> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.highlight.net/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.highlight.net/admin/admin-page/controller.md).

# Controller

## Create/Edit controller: common settings

Only users with the **Edit watches** permission can save changes to controllers. Other admin users can see the edit panel but not change any details.

Use **Create new** to create a new controller in the current folder.

### Applicable to all controller types: Main

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="117">Field</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Status</strong></td><td>Enabled or Disabled (red toggle). Disabling a controller disables all associated devices and watches, meaning Highlight stops collecting data.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Type</strong></td><td>Options available below this field change for each supported vendor. Note: Type is set on creation and cannot be changed later. Supported types: Cisco Meraki, Cisco Thousand Eyes, Cisco Catalyst, Fortinet, Extreme Networks, ICMP Polling</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Name</strong></td><td>Required. Can contain a maximum of 100 characters.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Description</strong></td><td>Optional. Can contain a maximum of 100 characters.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Alerting</strong> checkbox</td><td><p><strong>Do not alert on subwatches if controller uncontactable</strong></p><p>Unchecked by default. When checked, if this controller is uncontactable, no alerts are sent for associated uplinks, tunnels, performance tests, switches or wireless access points. When this is checked, the watch status card for subwatches and the heat tile also do not change colour to amber or red.</p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Watch creation</strong> radio buttons</td><td><strong>Pending</strong><br>Setting Watch creation to Pending on the controller sets this option to Pending on all discovered devices. Any uplinks, tunnels, tests and switches on a device will NOT be created and are instead visible only on the Controllers Admin page. These will not gather data so cannot change the colour of a heat tile nor send an alert.<br><strong>Auto</strong><br>This is the default option. Any uplinks, tunnels, tests and switches on a device will be created as enabled and start gathering data. These may change the colour of a heat tile and send an alert if a measurement is below threshold.<br>Find out more about <a href="https://help.highlight.net/admin/admin-page">Controller watch pending</a>.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Auto create</strong> checkbox</td><td><strong>Locations</strong> (checked)<br>Checked by default. On save, automatically creates Highlight locations in the current folder based on location information in the controller, assigns each location an autodiscovered name, and places discovered devices and watches in the correct location.<br><strong>Locations</strong> (unchecked)<br>If unchecked, all discovered devices and watches are placed in a single default location in the current folder. This location has the autodiscovered name <strong>Devices - </strong><em><strong>Controller name</strong></em>.<br>See the <strong>Controller locations</strong> section below for more details.</td></tr></tbody></table>

***

### Applicable to all controller types: Settings&#x20;

This option makes it possible to spread the load for polling controller-based watches across multiple agents.

Use the **Poller** drop-down to select the required agent or agent group. Any additional poller agents must previously have been assigned to the folder using Agent Selection from Edit Folder Main.

If you select the default poller or poller group, then if the default is changed at some point in the future, watches associated with this controller will use the new default poller or poller group.

The actual poller agent in use is shown under the drop-down box.

{% hint style="info" %}
Changes made in controller dialogs are recorded in the [Highlight Audit log](https://help.highlight.net/admin/admin-page).
{% endhint %}

### Applicable to all controller types

#### Autodiscovery

Use **Rediscover** (only available on edit) to trigger a rediscovery of devices and features which may have changed on the external network. Rediscovery normally happens every 15 minutes.

The Rediscover button is disabled if:

* The controller is disabled
* Any settings on the panel have changed
* It was recently clicked

Use **Save** to save any changes made.

Use **Delete** (only available on edit) to remove the controller from Highlight along with any previously autodiscovered locations, devices, watches and subwatches.

{% hint style="info" icon="clock-three-thirty" %}
Discovery of watches, devices and locations can take up to 30 minutes to appear in Highlight. Any changes on the external network, for example adding new locations/devices/watches, will also take up to 30 minutes to be synchronised to Highlight.
{% endhint %}

***

***

## Controller locations

**Autodiscovered name** is auto-generated on creation of a controller. Autodiscovered names cannot be changed in Highlight. Autodiscovered names differ for supported vendors and use the following information:

<table><thead><tr><th width="201">Vendor</th><th>Autodiscovered name source</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Cisco Meraki</strong></td><td>Network name (updates if changed in the Meraki dashboard)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Cisco Thousand Eyes</strong></td><td>API "countryId" tag on the device</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Cisco Catalyst</strong></td><td>"Site " followed by the Site ID</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Fortinet</strong></td><td>Device name</td></tr></tbody></table>

**Location name** initially matches the autodiscovered name but can be changed. The location name displays everywhere in Highlight instead of the autodiscovered name if it has been changed. Use the revert option to reset the location name back to the autodiscovered name.

***

## Create/Edit controller: Cisco Meraki

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="126">Field</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>API Key</strong></td><td>Required. The API key can be edited after creation. Use the <strong>Test</strong> button (available once an API key is entered) to confirm the API endpoint is valid. Contact your Meraki administrator to obtain your API key details and for any testing issues.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Organisation</strong></td><td>Required. Use the <strong>Please select</strong> drop-down to retrieve a list of all available organisations. Select one and Highlight will discover devices and watches in that organisation only. Organisations are not shown in the list if their networks are inaccessible. Note: the drop-down is shown in Create only. To select an alternative organisation once a controller has been saved, delete the controller and recreate it with the required organisation.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Discovered</strong></td><td>Shows the number of SD-WAN devices/networks. This will auto-populate once an organisation is selected.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Dashboard</strong></td><td><strong>Display link</strong><br>Unchecked by default. If checked, a link icon is shown to the right of the Meraki logo at the top of the details page for any watches associated with this controller. When clicked, the device on the Meraki dashboard opens in a new tab. If not already logged in, users will need to enter their details.</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Cisco Meraki discovery behaviour

Note the following on discovery of Cisco Meraki:

<table><thead><tr><th width="130">Interface or Device</th><th width="146">Status in Meraki</th><th>Highlight action on discovery</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Device</td><td>Dormant</td><td>Highlight won't discover any watches on a device with status dormant.</td></tr><tr><td>Interface</td><td>Down, Failed or Disconnected</td><td>If watch creation is set to <a href="https://help.highlight.net/admin/admin-page">Pending</a>, Highlight discovers these watches in a pending state.</td></tr><tr><td>Interface</td><td>Ready</td><td>The watch is created with the Dormant flag set in Highlight (dormant interfaces only send stability alerts if the device is uncontactable or Highlight has detected that the underlying connectivity service is unavailable). <a href="https://help.highlight.net/admin/admin-page">Contact us</a> to disable this option.</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Meraki: SD-WAN

**Uplink bearers**

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="116">Option</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>None</strong></td><td>Do not discover any uplink bearers.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Enabled</strong></td><td>Default. Highlight determines the up/down status of uplinks via the API. On save, Highlight automatically discovers and creates bearer watches for any active WAN interface in the location of the device.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Enabled with perf tests</strong></td><td>On save, Highlight automatically discovers and creates uplinks in the location of the device as subwatches to the associated device and any connectivity performance tests are subwatches of their parent uplink.</td></tr></tbody></table>

**Meraki VPN peer**

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="118">Option</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>None</strong></td><td>Do not discover any tunnels or performance tests.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Tunnels</strong></td><td>Discover tunnels only.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Tunnels with perf tests</strong></td><td>Default. On save, Highlight automatically discovers and creates tunnels in the location of the device as subwatches to the associated device and any performance tests are subwatches of their parent tunnel.</td></tr></tbody></table>

{% hint style="info" %}
Note: If changed to None after uplinks, tunnels and performance tests have been discovered, these will continue to work and can be manually disabled if needed. No new uplinks, tunnels or tests will be discovered.
{% endhint %}

#### Meraki: Cellular

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="148">Option</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Enabled</strong></td><td>Discover cellular devices and cellular watches.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Enabled with Cellular Clarity</strong></td><td>Discover cellular devices and cellular watches with <a href="https://help.highlight.net/admin/admin-page">Cellular Clarity</a> enabled.</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Meraki: WiFi

Set to **Enabled** to discover WiFi devices and access points.

#### Meraki: Switches

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="136">Option</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Enabled</strong></td><td>Default. Discover switch devices and switch watches with up/down status (Stability) only.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Enabled with port detail</strong></td><td>Discover switch devices and watches as above but with extra detail on individual ports and the option to set some as critical. Find out more about <a href="https://help.highlight.net/admin/admin-page">critical ports</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Meraki: IoT

**Cameras:** Set to **Enabled** to discover camera devices and camera watches.

**Sensors:** Set to **Enabled** to discover sensor devices and sensor watches.

***

## Create/Edit controller: Cisco Thousand Eyes

{% hint style="info" %}
Highlight only discovers the Performance Agent if Highlight supported tests exist. Tests currently supported are ICMP Ping and HTTP Server tests.
{% endhint %}

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="113">Field</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>API Key</strong></td><td>Required. The API key can be edited after creation. </td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Test</strong> </p><p>button </p></td><td>Available once an API key is entered, use to confirm the API endpoint is valid. Contact your administrator to obtain your API key details and for any testing issues.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Account Group</strong></td><td>Required. Use the <strong>Please select</strong> drop-down to retrieve a list of all available account groups. Select one and Highlight will discover devices and watches in that account group only. Account groups are not shown in the list if their networks are inaccessible. Note: the drop-down is shown in Create only. To select an alternative account group once a controller has been saved, delete the controller and recreate it with the required account group.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Discovered</strong></td><td>Shows the number of devices/networks. This will auto-populate once an account group is selected. Highlight only discovers the Performance Agent if Highlight-supported tests exist. Tests currently supported are ICMP Ping and HTTP Server tests.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Dashboard</strong></td><td><p><strong>Display link</strong></p><p>Unchecked by default. If checked, a link icon is shown to the right of the Thousand Eyes logo at the top of the details page for any watches associated with this controller. When clicked, the device on the Thousand Eyes dashboard opens in a new tab. If not already logged in, users will need to enter their details.<br>When <strong>Display link</strong> is checked, the name of each performance test on the performance agent details page is also a link to that test in the Thousand Eyes dashboard.</p></td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Thousand Eyes: Tests

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="132">Test type</th><th>Options</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>ICMP Ping</strong></td><td>None / Enabled</td></tr><tr><td><strong>HTTP Server</strong></td><td>None / Enabled</td></tr></tbody></table>

With **Enabled** selected, on save Highlight automatically discovers and creates the selected test watches in the location of the device.

***

## Create/Edit controller: Cisco Catalyst

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="162">Field</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Hostname</strong></td><td>Required. Can contain a maximum of 200 characters and either an IP address or DNS name. Optionally a port can be specified after a colon; otherwise, the default communication will be attempted on port 443.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Ignore certificate errors</strong></td><td>Unchecked by default. Checking this option disables all certificate validation. This is a security risk and not advised.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>User Name</strong></td><td>Required. Can contain a maximum of 50 characters.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Password</strong></td><td>Required. Can contain a maximum of 50 characters.</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Cisco Catalyst: SD-WAN

**Uplink bearers**

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="77">Option</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>None</strong></td><td>Do not discover any uplink bearers.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>API</strong></td><td>On save, Highlight automatically discovers and creates devices and bearer watches in the location of the device. If watch creation is set to <a href="https://help.highlight.net/admin/admin-page">Pending</a>, interfaces which are down, failed or disconnected are discovered in the pending state. If these watches are later enabled, they show as red in Highlight.</td></tr></tbody></table>

**Cisco Catalyst VPN peer**

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="125">Option</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>None</strong></td><td>Do not discover any tunnels or performance tests.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Tunnels</strong></td><td>Discover tunnels only.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Tunnels with perf tests</strong></td><td>Default. On save, Highlight automatically discovers and creates tunnels in the location of the device as subwatches to the associated device and any performance tests are subwatches of their parent tunnel.</td></tr></tbody></table>

{% hint style="info" %}
Note: If changed to None after tunnels and performance tests have been discovered, these will continue to work and can be manually disabled if needed. No new tunnels or tests will be discovered.
{% endhint %}

***

## Create/Edit controller: Fortinet

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="160">Field</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Hostname</strong></td><td>Required. Can contain a maximum of 200 characters and either an IP address or DNS name. Optionally a port can be specified after a colon; otherwise, the default communication will be attempted on port 443.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Ignore certificate errors</strong></td><td>Unchecked by default. Checking this option disables all certificate validation. This is a security risk and not advised.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>User Name</strong></td><td>Required. Can contain a maximum of 50 characters.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Password</strong></td><td>Required. Can contain a maximum of 50 characters.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Admin domain</strong></td><td>Required. Can contain a maximum of 100 characters.</td></tr></tbody></table>

{% hint style="info" %}
Note: The Highlight Agent will need to trust the certificate presented by the FortiManager.
{% endhint %}

#### Fortinet: SD-WAN

**Uplink bearers**

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="93">Option</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>None</strong></td><td>Do not discover any uplink bearers.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>WANs</strong></td><td>On save, Highlight automatically discovers and creates devices and bearer watches in the location of the device. If watch creation is set to <a href="https://help.highlight.net/admin/admin-page">Pending</a>, interfaces which are down, failed or disconnected are discovered in the pending state. If these watches are later enabled, they show as red in Highlight.</td></tr></tbody></table>

**Fortinet VPN peer**

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="115">Option</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>None</strong></td><td>Do not discover any tunnels or performance tests.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Tunnels</strong></td><td>Discover tunnels only.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Tunnels with perf tests</strong></td><td>Default. On save, Highlight automatically discovers and creates tunnels in the location of the device as subwatches to the associated device and any performance tests are subwatches of their parent tunnel.</td></tr></tbody></table>

{% hint style="info" %}
Note: If changed to None after tunnels and performance tests have been discovered, these will continue to work and can be manually disabled if needed. No new tunnels or tests will be discovered.
{% endhint %}

***

## Create/Edit controller: Extreme Networks

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="116">Field</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>User Name</strong></td><td>Required. Can contain a maximum of 50 characters.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Password</strong></td><td>Required. Can contain a maximum of 50 characters.</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Extreme: WiFi

Set to **Enabled** to discover WiFi devices and access points.

## Create/Edit controller: ICMP Polling

### Main

For [ICMP](/getting-started/new-user/glossary.md#icmpinternet_control_message_protocol) Polling the following options are shown, read-only.

<table><thead><tr><th width="184">Field</th><th width="428">Meaning</th><th>Default value</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Packet size (bytes)</td><td>How many bytes are sent</td><td>32</td></tr><tr><td>Pings per device</td><td>How many pings for each device in the polling period</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Ping threshold</td><td>How many pings must be returned within the threshold to count as a "good" sample</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Stability threshold (ms)</td><td>In milliseconds, above this amount means the sample is "bad" and thus the device is Down</td><td>1000</td></tr><tr><td>Health threshold (ms)</td><td>In milliseconds, above this amount means the sample is "bad" and thus the device is Down</td><td>150</td></tr><tr><td>Poll interval</td><td>How often the results are collected and shown on the Details page chart</td><td>00:01:00</td></tr></tbody></table>

**Example (using the defaults):**  If 10 IP addresses are uploaded for a given ICMP Polling controller, then, if every minute, Highlight will ping each of the 10 devices once, sending 32 bytes. &#x20;

**Results (for a given device in a single minute):**&#x20;

If the ping returns in 150ms or less, then the sample is good for both Stability and Health.  The "fuel gauge" for this watch is incremented for both Stability and Health. A green line is drawn for that minute on the Availability (Stability) line and the Health line.

If the ping returns in greater 150ms and less than 1000ms, then the sample is good for Stability but bad for Health.  A green line is drawn for that minute on the Availability line and a reb blip shows on the Health line.

If the ping returns in greater 1000ms, then the sample is bad for Stability and good for Health.  A red blip shows for that minute on the Availability line and a green line is drawn on the Health line.

### Devices

Use this section to upload the devices to ping.  The [CSV](/getting-started/new-user/glossary.md#csvcomma_separated_values) is limited to 1000 devices.

**Download:** To view the format of the file - or if one has previously been uploaded, to review or update it.

**Upload:** To load devices for this controller to ping, or to make edits to the existing list.&#x20;

<figure><picture><source srcset="/files/ftf6NnBtsKoLO7U2DsyX" media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)"><img src="/files/oQ1SoyJ3RjPagg3Z1a0h" alt="ICMP Polling Devices CSV example"></picture><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### CSV format

<table><thead><tr><th width="219">host</th><th>description</th><th>location</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Mandatory. Can be an IP address in IPv4 format or a hostname. Duplicates are not allowed. </td><td>Optional. If included, Highlight uses this description as the device name and the watch description. Must be fewer than 100 characters.</td><td>Optional. If include, Highlight autogenerates the location and creates the devices and watches in it. Must be fewer than 100 characters.</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Create/Edit controller: Cisco Webex

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="116">Field</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Bot name</strong></td><td>Required. Must be generated and applied to all devices to be monitored. Refer to the <a href="/pages/777dbbf1fcb39427df866f6fcae2eff507625091">Cisco Webex Bot Token guide</a>.  </td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Webex: IoT

Set to **Enabled** to discover all Webex devices. These might include televisions, cameras, microphones, speakers, and touch controllers, and other items.


---

# Agent Instructions
This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com.

## Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://help.highlight.net/admin/admin-page/controller.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.