Once installed, AmpCon™-DC also simplifies the ongoing management of Pica8 PicOS Software SwitchesPicOS software switches, including configuration management, switch inventory, software updates, and more.
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Configuration Management
AmpCon™AmpCon-DC includes native configuration management capabilities, enabling you to push out an update to a single switch or to an entire group of switches. It eliminates the need to pull up and edit configurations one by one, reducing the likelihood of errors, and simplifies the process by enabling it to be done from the same centralized tool; no need to deal with the added expense or headache of a third-party tool.
In practice, the configuration management feature can greatly simplify the job of updating switches to deal with a new class of device, such as security devices to protect Internet of Things sensors. Network administrators can detail how the network should treat the security devices, perhaps putting them on their own VLAN, and detail where traffic from the devices is allowed to go. With a single command, the update can then be pushed out to appropriate network switches.
AmpCon™-DC greatly simplifies the job of detailing just what level of network access and priority each class of device should get – and then pushing the update at once to all relevant switches.
Configuration Backup, Compliance, And Rollback
Once the desired configurations are set and the network is stable, we would like to lock it down and make sure accidental changes don’t disrupt operations. And when a config change is made to add devices or say a VLAN, it is important to back it up. AmpCon™-DC makes this really simple by automating config backups on a specified schedule, and saving the last n backups (default=100), which can be used to recover quickly from a crash or corruption of a switch. And it allows marking a specific instance as the “Golden Config” which will never be deleted and used by default as the config to rollback the switch to a stable configuration in case the switch operation is compromised. The Golden Config can also be used as the basis to run an automated compliance check to verify that the network is operating as designed.
Switch Inventory
AmpCon™-DC also supports switch inventory features. Here again, third-party tools are available to support this capability, but they add expense. In addition to the software, such tools typically run on a Windows Server Enterprise Edition machine, which means additional server licensing costs.
Not so with AmpCon™-DC which, as previously noted, deploys in minutes on a virtual machine. It provides detailed inventory of all switches, including switch hardware details, software version, configuration and more.
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