Intersight Device Connector

This chapter describes how to connect devices in a secure way to send information and receive control instructions on Cisco MDS 9000 Family switches.

Device Connector

Beginning with Cisco NX-OS MDS 9000 Release 9.3(2), the Device Connector on NX-OS feature is supported which provides a secure way for the connected devices to send information and receive control instructions from the Cisco Intersight portal, using a secure Internet connection.

The Cisco MDS 9000 switch must properly resolve svc.intersight.com and allow outbound initiated HTTPS connections on port 443. To resolve svc.intersight.com, you must configure DNS on the Cisco MDS 9000 devices. If a proxy is required for an HTTPS connection to svc.intersight.com, the proxy can be configured in the NXDC user interface. .

The NXDC is enabled by default on all Cisco MDS 9000 series switches and it starts at boot by default, and attempts to connect to the cloud service. Once a secure connection has been established and the device connector is registered with the Intersight service, the device connector collects detailed inventory, health status and sends the adoption telemetry data to the Intersight database. Inventory is refreshed once in a day.

The NXDC feature integration resolves not managed switches with the following capabilities:

  • It provides fast and quick solution to gather basic data from unmanaged switches.

  • It stores private and organized data of all devices in a single location.

  • It manages the data securely in the cloud.

  • It is flexible for future extensions and upgradability.

Guidelines and Limitations for Device Connector

The following are the guidelines and limitations for Device Connector.

  • Extra port may be displayed during a port scan. The ports are seen only in the local IPv4 or IPv6.

Configuring NXDC

To configure NXDC, follow the below steps:


Note

By default the NXDC feature is enabled.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. Configure terminal
  2. feature intersight
  3. (Optional)intersight proxy <proxy-name> port <proxy-port>
  4. (Optional)intersight connection <name>
  5. (Optional)intersight trustpoint <trustpoint-label>

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

Configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Step 2

feature intersight

Example:

switch(config)# feature intersight

Step 3

(Optional)intersight proxy <proxy-name> port <proxy-port>

Example:

switch(config)# intersight proxy proxy.esl.cisco.com port 8080

Configures the proxy server for intersight connection.

  • proxy-name: IPv4 or IPv6 address or DNS name of proxy server.

  • proxy-port: Proxy port number. The range is 1-65535. The default value is 8080.

Note

 

If Proxy is enabled with the smart license configuration on Cisco MDS 9000 switches, the NXDC inherits this configuration and attempts to connect with Cisco Intersight Cloud.

Step 4

(Optional)intersight connection <name>

Example:

switch(config)# intersight connection qaconnect.starshipcloud.com

Sets the DNS name for intersight connection. It can be used to change from intersight to NDSaaS.

  • name: Name value is string. The maximum size is 128.

Step 5

(Optional)intersight trustpoint <trustpoint-label>

Example:

switch(config)#intersight trustpoint mds-stage-onprem

Configures certificates for intersight connection.

trustpoint-label: Crypto ca truspoint label. For more information refer to Cisco MDS 9000 Series NX-OS Security Configuration Guide.

Verifying NXDC

To verify the NXDC configuration, use the following commands:

Command

Purpose
show system internal intersight info

Displays the device connector system info.

switch(config)# show system internal intersight info
Intersight connector.db Info:
AccountOwnershipState   :Not Claimed
AccountOwnershipUser    :
AccountOwnershipTime    :0001-01-01T00:00:00Z
AccountOwnershipId      :
DomainGroupMoid         :5b2541877a7662743465ccad
AccountMoid             :5960901ca94eba000127e335
CloudDns                :svc.ucs-connect.com
CloudDnsList:           
        1.              :svc-static1.ucs-connect.com
        2.              :svc.ucs-connect.com
        3.              :svc.intersight.com
        4.              :svc-static1.intersight.com
Identity                :63931a496f72612d3922c706
CloudEnabled            :true
ReadOnlyMode            :false
LocalConfigLockout      :false
TunneledKVM             :false
HttpProxy:              
        ProxyHost       :proxy-wsa.esl.cisco.com
        ProxyPort       :80
        Preferenc       :0
        ProxyType       :Manual
    Target[1]:          
        ProxyHost       :proxy-wsa.esl.cisco.com
        ProxyPort       :80
        Preference      :0
LogLevel                :info
DbVersion               :1
AutoUpgradeAdminState   :Automatic

show system internal intersight connection state

Displays the device connections.

switch(config)# show system internal intersight connection-state 
AdminState                :  true
ReadOnlyMode              :  false
ConnectionState           :  Connected
ConnectionStateQualifier  :  
ConnectionLastDownTimeTs  :  2022-12-09T11:21:33.653652476Z
AccountOwnershipState     :  Not Claimed
AccountOwnershipUser      :  
AccountOwnershipTime      :  0001-01-01T00:00:00Z
AccountOwnershipName      :  
Leadership                :  Primary
DeviceRegistrationMoid    :  63931a496f72612d3922c706

The following adoption telemetry data is collected from switch and sent to Intersight.

Type

Data
Inventory Device Name
Product Type
Version
Serial number
Cpu average load
Memory usage
Disk name, usage
Device Up Time
Device Id
Interface information – name , up count, down count, operational state, transceiver status
Telnet enable status
Bootflash model, serial number
Last Reboot Time
Last Reset Reason
System Up Time
License details List of activated licenses
Feature details List of activated features
Power Supply details Product Id
Serial Number
Vendor Id
Fan details Product Id
Serial Number
Vendor Id
Module details Product Id
Serial Number
Vendor Id
Transceiver Details Product Id
Serial Number
Vendor Id
Part Number
Neighbor details WWN of the neighbor switches in the fabric