Config pull fails with error “Could not find unique character in banner”

Products

• VMware Smart Assurance

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

Unable to pull config for Cisco Devices and error observed is “Could not find unique character in banner”.

Log Snippet from commmgr logs:
Sep 20 15:42:00 1451202304/pull(809476)#4: RESULT: Pulling configuration file 'startup' for IDX 5395 with mechanism SSH and SNMPV2
Sep 20 15:42:00 1451202304/pull(809476)#4: DASL: Pulling via Term
Sep 20 15:42:00 1451202304/pull(809476)#4: DASL: getSession (mech=SSH, state=EnableMode (5003), sessionType=EnableSessionMigration, errorMethod=throwError)
Sep 20 15:42:00 1451202304/pull(809476)#4: DASL: Device 5395 Session Statistics
Sep 20 15:42:00 1451202304/pull(809476)#4: DASL: Pulling Startup Configuration
Sep 20 15:42:03 1451202304/pull(809476)#1: State match:[1001][01;34m[^[^\s#]+# *$][00m 254~~!~~!~~!~~!~~!~~!~~end~~~~[01;34m[HOSTNAME#][00m
Sep 20 15:42:06 1451202304/pull(809476)#4: DASL: Got enable prompt after pull
Sep 20 15:42:06 1451202304/pull(809476)#4: RESULT: PULL via Term took 6 seconds
Sep 20 15:42:06 1451202304/pull(809476)#3: ERROR: Could not find unique character for use in banner
Sep 20 15:42:06 1451202304/pull(809476)#3: ++++++++++++++++++++
Sep 20 15:42:06 1451202304/pull(809476)#3: ...cisco/stdfuncs.inc#819: ERROR: Could not find unique character for use in banner
Sep 20 15:42:06 1451202304/pull(809476)#3: Variables:
Sep 20 15:42:06 1451202304/pull(809476)#3:     bannerChars="|/\$%&*-+<>?XYZ_!@{},.""

Environment

NCM - 10.1.x

Cause

Device configuration is having all special characters mentioned in bannerChars of fixBannerChars function available in stdfuncs.inc file located at $VOYENCE_HOME/package/cisco.

 

Resolution

Add "`" in below workaround as "`" is not available in device configuration.
Any special character which is not available in device can be added to stdfuncs.inc file. Please note change is global hence it is applicable for all Cisco devices.

1. Make copy of stdfuncs.inc from $VOYENCE_HOME/package/cisco/ to $VOYENCE_HOME/custompackage/cisco/
2. Open file and look for fixBannerChars function call.
   Change line
   var bannerChars="|\/\\$%&*-+<>?XYZ_!@{},.\""; 
   To
   var bannerChars="|\/\\$%&*-+<>`?XYZ_!@{},.\"";  

3. Restart voyence service
4. Check for error free autodisc log. DASL should be compiled without any error.
5. Perform pull and now both running and startup should be pulled successfully.

Additional Information

Impact:

Users will not be able to pull config for device whose configuration has special character mentioned in fixBannerChars function.