Command reference for Cisco CSS Controller
This chapter describes how to use the following ccocontrol commands for Cisco CSS Controller:
You can use an abbreviated version of the ccocontrol command parameters
by typing the unique letters of the parameters. For example, to get help on
the file save command, you can type ccocontrol he f instead
of ccocontrol help file.
To get the ccocontrol command prompt: type ccocontrol.
To end the command line interface: type exit or quit.
Note:
You must use English characters for all command parameter
values. The only exceptions are host names (used in server commands) and file
names (used in file commands).
ccocontrol consultant -- configure and control a consultant

>>-ccocontrol--consultant--+-add--scID--address--swIPAddr--community--commName-+-><
+-binarylog--scID+scID2...;;--+-report-------------+--+
| +-set--+-interval--+-+ |
| | '-retention-' | |
| +-start--------------+ |
| '-stop---------------' |
+-remove--scID+scID2...;;-----------------------------+
+-report--scID+scID2...;;-----------------------------+
+-set--+-loglevel--level----------------+-----------+
| +-logsize--+-size------+---------+ |
| | '-unlimited-' | |
| +-sensitivity--weight percentage-+ |
| '-sleeptime--sec-----------------' |
+-start--scID+scID2...;;------------------------------+
'-stop--scID+scID2...;;-------------------------------'
- add
- Adds a switch consultant.
- scID (switchConsultantID)
- A user-defined string that refers to the consultant.
- address
- The IP address of the Cisco CSS Switch to which the consultant provides weights.
- swIPAddr (switchIPAddress)
- The IP address of the switch.
- community
- The name used in SNMP to get and set communications with the Cisco CSS Switch.
- commName
- The read/write community name of the Cisco CSS Switch.
- binarylog
- Controls binary logging for a consultant.
- report
- Reports on the characteristics of binary logging.
- set
- Sets how often, in seconds, information is written to the binary logs.
The binary logging feature allows service information to be stored in binary
log files for each service defined in the configuration. The information is
written to the logs only when the specified log interval seconds elapse after
the last record was written to the log. The default binary logging interval
is 60.
- interval
- Sets the number of seconds between entries in the binary log.
- retention
- Sets the number of hours that the binary log files are kept.
- start
- Starts binary logging.
- stop
- Stops binary logging.
- remove
- Removes a switch consultant.
- report
- Reports on the characteristics of switch consultants.
- set
- Sets the characteristics of switch consultants.
- loglevel
- Sets the level at which the switch consultant logs activities. The default
value is 1.
- level
- The number of the level from 0 to 5. The default is 1. The possible
values are:
- 0 = None
- 1 = Minimal
- 2 = Basic
- 3 = Moderate
- 4 = Advanced
- 5 = Verbose
- logsize
- Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the log file. The default
value is 1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file wraps;
when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are written
from the top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size cannot
be set smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped
so you can tell the order in which they were written. The higher you set the
log level, the more carefully you must choose the log size, because you can
quickly run out of space when logging at the higher levels.
- size
- The maximum number of bytes logged in the consultant log. You can specify
either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file might not reach the exact maximum size before
overwriting because the log entries vary in size.
- sensitivity
- Indicates the amount of change that must take place between the old
and new weights for the weight to change. The difference between the new and
old weight must be greater than the sensitivity percentage for the weight
to change. The valid range is 0-through-100; the default is 5.
- weight percentage
- An integer from 0-to-100, representing the sensitivity value.
- sleeptime
- Sets the number of seconds to sleep between weight-setting cycles. The
default is 7.
- sec
- An integer, representing the sleeptime in seconds. Valid range
is from 0 to 2,147,460.
- start
- Starts collecting metrics and setting weights.
- stop
- Stops collecting metrics and setting weights.
Examples
- To add a switch consultant with a switch identifier of sc1, an IP address
of 9.37.50.17, and a community name of comm1:
ccocontrol consultant add sc1 address 9.37.50.17 community comm2
- To start binary logging:
ccocontrol consultant binarylog sc1 start
- To see a report on the characteristics of switch consultant sc1:
ccocontrol consultant report sc1
This command produces output similar
to:
Consultant sc1 connected to switch at 9.37.50.1:cn1
Consultant has been started
Sleep time = 7
Sensitivity = 5
Log level = 5
Log size = 1,048,576
ownerContent(s):
ownerContent oc1
- To set the sleeptime between weight-setting cycles for the sc1 switch
ID to 10 seconds:
ccocontrol consultant set sc1 sleeptime 10
- To start collecting metrics and setting weights for the consultant ID
of sc1:
ccocontrol consultant start sc1
ccocontrol controller -- manage the controller

>>-ccocontrol--controller--+-report--------------------------+-><
'-set--+------------------------+-'
+-loglevel--level--------+
'-logsize--+-size------+-'
'-unlimited-'
- report
- Display characteristics of the controller. Version information displays
as part of this report.
- set
- Set characteristics of the controller.
- loglevel
- Sets the level at which the controller logs activities. The default
value is 1.
- level
- The number of the level from 0 to 5. The default is 1. The possible
values are:
- 0 = None
- 1 = Minimal
- 2 = Basic
- 3 = Moderate
- 4 = Advanced
- 5 = Verbose
- logsize
- Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the log file. The default
value is 1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file wraps;
when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are written
from the top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size cannot
be set smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped
so you can tell the order in which they were written. The higher you set the
log level, the more carefully you must choose the log size, because you can
quickly run out of space when logging at the higher levels.
- size | unlimited
- The maximum number of bytes logged in the consultant log. You can specify
either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file might not reach the exact maximum size before
overwriting because the log entries vary in size.
Examples
- To display a report on the controller:
ccocontrol controller report
This command produces output similar to:
Controller Report:
------------------------
Version . . . . . . . . . Version: 05.00.00.00 - 03/21/2002-09:49:57-EST
Logging level . . . . . . 1
Log size. . . . . . . . . 1048576
Configuration File. . . . config1.xml
Consultants:
Consultant consult1 -Started
- To set the level of logging to zero for better performance:
ccocontrol set loglevel 0
- To set the controller log size to 1,000,000 bytes:
ccocontrol controller set logsize 1000000
ccocontrol file -- manage configuration files

>>-ccocontrol--file--+-delete--filename----------+-------------><
+-load--filename------------+
+-report--------------------+
'-save--filename--+-------+-'
'-force-'
- delete
- Deletes the specified configuration file.
- filename
- A configuration file. The file extension must be .xml. If this extension
is not specified, it will be assumed.
- load
- Loads the configuration stored in the specified file.
Note:
Loading a file appends the configuration stored in that file to
the running configuration. If you want to load a new configuration,
you must stop and restart the server before you load the file.
- report
- Lists the configuration files.
- save
- Saves the current configuration to the specified file.
Note:
Files are saved into and loaded from the following directories:
- force
- Saves to an existing file.
Examples
- To delete a file named file1:
ccocontrol file delete file1
- To append the configuration in the file to the current configuration:
ccocontrol file load config2
- To see a report of files that you have previously saved:
ccocontrol file report
This command produces output similar to:
FILE REPORT:
------------
file1.xml
file2.xml
file3.xml
- To save your configuration file in a file named config2.xml:
ccocontrol file save config2
ccocontrol help -- display or print help for this command

>>-ccocontrol--help--+-controller-------+----------------------><
+-consultant-------+
+-file-------------+
+-help-------------+
+-highavailability-+
+-metriccollector--+
+-ownercontent-----+
'-service----------'
Examples
- To get help on the ccocontrol command, type:
ccocontrol help
This command produces output similar to:
The following commands are available:
controller - operate on the controller
consultant - operate on switch consultants
file - operate on configuration files
help - operate on help
highavailability - operate on high availability
metriccollector - operate on metric collectors
ownerContent - operate on ownerContents
service - operate on services
- The following symbols are used in the online help syntax:
- < >
- Braces enclose parameters or a sequence of characters.
- [ ]
- Brackets enclose optional items.
- |
- A vertical bar separates alternatives within brackets and braces.
- :
- A colon is a separator between names; for example, consultant1:ownercontent1.
ccocontrol highavailability -- control high availability

>>-ccocontrol--highavailability--+-add--+-address--address---------------+-+-><
| +-partneraddress--partneraddress-+ |
| +-port--port---------------------+ |
| '-role--+-primary---+------------' |
| '-secondary-' |
+-dropreach--address----------------------+
+-remove----------------------------------+
+-report----------------------------------+
+-set--+-beatinterval--time-----+---------+
| +-takeoverinterval--time-+ |
| +-loglevel--level--------+ |
| '-logsize--+-size------+-' |
| '-unlimited-' |
+-start--+-auto---+-----------------------+
| '-manual-' |
+-stop------------------------------------+
+-takeover--------------------------------+
'-usereach--address-----------------------'
- add
- Configures a high-availability node, partner, and reach targets.
- address
- The address from which to receive heartbeats.
- address
- The IP address of the high-availability node.
- partneraddress
- The address to which to send heartbeats. This is the IP address or
host name configured on the partner node. This address is used to communicate
with the partner high-availability machine.
- address
- The IP address of the partner.
- port
- The port used to communicate with the partner. The default is 12345.
- port
- The port number.
- role
- The high-availability role.
- primary | secondary
- The primary or secondary role.
- dropreach
- Remove this reach target from high availability criteria.
- address
- The IP address of the reach target.
- remove
- Remove the node, partner and reach target from high availability configuration.
High availability must be stopped before using this command.
- report
- Displays high availability information.
- set
- Sets the characteristics of high availability.
- beatinterval
- Sets how often, in milliseconds, heartbeats are sent to the partner.
The default is 500.
- time
- A positive integer representing the beat interval time, in milliseconds.
- takeoverinterval
- Sets the amount of time, in milliseconds, that must lapse (during which
no heartbeats are received) before a takeover occurs. The default is 2000.
- time
- A positive integer representing the takeover interval time, in milliseconds.
- loglevel
- Sets the level at which activities are logged. The default value is
1.
- level
- The number of the level from 0 to 5. The default is 1. The possible
values are:
- 0 = None
- 1 = Minimal
- 2 = Basic
- 3 = Moderate
- 4 = Advanced
- 5 = Verbose
- logsize
- Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the high availability log
file. The default value is 1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log
file, the file wraps; when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent
entries are written from the top of the file, overwriting the previous log
entries. Log size cannot be set smaller than the current size of the log.
Log entries are time-stamped so you can tell the order in which they were
written. The higher you set the log level, the more carefully you must choose
the log size, because you can quickly run out of space when logging at the
higher levels.
- size | unlimited
- The maximum number of bytes logged in the high availability log. You
can specify either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file might not reach the exact maximum size before
overwriting because the log entries vary in size.
- start
- Starts using high availability. A high availability node, partner, and
reach target must be configured before using this command.
- auto | manual
- Determines whether to start high availability with a recovery strategy
of automatic or manual.
- stop
- Stops using high availability.
- takeover
- Takes control from the active high availability node.
- usereach
- The reach target address that will start using high availability. Add
a reach target that can be pinged so that the high availability partners can
determine how reachable their targets are.
- address
- The IP address of the reach target.
Examples
- To add a high availability node with an IP address of 9.37.50.17 with
a primary role on port 12345, and a partner address of 9.37.50.14:
ccocontrol highavailability add
address 9.37.50.17 role primary port 12345 partneraddress 9.37.50.14
- To add a reach target address of 9.37.50.9:
ccocontrol highavailability usereach 9.37.50.9
- To remove the reach target address of 9.37.50.9:
ccocontrol highavailability dropreach 9.37.50.9
- To start high availability with a recovery strategy of manual:
ccocontrol highavailability start manual
- To get a statistical snapshot of high availability:
ccocontrol highavailability report
This command produces output similar to:
High Availability Status:
-------------------------
Node . . . . . . . . . . . primary
Node Address . . . . . . . 9.37.50.17
Port . . . . . . . . . . . 12345
Partner Address. . . . . . 9.37.50.14
Recovery Strategy. . . . . manual
Heartbeat Interval . . . . 500
Takeover Interval. . . . . 2000
State. . . . . . . . . . . idle
Sub-state. . . . . . . . . unsynchronized
Reachability Status : Node/Partner
---------------------------------------
No reach targets configured
ccocontrol metriccollector -- configure metric collector

>>-ccocontrol--metriccollector--+-report--scID+scID2+...;;:mN+mN2...;;--------------------------+-><
'-set--scID+scID2+...;;:mN+mN2...;;--+-timeoutconnect--sec----+-'
+-loglevel--level--------+
+-logsize--+-size------+-+
| '-unlimited-' |
+-timeoutreceive--sec----+
'-sleeptime--sec---------'
- report
- Displays the characteristics of a metric collector.
- scID (switch consultant ID)
- A user-defined string that refers to the consultant.
- mN (metric name)
- Name that identifies the provided or custom metric.
- set
- Sets the characteristics of a metric collector.
- timeoutconnect
- Set how long a metric collector waits before reporting that a connection
fails.
- sec
- A positive integer representing the amount of time in seconds that the
metric collector waits before reporting that a connection to a service has
failed.
- loglevel
- Sets the level at which the specified consultant logs activities. The
default is 1.
- level
- The number of the level. The default is 1. The higher the number, the
more information that is written to the consultant log. The possible values
are:
- 0 = None
- 1 = Minimal
- 2 = Basic
- 3 = Moderate
- 4 = Advanced
- 5 = Verbose
- logsize
- Sets the maximum number of bytes logged in the log file. The default
value is 1048576. When you set a maximum size for the log file, the file wraps;
when the file reaches the specified size, the subsequent entries are written
from the top of the file, overwriting the previous log entries. Log size cannot
be set smaller than the current size of the log. Log entries are time-stamped
so you can tell the order in which they were written. The higher you set the
log level, the more carefully you must choose the log size, because you can
quickly run out of space when logging at the higher levels.
- size | unlimited
- The maximum number of bytes logged in the consultant log. You can specify
either a positive number greater than zero, or the word unlimited. The log file might not reach the exact maximum size before
overwriting because the log entries vary in size.
- timeoutreceive
- Sets how long the consultant waits before reporting that a receive from
service fails.
- sec
- A positive integer representing the amount of time in seconds that the
consultant waits before reporting that a receive from a service has failed.
- sleeptime
- Sets the amount of time in seconds that the metric collector
sleeps between metric-collecting cycles.
- A positive integer representing the number of seconds of sleep time.
Examples
- To see a report on the characteristics of a metric collector:
ccocontrol metriccollector report sc1:http
This command produces output similar to:
MetricCollector sc1:http
collected metric(s).... http
loglevel............... 5
logSize................ 1048576
sleepTimeSeconds....... 7
timeoutConnectSeconds.. 21
timeoutReceiveSeconds.. 21
- To set a timeoutconnect of 15 seconds and a logsize of unlimited
for the sc1 switch consultant and the http metric:
ccocontrol metriccollector set sc1:http timeoutconnect 15 logsize unlimited
ccocontrol ownercontent -- control the owner name and content rule

>>-ccocontrol--ownerContent--+-add--scID:ocN--ownername--oN--contentrule--cN------------------------------+-><
+-metrics--scID+scID2...;;:ocN+ocN2...;;--mN--importance--mN2--i2----------------+
+-refresh--scID+scID2...;;:ocN+ocN2...;;-----------------------------------------+
+-remove--scID+scID2...;;:ocN+ocN2...;;------------------------------------------+
+-report--scID+scID2...;;:ocN+ocN2...;;------------------------------------------+
'-set--scID+scID2...;;:ocN+ocN2...;;----metric--mN--+------------------------+---'
+-requeststring--string--+
+-responsestring--string-+
'-retry--numretries------'
- add
- Adds an ownercontent to the specified consultant.
- scID (switch consultant ID)
- A user-defined string that represents the consultant.
- OCName (ownercontent name)
- A user-defined string that represents the owner name and the content
rule on the switch.
- ownername
- The name configured on the switch that identifies the owner configuration.
- oN (ownername)
- A unique text string with no spaces. The ownername must be
the same as specified on the Cisco switch.
- contentrule
- The name configured on the switch that identifies the owner's content
rule configuration.
- cN (contentname)
- A unique text string with no spaces. The contentname must be
the same as specified on the Cisco switch.
- metrics
- Specifies the set of metrics used in calculating weights and
the importance of each metric. The importance is expressed as a percentage
of the total. The sum of importance values must total 100. The metrics can
be any combination of the connection data metric, application advisor metrics,
and metric server metrics. The defaults are active connection (activeconn)
and connection rate (connrate) metrics with 50/50 importance.
- mN (metricname)
- Name that identifies the metric collector that will collect
measurements to determine the weight of the server.
Following is a list
of valid metric names and their associated ports.
Advisor Name |
Protocol |
Port |
connect |
ICMP |
12345 |
db2 |
private |
50000 |
dns |
DNS |
53 |
ftp |
FTP |
21 |
http |
HTTP |
80 |
https |
SSL |
443 |
cachingproxy |
HTTP (via Caching Proxy) |
80 |
imap |
IMAP |
143 |
ldap |
LDAP |
389 |
nntp |
NNTP |
119 |
ping |
PING |
0 |
pop3 |
POP3 |
110 |
sip |
SIP |
5060 |
smtp |
SMTP |
25 |
ssl |
SSL |
443 |
telnet |
Telnet |
23 |
WLM |
private |
10,007 |
activeconn |
n/a |
n/a |
connrate |
n/a |
n/a |
cpuload |
n/a |
n/a |
memload |
n/a |
n/a |
- importance
- A number from 0-to-100 that represents the importance of this
metric in calculating server weights.
- refresh
- Refreshes the configured services with the configuration from
the Cisco CSS Switch.
- remove
- Removes an ownercontent
- report
- Reports characteristics of ownercontents.
- set
- Sets characteristics of ownercontents.
- metric
- Sets the characteristics of a metric.
- mN
- The name of the desired metric.
- requeststring
- Sets a request string for the specified metric. This represents the
request sent by a metric collector to gather metric information.
- string
- The request string sent by the metric collector to the server.
- responsestring
- Sets a response string for the specified metric. The specified
response string is used by the metric collector to compare the responses it
receives from servers and subsequently determine server availability.
- string
- The response string to which the metric collector compares
received server responses.
- retry
- Retry sets the number of retries that can be made before marking
a server down.
- numretries
- An integer greater than or equal to zero. This value should
be no larger than 3. If the retry keyword is not configured, the number of
retries defaults to zero.
Examples
- To add an ownerContent named oc1 (with an owner name of owner1 and a content
name of content1) to the switch consultant ID of sc1:
ccocontrol ownerContent add sc1:oc1 ownername owner1 contentrule content1
- To specify a proportion of 50 each to the activeconn and http metrics:
ccocontrol ownerContent metrics sc1:oc1 activeconn 50 http 50
- To see a report of characteristics of ownercontents:
ccocontrol ownerContent report sc1:oc1
This command produces output similar to:
ownerContent sc1:oc1
Weightbound = 10
Metric activeconn has proportion 25
ResponseString... n/a
RequestString.... n/a
Metric http has proportion 50
ResponseString... n/a
RequestString.... n/a
Metric connrate has proportion 25
ResponseString... n/a
RequestString.... n/a
Contains Service t3
Contains Service t2
Contains Service t1
- To set an http request string:
ccocontrol ownerContent set sc1:oc1 metric http requeststring getCookie
ccocontrol service -- configure a service

>>-ccocontrol--service--+-report--scID+scID2...;;:ocN+ocN2...;;:svc+svc2...;;---------------------------------+-><
'---set--scID+scID2...;;:ocN+ocN2...;;:svc+svc2...;;--+---------------------------+---'
+-fixedweight--+-integer-+--+
| '-off-----' |
+-requestsourceip--IPAd-----+
+-metricserveraddress--IPAd-+
'-metricserverport--portN---'
- report
- Display characteristics of services.
- scID (switch consultant ID)
- A user-defined string that represents the consultant.
- OCName (ownercontent name)
- A user-defined string that represents the owner name and the content
rule on the switch.
- svc (service)
- A user-defined string on the switch that represents the service.
- set
- Set characteristics of services
- fixedweight
- Sets a fixed weight for this service. The default is off.
- integer | off
- A positive integer in the range of 0-to-10, representing the
fixed weight for this service, or the word off to specify
no fixed weight.
- requestsourceip
- Sets the address from which to contact service for application requests.
- IPAd (IP address)
- The IP address from which to contact service, as a symbolic name or
in IP address format.
- metricserveraddress
- Sets the address at which to contact service for metric server
requests.
- IPAd (IP address)
- The IP address of the metric server, as a symbolic name or in IP address
format.
- metricserverport
- Sets the port to use for contacting the metric server.
- portN (port number)
- The port number used to contact the metric server.
Examples
- To display a report on service t1 for the sc1 consultant:
ccocontrol service report sc1:oc1:t1
This command produces output similar to:
Service sc1:oc1:ta has weight 10
Fixed weight is off
Request Source Ip..... 9.27.24.156
Application port...... 80
MetricServer address.. 1.0.0.1
MetricServer port..... 10004
Metric activeconn has value -99
Metric http has value -99
Metric connrate has value -99
- To set a metric server address for service t2:
ccocontrol service set sc1:oc1:t2 metricserveraddress 9.37.50.17