Troubleshooting

This chapter provides the following sections on how to troubleshoot any problems you might encounter when using CiscoView. It also includes information on how to report unresolved problems to Cisco Systems:

• Using Release Note Information

• Troubleshooting CiscoView

  • Troubleshooting CiscoView Startup Errors

  • Fixing Problems with Displaying a Device

  • Identifying Device Problems (Dashboard Monitor)

  • Interpreting SNMP Error Messages

• Reporting Problems to Cisco Systems

Using Release Note Information

For CiscoView release-specific installation information, open the README file /opt/CSCOcv/etc. Also, for detailed release information and caveats, refer to the CiscoView Release Note shipped with the product. CiscoView Release Notes are also available on CCO. They present the known problems you might encounter and possible workarounds for them. Several examples are shown in Table 5-1.

Table  5-1: Troubleshooting Procedures

Problem	Workaround
HP patch PSOV_1090 (installation patch for 2.5) does not work in the Solaris 2.5.1 environment.	Modify common.nnm to contain the line: case 'uname -rs' in Sun?2.5.1 OS=SOLARIS ECHO=echo ;;
CiscoView 3.1 or later is not compatible with CiscoWorks 2.x.	There are two solutions. You can upgrade CiscoWorks to 3.x or remove the CiscoWorks software.
Attempts to use Help cause HyperHelp error: Could not find HyperHelp executable.	Check that HHHOME is set or source the /etc/cvinstall.cshrc file.

Troubleshooting CiscoView

This section describes actions you can take to troubleshoot your device:

• Troubleshooting CiscoView Startup Errors

• Fixing Problems with Displaying a Device

• Identifying Device Problems (Dashboard Monitor)

• Interpreting SNMP Error Messages

Read your Cisco IOS release notes or check CCO for the latest bug information for the version of Cisco IOS your device is running.

Troubleshooting CiscoView Startup Errors

The cvinstall.cshrc and the cvinstall.sh files automatically set all environmental variables required for CiscoView. If there are errors starting CiscoView, source one of these files.

CiscoView opens each device in a separate window by default. On large networks, this can consume too much RAM and slow performance. To decrease the use of RAM for separate windows, you can choose to open devices in the same window by changing operating characteristics. Select Options>Properties. Choose Same Window in the Launch CiscoView in: option.

Fixing Problems with Displaying a Device

If CiscoView fails to display a device, the following message appears:

"<hostname>: unmanageable"

This message indicates one of the following conditions:

• The SNMP server is not set in the device. You can still ping the device from the management station.

• You entered an incorrect community string. To reenter a community string, select Options>Properties.

• The management station cannot reach and successfully ping the device.

• The timeout value is too low. To change the timeout value, select Options>Properties and enter a new timeout value. Doubling the existing timeout value is a good starting point.

• The device package is not up to date. Check your device package and compare the date to the CCO device package version. Upgrade your device package to the latest version, if required.

Identifying Device Problems (Dashboard Monitor)

Perform any of the following tasks in CiscoView to isolate the cause of a problem:

• Check the color-coded legend to determine the status of a port.

• Check the port configuration information and determine whether the port is active. (See the "Using CiscoView" chapter for information on displaying configuration information.)

• Check the performance information by examining the dashboard display.

• Check the utilization and error information for ports and the memory information for a device.

• Check the status bar for SNMP or other error messages.

Interpreting SNMP Error Messages

CiscoView displays the following SNMP error messages resulting from failed command requests in the Status Bar message area (Table 5-2):

Table 5-2: SNMP Error Messages

Message	Explanation
timeout	You can no longer reach the device in the time specified in the CiscoView Properties window.
tooBig	The request you made cannot fit into a single packet. Generally, CiscoView splits requests for physical view status until the device can respond. In certain cases, CiscoView assumes that if an agent times out on 20 or more variables, the agent might not be able to respond because the request is too big; it splits the request and resends it. Check that the MTU size on the SNMP interface is as large as possible so that CiscoView does not waste bandwidth by sending more than one request.
genErr	A collective message name for problems that do not have a unique error message.
noSuchName	A request for a variable was sent to a variable that is not accessible. This occurs if you are not using the correct community string.
badValue	The agent did not respond within the time interval specified by the timeout/retries field in the CiscoView Properties window. This can also indicate the use of an incorrect community string.

Reporting Problems to Cisco Systems

If you receive an error message, try to resolve the error by following the recommended action. Check for any release-specific information that might apply to a problem by opening the README file.

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Note For information on how to contact Cisco support personnel (phone numbers, Web site, and e-mail addresses), see the "Cisco Support Information" card that came with your product package, or see the "Cisco Support Information" help topic.

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1. To help Cisco Support personnel solve any problems you encountered using CiscoView, be prepared to:
   

   • Provide your CiscoView serial number and software version.

   • Describe the problem behavior or provide the error message text.

   • Specify the CiscoView application and version in which you are working when the problem occurs.

   • Provide the Cisco device model(s) and Cisco IOS version(s) on those devices when the problem occurs.

   
   
2. If possible, try to reproduce the problem and explain the steps that allow you to reproduce the problem.
   
   
3. Provide information for the platform on which you are running CiscoWorks Windows, including hardware setup (CPU, available RAM, available hard-drive space, and serial port or network interface card specifications).