EPICenter 7.

1
Getting Started Guide

Part Number: 100379-00 Rev. 02

Published: July 2010

Extreme Networks
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Santa Clara, CA 95051
United States
www.extremenetworks.com
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© 2010 Extreme Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

2 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Installing EPICenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Microsoft Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Sun Microsystems Solaris 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Java Runtime Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
The EPICenter Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Installing the EPICenter Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Installation Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Installation Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Adding or Upgrading a License Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Starting and Stopping the EPICenter Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Starting the Server on Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Starting the Server on Linux or Solaris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Stopping the Server on Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Stopping the Server on Linux or Solaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

3
 Uninstalling the EPICenter Server Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Uninstalling the Server on Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Uninstalling the Server on Linux or Solaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Launching EPICenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
About the Client Initialization Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Launching the EPICenter Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Working with EPICenter Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Creating Your Device Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Using Discovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Adding Devices Individually. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Setting Up Default Device Contact Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
What Next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

Introduction
EPICenter is a powerful, flexible and easy-to-use application for
provisioning, centralizing configuration, troubleshooting, and status
monitoring of IP-based networks of Extreme Networks switches and
selected third-party devices, regardless of the network size.
This document, the EPICenter Getting Started Guide, provides installation
instructions for the EPICenter software, as well as procedures for
connecting to a EPICenter server and launching the EPICenter client
application. It also provides instructions for adding devices to the
EPICenter database so they can be managed by the software.
For information about how to use the features of EPICenter, see the
following documents, which are included on the product CD:
■ EPICenter Reference Guide
■ EPICenter Concepts and Solutions Guide
■ EPICenter Installation and Upgrade Guide
■ EPICenter Release Notes

5
6 EPICenter Getting Started Guide
Installing EPICenter
This chapter describes the installation process for EPICenter. It includes the
following topics:
■ System requirements for the EPICenter server and client
■ Installation procedure for the EPICenter server
■ Using the License Manager to add license keys
■ Starting and stopping the EPICenter server
■ Uninstalling the EPICenter server software
For other installation-related topics that may be relevant to your network,
see the EPICenter Installation and Upgrade Guide, which includes procedures
for the following:
■ Configuring the EPICenter server for NATed client connections
■ Installing EPICenter on a multi-homed server
■ Enabling SSH for secure communications
■ Upgrading the EPICenter software
The EPICenter Installation and Upgrade Guide is included on the product CD.

7
System Requirements
Please check the most current EPICenter Release Notes for any additional or
changed requirements for the release you are installing.

NOTE: Additional disk space may be needed to hold alarm logs

and other runtime data. The amount of space depends on the
number of devices and the number of traps and syslog messages
generated by the managed devices.

Microsoft Windows
The system requirements for the EPICenter server under Microsoft
Windows are as follows:
■ Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP Professional with SP1 or later,
Windows 2003 server, or Windows 2008 server running on an Intel
Pentium-compatible CPU.
Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Windows operating system are
supported.
■ 2 GB RAM minimum, 4 GB recommended.
Up to 4 GB may be needed to manage very large numbers of devices
(1000 or more).
■ 2 GB disk space available, NTFS filesystem recommended.
■ Swap space equal to double the amount of memory. For example, if
you have 512 MB of RAM, you should have 1 GB of swap space.

8 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

■ 1 GHz or greater Pentium-compatible processor (2 GHz or greater
recommended).
A browser (Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer) is required to
launch the EPICenter client, display reports, and view the EPICenter online
help.

Sun Microsystems Solaris 10

The EPICenter server software is supported under the Sun Solaris
Operating Environment on SPARC workstations. The system requirements
are as follows:
■ 2 GB RAM minimum, 4 GB recommended.
Up to 4 GB may be needed for very large numbers of devices (1000 or
more).
■ 400 MHz or better processor
■ 2 GB disk space available.
■ Swap space equal to double the amount of memory. For example, if
you have 512 MB of RAM, you should have 1 GB of swap space.
A browser (Mozilla Firefox) is required to launch the EPICenter client,
display reports, and view the EPICenter online help.

Installing EPICenter 9
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
The EPICenter server software is supported under Red Hat Enterprise
Linux version 5. Both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions are supported, only on
X-86 based platforms. The system requirements are as follows:
■ 2 GB RAM minimum, 4 GB recommended.
Up to 4 GB may be needed for very large numbers of devices (1000 or
more).
■ 1 GHz or greater Pentium-compatible processor (2 GHz
recommended).
■ 2 GB disk space available.
■ Swap space equal to double the amount of memory. For example, if
you have 512 MB of RAM, you should have 1 GB of swap space.
The system requirements for the EPICenter client under Red Hat
Enterprise Linux are as follows:
■ A monitor that supports at least 1024 x 768 resolution, and 16-bit color.
Your system display settings must be set for at least 65536 colors.
■ 512 MB RAM minimum (1 GB recommended).
■ 256 MB disk space available.
■ Swap space equal to double the amount of memory. For example, if
you have 512 MB of RAM, you should have 1 GB of swap space.
A browser (Mozilla Firefox 1.5 or higher) is required to display reports and
view the EPICenter online help.
10 EPICenter Getting Started Guide
Java Runtime Package
The EPICenter server software requires the 1.6.0_10 Java runtime package,
which is included in the server installation. No separate installation is
needed.

The EPICenter Client

The EPICenter client is an application that is launched from a Microsoft
Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox browser. A browser is also required to
display EPICenter reports and to view the EPICenter online help.
The EPICenter client can run on a different type of system from the
server—for example, you can run the client on a Windows system
connected to a EPICenter server installed on a Linux system.
No software installation is required for a client to connect to the EPICenter
server; however, the Java 1.6.0_10 plug-in is required, and you will be
prompted to install it on the client system if it is not already present.
There is no separate installation package for the EPICenter client. When
you connect to the EPICenter server with a browser and launch the
EPICenter client, any required files are downloaded and installed on your
system automatically.
No license is needed to run the EPICenter client; however, the EPICenter
server must have a valid license installed before any client connections are
allowed.

Installing EPICenter 11
Installing the EPICenter Server
The EPICenter server installation process is very similar under all three
operating environments. the few differences are noted as appropriate
during the description of the process.
To install the EPICenter server, you will need the following information:
■ The port that the EPICenter server will use to communicate with the
database (default is 10553)
■ The HTTP port for communication with EPICenter clients (default is
8080)
You can use any port numbers (numbers between 1024 and 65535 are
recommended), except port numbers already in use by another
process, or ports 3873, 8083, 10554, 10555, and 10556, which are used
by EPICenter for internal functions. During the installation process, if
you specify a port that EPICenter uses internally, you are prompted to
select a different port number.
■ The 14-character permanent or evaluation license key (or you can skip
the license key step and add it later). The installation will succeed
without a license key, but the EPICenter client cannot connect to the
server unless a license is installed.
■ See the EPICenter Installation and Upgrade Guide for more information.
After your installation is complete, you must run the License Manager to
install your EPICenter license key(s). Clients will not be able to connect to
the EPICenter server until that is done.

12 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

Installation Notes
■ To install the EPICenter software components as services under
Microsoft Windows, or as daemons under Solaris/Linux, you must
have Administrator privileges on that system. In addition, if you want
to be able to import user and host information from a Windows
Domain Controller, the EPICenter server must run with permissions
that allow it to get user information from the Domain Controller.
■ The system on which EPICenter is installed must be able to resolve
both its own local name and its domain name. For example if you
install EPICenter on a system named system1, then it must be able to
resolve both system1 and its domain name, such as
system1.company.com. You can test for this by attempting to ping
the system using both the local name and the domain name. If there
are problems resolving either of these names, make sure the hosts file
contains the correct information.
■ The Solaris operating environment may require patches for the
EPICenter software to function properly. Make certain these patches
have been installed before you install the EPICenter server software.
For the most current information on required patches, see the
EPICenter Release Notes that accompanies your EPICenter software, or
go to the Extreme Networks web site at www.extremenetworks.com.
■ On Linux systems, in order for the EPICenter database and server
components to start automatically at system boot, the run level on the
server must be set to 5.

Installing EPICenter 13
■ If you intend to keep multiple versions of the EPICenter server on the
same computer, to avoid a port conflict each EPICenter server must be
configured to use a unique port number to communicate with the
database, or all but one of the EPICenter servers must be disabled.

Installation Procedure
1 Insert the EPICenter server installation CD into your CD drive.
or
Download the EPICenter 7.1 server software for your chosen platform
(Windows, Linux or Solaris) from the Extreme Networks software
download page, and extract the contents of the zip or tar file into a
temporary directory.
2 If you are installing from CD, you will find installation executables for
each platform (Windows 32-bit and 64-bit, Linux 32-bit and 64-bit, and
Solaris). If you downloaded from the web site, only the executable for
your platform will be included.
3 Start the installation wizard as follows:
For Windows, run EPICenter_7-1_win32.exe or
EPICenter_7-1_winx64.exe, depending on your version of the
operating system.

14 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

 For Linux:
a) If you downloaded the installation from the web site, change the
permissions on the Linux bin file as follows:
chmod 755 EPICenter_7-1_linux32.bin
or
chmod 755 EPICenter_7-1_linux64.bin
(Skip this if you are installing from the CD).
b) Run the executable EPICenter_7-1_linux32.bin or
EPICenter_7-1_linux64.bin, depending on your version of
the operating system.
For Solaris:
a) If you downloaded the installation from the web site, change the
permissions on the Solaris bin file:
chmod 755 EPICenter_7-1_solarisSPARC.bin
(Skip this if you are installing from the CD).
b) Run the executable EPICenter_7-1_solarisSPARC.bin
InstallShield will extract the EPICenter installation wizard. This may
take a few minutes.
4 The EPICenter Installer Welcome screen appears.
Click Next to continue.

Installing EPICenter 15
5 If a previous version of EPICenter is detected, you are notified that the
existing EPICenter services must be stopped.
On Windows systems, if the EPICenter components were installed as
services, select one of the following options:
— Select Yes to have the installer shut down the EPICenter services
(if they are running), or
— Select No to exit the installation process.
Click Next to continue.
On Solaris/Linux systems, you must exit the installation process and
stop the EPICenter database and server manually. See Stopping the
Server on Linux or Solaris on page 23.
6 Next, the EPICenter software license agreement is presented; after you
read the agreement, click the Accept button to accept the agreement,
and click Next to proceed.
7 Verify or enter a location for the EPICenter installation. By default the
Windows directory is
\Program Files\Extreme Networks\EPICenter 7.1
The Linux and Solaris directory is
/opt/ExtremeNetworks/EPICenter7.1
You can type a different directory path or browse to find the directory
in which you want to install the software.
Click Next to continue.

16 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

8 You are next asked to specify (verify or change) the ports to be used
for communication between the EPICenter server and the database
(default is 10553) and between the server and EPICenter clients via
HTTP (default is 8080). You can use any port numbers (numbers
between 1024 and 65535 are recommended), except port numbers
already in use by another process, or ports 3873, 8083, 10554, 10555,
and 10556, which are used by EPICenter for internal functions.
9 A dialog box appears asking about several options you can enable:
— Enable Automatic Updates. This feature configures EPICenter to
automatically retrieve the most current information about device
and slot software and BootROM images from the Extreme
Networks web site each time you connect the client to the
EPICenter server.
If you enable this feature, EPICenter will connect to the Extreme
Networks web site at server startup and once every 24 hours to
obtain a list of the current software releases, and a list of any
available EPICenter patches. No information is sent to Extreme

Installing EPICenter 17
 Networks except an indication that you are running with an
evaluation license, if that is the case.

NOTE: If you disable this feature, you will not be able to

obtain software update information through the Software
Update feature in the Firmware Manager. You can enable
this feature at a later time through EPICenter
Administration, Server Properties tab, under the External
Connections area. Click the checkbox to allow connection to
the Extreme Networks web site.

— Install as Services (Windows)/Install as Daemons (Linux/

Solaris). Enable this option to install the EPICenter database and
web server components as Windows services or a Solaris/Linux
daemons.
In Windows, when the EPICenter components run as services,
they are started automatically on system boot, and will persist
across user logins and logouts. For Windows installations, you
can select whether to run the EPICenter services automatically at
startup or start them manually.

NOTE: You must have administrator or root permissions to

install as services or daemons.

18 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

10 The next panel asks you to verify the components and installation
directory. Click Install to proceed with the installation, and follow the
onscreen instructions.
11 If the installation was successful, the final dialog box displays a
summary message. If there were any problems, they will be noted
here.
Click Finish to continue.
12 EPICenter prompts you to restart your system. You must either restart
your system or start the EPICenter services manually before a client
can connect to the EPICenter server.
Click Finish to complete the installation process.
13 Launch the License Manager and install your EPICenter licenses. You
can do this at any time after you have installed the EPICenter server.
The server can be running while you do this, but this is not required.
See the next section, Adding or Upgrading a License Key, for more
detailed instructions.

Adding or Upgrading a License Key

To install an evaluation or permanent license for EPICenter, or to upgrade
an evaluation license to a permanent license you must run the License
Manager. Until you install a license, no client will be able to connect to the
EPICenter server.

Installing EPICenter 19
See the EPICenter Release Notes for additional information about licensing
considerations for EPICenter.
To install or upgrade a license, do the following:
1 Run the License Manager:
— In Windows, from the Start menu, select Start > Programs >
Extreme Networks > EPICenter 7.1 > License Manager
— In Linux or Solaris, go to the EPICenter installation directory (by
default
/opt/ExtremeNetworks/EPICenter7.1) and run
instlic.bin
You must have write permission for the EPICenter installation
directory.
In Linux, the License Manager is also available in the Startup
menu. Select Others > License Manager.
In Solaris, the License Manager is also available in Administrative
Tools. Select Administrative Tools > Extreme Networks >
EPICenter > License Manager.

20 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

 The License Manager window opens:

Figure 1 License Key Installation

2 Enter the 14-character license key(s) in the appropriate fields, and click
Install License.
A pop-up window tells you whether the installation was successful or
not.

Installing EPICenter 21
Starting and Stopping the EPICenter Server
By default, the EPICenter server components installed as services (in
Windows) or daemons (in Linux or Solaris) are started automatically when
you start or restart your computer.
If you elected not to restart your computer at the end of the installation
process, then you must start the EPICenter database and server manually.
In Windows, if you selected the option to start the EPICenter server
components manually, then you must start them before running
EPICenter.

Starting the Server on Windows

To start or restart the EPICenter services manually, do the following in the
specified order:
1 Open the Services window (found under Administrative Tools in the
Control Panel).
2 Highlight EPICenter 7.1 Database Engine, right-click and select Start
from the pop-up menu to start the EPICenterdatabase.
3 Start the EPICenter 7.1 Server in the same manner.

Starting the Server on Linux or Solaris

To start or restart the EPICenter daemons manually, do the following:
■ Enter the following commands in the order shown:
/etc/init.d/EPICenterDB71 start

22 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

 /etc/init.d/EPICenterServer71 start
You must have administrative rights to access init.d files.

Stopping the Server on Windows

To stop the EPICenter server:
1 Open the Services window (found in Administrative Tools in the
Control Panel).
2 Highlight EPICenter 7.1 Server, right-click and select Stop to stop the
EPICenter server. This should be done while the database is still
running.
3 Highlight the EPICenter 7.1 Database Engine in the same manner,
right-click and select Stop to stop the EPICenter database engine.

Stopping the Server on Linux or Solaris

To stop the EPICenter server, enter the following commands:
/etc/init.d/EPICenterServer71 stop
/etc/init.d/EPICenterDB71 stop

Installing EPICenter 23
Uninstalling the EPICenter Server Software
The following sections describe how to uninstall the EPICenter server
software.

Uninstalling the Server on Windows

An Uninstall utility is provided in the Windows Start menu. This utility
removes all the currently installed components of the EPICenter server. It
also removes some of the supporting files, and asks about removing files
that have been modified since installation.
To uninstall the server components, do the following:
1 Shut down the EPICenter server components if they are still running
(see Stopping the Server on Windows on page 23 for instructions).
2 Exit all clients.
3 From the Start Menu, select Programs > Extreme Networks >
EPICenter 7.1 > Uninstall to start the uninstall wizard.
4 Follow the instructions displayed on the screen to uninstall the
software.
If you plan to re-install EPICenter, you should restart your system
before you attempt to re-install the software.

24 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

Uninstalling the Server on Linux or Solaris
To remove the EPICenter server software, follow these steps:
1 Stop the EPICenter server components if they are running. See
Stopping the Server on Linux or Solaris on page 23.
2 Exit all clients.
3 Start the uninstall wizard:
a) Go to the following EPICenter directory:
cd <install_dir>/_uninst
<install_dir> is the directory (path) where you installed the
EPICenter components. If you installed in the default directory,
the path is /opt/ExtremeNetworks/EPICenter7.1.
b) Execute uninstaller.bin.
In Linux, the uninstall wizard is also available in the Startup menu.
Select Others > Uninstall EPICenter.
In Solaris, the EPICenter uninstall wizard is also available under
Administrative Tools. Select Administrative Tools > Extreme
Networks > EPICenter > Uninstall EPICenter.
4 Follow the onscreen instructions to uninstall the software.
If you plan to re-install the EPICenter server, you should restart your
system before you attempt to re-install the software.

Installing EPICenter 25
26 EPICenter Getting Started Guide
Launching EPICenter
EPICenter consists of a server component that runs on a Windows, Solaris,
or Red Hat Enterprise Linux server, and a client component, which can be
launched from a web browser.
Once the EPICenter server is running, multiple clients can connect to it.
The EPICenter software supports multiple administrator users, with
different roles that determine the EPICenter functions each user can
perform.
This chapter explains how to connect to a EPICenter server and launch the
EPICenter client. It assumes you have successfully installed (or upgraded
to) the current EPICenter software version and that the EPICenter server is
running. It also contains an overview of the components of the EPICenter
user interface and provides information about where to find additional
information about EPICenter features.

About the Client Initialization Process

The EPICenter client initialization process makes use of Java Web Start
technology. Java Web Start allows you to obtain files necessary to run the
EPICenter client directly from the EPICenter server by pointing a browser
to the EPICenter server and clicking on a hyperlink. The download and
installation of the EPICenter software on the client system takes place
automatically.

27
Each time you launch the client, EPICenter checks whether you have the
most current version. If you do not, EPICenter automatically updates the
client files on your system.
Client initialization using Java Web Start requires that the client system
have a certain version of the Java plug-in installed. If the client system does
not have this required Java version, then you are directed to a location
where you can download the correct version.

Launching the EPICenter Client

The EPICenter client application can be launched on systems running
Microsoft Windows, Solaris 10, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 5:
The EPICenter client requires a monitor that supports 1024 x 768
resolution, and at least 16-bit color. Your system display settings must be
set for at least 65536 colors.

NOTE: There is no separate installation for the EPICenter client.

When you launch the client, any software updates are
downloaded from the EPICenter server and installed
automatically.

To launch the EPICenter client, you need to have the following

information:
■ The name or IP address of the EPICenter server to which the client
should connect.

28 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

■ The HTTP port that the EPICenter client uses to communicate with the
server (the default is 8080). This is the HTTP port you entered when
you installed the EPICenter server.
To launch the EPICenter client, do the following:
1 Launch your web browser.
2 Enter the URL for your EPICenter server, in the form:
http://<host>:<port>/
Replace <host> with the name or IP address of the system where the
EPICenter server is running. Note that if this is the local system, do not
specify localhost for the <host>.
Replace <port> with the TCP port number that you assigned to the
EPICenter web server during installation.

NOTE: If you configured your EPICenter server to use the

default web server port 80, you do not need to include the
port number. However, the port used by EPICenter is 8080
by default, so in most cases you do need to include the port.

Launching EPICenter 29
3 The EPICenter Welcome page appears.

Figure 2 EPICenter Welcome Page

4 Click the Log on to EPICenter link.

30 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

5 EPICenter checks if your system is running the correct version of the
Java plug-in. If you are not running the correct version, you are
directed to a page where you can download the correct version.
If you are running the correct version of the Java plug-in, the
EPICenter client software is downloaded from the EPICenter server
and installed on the local system.
6 After the software is downloaded, you are prompted whether you
want to run the application. Click Run to continue.
7 The EPICenter Log On screen appears, and you are prompted for a
username and password.

Figure 3 EPICenter Log On Screen

Launching EPICenter 31
8 If this is the first time you are logging in to EPICenter, enter admin in
both the Username field and the Password field. Click Log on to
connect to the EPICenter server.
9 After a successful login, the EPICenter Home screen appears
displaying the Network Summary Report, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 EPICenter Home Screen

32 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

Working with EPICenter Windows
Windows in the EPICenter user interface are made up of a number of
frames. Figure 5 on page 34 shows the components that comprise a typical
window in EPICenter.

Launching EPICenter 33
Figure 5 Components of the EPICenter GUI (Network Views Window)

Menu Bar Icon Bar Tabbed Windows

Map View

Folders

Navigation
Frame

Navigation Table Device Details Frame

34 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

The main components of the EPICenter user interface are the following:

Menu Bar Options and commands available in EPICenter. The items

shown in the menu bar vary based on the folder that is selected
in the Navigation Frame.
Icon Bar Icons for functions available in EPICenter, based on the selected
item. You can move your mouse over an icon to view text
describing what the icon does.
Navigation Frame Tree view of the of folders and subfolders in EPICenter. You can
click on items in the Navigation Frame to show items lower in the
hierarchy.

EPICenter has five main folders: Home, Network Users,

Network Views, Network Administration, and System
Administration. Clicking on a main folder reveals the subfolders
below it. The subfolders contain links to device groups and
EPICenter applications.
Tabbed Windows When you click one of the main folders or a device group folder,
it opens a tabbed window for that folder above the Navigation
Table. Tabbed windows are dockable, meaning that they can be
moved around in the main EPICenter window.
Navigation Table Table of information about the objects displayed in the selected
folder. Selecting a device in the Navigation Table displays
detailed information about the selected device in the Device
Details Frame.
Details Frame Detailed information about the object selected in the Navigation
Table.
Map View For a selected device group, the graphical representation of the
devices and links in the group. Selecting a device in the Map
View causes the corresponding row in the Navigation Table to
be selected.

Launching EPICenter 35
Getting Help
For detailed help on specific features, EPICenter provides context-sensitive
online help, accessible through the Help menu located in the EPICenter
menu bar. From the Help menu, you can view HTML-based help on the
feature you are using, presented in a browser window.
In the Reports feature, there is a Help link in the introductory paragraph
on the Main reports page.
From the Help menu, the EPICenter help selection displays the table of
contents for the complete help system.
EPICenter also provides the EPICenter Reference Guide, which also describes
how to use the EPICenter features. This guide can be accessed from the
docs subdirectory under the EPICenter installation directory.
In the Windows environment this is \Program Files\Extreme
Networks\EPICenter 7.1\extreme.war\helptext\docs.
In a Linux or Solaris environment this is /opt/ExtremeNetworks/
EPICenter7.1/extreme.war/helptext/docs.
It can also be downloaded from the Extreme web site at
http://www.extremenetworks.com, under the Support area.
You must have a version of Adobe Acrobat Reader installed (version 4 or
later) to view the PDF file. (Acrobat Reader is available for download from
Adobe Systems at http://www.adobe.com.

36 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

Creating Your Device Inventory
The first step in using EPICenter is to collect information about the devices
in the network to populate the EPICenter database. EPICenter provides a
discovery function that can automatically find and retrieve information
about the devices on your network. You can also add devices to the
database individually.

Using Discovery
When you first install EPICenter, the device inventory is empty. The easiest
way to populate the inventory database is to use the Discovery feature
(select New > Discover device from the File menu) to automatically detect
the devices on your network. With Discovery you can:
■ Search for devices by specific IP addresses or ranges of IP address,
including using wildcard search parameters to specify the IP address
sets you want to query.
■ Limit your search to Extreme Networks devices only, or include all
discovered MIB-2 devices regardless of manufacturer.
■ Specify a search range using CIDR format.
■ Enable the discovery to use SNMPv3 in its search.
Figure 6 on page 38 shows an example of a discovery specification. You can
add multiple address range specifications to be executed in a single
discovery operation.

37
Figure 6 Discovering Devices to Add to the EPICenter Database

Note that you must provide the SNMP read community string to enable
EPICenter to get information from the devices it finds. If your devices do
not all use the same read community string, you will need to add each set
of devices as a separate specification, as shown in the example.
When you run the discovery, EPICenter returns a list of all the devices it
has found within the parameters you provided, as shown in Figure 7.
It does not automatically add these devices to the EPICenter inventory;
you must select and add the devices either individually or in groups.

38 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

Figure 7 Results of a Discovery

To add devices to the database, select the set of devices you want to add
and click the Add button.
For each device or set of devices you add to the inventory database,
EPICenter first asks you to provide contact information for those devices:
■ The device login name and password

Creating Your Device Inventory 39

■ The SNMP write community string (for SNMP v1 devices)
■ The protocol used for communicating with the device (HTTP or
HTTPS)
■ The User Name, Privacy and Authentication protocols and passwords
for SNMP V3 devices
EPICenter pops up a dialog box where you can provide this information. It
pre-fills the fields with a default set of communication information that
you can change as appropriate to the specific devices you are adding.
The information you provide in the pop-up dialog is used for all the
devices in the set you have selected to add. Therefore, if you have devices
that use different passwords, protocols, or community strings, you must
add them to the database in separate Add operations.

Adding Devices Individually

There may be a number of situations in which you want to add an
individual device to EPICenter without doing a discovery. In this case you
can use the Add Device function to add a device to the inventory. Select
New > Device from the File menu.
Figure 8 shows an example of adding individual devices to EPICenter. For
each device you want to add, enter the device’s IP address and click New.

40 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

Figure 8 Adding Devices to EPICenter Individually

EPICenter pre-fills the fields in the window with the default

communication information. You can change it as appropriate.

Creating Your Device Inventory 41

Setting Up Default Device Contact Information
For simplicity in managing multiple devices in large networks,
administrators typically use the same logins, passwords, community
strings and so on, for multiple devices. Therefore, to save time when
adding new devices, EPICenter provides default values for these
communication parameters.
To save time when you add your own network devices to the EPICenter
inventory, you can configure the default values to those used in your own
network.
To change the default communication values, select Default
communications settings from the Tools menu.
EPICenter uses the Extreme Networks switch default values:
■ Login as admin with no password
■ SSH2 disabled
■ For Cisco devices only, the default Cisco enable password (none)
■ Default SNMP v1 community strings public (for read) and private (for
write)
■ SNMP V3 user initialmd5
■ SNMP V3 privacy set to No Privacy, with no password
■ SNMP V3 authentication set to MD5 Authentication, with password
initialmd5

42 EPICenter Getting Started Guide

You can change any of these as appropriate for your network installation.
You can also override the defaults for any individual device or set of
devices when you initially add the devices to EPICenter, or by selecting the
device in Network Views and selecting Modify communications settings
from the Device menu.

What Next?
After you add devices to EPICenter, they appear in EPICenter Network
Views. Network Views provide at-a-glance displays of the devices, device
groups, ports, and port groups in your network. You can view summary
information about the devices or ports, links between devices, VLANs, and
EAPS domains, and you can select individual devices in tables or maps to
view detailed information about them.
You can use EPICenter’s resource provisioning feature to configure VLANs
in your network.
The Configuration Manager provides an interface for uploading and
saving backup configurations from your devices. The Firmware Manager
helps you manage the versions of firmware installed on your devices.
EPICenter will check the Extreme web site to find the most current versions
of the device, slot and BootROM software, and will download it to the
EPICenter server if you so choose. The Alarm Manager provides fault
detection and alarm handling for the network devices monitored by
EPICenter.

Creating Your Device Inventory 43

For information about these features, as well as all of the functionality built
into EPICenter, see the online help or the EPICenter Reference Guide.

44 EPICenter Getting Started Guide