComHandler is now smarter as to when to make needed calls.
The addition of the sendSaveReuse command allows Netcool Configuration Manager to save sending commands and receiving results from the device, but will allow everything to continue working as it does now.
Example:
§   old sections
diag.01.send=show version\r
diag.02.wait=#
diag.03.send=show diag\r
diag.04.wait=#
diag.05.send=show interface\r
diag.06.wait=#
diag.07.send=show ip interface brief\r
diag.08.wait=#
diag.09.send=show vlan\r
diag.10.wait=#
diag.11.send=show file system\r
diag.12.wait=#
diag.13.send=show snmp\r
diag.end=#
# Model
model.send=show version\r
model.end=#m
odel.FIND-BEGIN=isco 
model.FIND-END=processor

# Version
config.version.send=show version\r
config.version.end=#
config.version.FIND-BEGIN=Version 
config.version.FIND-END=,
config.version.FEATURE-FIND-BEGIN=Software (
config.version.FEATURE-FIND-END=),
§   new sections
diag.01.sendSaveReuse=show version\r
diag.02.wait=#
diag.03.send=show 
diag\r
diag.04.wait=#
diag.05.send=show interface\r
diag.06.wait=#
diag.07.send=show ip interface brief\r
diag.08.wait=#
diag.09.send=show vlan\r
diag.10.wait=#
diag.11.send=show file system\r
diag.12.wait=#
diag.13.send=show snmp\r
diag.end=#
# Model
model.sendSaveReuse=show version\r
model.end=#
model.FIND-BEGIN=isco 
model.FIND-END=processor
# Version
config.version.sendSaveReuse=show version\r
config.version.end=#
config.version.FIND-BEGIN=Version 
config.version.FIND-END=,
config.version.FEATURE-FIND-BEGIN=Software (
config.version.FEATURE-FIND-END=),
Add SCP for external ftp/scp servers
Currently Netcool Configuration Manager uses only ftp to move file from server to worker server. As security is becoming a bigger issue for our customers, they are shutting ftp down and only doing scp/sftp, so scp is needed to move files from the external ftp/scp server to the worker server.
§ setup ftp resource in ITNCM
Example:
<entry>
<name>ftpInfo</name>
<host>ftphost.example.com</host>
<username>icosuser</username>
<password value="current">password</password>
<path>/ </path>
<fqpath>/home/icosuser</fqpath>
<mode>active</mode>
</entry>
Fix scp/ftp for AIX Systems
OS upgrade needs to scp to build the OS registry and to check if the OS image is in the correct location on the server.
o Issue with the AIX server information
OS upgrade is failing while checking to see if the file exists on the ftp server. When running the same code on Linux, it is working fine. The issue is with OmniOSUpgradeDriver which is using commons-net method call. We are currently running Commons-net-1.4.4.

Tests show that the issue is resolved with commons-net-3.3. This is not just a straight jar replacement. Code changes are required. The changes will affect both core and all the drivers.

Support for file based access method
The file based access method will get the device information from a file server. The user downloads the information to the file server, then Netcool Configuration Manager imports the device information from the ftp/scp server.
For details, see File-based access method.
Support for device script commands
Device scripts can use a number of commands.
For details, see Device script commands.
Support for device script variables
A number of global variables can be placed at the start of a device script.
For details, see Device script variables
SSH as Default Protocol
For Cisco and Juniper devices and Alcatel routers and switches, ssh was added as the default protocol with Telnet as the backup communication protocol. This modification includes changing ftp to scp where it is applicable. This is to aid in a more secure communication with the devices.