This text is authored by Matt Schmitz,
Technical Options Specialist,
Cisco’s International Digital Engineering (GVE) DevNet crew.
Go to the GVE DevNet GitHub web page 

Networks proceed to get extra advanced with so many new units and companies to assist – however there’s one fixed that by no means modifications: the necessity for good monitoring instruments! It’s all about having the best information factors on the proper time and introduced in the best approach.
With IoT sensors turning into extra frequent & many units coming with embedded sensors, now we have extra data obtainable than ever earlier than. Now the query turns into: “How can we use all of this data?” Whereas some sensors could 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 can we deliver all of our sensor telemetry right into a single place and show it in a helpful approach? One technique is to write down scripts to question all our sensors & units, then push these information factors right into a time-series database, like InfluxDB. As soon as now we have all that information collected in a single place, we will use Grafana to create customized dashboards to maintain observe of what we care about. This fashion 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 may this appear like in observe? Properly, let’s check out just a few examples of the place our crew helped Cisco clients construct customized reporting instruments.
Whereas every instance under had distinctive units and challenges, the final aim was the identical: Accumulate telemetry to make use of for customized dashboarding, reporting, and/or alerting. In every case we utilized just a little little bit of customized code to gather metrics from units & import them into an Inflow database. Then, we constructed dashboards in Grafana to show historic & real-time information in a approach that helped handle the client’s distinctive challenges.

DOM Telemetry Monitoring

On this instance, we labored with a buyer who was searching for a greater method to proactively monitor their massive fiber-based community. Utilizing the Digital Optical Monitoring (DOM) telemetry supplied by the fiber transceivers, they may look ahead to efficiency tendencies & get alerted rapidly when points occurred. Our crew used a mix 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 client may allow Webex push notifications when transceivers exceeded predefined thresholds. This enabled the client to rapidly reply to degrading connection well being & handle points earlier than service-impacting outages occurred. Take a look at pattern code & directions within the DOM Telemetry repo.

Meraki MT Dashboard

On this instance, we had a buyer who needed to maintain observe of temperature deviations between sizzling & chilly aisles of their information middle. The client had already bought Meraki MT temperature sensors and deployed them to every rack. Nonetheless, they needed a greater technique of aggregating & visualizing the temperature and humidity information. To fulfill the client’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 information for every sizzling or chilly aisle. Take a look at pattern code & directions within the Meraki MT repo.

PoE Measurement

For our ultimate instance, we wanted to offer 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 Constructing (CDB) Switches. Since all the lights within the constructing could be powered by Energy over Ethernet (PoE), we had been in a position to question the CDB switches to gather energy consumption on a per-port foundation. Offering this telemetry in a dashboard format allowed the client to maintain observe of vitality utilization throughout the constructing, which enabled them to fulfill their price & sustainability objectives. Take a look at pattern code & directions within the PoE Measurement repo.

Get pattern code & directions

Nowadays there may be greater than sufficient information obtainable to deal with our monitoring & reporting wants, however we simply want to determine one of the simplest ways to make the most of that data. With just a little little bit of customized code & just a few nice open-source instruments, it’s simpler than ever to construct easy monitoring and reporting dashboards.

In the event you’re keen on studying extra in regards to the examples, take a look at the hyperlinks under. Every repository accommodates the pattern code & directions for how you can use it in your individual community:

About our GVE crew

The International Digital Engineering (GVE) DevNet crew works with Cisco clients to assist deliver their automation concepts to life. Along with Cisco Account Groups, we discover alternatives the place clients want just a little assist getting began with automation or integration initiatives. We develop easy examples to showcase what is feasible with just a little 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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