Wireup Maintenance for SVLive1
What is the Plugin Wireup Service?
SVLive Plugin Wireup Service is part of the Managed Location Service (MLS), a server-side component, which needs to be installed on a server within the Client's data center. It will use Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to communicate to the switches on a floor when an auditor is doing an audit.
The information it retrieves is very similar to how MLS queries switches:
- MAC Address of the connected device
- Switch the MAC address is connected to
- Switch port and switch port label (if available) that the MAC address is connected to.
What is the security impact of wireup?
Wireup uses SNMP read-only community string to communicate to the switches on the floor the auditor is located. If there is an iACL to restrict SNMP access to certain clients, then the server MLS is running on will need to be added to this list.
What is the network load of MLS when wiring up?
The network load is minimal. Wireup queries only the switches on the floor and caches most of the information it needs in memory.
How long does the MLS query take for a location?
This will depend on the size and make of the switch. It generally will take between 1 and 30 seconds.
Our switches span multiple floors - is this a problem?
No, wireup supports switches spanning floors.
How long does it take to fully wireup a workpoint?
This will depend on the size of the network switch. Generally, it will take between 1 seconds and 30 seconds to wireup a workpoint and walk to the next, on bigger/older switches it is best to allow more time - potentially up to 5 minutes.
Do you have any recommended practice recommendations for switch replacement / re-patching?
Ideally if network cable management is centrally controlled, incorporating a notification into the change process would be ideal. That way SVLive can be kept up to date as the network changes.
Does the corporate IT department need to do wireup?
No, Real Estate teams often perform their own wireup as no elevated access to switches is required. The risk to be managed is the communication from IT to Real Estate where wireup could be impacted by IT changes.
Can Serraview help with the wireup process?
Serraview have trained auditors who can perform the physical wireup, or a third-party can perform wireup after being trained by Serraview.
I have spreadsheet of the connection between each switch and the data ports. Can I import this information?
If you have the mappings from switch ports to desk, sometimes referred to as a patching schedule, then this can be imported. Send the data point import file to Serraview support team via Serraview's File Upload.
Routine Wireup Management
To make sure the wireup information is up-to-date to maintain the accuracy of the Utilization Reporting and the Wayfinding, we recommend the following.
Monthly Monitoring
There is a possibility that a slip in communication between the teams will occur or other unreported issues will cause switches or switch ports to become inactive.
The Corporate Real Estate team can complete a monthly audit based on the 288 Wireup Information Report and the 289 Serraview Live Exceptions Report's, to ensure that any unreported network changes or other issues that make wireup required are identified and resolved within an appropriate timeframe.
Run the Wireup and SVLive Reports
Run the following reports to ensure that all required spaces are wired-up and able to collect utilization data:
We recommend the reports are run monthly for portfolios with minimal changes to their workstation layout, however for clients with regular change, we recommend these reports are run weekly.
For more information on completing wireup, refer to the Wireup Workpoints Manually.
Rewireup
If the following changes occur, then you will need to complete a re-wire.
Mapping or drafting changes
Cause: Changes to a floorplan in Mapping or Drafting.
- Addition or removal of a desk
- Floorplan change that would affect the desk count and locations
Impact on Service: SVLive data for the last 24 hours is processed nightly and would factor in changes that happen to the floorplan during that time.
Changes like adding/deleting workpoints are accounted for.
Any of the drafting or mapping changes that impact wireup would require Property to re-wire the affected workstations.
SVLive historical data would require re-processing if the wireup information was incorrect or the VBS workpoint count was incorrect historically. The other scenario where SVLive historical data would require re-processing is wiring up a floor that has not been wired up before but Serraview had its switch information and users had LDM installed on their machines, Serraview could re-process the data if Corporate Real Estate team was to report on that floor historically not only from the day it was wired up.
Identification/Notification: The Corporate Real Estate team need to maintain the list of floorplans when SVLive is implemented. Any mapping or drafting request need to be checked against that list to identify a potential impact to SVLive (Locator and Space Utilization reporting).
The Serraview Support team flags incoming tickets for a mapping or drafting change for SVLive clients, and places them in a separate queue for SVLive Support to track them and identify where rewireup is needed.
Mitigation: Any of these changes will require a rewireup of the workstations affected
Switch Reconfiguration
Cause: Switches are reconfigured.
Impact on Service: If switches are reconfigured, the MLS will not be able to identify the correct switch and utilization data will not be collected for the workstations serviced by that switch.
Mitigation: To ensure that wireup information is up-to-date to maintain the accuracy of the utilization reporting, we recommend the below approach.
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Your IT Networks team notifies the Corporate Real Estate team of switch changes prior to changes being made. The Corporate Real Estate team load this information into the Serraview UAT environment to conduct reporting and assess which workstations would be impacted.
Run the following reports to ensure that all required spaces are wired-up and able to collect utilization data:
2. The Corporate Real Estate team then schedules the required work to rewireup instantly when the IT Networks team implements the changes.
3. After IT Networks team implements the changes, Corporate Real Estate team, and Serraview Support team update switch information in the Serraview Production environment.
4. The Corporate Real Estate team rewireup the affected spaces.
This proactive process allows a seamless transition from old to new switch data with minimal time downtime to the service, ensuring the ongoing accuracy of utilization reporting.
Re-cabling in the Communications room on a floor
Cause: Re-cabling is done in the communications room on a floor.
Impact on Service:
- Users will appear in the wrong locations in Locator on that floor
- Desks may display available when users are sitting at them
- Desks may display unavailable when users are no sitting at them
- Utilization reporting will be inaccurate for that floor until the mappings are corrected. This can be rectified as part of the updating process
- Floors with no changes will not experience any interruption
Identification/Notification: Employees display in Locator and Kiosks at incorrect desks.
Mitigation: This will result in SVLive reporting users at the incorrect location. This can be identified and re-audited.
Switch is Retired or Replaced
Cause: When a switch is replaced (due to failure or end of life), the wiring will generally be completely different to the wiring in the old switch. This will result in most/all switch port MAC addresses being changed.
Impact on Service: Invalid switches must be archived/deleted in Serraview as they may impact MLS performance and log further errors.
Identification/Notification: Serraview has several SVLive reports that assist in tracking network changes and highlight where corrective measures are needed. Run the following reports:
- 289 Serraview Live Exceptions Report to identify the switches with zero activity in the Switch Activity tab.
- 288 Wireup Information Report to identify the unwired workstations in the Unwired Points Details tab.
Mitigation: The new switch information needs to be communicated to the Corporate Real Estate team and the Serraview Support team. This information will be imported into Serraview so that the MLS scans the new switch.
- Manual
Use the Serraview Wireup Tool to wireup or rewireup all the workstations connected to the new switch, refer to Wireup Workpoints Manually Troubleshooting's Re-wire a desk.
- Import in bulk
If you have many switches to update then use the Switch Import. The format of the Switch Import is described in the Switch Import and the Client can send the Switch Import file to the Serraview Support team, use the File Upload's category Other and include a comment.
Switch Not Linked to a Floor/Incorrect Switch Information Provided
Property to provide the Serraview Support team with the correct switch details and then we can update the switch details.
Impact on Service
Serraview cannot link the utilization data to a floor or building.
Community String Changes
The client needs to maintain the same community string provided at time of implementation on all switches that MLS must scan. The community string must follow all required OIDs to be retrieved by SNMP polling. Any changes to the community string will need to be communicated before implementation as the
SVLive service will immediately be unavailable if switch scanning fails.
Impact on Service
A change to the name of community string being used by the MLS would cause all SVLive services to immediately become unavailable with data loss throughout the duration of the outage.
IP Address Changes
This happens when the switch was reconfigured with a different IP and not updated in Serraview, or an incorrect switch IP was imported to Serraview.
Impact on Service
The MLS will not be able to identify the correct switch and utilization data will not be collected for the workstations serviced by that switch. Until this is corrected user locations will not be accurate
The switch details need to be corrected in Serraview and the affected workstation re-wired up if any of the below changes has been made.