Chapter 20. Troubleshooting Router MC
Router MC is a software component that runs on Common Services to provide the management capability for the VPN configuration on the router or the VPN Services Module. As of the writing of this book, the latest version of Router MC is 1.3.1. Hence, the configuration and troubleshooting details of this chapter are based on Router MC Version 1.3.1. This same information may be used for troubleshooting a newer version of Router MC.
Overview of Router MC
Router MC is a web-based Application for setup and maintenance of large-scale VPN connections. It is intended for use in scalable configurations of hub and spoke (site-to-site) topologynot as a single device manager. It centralizes configuration of Internet Key Exchange (IKE) and IPsec tunnel policies on multiple devices, and hierarchical grouping and reusable components for simplified deployment and management. Literally hundreds of VPN configurations can be deployed with the same policy with Router MC, which addresses the scalability requirements of today's network. The sections that follow explain the following items in detail:
Router MC Processes
Several processes perform different tasks on Router MC. If one of these processes is not running, that specific process function will not work. If there are problems in running the application, it is always a good practice to check that all these processes are running. The processes and their main functions are listed as follows:
- Apache This is the web server process. Be sure that the web server is running properly.
- ASANYs_SqlCoreDB This a SQL database. For the Router MC to function properly, be sure this is running properly.
- AppSrv This is the Application Server process. This process must be running for Router MC to function correctly.
- IOSMDCMain This is the Router MC main process. This is the core process for Router MC that must be running.
If one of these processes is not running, the task it controls will not run. To check the status of the processes and start them, go to Server Configuration > Administration > Process Management. From there you can view the status of the processes, stop the processes, or start stopped processes.
Communication Architecture
Router MC communicates with VPN devices using Secure Shell (SSH) protocol for both importing and deploying configuration from VPN devices.
Features Introduced on Different Versions of Router MC
While working on Router MC, it is important to know which features are introduced on which versions of Router MC. This information can be found under "Supported Devices, OS Versions" and "Commands for Management Center for Firewalls x.x.x" link under each release document. For example, if you want to know the features introduced on Firewall MC Version 1.3.3, you could go to the following link:
Then go to the "Supported Devices, OS Versions and Commands for Management Center for Firewalls 1.3.3" link which will take you directly to the following link:
You can find out information for the other versions from the following link:
Browse to the appropriate version of Firewall MC to obtain supportability information for a specific version of Firewall MC.