NSP hosts file

Description

The NSP hosts file specifies the addresses of the NSP components that the NSP Flow Collectors and Flow Collector Controllers communicate with.

Note: If you specify a hostname in the config.yml configuration file, you must specify the hostname in the associated NSP hosts file entry, and not an IP address.

Note: An example hosts file is in the following directory; use a modified copy of the file for installation:

NSP_installer_directory/NSD_NRC_R_r/examples

Configuring the NSP hosts file

Each line in the example file has a leading “#” character, which causes the line to be interpreted as a comment and not processed. To enable the processing of a line, you must remove the leading # character from the line. A section for a discrete system element begins with an [element] tag, for example, [nspos], which is the section for the nspOS configuration.

The hosts file has separate sections for specific deployment types; each section has a descriptive two- or three-line header, and includes the required parameters for the deployment. The section headers are shown below, by deployment type.

Standalone:

# Sample Ansible hosts file for an NSP standalone system

# Replace the IPs below by your own

DR:

# Sample Ansible hosts file for an NSP geo-redundant system

# Enter 2 IPs per group when installing in geo-redundancy mode

# and add the variable 'dc' to differentiate the datacenters.

Deployment in a NAT environment

For deployment in a NAT environment, you can add the optional advertised_address parameter to the IP address line of a component. The parameter enables the advertisement of the component hostname or public IP address to other components.

For remote installation in a NAT environment, you can also add the ansible_host parameter, which enables the installer to reach the remote host. The options are described in the following section of the example hosts file:

# Optional configuration

For example, to specify a remote NSP Flow Collector in a NAT environment:

[fc]

private_IP advertised_address=public_IP ansible_host=IP_reachable_by_installer

where

private_IP is the private IP address of the NSP Flow Collector

public_IP is the public IP address of the NSP Flow Collector

IP_reachable_by_installer is the NSP Flow Collector IP address that is reachable from the station on which the NSP installer runs

The section also includes other optional addressing parameters.

Table 13-1: NSP hosts file sections and parameters

Component	Required hosts file entry
NSP cluster (any configuration)	`[nspos]`
Flow Collector Controller and Flow Collector (standalone)	`[fcc]` `Controller_IP` `[fc]` `Collector_IP fc_mode=mode` where Controller_IP is the NSP Flow Collector Controller IP address; in a NAT environment, specify the private IP address NOTE: An NSP Flow Collector Controller and the associated Flow Collectors must be on the same subnet as the NSP components with which they communicate, for example, NFM-P main servers and an auxiliary database. Collector_IP is the NSP Flow Collector IP address; in a NAT environment, specify the private IP address mode is the NSP Flow Collector mode, which is one of the following; if unspecified, the default is AA: AA—enables the collection of AA Cflowd records SYS—enables the collection of IPFIX system Cflowd and Netflow v5 records
Flow Collector Controller and Flow Collector	`[fcc]` `Controller_IP` `[fc]` `Collector_IP dc=data_center fc_mode=mode` where Controller_IP is the NSP Flow Collector Controller IP address; in a NAT environment, specify the private IP address NOTE: An NSP Flow Collector Controller and the associated Flow Collectors must be on the same subnet as the NSP components with which they communicate, for example, NFM-P main servers and an auxiliary database. Collector_IP is the NSP Flow Collector IP address; in a NAT environment, specify the private IP address data_center is the name of the data center mode is the NSP Flow Collector mode, which is one of the following; if unspecified, the default is AA: AA—enables the collection of AA Cflowd records SYS—enables the collection of IPFIX system Cflowd and Netflow v5 records
Advertised addresses and ansible hosts	`[fc]` `IP_address advertised_address=advertised_IP ansible_host=ansible_IP` `[fcc]` `IP_address advertised_address=advertised_IP ansible_host=ansible_IP` where IP_address is the IP address of the NSP component advertised_IP is the advertised IP address of the NSP component ansible_IP is the IP address of the NSP component ansible host cluster_address is the advertised_address of the NSP cluster