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This preface contains the following sections:
Cisco Extensible Network Controller (Cisco XNC) is a software platform that serves as an interface between the network elements (southbound) and third-party applications (northbound). Cisco XNC is a JVM-based application that runs on a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Cisco XNC is based on a highly available, scalable, and extensible architecture that supports a network. Cisco XNC is built for extensibility using the Open Services Gateway initiative (OSGi) framework, which allows new functionality to be added.
Cisco XNC can support multiple protocol plugins in the southbound direction. In the current release, Cisco Plug-in for OpenFlow 1.0 is available.
Cisco XNC provides the following:
The Cisco XNC GUI contains the following areas and panes:
Note | Depending on the Cisco XNC applications that you have installed, the items on the menu bar may vary. |
The menu bar contains the following items:
Note | You must have an administrative role and the Network Slicing application to view this list. |
Note | The drop-down list displays the username that you used when you logged into Cisco XNC. In this documentation, this will be referred to as the Admin drop-down list. |
The left side of topology pane contains a group of tools that allow you to manipulate the content of the topology pane. Hovering over a tool displays its function. From the top of the pane to the bottom, the tools are:
Note | You can also increase the size of the topology diagram by scrolling up with your mouse wheel. |
Note | You can also decrease the size of the topology diagram by scrolling down with your mouse wheel. |
You can resize the panes in the GUI display by clicking the pane resize grippers.
The topology diagram displays a graphical view of your network. Once a device or link has been recognized by Cisco XNC, it is visible in the topology diagram. On all tabs in Cisco XNC, you can perform the following tasks:
Certain tabs also allow advanced tasks.
You should periodically save the configuration changes that you make in Cisco XNC.
Note | Any unsaved configuration changes will be lost if you stop the Cisco XNC application. |