Device Configuration in a Multilevel Topology

Configuration of MPE and MRA servers in a multilevel CMP topology can be done manually or with configuration templates.

In a manual configuration, the network level objects are created on the NW-CMP server and then associated with individual MPE or MRA servers using the S-CMP servers.

Note: While the manual configuration method takes advantage of the network-wide configuration capability, it requires significant configuration of individual servers and can have consistency problems.

Using configuration templates provides a more efficient and consistent method of configuring MPE and MRA servers across the entire Policy Management system. Since configuration template objects are configured at the network level, all configuration templates are created and distributed by an NW-CMP server.

Note: Configuration templates are only viewable on S-CMP servers.

When using configuration templates, the configuration of parameters and the association of configuration objects are consistent across all devices in the system. After a configuration template is created on the NW-CMP server, the template is distributed to all S-CMP servers and is available for configuring individual servers.

Best practice recommends that you create a global configuration template for each server type. The global configuration template is then distributed from the NW-CMP server to all S-CMP servers (see Figure 1). The global template is associated with the appropriate server. This results in a single global configuration template object used network-wide on all servers of the same type. Since all the servers are associated with the same global objects, applying a configuration change from the NW-CMP server becomes as simple as making a change either in a configuration template or in another global object (such as a policy) referenced by this configuration template. Any change to the configuration template is immediately propagated from the NW-CMP server through the S-CMP servers to all associated servers.

Device Configuration Flow Using Configuration Templates

To simplify the association of a configuration template to devices, virtual configuration templates can be used. A virtual configuration template is a configuration template that consists of a reference to a standard configuration template. Any place the virtual configuration template is used, it is replaced by the definition of the standard configuration template. The virtual configuration template can make changes to configuration of servers as easy as changing the virtual configuration template reference from one standard configuration template to another standard configuration template.