Set up a gateway for TL1 collection

You configure the gateway node once. Its connection template carries the TL1 settings and turns on neighbour discovery, so once the gateway collects, the elements behind it are found and added automatically. See the overview for how the pieces fit together.

The steps are the same on all three platforms. Only tl1Vendor and the verb set differ, and your platform’s page (Ciena, Infinera, Cisco) gives both.

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1. Connection template

The TL1 settings live in a connection template. The connect block selects the tl1 protocol and enables gateway discovery:

connect:
  timeout: 15
  protocol: tl1                 # use the TL1-over-SSH collector
  port: 22000                   # the gateway's SSH port
  sshAuth: password             # SSH transport auth: 'password' or 'none'
  tl1Vendor: ciena              # 'ciena' (default), 'infinera' or 'cisco-ons'
  tl1Gateway: "on"              # discover the elements behind this gateway
  tl1MaxConnections: 20         # max concurrent TL1 sessions to this gateway

Field	Values	Purpose
protocol	tl1	Routes the device to the TL1 collector.
sshAuth	password / none	How the SSH transport authenticates before the in-band ACT-USER login. Must match how the node is configured.
tl1Vendor	ciena / infinera / cisco-ons	The platform dialect: which neighbour command to run, how to read its records, and what prompt the node presents. Defaults to ciena.
tl1Gateway	on / off	When on, a gateway collection also runs neighbour discovery. Leave off for standalone TL1 nodes.
tl1NeighbourCmd	TL1 command	Optional override. Each tl1Vendor supplies its own command, so leave this out unless a node needs a different verb. Set it and rConfig sends exactly what you wrote, with one exception noted below.
tl1MaxConnections	1 to 500	How many TL1 sessions rConfig opens to this gateway at once. Defaults to 20. See collecting elements.

Ready-made templates are available in the rConfig templates repository, one per platform and transport:

• Ciena 6500 - SSH and telnet
• Infinera DTN-X - SSH and telnet
• Cisco ONS 15454 - SSH and telnet, shipped as an untested starter

Set tl1Transport: telnet to use the raw-TCP transport instead of SSH.

Caution

sshAuth must match the node. If the gateway expects an SSH password and the template says none (or the reverse), login fails before the first TL1 command runs. See troubleshooting.

Note

tl1NeighbourCmd has one value rConfig does not honour. A command beginning with RTRV-NBR is replaced with the platform’s own and a warning is written to the activity log. RTRV-NBR:ALL was the shipped default before 8.4.0, and that verb came from rConfig’s simulator rather than from hardware, so honouring it means discovering nothing. It is the only place a deliberately set key is overridden, and it exists so an estate upgrading from an older release keeps collecting while its templates are updated.

Caution

An unrecognised tl1Vendor fails the collection rather than falling back to Ciena. That is deliberate: a typo collecting as the wrong platform would read no elements, report none, and flag every element behind that gateway as missing on the next run.

The TL1 connection template fields

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2. Command group

Create a command group, add the TL1 verbs you want to retrieve as commands, and attach the group to the gateway. This is a manual step: the group and its commands do not exist until you create them.

The same command group runs against the gateway and against every element behind it, so you define the verb set once. A typical set:

RTRV-EQPT::ALL:100;        # shelf and equipment inventory
RTRV-ALM-ALL::ALL:101;     # active alarms
RTRV-COND-ALL::ALL:102;    # standing conditions
RTRV-SW-VER:::103;         # software version
RTRV-SYS:::104;            # system / shelf info

Verb support differs by platform; your platform’s page lists what it answers.

Do not add the neighbour command to the group. Discovery is issued by the collector itself when tl1Gateway is on, not as a per-element command.

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3. Add the gateway device

Add the gateway like any other device under Devices → Add Device, then assign the TL1 template and command group:

• IP / port: the gateway’s reachable management address and SSH port.
• Credentials: the username and password used for both the SSH transport (in password mode) and the TL1 ACT-USER login.
• Connection template: the tl1 template from step 1.
• Command group: the TL1 verb set from step 2.
• Main prompt: leave it blank. The prompt comes from tl1Vendor, and the platforms differ. A < typed into an Infinera device’s prompt field will hang the session until it times out.

You do not create any element devices. They are discovered on the first collection.

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Next step: Discover and reconcile the elements.