Managing relay lists

A relay list is a configuration consisting of the network (IP) ranges with subnet masks and a list of relay servers. You can enter a specific IP address or an IP range that covers a specific segment of your network. The supported notations are: CIDR, IPv4, IPv6, multiple IP addresses. 

To enable Relay List capabilities

1. On the BMC Client Management (BCM) console, select Global Settings > ClientManagementAdmin > Security Profile.
2. In the Capabilities window, enable the Relay List capabilities - View, Manage, Assign.

To create a relay list

1. On the BCM console, select Global Settings > Relay Selection > Relay Lists.
2. Right-click Relay List and then select Create Relay List.
3. In the Properties window type a name for the relay list.
4. Click OK.
5. Select the New Relay List node.
6. In the Configuration tab, right-click in the pane, and select Add Configuration.
7. In the Properties window, enter the IP address range that covers the address range of the intended client devices.
8. In the Relay List section, select Add relay  to add relay devices that you want to define within this relay list.

9. In the Select a relay window, select the devices to be relay servers.

   For every relay, you can edit the Network address, Port number, and Description fields.

   Note

   The order of relay servers defined in the relay list is important. During startup, client devices test the connection with the first relay defined in the list. They continue sequentially through the list until successfully connecting to one of the relays. Therefore, define the relay list in the order of priority.

10. Click OK.

The new relay list is added.

To import configurations for a relay list using a .csv file

You can import one or several configurations for a relay list from a CSV file. The .csv file header should be as follows:

The following examples describe the valid entries for a .csv file:

To import the .csv file to define multiple configurations for a relay list:

1.  On the BMC console, select Global Settings > Relay Selection > Relay list.
2. Select a Relay List and then select the Configurations tab. 
3. Select Edit > Import CSV file.
4. On the Select CSV file to Import, browse and select the .csv file with the configuration details, and then select Import Configurations.

All valid entries are imported to the relay list and displayed in the Configurations list. Any entries with bad entries are skipped during the import. 

To assign relay lists to relay list servers

You can deploy relay lists on devices that are designated to be relay list servers. Each designated relay list server must have the latest relay list because client devices seek the relay list from these relay list servers. When your device is a part of a rollout target, or you add a device is to the network, it connects to a relay list server in order to get a list of parent relay server candidates.

To assign relay lists to relay servers:

1. On the BCM console, select Global Settings > Relay Selection > Relay List.
2. Select a Relay List, and then select Assigned Objects > Device Groups/Devices.
3. Right-click Devices/Device Groups and select Assign Device Group/Assign Device.
4. In the Assign to Device window, select any BCM agent that can be assigned to a relay list.
   BCM automatically assigns relay lists to the selected devices.
5. In the Devices window, verify that the device status is Assigned, which means that the relay list is now available on the relay list server.

To assign relay lists to devices or device groups

1. On the BCM console, to assign an object to a device, go to the Device Topology node or to assign an object to a device group, go to the Device Groups node.
2. Select the device, go to Assigned Objects, and select Relay List.
3. In the Relay List window, right-click and select Assign Relay List.
4. From the Assign Relay list window, select the relay list that you want to assign to the device or device group.
5. Click OK.
   For more information about managing assigned object types, see Assigned-object-types.

To unassign or activate relay lists assigned to devices or device groups

1.  On the selected device or device group, go to Assigned Objects and select Relay List.
2. In the Relay List window, right-click the relay list and select the function you want to perform on the relay list.
   

Upgrade considerations

When the master server is upgraded, if a Subnet.xml file is present in data/Relay directory, BCM parses the XML file and  creates a relay list with the file name Upgraded Relay List. The relay list contains a relay configuration for each subnets found in the file. The relay list is automatically assigned to the master.

Relay List capabilities after upgrade:

• For Administrators and Administrator Groups having Rollout Read capability, BCM assigns the Relay List Read capability.  
• For Administrators and Administrator Groups having Rollout Manage capability, BCM assigns the Relay List Manage capability.  
• For Administrators and Administrator Groups having Rollout Assign capability, BCM assigns the Relay List Assign capability.

Where to go from here

Configure agent communication parameters

After you configure and deploy the relay list, you want to configure the agent communication parameters to define the relay list server URL. There are a couple of scenarios - rollout of Client Management agents and managing existing agent - in which agent communication parameters can be updated based on your network configuration. For example, to define communication between agents and relay or master servers, you choose a combination of Static relays and Relay List servers as the two methods of communication.

For more information, see Agent-communication-parameters and Relay-List-Server-parameters.

Configure relay module parameters

You set the relay module parameters only for the relay list server devices.

After you configure the agent communication parameters, you want to configure the agent parameters related to relay list communication method, which are, Relay List Synchronization at Startup, Relay List Additional Automatic Synchronization Hour, Relay List Minimum Gap between Two Automatic Synchronizations (sec). For more information, see Setting-the-Relay-module-parameters.