Deploying Cisco Nexus Dashboard Data Broker Software in Centralized Standalone Mode

This chapter contains details of procedures for installing and upgrading Nexus Dashboard Data Broker in centralized mode.

Beginning with Release 3.10.1, Cisco Nexus Data Broker (NDB) has been renamed to Cisco Nexus Dashboard Data Broker. However, some instances of NDB are present in this document, to correspond with the GUI, and installation folder structure. References of NDB/ Nexus Data Broker/ Nexus Dashboard Data Broker, can be used interchangeably.

Before your proceed with the upgrade/ install procedures in this chapter, compare the md5sum between the Nexus Dashboard Data Broker image on Cisco.com, and the image file copied to linux. Use the following command to check (linux): 


cisco@NDB-virtual-machine:~/3.10/$ md5sum ndb1000-sw-app-k9-3.10.3.zip
Displayed output: 518db25b4a89c996340c0316f72a6287 ndb1000-sw-app-k9-3.10.3.zip

Installing or Upgrading the Cisco Nexus Data Broker Software in Centralized Mode

Before proceeding with the installation, check the System Requirements section in the Overview chapter of this guide.

In Cisco NDB Release 3.10, JRE is unbundled from the NDB package. You need to install Java on the NDB server before starting NDB 3.10.0.


Note

Only Oracle Java is supported.

  1. Install Java version greater then 1.8.0_45

  2. Set JAVA_HOME environment variable; command to be used- export JAVA_HOME=(jre_path)

Installing the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Data Broker Software in Centralized Mode

Complete these steps to install Cisco Nexus Dashboard Data Broker software in Centralized mode:

Procedure

Step 1

In a web browser, navigate to www.cisco.com.


Step 2

Scroll down, and click Downloads.


Step 3

In the Select a Product field, enter Nexus Dashboard Data Broker.


The file information for Release 3.10.3 is displayed: Cisco Nexus Data Broker Software Application: ndb1000-sw-app-k9-3.10.3.zip

Note

 

If prompted, enter your Cisco.com username and password to log in.

Step 4

Download the Cisco Nexus Data Broker application bundle.

Step 5

Create a directory in your Linux machine where you plan to install Cisco Nexus Data Broker.

For example, in your Home directory, create CiscoNDB.

Step 6

Copy the Cisco Nexus Data Broker zip file into the directory that you created.

Step 7

Unzip the Cisco Nexus Data Broker zip file.

The Cisco Nexus Data Broker software is installed in a directory called ndb. The directory contains the following:

  • runndb.sh file—The file that you use to launch Cisco Nexus Data Broker.

  • version.properties file—The Cisco Nexus Data Broker build version.

  • configuration directory—The directory that contains the Cisco Nexus Data Broker initialization files.

    This directory also contains the etc subdirectory that contains profile information, and startup subdirectory where configurations are saved.

  • bin directory—The directory that contains the following script:

    • ndb file—This script contains the Cisco Nexus Data Broker common CLI.

  • lib directory—The directory that contains the Cisco Nexus Data Broker Java libraries.

  • logs directory—The directory that contains the Cisco Nexus Data Broker logs.

    Note

     

    The logs directory is created after the Cisco Nexus Data Broker application is started.

  • plugins directory—The directory that contains the OSGi plugins.

  • work directory—The webserver working directory.

    Note

     

    The work directory is created after the Cisco Nexus Data Broker application is started.

Step 8

Start the NDB application using runndb.sh -start .

Upgrading the Application Software in Centralized Mode Using CLI

Use the upgrade command to upgrade to release 3.10.3.


Note

  • When you upgrade the software to Cisco Nexus Data Broker Release 3.2 or later release, the hostname should not be changed during the upgrade process. If the hostname is changed during the upgrade process, the upgrade might fail. If you are upgrading from release 2.x, 3.0 and 3.1, the domain name configuration in the switch should be removed before upgrading the software.

    In case, the upgrade was not successful because of the mismatch of the host name, use RMA to correct the configuration of the device. See the RMA section in the Cisco Nexus Data Broker Configuration Guide.

  • When you run the upgrade command, the installation and the configuration are upgraded. However, any changes you made to the shell scripts or configuration files, for example, config.ini, are overwritten. After you complete the upgrade process, you must manually reapply your changes to those files.

  • The latest NDB zip file must be extracted in an empty directory.

Hitless Upgrade

For hitless upgrade, configuration backup for releases prior to NDB Release 3.8, will always be the standard upgrade by re-configuring the devices during the upgrade.

Configuration backup taken for releases NDB 3.8 and after, will always be a Hitless upgrade using CLI.

Before you begin

  • Backup up the NDB configuration. See the Backup/ Restore section in the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Data Broker Configuration Guide.

  • Back up your config.ini file.


Important

You should manually backup your config.ini file before upgrading, because the backup process does not back them up for you. If you do not backup your files before upgrading, any changes you made will be lost.


Note

When you run runndb.sh script, there is a thread in the script that monitors the log and the Cisco Nexus Data Broker JAVA process to monitor the health of the Cisco Nexus Data Broker. The default value for this option is 30 Seconds.

Procedure

Step 1

Backup your Cisco Nexus Data Broker release installation using your standard backup procedures.

Step 2

In a web browser, navigate to Cisco.com.

Step 3

Under Support, click All Downloads.

Step 4

In the center pane, click Cloud and Systems Management.

Step 5

In the right pane, click Network Controllers and Applications, and then click Cisco Nexus Dashboard Data Broker.

Step 6

Download the Cisco NDB Release 3.10.3 applicable bundle: Cisco Nexus Data Broker Software Application—ndb1000-sw-app-k9-3.10.3.zip

Step 7

Create a temporary directory in your Linux machine where you plan to upgrade to the latest release.

Step 8

Unzip the release 3.10.3 zip file into the temporary directory that you created.

Step 9

Navigate to the ndb directory that was created when you installed the Cisco Nexus Data Broker release (created in the previous step).

Step 10

Stop the running Cisco Nexus Data Broker instance.

Step 11

Navigate to the ndb/bin directory in the temporary directory that you created for release 3.10.3 upgrade software.

Step 12

Upgrade the application by entering the ./ndb upgrade --perform --target-home {ndb_directory_to_be_upgraded} [--verbose] [--backupfile {ndb_backup_location_and_zip_filename}] command.

You can use one of the following options:

Option Description

--perform --target-home {ndb_directory_to_be_upgraded}

Upgrades the Cisco ndb Monitor Manager intallation to Cisco NDB.

--perform --target-home {ndb_directory_to_be_upgraded} --backupfile {ndb_backup_location_and_zip_filename}

Upgrades the Cisco ndb Monitor Manager installation to Cisco NDB and creates a backup.zip file in the directory path that you set.

Note

 

  • You must provide the name of the backup file and the .zip extension.

  • The backup file should not be saved in the ndb directory with current NDB installation or its subdirectory.

--verbose

Displays detailed information to the console. This option can be used with any other option and is disabled by default.

--validate --target-home {ndb_directory_to_be_upgraded}

Validates the installation.

./ndb help upgrade

Displays the options for the upgrade command.

Step 13

Navigate to the older folder (xnc in releases prior to Release 3.10) where you originally installed Cisco NDB. Rename the folder from xnc to ndb.

Step 14

Start the application processes using runndb.sh -start.

Upgrading the Application Software in Centralized Mode Using GUI


Note

The latest NDB zip file must be extracted in an empty directory.

Hitless Upgrade

For hitless upgrade, configuration backup for releases prior to NDB Release 3.8, will always be the standard upgrade by re-configuring the devices during the upgrade.

Configuration backup taken for releases NDB 3.8 and after, will always be a Hitless upgrade using CLI.

Complete the following steps to upgrade the application software in the Centralized mode using GUI:

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to the Nexus Dashboard Data Broker GUI.

Step 2

Navigate to Administration > Backup/Restore to download the configuration in zip file format.

The default name of the zip file is configuration_startup.zip.

Step 3

Stop the current NDB instance using the runndb.sh -stop command.

Example:

./runndb.sh -stop

Step 4

If TLS certification is enabled between NDB server and NXOS switch, copy the tlsTrustStore and tlsKeyStore files to /ndb/configuration from the old ndb backup.

Step 5

In a web browser, navigate to Cisco.com.

Step 6

Scroll down and click Downloads.

The Software Downloads page is displayed.

Step 7

In the Select a Product field, type in Nexus Dashboard Data Broker.

You are taken to a page from where you can download the latest Nexus Dashboard Data Broker software.

Step 8

Download the Cisco NDB Release 3.10.3 applicable bundle: Cisco Nexus Data Broker Software Application—ndb1000-sw-app-k9-3.10.3.zip

Step 9

Create a directory in your Linux machine where you plan to upgrade to Cisco NDB.

Step 10

Unzip the Cisco NDB Release 3.10.3 zip file into the directory that you created.

Step 11

Navigate to the ndb directory that was created when you installed the Cisco Nexus Data Broker release (created in the previous step).

Step 12

Start the new NDB installation using the runndb.sh -start command.

Example:

./runndb.sh -start

Step 13

Navigate to Administration > Backup/Restore.

Step 14

To reconfigure the device during the upgrade, select the Restore option (by checking the check-box) during configuration upload.

Step 15

Restart the new NDB instance using the runndb.sh -restart command.

Example:

./runndb.sh -restart

Starting the Application

Procedure

Note

 

When you are running NDB for the first time, the URL that you need to connect to and the port that it is listening on are displayed on the screen. For example, when you run the ./runndb.sh script, the following message is displayed on the screen: Web GUI can be accessed using below URL: [https://<IP_address>: 8443].

Java 8 is required for NDB. Setup JAVA_HOME before NDB is started.

You can use one of the following options:

Option Description

no option

-jmxport port_number

Enables JMX remote access on the specified JVM port.

-debugport port_number

Enables debugging on the specified JVM port.

-start
-start port_number
-stop
-restart
-status
-console
-help

Displays the options for the ./runndb.sh command.

-tls

To enable TLS, start the controller by entering the ./runndb.sh -tls -tlskeystore keystore_file_location -tlstruststore truststore_file_location command.

Verifying The Application Status

Procedure

Step 1

Navigate to the ndb directory that was created when you installed the software.

Step 2

Verify that the application is running by entering the ./runndb.sh -status command.

The controller outputs the following, which indicates that the controller is running the Java process with PID 21680: 

Controller with PID:21680 -- Running!

What to do next

Connect the switches to the controller. For more information, see the configuration guide for your switches.