DCNM Server
The DCNM Server menu includes the following submenus:
Starting, Restarting, and Stopping Services
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Server Status. The Status window appears that displays the server details. |
Step 2 |
In the Actions column, click the Re(start) icon to start or restart services, and click the Stop icon to stop services. |
Step 3 |
In the Actions column, click the Delete icon to clean up PM DB stale entries. |
Step 4 |
You can see the latest status in the Status column. |
What to do next
See the latest status in the Status column.
Using the Commands Table
The commands table contains links to commands that launch new dialog boxes to provide information about the server status and server administrative utility scripts. These commands can be directly executed on the server CLI as well.
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ifconfig: click this link to view information about interface parameters, IP address, and netmask used on the Cisco DCNM server.
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appmgr status all: click this link to view the DCNM server administrative utility script that checks the status of different services currently running.
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clock: click this link to view information about the server clock details such as time, zone information.
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The commands section is applicable only for the OVA or ISO installations. |
Viewing Log Information
You can view the logs for performance manager, SAN management server, SME server, web reports, web server, and web services. These processes have no corresponding GUI that allows you to view information about these log files. If you see errors, preserve these files for viewing.
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Logs cannot be viewed from a remote server in a federation. |
To view the logs from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Logs. You see a tree-based list of logs in the left column. Under the tree, there is a node for every server in the federation. The log files are under the corresponding server node. |
Step 2 |
Click a log file under each node of the tree to view it on the right. |
Step 3 |
Double-click the tree node for each server to download a ZIP file containing log files from that server. |
Step 4 |
Click the Print icon on the upper right corner to print the logs. |
Server Properties
You can set the parameters that are populated as default values in the DCNM server.
To set the parameters of the DCNM server from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties. |
Step 2 |
Click Apply Changes to save the server settings. |
Configuring SFTP/TFTP/SCP Credentials
A file server is required to collect device configuration and restoring configurations to the device.
To configure the SFTP/TFTP/SCP credentials for a file store from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Archive FTP Credentials. The Archive FTP Credentials window is displayed.
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Step 2 |
In the Server Type field, use the radio button to select SFTP.
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Step 3 |
In the Server Type field, use the radio button to select TFTP. Cisco DCNM uses a local TFTP server for data transfer. Ensure that there is no external TFTP server running on the DCNM server.
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Step 4 |
In the Server Type field, use the radio button to select SCP.
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Step 5 |
Choose Configuration > Templates > Templates Library > Jobs to view individual device verification status. The configurations that are backed up are removed from the file server and are stored in the file system. |
SFTP Directory Path
Use Case 1:
If Cisco DCNM is installed on Linux platforms, like OVA, ISO, or Linux, and the test folder is located at /test/sftp/, you must provide the entire path of the SFTP directory. In the SFTP Directory field, enter /test/sftp.
Use Case 2:
If Cisco DCNM is installed on the Windows platform, and the test folder is located at C://Users/test/sftp/, you must provide the relative path of the SFTP directory. In the SFTP Directory field, enter /.
For Example:
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If the path in the external SFTP is C://Users/test/sftp/, then the Cisco DCNM SFTP Directory path must be /.
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If the path in the external SFTP is C://Users/test, then the Cisco DCNM SFTP Directory path must be /sftp/.
Examples for SCP Directory Path
Use Case 1:
If Cisco DCNM is installed on Linux platforms, like OVA, ISO, or Linux, and the test folder is located at /test/scp/, you must provide the entire path of the SCP directory. In the SCP Directory field, enter /test/scp.
Use Case 2:
If Cisco DCNM is installed on the Windows platform, and the test folder is located at C://Users/test/scp/, you must provide the relative path of the SCP directory. In the SCP Directory field, enter /.
For Example:
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If the path in the external SCP is C://Users/test/scp/, then the Cisco DCNM SCP directory path must be /.
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If the path in the external SCP is C://Users/test, then the Cisco DCNM SCP directory path must be /scp/.
Modular Device Support
To support any new hardware that does not require many major changes, a patch can be delivered instead of waiting for the next DCNM release. Modular Device Support helps to deliver and apply the DCNM patch releases. An authorized DCNM administrator can apply the patch to the production setup. Patch releases are applicable for the following scenarios:
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Support any new hardware, like chassis or line cards
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Support latest NX-OS versions
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Support critical fixes as patches
To view the patch details from Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Modular Device Support. You see the DCNM Servers column on the left in the window and Modular Device support information window on the right. |
Step 2 |
Expand DCNM Servers to view all the DCNM servers. It includes the list of patches installed along with the version number, corresponding platforms supported, chassis supported, NX-OS version supported, PID supported, backup directory and the last patch deployment time in the Modular Device support information table. |
What to do next
Managing Switch Groups
From Cisco NX-OS Release 6x, you can configure switch groups by using Cisco DCNM Web UI. You can add, delete, rename, or move a switch to a group or move a group of switches to another group.
This section contains the following:
Adding Switch Groups
To add switch groups from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Switch Groups. |
Step 2 |
Click the Add icon. The Add Group window is displayed, that allows you to enter the name for the switch group. |
Step 3 |
Enter the name of the switch group and click Add to complete adding the switch group. The switch group name validation, and the maximum tree depth is 10. If you do not choose a parent group before adding a new switch group, the new group is added on the top of the hierarchy |
Deleting a Group or a Member of a Group
You can delete a group or a member of the group from the Cisco DCNM Web UI. When you delete a group, the associated groups are deleted. The fabrics or ethernet switches of the deleted groups are moved to the default SAN or LAN.
To delete a group or a member of a group from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose the switch group or members of a group that you want to remove. |
Step 2 |
Click the Remove icon or press the Delete key on your keyboard. A dialog box prompts you to confirm the deletion of the switch group or the member of the group. |
Step 3 |
Click Yes to delete or No to cancel the action. |
Moving a Switch Group to Another Group
Procedure
Step 1 |
Select a switch or switch group. |
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Step 2 |
Drag the highlighted switch or switch group to another group. To move multiple switches across different switch groups, use Ctrl key or Shift key. You can see the switch or switch group. Users are not allowed to move multiple switches in the group level under the new group now.
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Managing Custom Port Groups
Custom port groups aid you to test the performance of the interfaces in the group. You can view the defined custom ports and their configurations.
This section includes the following topics:
Adding Custom Port Groups
To add a custom port group from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Custom Port Groups. The Custom Port Groups window is displayed. |
Step 2 |
In the User-Defined Groups block, click the Add icon. |
Step 3 |
Enter the name for the custom port group in the Add Group Dialog window. |
Step 4 |
Click Add. A custom port group is created in the User-Defined Groups area. |
Configuring Switch and Interface to the Port Group
To configure the custom port group to include switches and interfaces from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Custom Port Groups. |
Step 2 |
In the User-Defined Groups area, select the port group to add the switch and interfaces. |
Step 3 |
In the Configurations area, click Add Member. The Port Configuration window appears for the selected custom port group. |
Step 4 |
In the Switches tab, select the switch to include in the custom port group. The list of available Interfaces appears. |
Step 5 |
Select all the interfaces to check the performance. |
Step 6 |
Click Submit. The list of interfaces is added to the custom port group. |
Removing Port Group Member
To remove or delete a port group member in a custom port group from Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Custom Port Groups. |
Step 2 |
In the User Defined Groups area, select a port group. |
Step 3 |
In the Configuration area, select the switch name and interface that must be deleted. |
Step 4 |
In the User Defined Groups area, select the group from which the member must be deleted. |
Step 5 |
Click Remove Member. A confirmation window appears. |
Step 6 |
Click Yes to delete the member from the custom port group. |
Removing Port Group
To remove or delete a port group from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Custom Port Groups. |
Step 2 |
In the User Defined Groups area, select the group which must be deleted. |
Step 3 |
Click Remove. A confirmation window appears. |
Step 4 |
Click Yes to delete the custom group. |
Managing Licenses
You can view the existing Cisco DCNM licenses by choosing Administration > DCNM Server > License. You can view and assign licenses in the following tabs:
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License Assignments
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Smart License
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Server License Files
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By default, the License Assignments tab appears. |
The following table displays the SAN and LAN license information.
Field |
Description |
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License |
Specifies SAN or LAN. |
Free/Total Server-based Licenses |
Specifies the number of free licenses that are purchased out of the total number of licenses. |
Unlicensed/Total (Switches/VDCs) |
Specifies the number of unlicensed switches or VDCs out of the total number of switches or VDCs. |
Need to Purchase |
Specifies the number of licenses to be purchased. |
This section includes the following topics:
License Assignments
The following table displays the license assignment details for every switch or VDC.
Field |
Description |
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Group |
Displays if the group is fabric or LAN. |
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Switch Name |
Displays the name of the switch. |
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WWN/Chassis ID |
Displays the world wide name or Chassis ID. |
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Model |
Displays the model of the device. For example, DS-C9124 or N5K-C5020P-BF. |
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License State |
Displays the license state of the switch that can be one of the following:
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License Type |
Displays if the license is a switch-based embedded license or a server-based license. |
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Expiration Date |
Displays the expiry date of the license.
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Assign License |
Select a row and click this option on the toolbar to assign the license. |
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Unassign License |
Select a row and click this option on the toolbar to unassign the license.
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Assign All |
Click this option on the toolbar to refresh the table and assign the licenses for all the items in the table. |
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Unassign All |
Click this option on the toolbar to refresh the table and unassign all the licenses. |
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You must have network administrator privileges to assign or unassign licenses. |
When the fabric is first discovered and if the switch does not have a valid switch-based license, a license is automatically assigned to the fabric from the file license pool until no more licenses are left in the pool. If you have an existing fabric and a new switch is added to the fabric, the new switch is assigned a license if one is available in the file license pool and if it does not already have a switch-based license.
After you register smart license, if you click Assign License for a switch that does not have a permanent license, a smart license is assigned to the switch. The priority of licenses that are assigned are in the following order:
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Permanent
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Smart
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Eval
Disabling smart licensing unassigns licenses of switches that were smart-licensed.
The evaluation license is assigned for switches that do not support smart licensing. The license state is Eval and the license type is DCNM-Server. See Cisco DCNM Licensing Guide, Release 11.x to view the list of switches that support smart licensing.
Smart License
From Cisco DCNM Release 11.1(1), you can use the smart licensing feature to manage licenses at device-level and renew them if required. From Cisco DCNM Web UI, choose Administration > DCNM Server > License > Smart License. You will see a brief introduction on Cisco smart licensing, a menu bar, and the Switch Licenses area.
In the introduction, click Click Here to view the information on smart software licensing.
The menu bar has the following icons:
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Registration Status: Displays details of the current registration in a pop-up window when clicked. The value is UNCONFIGURED if the smart licensing is not enabled. After you enable the smart licensing without registering, the value is set to DEREGISTERED. The value is set to REGISTERED after you register. Click the registration status to view the last action, account details, and other registration details in the Registration Details pop-up window.
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License Status: Specifies the status of the license. The value is UNCONFIGURED if the smart licensing is not enabled. After you enable the smart licensing without registering, the value is set to NO LICENSES IN USE. The value is set to AUTHORIZED or OUT-OF-COMPLIANCE after registering and assigning licenses. Click the license status to view the last action, last authorization attempt, next authorization attempt, and the authorization expiry in the License Authorization Details pop-up window.
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Control: Allows you to enable or disable smart licensing, register tokens, and renew the authorization.
The following table describes the fields that appear in the Switch Licenses section.
Field |
Description |
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Name |
Specifies the license name. |
Count |
Specifies the number of licenses used. |
Status |
Specifies the status of the licenses used. Valid values are Authorized and Out of Compliance. |
Description |
Specifies the type and details of the license. |
Last Updated |
Specifies the timestamp when switch licenses were last updated. |
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Allows you to print the details of switch licenses. |
Export |
Allows you to export the license details. |
After you remove a product license from your account in Cisco Smart Software Manager, disable the smart licensing and register it again.
Enabling Smart Licensing
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > License > Smart License. |
Step 2 |
Click Control and choose Enable in the drop-down list to enable the smart licensing. A confirmation window appears. |
Step 3 |
Click Yes. Instructions to register the DCNM instance appear. The registration status changes from UNCONFIGURED to DEREGISTERED, and the license status changes from UNCONFIGURED to No Licenses in Use. |
Registering a Cisco DCNM Instance
Before you begin
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > License > Smart License. |
Step 2 |
Click Control and choose Register in the drop-down list. The Register window appears. |
Step 3 |
Select the transport option to register the smart licensing agent. The options are:
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Step 4 |
Enter the registration token in the Token field. |
Step 5 |
Click Submit to register the license. The registration status changes from DEREGISTERED to REGISTERED. The name, count, and status of switch licenses appear. Click Registration Status: REGISTERED to see the details of the registered token. The switch details are updated under the Switches/VDCs section of the License Assignments tab. The license type and the license state of switches that are licensed using the smart license option are Smart. |
What to do next
Troubleshoot communication errors, if any, that you encounter after the registration.
Renew Authorization
You can manually renew the authorization only if you have registered. Automatic reauthorization happens periodically. Click License Status to view details about the next automatic reauthorization. To renew authorization from Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > License > Smart License. |
Step 2 |
Click Control and choose Renew Authorization in the drop-down list to renew any licensing authorizations. A request is sent to Cisco Smart Software Manager to fetch updates, if any. The Smart Licenses window is refreshed after the update. |
Disabling Smart Licensing
Procedure
Step 1 |
Select Control and select Disable to disable smart licensing. A confirmation window appears. |
Step 2 |
Click Yes. The license status of the switches using this token, under the License Assignments tab, changes to Unlicensed. This token is removed from the list under the Product Instances tab in the Cisco Smart Software Manager. If a smart license is not available and you disable smart licensing, release the license manually from the License Assignments tab. |
Server License Files
Server License Files
The following table displays the Cisco DCNM server license fields.
Field |
Description |
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Filename |
Specifies the license file name. |
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Feature |
Specifies the licensed feature. |
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PID |
Specifies the product ID. |
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SAN (Free/Total) |
Displays the number of free versus total licenses for SAN. |
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LAN (Free/Total) |
Displays the number of free versus total licenses for LAN. |
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Expiration Date |
Displays the expiry date of the license.
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Adding Cisco DCNM Licenses
To add Cisco DCNM licenses from Cisco DCNM, perform the following steps:
Before you begin
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > License to start the license wizard. |
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Step 2 |
Choose the Server License Files tab. The valid Cisco DCNM-LAN and DCNM-SAN license files are displayed. Ensure that the security agent is disabled when you load licenses. |
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Step 3 |
Download the license pack file that you received from Cisco into a directory on the local system. |
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Step 4 |
Click Add License File and select the license pack file that you saved on the local machine. The file is uploaded to the server machine, which is saved into the server license directory, and then loaded on to the server.
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Viewing Server Federation
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Federation. The list of servers along with its IP address, status, location, local time, and data sources are displayed. |
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Step 2 |
Use the Enable Automatic Failover check box to turn on or turn off the failover functionality. |
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Step 3 |
In the Location column, double-click to edit the location. If the status of one of the servers in the federation is Inactive, some functionality may not work unless the server status changes to Active.
The ElasticSearch Cluster section gives the details about the elastic search. It has the following fields:
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Elasticsearch Clustering
To sync each of the elastic search nodes that are associated with a federated server, into an elastic search cluster, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
In the Federation window, click ElasticSearch Clustering. The Elastic Search Clustering pop-up window appears. |
Step 2 |
Click Apply. |
Multi Site Manager
Procedure
Step 1 |
Multi-Site-Manager (MsM) provides a single pane for users to search for switches that are managed by DCNM globally. MSM can do realtime search to find out which switch globally handles the traffic for a given virtual machine based on IP address, name or mac address, and supporting VXLAN basing on segment ID as well. It provides hyperlink to launch the switch only. This window also plays the role of remote site registration. The registration only allows the current DCNM server to access the remote DCNM server or site. For the remote site to access the current DCNM server, registration is required on the remote site as well. |
Step 2 |
Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Multi Site Manager. The MsM window displays the overall health or status of the remote site and the application health. |
Step 3 |
You can search by Switch, VM IP, VM Name, MAC, and Segment ID. |
Step 4 |
You can add a new DCNM server by clicking +Add DCNM Server. The Enter Remote DCNM Server Information window opens. Fill in the information that is required and click OK to save. |
Step 5 |
Click Refresh All Sites to display the updated information. |