Switches
The following table describes the fields that appear on Switches window.
Field |
Description |
---|---|
Switch |
Specifies name of the switch. |
IP Address |
Specifies IP address of the switch. |
Role |
Specifies role assigned on the switch. |
Serial Number |
Specifies the serial number of the switch. |
Fabric Name |
Specifies the associated fabric name for the switch. |
Config Status | Specifies the configuration status.
Status will be either In-Sync or Out-of-sync. |
Oper Status |
Specifies the configuration status. Status will be either In-Sync or Out-of-sync. |
Discovery Status |
Specifies the discovery status of the switch. |
Model |
Specifies the switch model. |
vPC Role |
Specifies the vPC role of the switch. |
vPC Peer |
Specifies the vPC peer of the switch. |
Adding Switches to a Fabric
UI Path:
Switches in each fabric are unique, and hence, only one switch can be added to one fabric.
Note |
Cisco Nexus Dashboard has 2 logical interfaces per node, namely, Management interface (bond1br) and Fabric (also known as data) interface (bond0br). For Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller, Nexus Dashboard Management and Fabric interfaces must be in different IP subnets. By default, the route for Nexus Dashboard services is through the fabric interface. An operator must add static routes on Nexus Dashboard Management Network to connect with switches that must be reached over management interface (bond1br). This ensures that a route for the pods uses management interface as the exit interface. |
Note |
Make sure that the switch user role for discovery or add switches or LAN credentials for NDFC must have the network-admin role. |
To add switches to the existing fabric, perform below procedures:
-
From Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, choose .
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On Switches tab, Choose
.The Add Switches window appears.
Similarly, you can add switches on Topology window. On topology window, choose a fabric, right-click on the fabric and click Add Switches.
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On add switches window, click Choose Fabric, click appropriate fabric, and then click Select.
The Add Switches window has a default discover tab and other tabs appears based on the fabric selected.
Also, you can pre-provision switches and interfaces. For more information, see pre-provision device and pre-provisioning ethernet interface.
Note |
NDFC supports switch discovery only for default system-name(serial number). |
Note |
When Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller discovers a switch with the hostname containing the period character (.), it is treated as a domain-name and truncated. Only the text before the period character (.) is considered as a hostname. For example:
|
Note |
Ensure that the Switch name or the Host name is unique within the Fabric. |
Discovering New Switches
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When a new Cisco NX-OS device is powered on, typically that device has no startup configuration or any configuration state for that matter. Consequently, it powers on with NX-OS and post initialization, goes into a POAP loop. The device starts sending out DHCP requests on all the interfaces that are up including the mgmt0 interface.
-
As long as there is IP reachability between the device and the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller, the DHCP request from the device, will be forwarded to the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller. For easy day-0 device bring-up, the bootstrap options should be enabled on the Fabric Settings as mentioned earlier.
-
With bootstrap enabled for the fabric, the DHCP request coming from the device will be serviced by the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller. The temporary IP address allocated to the device by the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller will be employed to learn basic information about the switch including the device model, device NX-OS version, etc.
-
In the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller UI, choose .
The Add Switches window appears with default tabs.
-
Choose Bootstrap(POAP) radio button.
As mentioned earlier, Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller retrieves the serial number, model number, and version from the device and displays them on the Inventory Management along window. Also, an option to add the IP address, hostname, and password are made available. If the switch information is not retrieved, refresh the window.
Note
-
At the top left part of the window, export and import options are provided to export and import the .csv file that contains the switch information. You can pre-provision devices using the import option as well.
From Cisco NDFC Release 12.1.1e, for pre-provisioned and bootstrap switches dummy values can be added for the serial number. After configuring the network successfully, serial number can be changed with the appropriate number of the switch on the Switches tab.
Note: You can change serial number only for Nexus 9000 Series switches.
Select the checkbox next to the switch and enter the switch credentials: IP address and host name.
Add the IPv4 address in the IP Address field.
You can provision devices in advance. To pre-provision devices, refer to Pre-provisioning device section.
-
-
In the Admin Password and Confirm Admin Password fields, enter and confirm the admin password.
This admin password is applicable for all the switches displayed in the POAP window.
You can specify a new user. Choose radio button Specify a new user enter Username, Password and choose Authentication Protocol from drop-down list.
Note
If you do not want to use admin credentials to discover switches, you can instead use the AAA authentication, that is, RADIUS or TACACS credentials for discovery only.
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(Optional) Use discovery credentials for discovering switches.
-
Click the Add Discovery Credentials icon to enter the discovery credentials for switches.
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In the Discovery Credentials window, enter the discovery credentials such as discovery username and password.
Click OK to save the discovery credentials.
If the discovery credentials are not provided, Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller uses the admin user and password to discover switches.
-
-
Click Bootstrap at the top right part of the screen.
Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller provisions the management IP address and other credentials to the switch. In this simplified POAP process, all ports are opened up.
-
Click Refresh Topology to get updated information. The added switch goes through the POAP cycle. Monitor and check the switch for POAP completion.
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After the added switch completes POAP, the fabric builder topology page is refreshed with the added switch thereby depicting its discovered physical connections. Set the appropriate role for the switch followed by a Deploy Config operation at the fabric level. The Fabric Settings, switch role, the topology etc. are evaluated by the Fabric Builder and the appropriate intended configuration for the switch is generated as part of the Save operation. The pending configuration will provide a list of the configurations that need to be deployed to the new switch in order to bring it IN-SYNC with the intent.
Note
-
For any changes on the fabric that results in Out-of-Sync, you must deploy the changes. The process is the same as explained in the Discovering Existing Switches section.
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During fabric creation, if you have entered AAA server information (in the Manageability tab), you must update the AAA server password on each switch. Else, switch discovery fails.
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When discovering devices using SNMP, if you have configured to use an AAA server for authentication, the command sync-snmp-password <password> <username> is run on the switch through NDFC to generate a cached user. The authentication uses MD5, by default. You must specify the SNMPv3 authentication and privacy protocol attributes in the switch AV-pair as follows:
snmpv3:auth=SHA priv=AES-128
-
-
After the pending configurations are deployed, the Progress column displays 100% for all switches.
-
Click Close to return to the fabric builder topology.
-
Click Refresh Topology to view the update. All switches must be in green color indicating that they are functional.
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The switch and the link are discovered in Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller. Configurations are built based on various policies (such as fabric, topology, and switch generated policies). The switch image (and other required) configurations are enabled on the switch.
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In the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller GUI, the discovered switches can be seen in the Standalone fabric topology. Up to this step, the POAP is completed with basic settings. You must setup interfaces through the . Select a switch, a slide-in pane appears, click Launch icon. On Switches Overview tab, click Interface tab for any additional configurations, but not limited to the following:
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vPC pairing.
-
Breakout interfaces.
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Port channels, and adding members to ports.
When you enable or disable a vPC pairing/un-pairing or the advertise-pip option, or update Multi-Site configuration, you should use the Deploy Config operation. At the end of the operation, an error prompts you to configure the shutdown or no shutdown command on the nve interface. A sample error screenshot when you enable a vPC setup.
To resolve, go to the
tab and deploy the Shutdown operation on the nve interface followed by a No Shutdown configuration. This is depicted in the figure below where the up arrow corresponds to a No Shutdown operation while a down arrow corresponds to a Shutdown operation. -
You can right-click the switch to view various options:
-
Set Role - Assign a role to the switch (Spine, Border Gateway, and so on).
Note
-
Changing of the switch role is allowed only before executing Deploy Config.
-
Switch roles can be changed if there are no overlays on the switches, but only as per the list of allowed switch role changes given at switch operations section.
-
-
Modes - Maintenance and Active/Operational modes.
-
vPC Pairing - Select a switch for vPC and then select its peer.
You can create a virtual link for a vPC pair or change the existing physical link to a virtual link for a vPC pair.
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Manage Interfaces - Deploy configurations on the switch interfaces.
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View/Edit Policies - See switch policies and edit them as required.
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History - View per switch deployment history.
-
History - View per switch deployment and policy change history.
The Policy Change History tab lists the history of policies along with the users who made the changes like add, update, or delete.
Under the Policy Change History tab, for a policy, click Detailed History under the Generated Config column to view the generated config before and after.
The following table provides the summary of generated config before and after for Policy Template Instances (PTIs).
PTI Operations Generated Config Before Generated Config After Add Empty Contains the config Update Contains config before changes Contains config after changes Mark-Delete Contains the config to be removed. Contains the config to be removed with color change. Delete Contains the config Empty Note
When a policy or profile template is applied, an instance is created for each application of the template, which is known as Policy Template Instance or PTI.
-
Preview Config - View the pending configuration and the side-by-side comparison of the running and expected configuration.
-
Deploy Config - Deploy per switch configurations.
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Discovery - You can use this option to update the credentials of the switch, reload the switch, rediscover the switch, and remove the switch from the fabric.
The new fabric is created, the fabric switches are discovered in Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller, the underlay configuration provisioned on those switches, and the configurations between Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller and the switches are synced. The remaining tasks are:
-
Provision interface configurations such as vPCs, loopback interface, and subinterface configurations.
-
Create networks and deploy them on the switches.
Discovering Existing Switches
To discover existing switches in Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, perform the following procedure:
Procedure
Step 1 |
After you click Add Switches, click Discover Switches to add one or more existing switches into the fabric. |
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Step 2 |
The IP address (Seed IP), username, and password (Username and Password fields) of the switch are provided as the input by a user. The Preserve Config check box is chosen by default. This is the option that a user would select for a brownfield import of a device into the fabric. For a greenfield import where the device configuration will be cleaned up as part of the import process, the user should set the Preserve Config check box is not selected.
|
||||
Step 3 |
Click Discover Switches. The Add Switches window appears. Since the Max Hops field was populated with 2 (by default), the switch with the specified IP address (leaf-91) and switches two hops from that switch, are populated in the Add Switches result. |
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Step 4 |
If the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller was able to perform a successful shallow discovery to a switch, the status column shows as Manageable. Choose the check box next to the appropriate switch(es) and click Add Switches. Though this example describes the discovery of one switch, multiple switches can be discovered at once. The switch discovery process is initiated. The Progress column displays progress for all the selected switches. It displays done for each switch on completion.
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller discovers all the switches, and the Progress column displays done for all switches, close the screen. The Standalone fabric topology screen comes up again. The switch icons of the added switches are displayed in it.
|
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Step 5 |
Click Refresh topology to view the latest topology view. When all switches are added and roles assigned to them, the fabric topology contains the switches and connections between them. |
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Step 6 |
After discovering the devices, assign an appropriate role to each device. For more information on roles, refer Assign Roles. If you choose the Hierarchical layout for display (in the Actions panel), the topology automatically gets aligned as per role assignment, with the leaf devices at the bottom, the spine devices connected on top of them, and the border devices at the top. Assign vPC switch role - To designate a pair of switches as a vPC switch pair, right-click the switch and choose the vPC peer switch from the list of switches. AAA server password - During fabric creation, if you have entered AAA server information (in the Manageability tab), you must update the AAA server password on each switch. Else, switch discovery fails. When a new vPC pair is created and deployed successfully using Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller, one of the peers might be out-of-sync for the no ip redirects CLI even if the command exists on the switch. This out-of-sync is due to a delay on the switch to display the CLI in the running configuration, which causes a diff in the configuration compliance. Re-sync the switches in the Config Deployment window to resolve the diff. |
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Step 7 |
Click Save. The template and interface configurations form the underlay network configuration on the switches. Also, freeform CLIs that were entered as part of fabric settings (leaf and spine switch freeform configurations entered in the Advanced tab) are deployed. Configuration Compliance: If the provisioned configurations and switch configurations do not match, the Status column displays out-of-sync. For example, if you enable a function on the switch manually through a CLI, then it results in a configuration mismatch. To ensure configurations provisioned from Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller to the fabric are accurate or to detect any deviations (such as out-of-band changes), Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller’s Configuration Compliance engine reports and provides necessary remediation configurations. When you click Deploy Config, the Config Deployment window appears. If the status is out-of-sync, it suggests that there is inconsistency between the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller and configuration on the device. The Re-sync button is displayed for each switch in the Re-sync column. Use this option to resynchronize Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller state when there is a large scale out-of-band change, or if configuration changes do not register in the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller properly. The re-sync operation does a full CC run for the switch and recollects “show run” and “show run all” commands from the switch. When you initiate the re-sync process, a progress message is displayed on the screen. During the re-sync, the running configuration is taken from the switch. The Out-of-Sync/In-Sync status for the switch is recalculated based on the intent defined in Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller. Click the Preview Config column entry (updated with a specific number of lines). The Config Preview screen comes up. The PendingConfig tab displays the pending configurations for successful deployment. The Side-by-side Comparison tab displays the current configurations and expected configurations together. Multi-line banner motd configuration can be configured in Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller with freeform configuration policy, either per switch using switch_freeform, or per fabric using leaf/spine freeform configuration. Note that after the multi-line banner motd is configured, deploy the policy by executing the Deploy Config option in the (top right part of the) fabric topology screen. Else, the policy may not be deployed properly on the switch. The banner policy is only to configure single-line banner configuration. Also, you can only create one banner related freeform configuration/policy. Multiple policies for configuring banner motd are not supported. |
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Step 8 |
Close the screen. After successful configuration provisioning (when all switches display a progress of 100%), close the screen. The fabric topology is displayed. The switch icons turn green to indicate successful configuration. If a switch icon is in red color, it indicates that the switch and Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller configurations are not in sync. When deployment is pending on a switch, the switch is displayed in blue color. The pending state indicates that there is a pending deployment or pending recomputation. You can click on the switch and review the pending deployments using Preview or Deploy Config options, or click Deploy Config to recompute the state of the switch.
An example of the Deploy Config option usage is for switch-level freeform configurations. Refer for details. |
Adding Switches Using Bootstrap Mechanism
When a new Cisco NX-OS device is powered on, typically that device has no startup configuration or any configuration state for that matter. Consequently, it powers on with NX-OS and post initialization, goes into a POAP loop. The device starts sending out DHCP requests on all the interfaces that are up including the mgmt0 interface.
Starting from Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Release 12.0.1a, POAP access user validated key exchange and password-less ssh to limit configuration file access to the specific switch for a finite time. Therefore, you must accept a new key via Add Switch > Bootstrap whenever a device attempts POAP.
If there is IP reachability between the device and the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller, the DHCP request from the device, will be forwarded to the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller. For easy day-0 device bring-up, the bootstrap options should be enabled in the Fabric Settings.
With bootstrap enabled for the fabric, the DHCP request coming from the device will be serviced by the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller. The temporary IP address allocated to the device by the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller will be employed to learn basic information about the switch including the device model, device NX-OS version, etc.
-
Choose LAN > Switches > Add Switches.
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Choose Bootstrap(POAP) radio button.
-
Click Actions and add Switches.
You can add switches one at a time using the Add option or add multiple switches at the same time using the Import option.
If you use the Add option, ensure you enter all the required details.
Note: It might take some time for the switches to appear.
-
Choose a required switch.
-
Click Edit.
The Edit bootstrap switch dialog appears.
-
Enter the required details.
-
Click Save.
-
Choose the switch.
-
Enter the admin password in the Admin password field.
-
Click Import Selected Switches.
Return Material Authorization (RMA)
This section describes how to replace a physical switch in a Fabric when using Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Easy Fabric mode.
Prerequisites
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Ensure that the fabric is up and running with minimal disruption while replacing the switch.
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To use the POAP RMA flow, configure the fabric for bootstrap (POAP).
-
Perform Recalculate config and Deploy more than once, if needed, to copy the FEX configurations for the RMA of switches that have FEX deployed.
Guidelines and Limitations
-
To replace the switch, remove the old switch from the fabric and discover the new switch in the fabric. For example, if you want to replace a Cisco Nexus 9300-EX switch with a Cisco Nexus 9300-FX switch, remove the 9300-EX switch from the fabric followed by discovering the 9300-FX switch in the same fabric.
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When GIR is enabled before upgrading Cisco Nexus 7000 Series switches, Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller pushes the system mode maintenance command to the switches when the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller RMA procedure is initiated. This command applies the configuration that is present in the default maintenance mode profile to the switches. For more information on performing Graceful Insertion and Removal (GIR) on the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series switches, refer Configuring GIR.
POAP RMA Flow
To provision RMA, follow below procedure:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Navigate to the Fabric overview. |
Step 2 |
Move the device into maintenance mode. To move a device into maintenance mode, choose the device, click Actions > More > Change Mode. From the Mode drop-down list, select Maintenance. |
Step 3 |
Physically replace the device in the network. Physical connections should be made in the same place on the replacement switch as they existed on the original switch. |
Step 4 |
Power on the switch and go through the POAP cycle. |
Step 5 |
Initiate the RMA flow. Choose the device, click Actions > More > Provision RMA. |
Step 6 |
Set the admin password. (Optional) You can set a AAA user and password for discovery. |
Step 7 |
Select the replacement device. |
Step 8 |
Click Provision RMA. |
Manual RMA Flow
Use this flow when Bootstrap is not possible (or not desired).
To provision manual RMA, follow below procedure:
Procedure
Step 1 |
(Optional) Place the device in maintenance mode. |
Step 2 |
Physically replace the device in the network. |
Step 3 |
Log in through Console and set the Management IP and credentials. |
Step 4 |
If you are using AAA, configure AAA commands on the switch. Ensure you update LAN and discovery credentials in NDFC for the newly configured AAA user, if configured. |
Step 5 |
The Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller rediscovers the new device or you can manually choose . |
Step 6 |
Deploy the expected configuration using . |
Step 7 |
Depending on the configuration, if breakout ports or FEX ports are in use, you have to deploy again to completely restore the configuration. |
Step 8 |
After a successful deployment, and the device is “In-Sync,” you must move the device back to Normal Mode. |
RMA for User with Local Authentication
Note |
This task is only applicable to non-POAP switches. |
Use the following steps to perform RMA for a user with local authentication:
Procedure
Step 1 |
After the new switch comes online, SSH into the switch and reset the local user passwords with the cleartext password using the “username” command. Reset the local user passwords to resync the SNMP password. The password is stored in the configuration file in a nontransferable form. |
Step 2 |
Wait for the RMA to complete. |
Step 3 |
Update Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller
|
Pre-provisioning Support
Cisco NDFC supports provisioning of device configuration in advance. This is specifically applicable for scenarios where devices have been procured, but not yet delivered or received by the Customers. The purchase order typically has information about the device serial number, device model and so on, which in turn can be used to prepare the device configuration in NDFC prior to the device connectivity to the Network. Pre-provisioning is supported for Cisco NX-OS devices in Data Center VXLAN EVPN, External Connectivity Network, and Classic LAN fabrics.
Pre-provisioning a Device
You can provision devices before adding them to fabrics. However, ensure that you enter DHCP details in the Bootstrap tab in the fabric settings.
The pre-provisioned devices support the following configurations in Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller:
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Base management
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vPC Pairing
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Intra-Fabric links
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Ethernet ports
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Port-channel
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vPC
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ST FEX
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AA FEX
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Loopback
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Overlay network configurations
The pre-provisioned devices do not support the following configurations in Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller:
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Inter-Fabric links
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Sub-interface
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Interface breakout configuration
When a device is being pre-provisioned has breakout links, you need to specify the corresponding breakout command along with the switch's model and gateway in the Data field in the Add a new device to pre-provisioning window in order to generate the breakout PTI.
Note |
The interface breakout CLI in the Data key of the pre-provision payload must contain the exact format as is on the 'show running-configuration' output from the switch. |
Note the following guidelines:
-
Multiple breakout commands can be separated by a semicolon (;).
-
The definitions of the fields in the data JSON object are as follows:
-
modulesModel: (Mandatory) Specifies the switch module’s model information.
-
gateway: (Mandatory) Specifies the default gateway for the management VRF on the switch. This field is required to create the intent to pre-provision devices. You must enter the gateway even if it is in the same subnet as Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller to create the intent as part of pre-provisioning a device.
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breakout: (Optional) Specifies the breakout command provided in the switch.
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portMode: (Optional) Specifies the port mode of the breakout interface.
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The examples of the values in the Data field are as follows:
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{"modulesModel": ["N9K-C93180LC-EX"], "gateway": "10.1.1.1/24"}
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{"modulesModel": ["N9K-C93180LC-EX"],"breakout": "interface breakout module 1 port 1 map 10g-4x", "portMode": "hardware profile portmode 4x100G+28x40G", "gateway": "172.22.31.1/24" }
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{"modulesModel": ["N9K-X9736C-EX", "N9K-X9732C-FX", "N9K-C9516-FM-E2", "N9K-C9516-FM-E2", "N9K-C9516-FM-E2", "N9K-C9516-FM-E2", "N9K-SUP-B+", "N9K-SC-A", "N9K-SC-A"], "gateway": "172.22.31.1/24"}
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{"breakout":"interface breakout module 1 port 50 map 10g-4x" , "gateway": "172.16.1.1/24", "modulesModel": ["N9K-C93180YC-EX "]}
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{"modulesModel": ["N9K-X9732C-EX", "N9K-X9732C-EX", "N9K-C9504-FM-E", "N9K-C9504-FM-E", "N9K-SUP-B", "N9K-SC-A", "N9K-SC-A"], "gateway": "172.29.171.1/24", "breakout":"interface breakout module 1 port 1,11,19 map 10g-4x; interface breakout module 1 port 7 map 25g-4x"}
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{"modulesModel": ["N9K-C93180LC-EX"], "gateway": "10.1.1.1/24","breakout": "interface breakout module 1 port 1-4 map 10g-4x","portMode": "hardware profile portmode 48x25G + 2x100G + 4x40G"}
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Choose LAN > Switches> Add Switches.
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Choose Pre-provision radio button.
-
Click Actions and add switches.
You can add switches one at a time using the Add option or add multiple switches at the same time using the Import option.
If you use the Add option, ensure you enter all the required details.
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Choose a switch.
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Enter the admin password in the Admin password field.
-
Click Pre-provision.
The pre-provisioned switch is added.
To bring in the physical device, you can follow the manual RMA or POAP RMA procedure.
For more information, see Return Material Authorization (RMA).
If you use the POAP RMA procedure, ignore the error message of failing to put the device into maintenance mode due to no connectivity since it is expected to have no connectivity to a non-existing device.
Pre-provisioning an Ethernet Interface
You can pre-provision Ethernet interfaces in the LAN Interfaces window. This pre-provisioning feature is supported in the Easy, External, and eBGP fabrics. You can add Ethernet interfaces to only pre-provisioned devices before they are discovered in NDFC.
Note |
Before attaching a network/VRF, you must pre-provision the Ethernet interface before adding it to Port-channels, vPCs, ST FEX, AA FEX, loopback, subinterface, tunnel, ethernet, and SVI configurations. |
Before you begin
Procedure
Step 1 |
Double-click on the fabric containing the pre-provisioned device from the LAN Fabrics window. The Fabric Overview window appears. |
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Step 2 |
On the Interfaces tab, click . The Create Interface window appears. |
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Step 3 |
Enter all the required details in the Create Interface window. Type: Select Ethernet from the drop-down list. Select a device: Select the pre-provisioned device.
Interface Name: Enter a valid interface name based on the module type. For example, Ethernet1/1, eth1/1, or e1/1. The interface with same name should be available on the device after it is added. Policy: Select a policy that should be applied on the interface. For more information, see Adding Interfaces. |
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Step 4 |
Click Save. |
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Step 5 |
Click Preview to check the expected configuration that will be deployed to the switch after it is added.
|
Pre-provisioning a vPC Pair
Before you begin
Ensure that you have enabled Bootstrap in the Fabric Settings.
Procedure
Step 1 |
Import both the devices into the fabric. For more information, refer Pre-provisioning a Device. Two Cisco Nexus 9000 Series devices that are pre-provisioned and added to an existing Fabric. Choose Add Switches from the Actions drop-down list. On the Inventory Management screen, click PowerOn Auto Provisioning (POAP). The devices will show up in the fabric as gray/undiscovered devices. |
Step 2 |
Right click and select appropriate roles for these devices similar to other reachable devices. |
Step 3 |
To create vPC pairing between the devices with physical peer-link or MCT, perform the following steps: |
Pre-provisioning a vPC Host Interface
Procedure
Step 1 |
Create physical ethernet interfaces on the pre-provisioned devices. Add a vPC host interface similar to a regular vPC pair or switches. For more information, see Pre-provisioning an Ethernet Interface. For example, leaf1-leaf2 represents the pre-provisioned vPC device pair, assuming that Ethernet interfaces 1/1 is already pre-provisioned on both devices leaf1 and leaf2. |
Step 2 |
Create a vPC host truck interface . Preview and Deploy actions doesn't yield any result, because both require the device to be present. The vPC host interface is created and displays status as Not discovered. |
Attaching Overlays to Pre-provisioned Devices
Overlay VRFs and Networks can be attached to pre-provisioned devices similar to any other discovered device.
An overlay network is attached to the pre-provisioned vPC pair of leafs (leaf1-leaf2). It is also attached to the pre-provisioned vPC host interface port-channels created on leaf1-leaf2.
Preview and Deploy operations are disabled for the pre-provisioned devices, because the devices are not reachable. After the pre-provisioned device is reachable, all operations are enabled similar to other discovered devices.
On the Fabric Overview window, click the Policies tab and choose . You can view the entire intent generated for the pre-provisioned device, including the overlay network/VRF attachment information.
Previewing Switches
Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller UI Navigation
-
Choose
. -
Choose Fabric Summary slide-in pane. Click the Launch icon. Choose .
. Click on a fabric to open the
After adding the switches, you can preview the switches with pending configurations, the side-by-side comparison of running configurations, and the expected configurations for the switches. You can select multiple switches and preview them at the same instance. The Preview window displays the pending configurations for the successful deployment of a switch.
To preview the switches and resync the ones with pending configurations, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
In the Switches window, use the check boxes next to the switches to select the switches that you want to preview. From the Actions drop-down list, choose Preview. The Preview Config window appears. This window displays the switch configuration information such as the switch name; its ip address, role, serial number; the fabric status-whether it is in sync, out of sync, or not available; the pending configuration; the status description; and the progress. |
Step 2 |
To only preview the configuration, view the displayed information and click Close. |
Step 3 |
To resynchronize the switches with pending configuration, click Resync. The progress bar displays the progress of the resynchronization. Click Close to close the Preview Config window. |
Step 4 |
To view the pending configurations and side-by-side comparison, click the respective link in the Pending Config column. Alternatively, on the Fabric Overview Actions drop-down list, select Recalculate Config. The Deploy Configuration window appears. It displays the configuration status on the switches. You can also view the pending configurations by clicking the respective link in the Pending Config column. The Pending Config window appears. The Pending Config tab on this window displays the pending configurations on the switch. The Side-by-Side Comparison tab displays the running configuration and expected configuration side-by-side. Close the Pending Config window. |
Deploy Configuration
This deploy option is a local operation for a switch, that is, the expected configuration or intent for a switch is evaluated against it’s current running configuration, and a config compliance check is performed for the switch to get the In-Sync or Out-of-Sync status. If the switch is out of sync, the user is provided with a preview of all the configurations running in that particular switch that vary from the intent defined by the user for that respective switch.
-
Choose required switch, choose
to deploy configuration on a switch.The Deploy Configuration window appears.
-
Click Resync to synchronize configuration.
-
Click Deploy.
The Status column displays FAILED or SUCCESS state. For a FAILED status, investigate the reason for failure to address the issue.
-
Click Close to navigate to switch window.
Discovery
This chapter contains below sections:
Update Credentials
Use update discovery credentials for updating discovering switches.
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose required switch, choose .The Update Discovery Credentials window appears. |
Step 2 |
In the Update Discovery Credentials window, enter the discovery credentials such as discovery username and password. |
Step 3 |
Click Update to save the discovery credentials. If the discovery credentials are not provided, Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller uses the admin user and password to discover switches. |
Rediscover
You can rediscover switch and check the status of it.
To rediscover the switch:
-
Choose required switch, choose
to rediscover switches.The Discovery Status column shows the status as Rediscovering and after discovering it displays the status.
Guidelines and Limitations for Changing Discovery IP Address
From Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Release 12.0.1a, you can change the Discovery IP address of a device that is existing in a fabric.
Guidelines and Limitations
The following are the guidelines and limitations for changing discovery IP address.
-
Changing discovery IP address is supported for NX-OS switches and devices that are discovered over their management interface.
-
Changing discovery IP address is supported for templates such as:
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Easy_Fabric
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Easy_Fabric_eBGP
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External
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LAN_Classic
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LAN_Monitor
-
-
Changing discovery IP address is supported in both managed and monitored modes.
-
Only users with the network-admin role can change the discovery IP address on Cisco Fabric Controller UI.
-
The discovery IP address must not be used on other devices, and it must be reachable when the change is done.
-
While changing the discovery IP address for a device in a managed fabric, switches are placed in migration mode.
-
When you change the IP address of a switch that is linked to vPC Peer, corresponding changes such as vPC peer, domain configuration will be updated accordingly.
-
Fabric configuration restores the original IP address, it reports out of sync post restore and the configuration intent for the device must be updated manually to get the in-sync status.
-
Fabric controllers restore that had the original device discovery IP reports the switch as Unreachable post restore. The discovery IP address change procedure must be repeated after the restore.
-
Device Alarms associated with the original discovery IP address will be purged after the change of IP address.
Changing Discovery IP Address
Before you begin
You must make the management IP address and route related changes on the device and ensure that the reachability of the device from Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller.
To change the discovery IP address from the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose . |
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Step 2 |
Click on fabric names to view the required switch. The Fabric summary slide-in pane appears. |
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Step 3 |
Click Launch icon to view Fabric Overview window. |
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Step 4 |
On the Switches tab, click Refresh icon adjacent to the Action button on the main window. Switch with a changed IP address will be in Unreachable state in Discovery Status column. |
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Step 5 |
Click the check box next to the Switch column and select the switch.
|
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Step 6 |
Choose on the switches tab area.The Change Discovery IP window appears. Similarly, you can navigate from tab. Choose a required switch, click . |
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Step 7 |
Enter the appropriate IP address in the New IP Address text field and click OK.
|
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Step 8 |
From the fabric Actions drop-down list, click Recalculate Config to initiate the process of updating Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller configuration intent for the devices. Similarly, you can recalculate configuration on topology window. Choose Topology, tab right-click on the switch, click Recalculate Config. The Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller configuration intent for the device management related configuration will be updated and the device mode status for the switch is changed to normal mode. The switch configuration status is displayed as In-Sync.
|
Update VRF
To update discovery VRF for switches, perform the following steps:
Note |
If you enable update VRF option, the VRF associated with the interface which has discovery IP address for a switch will be auto discovered in NDFC during importing a switch. You can override VRF settings for required switch with appropriate user role. |
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose required switch, choose .The Update Discovery VRF window appears. |
Step 2 |
In the Update Discovery VRF window, choose New VRF and Interface from drop-down list. |
Step 3 |
Click OK to save new VRF details. |
Assigning Switch Roles
You can assign roles to switches on Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller.
-
Choose required switch, choose
. -
The Select Role window appears. You can choose appropriate role and click Select.
A confirmation window appears.
Note
You must rediscover the switch to view new role assignation in Role Status column.
The following roles are supported in Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller:
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Spine
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Leaf
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Border
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Border Spine
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Border gateway
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Border gateway spine
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Super spine
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Border super spine
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Border gateway super spine
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Access
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Aggregation
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Edge router
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Core router
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TOR
Creating a vPC Setup
Procedure
Step 1 |
Right-click one of the two designated vPC switches and choose vPC Pairing. The Select vPC peer dialog box comes up. It contains a list of potential peer switches. Ensure that the Recommended column for the vPC peer switch is updated as true.
|
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Step 2 |
Click the radio button next to the vPC peer switch and choose vpc_pair from the vPC Pair Template drop-down list. Only templates with the VPC_PAIR template sub type are listed here. The vPC Domain and vPC Peerlink tabs appear. You must fill up the fields in the tabs to create the vPC setup. The description for each field is displayed at the extreme right. vPC Domain tab: Enter the vPC domain details. vPC+: If the switch is part of a FabricPath vPC + setup, enable this check box and enter the FabricPath switch ID field. Configure VTEPs: Check this check box to enter the source loopback IP addresses for the two vPC peer VTEPs and the loopback interface secondary IP address for NVE configuration. NVE interface: Enter the NVE interface. vPC pairing will configure only the source loopback interface. Use the freeform interface manager for additional configuration. NVE loopback configuration: Enter the IP address with the mask. vPC pairing will only configure primary and secondary IP address for loopback interface. Use the freeform interface manager for additional configuration. vPC Peerlink tab: Enter the vPC peer-link details. Switch Port Mode: Choose trunk or access or fabricpath. If you select trunk, then corresponding fields (Trunk Allowed VLANs and Native VLAN) are enabled. If you select access, then the Access VLAN field is enabled. If you select fabricpath, then the trunk and access port related fields are disabled. |
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Step 3 |
Click Save. The vPC setup is created. To update vPC setup details, do the following:
After creating a vPC pair, you can view vPC details in vPC Overview window. |
Undeploying a vPC Setup
Procedure
Step 1 |
Right-click a vPC switch and choose vPC Pairing. The vPC peer screen comes up. |
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Step 2 |
Click Unpair at the bottom right part of the screen. The vPC pair is deleted and the fabric topology window appears. |
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Step 3 |
Click Deploy Config. |
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Step 4 |
(Optional) Click the value under the Recalculate Config column. View the pending configuration in the Config Preview dialog box. The following configuration details are deleted on the switch when you unpair: vPC feature, vPC domain, vPC peerlink, vPC peerlink member ports, loopback secondary IPs, and host vPCs. However, the host vPCs and port channels are not removed. Delete these port channels from the Interfaces window if required.
|
Performing Actions on Switches
Change Mode
To change mode for the switch, perform the following steps:
-
Choose check box for required switch, choose
.The Change Mode window appears.
-
Choose required Normal or Maintenance from drop-down list.
-
Click Save and Deploy Now to change mode or click Save and Deploy Later to change mode later.
Provision RMA
To change mode for the switch, perform the following steps:
-
Choose check box for required switch, choose
.The Provision RMA window appears.
-
The Provision RMA UI will show the replacement device 5-10 minutes after it is powered on.
Change Serial Number
Allows you to change the serial number of switches. While pre‐provisioning devices, you can provide dummy values for the Serial number of the switch. After you configure the network successfully, you can change the serial number with the appropriate serial number of the switch. Before changing the serial number of switches, on main window, click Actions > Recalculate and Deploy to save the latest data on switch.
Note |
The change of serial number is supported only for Nexus 9000 Series switches. After change of serial number with actual number it is recommended to Re-POAP the device during the power on bootstrap |
Copy Run Start
To copy the existing switch configuration to start configuration, perform the following steps:
-
Choose check box for required switch, choose
.The Copy Running Config to Startup Config screen appears. In the Progress column shows the process in progress and status description shows Deployment in progress.
-
A confirmation window appears, click OK.
The status description column displays Deployment completed and progress column in green.
-
Click Close to close this window.
Reload
To reload required switch, choose
.A confirmation window appears, click Confirm.
Restore Switch
You can restore a Cisco Nexus switch in external fabrics and LAN classic fabrics from the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI. The information you restore at switch-level is extracted from the fabric-level backups. The switch-level restoring doesn’t restore fabric-level intents and other configurations applied using the fabric settings. Only switch-level intents are restored. Therefore, after you restore a switch, it might go out-of-sync because the fabric-level intents aren’t restored. Perform a fabric-level restore to restore the intents as well. You can restore only one switch at a time. You can’t restore a switch if the fabric where it’s discovered is part of an MSD fabric.
-
Choose
.The Restore Switch window appears and you are in the Select a Backup tab. Refer to Backup Fabric for more information.
-
The Select a Backup tab displays the fabric backup details. It includes the following information:
-
Backup Date - Specifies the backup date and time.
-
Backup Version - Specifies the version number of backup.
-
Backup Tag - Specifies the name of backup.
-
NDFC Version - Specifies the NDFC version details.
-
Backup Type - Specifies the type of backup, either manual or automatic.
You can choose the automatic, manual, or golden backup. These backups are color-coded. Automatic backups are indicated in blue color.
Manual backups are indicated in midnight blue color. Golden backups are indicated in orange color. The automatic backups have only the versions in their names. Whereas the manual backups have tag names, which you gave when you initiated a manual backup, along with the version in the backup name. Hover over a backup to see the name.
You can now mark the backups that you don’t want to delete even after you reach the archiving limit. These backups are the golden backups. You can’t delete golden backups of fabrics. However, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller archives only up to 10 golden backups.
-
-
Choose radio button for required backup to mark as golden, choose Actions > Mark as golden, a confirmation window appears, click Confirm.
-
Choose radio button for backup to delete from golden, choose Actions > Remove as golden, a confirmation window appears, click Confirm.
Note
Most of this information is at the fabric level, and may or may not directly impact the proceedings of the switch-level restore.
-
Click Next to move to the Restore Preview step.
-
You can view information about the switch name, switch serial, IP address, status, restore supported, delta configuration and the VRF details.
-
(Optional) Click Get Config to preview device configuration details.
The Config Preview window appears, which has three tabs.
-
Backup Config: This tab displays the backup configuration for the selected device.
-
Current Config: This tab displays the current running configuration of the selected device.
-
Side-by-side Comparison: This tab displays current running configuration on the switch, and the backup configuration, which is the expected configuration.
-
-
Click Restore Intent to proceed to the Restore Status step in restoring.
The restore status and description appears for the switch.
-
Click Finish after the restoring process is complete.
Note
-
You can’t go back to the previous step because the fabric configurations change.
-
If the restoring failed, the switch rolls back to the previous configuration.
-
Show Commands
The following procedure view the commands in Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller:
-
Choose
.The Switch Show Commands window appears.
-
Choose required commands from drop-down list and enter required information in text field.
-
Click Execute to view the CLI output and to clear the output, click Clear Output.
Exec Commands
The commands available in the EXEC mode include the show commands that display the device status and configuration information, the clear commands, and other commands that perform actions that you do not save in the device configuration.
The following procedure shows how to run EXEC commands in Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller:
-
Choose
.The Switch Show Commands window appears.
-
From the Template drop-down list, choose exec_freeform or exec_elam_capture.
-
Enter the commands in the Freeform CLI for exec_freeform and required IP addresses.
-
Click Deploy to run the EXEC commands.
-
In the CLI Execution Status window, you can check the status of the deployment. Click Detailed Status under the Command column to view details.
-
In the Command Execution Details window, click the info under the CLI Response column to view the output or response.
Delete Switches
You can delete one or more existing switches.
Choose Confirm
. A confirmation window appears, click