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This chapter contains the following sections:
The Cisco Nexus 1000V virtual switch is a software-based Layer 2 switch for the virtualized server environments that are running VMware ESX. The Cisco Nexus 1000V provides a consistent networking experience across the physical and the virtual environments. It consists of two components: the Virtual Ethernet Module (VEM), a software switch that is embedded in the hypervisor, and a Virtual Supervisor Module (VSM), a module that manages the networking policies and the quality of service for the virtual machines.
With the earlier releases of the Cisco Nexus 1000V, the system administrators had no visibility into the networking aspects of the switch. Starting with Cisco Nexus 1000V Release 4.2(1)SV2(1.1), a plug-in for the VMware vCenter Server, known as vCenter plug-in (VC plug-in) is supported on the Cisco Nexus 1000V virtual switch. It provides the server administrators with a view of the virtual network and a visibility into the networking aspects of the Cisco Nexus 1000V virtual switch.
The vCenter plug-in is supported on VMware vSphere Web Clients only. VMware vSphere Web Client enables you to connect to a VMware vCenter Server system to manage a Cisco Nexus 1000V through a browser. The vCenter plug-in is installed as a new tab in the Cisco Nexus 1000V as part of the user interface in vSphere Web Client.
The vCenter plug-in allows the administrators to view the configuration aspects of the VSM. With the vCenter plug-in, the server administrators can export the necessary networking details from the vCenter server, investigate the root cause of and prevent the networking issues, and deploy the virtual machines with suitable policies. The server administrators can monitor and manage the resources effectively with the network details provided in the vCenter plug-in.
Starting with Cisco Nexus 1000V Release 4.2(1)SV2(1.1), an extensible REST API architecture is supported on the Cisco Nexus 1000V. The Cisco Nexus 1000V supports the REST API to configure and retrieve the network information from the vCenter Server. The REST APIs are used to implement the vCenter plug-in feature.
See the REST API architecture illustration for the supported architecture on the Cisco Nexus 1000V switch. In the illustration, the VMware vCenter is positioned at the top and the VSM is positioned at the bottom.
The vCenter plug-in functionality on the Cisco Nexus 1000V has the following prerequisites:
The vCenter plug-in requires the 5.1 version of VMware vSphere Web Client.
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The vCenter plug-in will not work with the VMware vSphere Web Client 5.0. |
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For more information about installing or upgrading VMware vSphere Web Client, see the VMware documentation: VMware vSphere ESXi and vCenter Server 5.1 Documentation. |
VMware vSphere Web Client 5.1 requires an SSO or a lookup server to install successfully. You need at least one vCenter Server 5.1 to install the VMware vSphere Web Client 5.1. If you have vCenter Server 5.0, complete the following steps:
For more details, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V Troubleshooting Guide.
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vSphere Web Client 5.1 cannot directly connect to an ESXi host. |
Once you have upgraded the VSM, use the following procedure to upgrade the vCenter plug-in.
To verify if the vCenter Plug-in is upgraded, use the following procedure:
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After upgrading the vCenter Plug-in, reboot the web client services if you are not able to view the Cisco Nexus 1000V tab under Switch. |