Chapter 1. Overview

- Cisco Data Center Network Manager

Cisco Data Center Network Manager

Cisco Data Center Network Manager (Cisco DCNM) automates the infrastructure of Cisco Nexus 5000, 6000, 7000, and 9000 Series Switches and Cisco MDS 9000 Series switches. Cisco DCNM enables you to manage multiple devices, while providing ready-to-use capabilities, such as, control, automation, monitoring, visualization, and troubleshooting.

Note

The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For the purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on RFP documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product.

The Cisco DCNM home page contains a navigation pane to the left, and shortcuts to a few Cisco DCNM features in the middle pane.

This guide provides comprehensive information about the UI functionality for Cisco DCNM Classic LAN deployment.

The top pane displays the following UI elements:

- Help: Launches the context-sensitive online help.

- Search: Helps locate records according to the following search criteria:

- Name

- IP Address

- WWN

- Alias

- MAC Address

- Serial Number

- User Role : Displays the role of the user who is currently logged in, for example, admin.

- Gear icon: Click on the gear icon to see a drop-down list with the following options:

- Logged in as: displays the user role of the current logged in user.

- Change Password: Allows you to change the password for current logged in user.

If you are a network administrator user, you can modify the passwords of the other users.

- About: Displays the Version, Installation Type, and time since when the Web UI is operational.

- Logout: Allows you to terminate the Web UI and returns to the login screen.

For more information about Cisco DCNM, see:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/cloud-systems-management/data-center-network-manager-11/model.html.

Chapter 2. Dashboard

This chapter contains the following topics:

- Dashboard

Dashboard

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Dashboard (navtitle]

The intent of Dashboard is to enable network and storage administrators to focus on particular areas of concern around the health and performance of data center switching. This information is provided as 24-hour snapshots. The functional view of LAN switching consists of six dynamic dashlets that display information in the context of the selected scope by default. The scope can be adjusted in the upper right corner of the window to display focused information that is particular to the managed domain. It offers details of a specific topology or set of topologies that is a part of the data center scope.

The various scopes that are available on the Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) web interface are:

- Data Center

- Default_SAN

- Default_LAN

- Each SAN Fabric

- Custom scopes that you create

From the left menu bar, choose Dashboard. The Dashboard window displays the default dashlets.

The following are the default dashlets that appear in the Dashboard window:

- Data Center

- Inventory - Switches

- Inventory - Modules

- Top CPU

- Top ISLs/Trunks

- Link Traffic

- Events

- Server Status

- Audit Log

From the Dashlets drop-down list, you can choose more dashlets so that they are added to the dashboard.

The panels can be added, removed, and dragged around to reorder.

- Dashlets

Dashlets

By default, a subset of the available dashlets is automatically displayed in the dashboard. To add a dashlet that is not automatically displayed in a dashboard, from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Dashboard.

Step 2

From the Dashlets drop-down list, choose the dashlet that you want to add in the dashboard.

In the Dashlets drop-down list, an icon appears before the selected dashlet.

The following table lists the dashlets that you can add on the Dashboard window.

Dashlet

Description

Events

Displays events with Critical, Error, and Warning severity. In this dashlet, click the Show Acknowledged Events link to go to the Monitor > Switch > Events.

Link Traffic

Displays a diagram of Inter-Switch Link (ISL) and saturation link for transmitting and receiving in the data center.

Data Center

Displays the number of access, spine and leaf devices, and a generic health score for each switch group in the current scope. Devices are aggregated by type within a switch group.

Audit Log

Displays the accounting log table of Cisco DCNM.

Network Map

Displays the populated switch groups that are visible in your Role Based Access Control (RBAC) scope on a world map. If you use the scope selector, it limits the set of switch groups displayed. If you click detach option, the map opens in a new tab and can be configured.

- The network map dialog box has properties that are different from the Summary dashboard view:

- You can click and drag nodes to move them around the map. The map saves their new positions.

- You can double click a node to trigger a slider that contains the summary inventory information pertaining to a specific switch group.

- You can upload an image of your choice as the background to the network map.

Note

You will be prompted to upload an image file with recommended dimension, which is the current window size. Reset returns the network map to its default state, resetting the position of the nodes and clearing the custom image.

Server Status

Displays the status of DCNM and federation servers, and the health check status for the components.

The following services, server, and status details are displayed under the DCNM tab.

- Database Server

- Search Indexer

- Performance Collector

- NTPD Server

- DHCP Server

- SNMP Traps

- Syslog Server

The following component status and details are displayed under the Health Check tab.

- AMQP Server

- DHCP Server

- TFTP Server

- EPLS

- EPLC

Top ISLs/Trunks

Displays the performance data for the top ten performing ISLs, trunk ports or both. Each entry shows the current average receive and transmit percentage, with a graph depicting the percentage of time each trunk spent exceeding the currently configured thresholds.

Top SAN End Ports (SAN only)

Displays the performance data for the top ten performing SAN host and storage ports. Each entry shows the current receive and transmit percentage, with a graph depicting the percentage of time each trunk spent exceeding the currently configured thresholds.

Note

This dashlet is only for SAN.

Top CPU

Displays CPU utilization for the discovered switches over the last 24 hours, with a red bar displaying the high watermark for that 24-hour period.

Top Temperature

Displays the module temperature sensor details of switches.

Note

This dashlet is only for LAN.

Health

Displays the health summary that contains two columns displaying the summary of problems and summary of events for the past 24 hours.

Click the count adjacent to the warnings pertaining to switches, ISLs, hosts, or storage (other than 0) to view the corresponding inventory for that fabric.

Click the count adjacent to the event severity levels (Emergency, Alert, Critical, Error, Warning, Notice, Info, or Debug) to view a summary of the corresponding events and descriptions.

Errors

Displays the error packets for the selected interface. This information is retrieved from the Errors > In-Peak and Errors > Out-Peak columns of the Monitor > LAN / Ethernet page.

Discards

Displays the error packets that are discarded for the selected interface.

Note

The Discards dashlet is only for LAN.

Inventory (Ports)

Displays the ports inventory summary information.

Inventory (Modules)

Displays the switches on which the modules are discovered, the models name and the count.

Inventory (ISLs)

Displays the ISLs inventory summary information, such as the category and count of ISLs.

Inventory (Logical)

Displays the logical inventory summary information, such as the category and count of logical links.

Inventory (Switches)

Displays the switches inventory summary information such as the switch models and the corresponding count.

Inventory (Port Capacity)

Displays the port capacity inventory summary information such as the tiers, the number and percentage of the available ports, and the remaining days.

Note

To restore the default dashlets in the dashboard page, click the Default Set link in the Dashlet drop-down list.

Chapter 3. Topology

- Topology

Topology

The Topology window displays color-encoded nodes and links that correspond to various network elements, including switches, links, fabric extenders, port-channel configurations, virtual port-channels, and more. For information about each of these elements, hover your cursor over the corresponding element. Also, click a node or the line for a link. A slide-in pane appears from the right side of the window. This pane displays detailed information about either the switch or the link.

Note

You can open multiple tabs simultaneously and can function side by side to facilitate comparison and troubleshooting.

- Status

- Scope

- Searching

- Show Panel

- Layouts

- Zooming, Panning, and Dragging

- Switch Slide-Out Panel

- Link Slide-Out Panel

- vCenter Compute Visualization

Status

The color coding of each node and link corresponds to its state. The colors and what they indicate are described in the following list:

- Green: Indicates that the element is in good health and functioning as intended.

- Yellow: Indicates that the element is in warning state and requires attention to prevent any further problems.

- Red: Indicates that the element is in critical state and requires immediate attention.

- Gray: Indicates lack of information to identify the element or the element has been discovered.

Note

- In the Topology window, FEX appears in gray (Unknown or n/a) because health is not calculated for FEX.

- After moving a cable from one port to another port, the old fabric link is retained in the Topology window, and it is shown in the red color indicating that the link is down. The port movements are not updated in the Topology window. You need to rediscover the switch for the updated ports to be displayed in DCNM.

- Black: Indicates that the element is down.

Scope

You can search the topology based on the scope. The default scopes available from the SCOPE drop-down list is: DEFAULT_LAN

The following search options are available for DEFAULT_LAN:

- Quick Search

- Host name (vCenter)

- Host IP

- Host MAC

- Multicast Group

- VXLAN ID (VNI)

- VLAN

- FabricPath

- VXLAN OAM

Searching

When the number of nodes is large, it quickly becomes difficult to locate the intended switches and links. You can quickly find switches and links by performing a search. You are also able to search for VM tracker and generic setups. Searching feature enables you to see which leaf the host is connected to.

The following searches are available:

Note

By default, Quick Search is selected.

- Quick Search

- Host name (vCenter)

- Host IP

- Host MAC

- Multicast Group

- Redirected Flows

- VXLAN ID (VNI)

- VLAN

- VSAN ID/Name

- FabricPath

- VXLAN OAM

Quick Search

Quick Search enables you to search for devices by name, IP address, model, serial number, and switch role. As you enter a search parameter in the Search field, the corresponding switches are highlighted in the topology. To perform a search for multiple nodes and links, separate multiple keywords using a comma, for example, ABCD12345, N7K, sw-dc4-12345, core, 172.23.45.67. Cisco DCNM supports wildcard searches too. If you know a serial number or switch name partially, you can build a search based on these partial terms that are preceded by an asterisk, for example, ABCD*, sw*12345, core, and so on.

To limit the scope of your search to a parameter, enter the parameter name followed by a space and the parameter in the Search field, for example, name=sw*12345, serialNumber=ABCD12345, and so on.

Host name (vCenter)

The host name search enables you to search for hosts by using vCenter.

Pod Name (Container)

You can also click on the Pod List to view the information regarding all the pods running on the selected Cluster. If Cluster Selection is All, all the pods running on all the clusters in your topology is displayed. You can also export the Pod List data for further analysis.

Host IP

You can search the topology using host IP addresses. The Host IP searches the switches in the scope to locate the hosts that match the IP address that you enter in the Search field. The Host IP search supports IPv4 address. From the Search drop-down list, choose Host IP to search the topology using the IP Address of the host device. Enter a host IP address in the Search field and press Enter. Click Details to view the corresponding host details.

Host MAC

You can search a topology using host MAC addresses. The Host MAC searches the switches in the scope to locate the hosts that match the MAC address that you enter in the Search field. From the Search drop-down list, choose Host MAC to search the topology using a host MAC address. Enter a host MAC address in the Search field and press Enter. Click Details to view the corresponding host details.

Multicast Group

The Multicast Group search is limited to the VXLAN context, VXLAN tunnel endpoint or VTEP switches, to get VXLAN IDs (VNIs) associated with this multicast address.

Select the Multicast Group search from the drop-down list, enter a multicast address in the search field, and press Enter. Click the Details link next to the search field to get the detailed multicast address table. The table displays switches, which have the searched multicast address configured on them, along with associated VNI, VNI status, and mapped VLAN.

You can also hover over switches that are highlighted to view details about the search you have performed.

Redirected Flows

After the physical attachment of a service node to the fabric is defined, select Redirected Flow from the Quick Search drop-down list in the Topology window.

You can select a policy from the drop-down list or initiate a search by entering a policy name, source network and destination network in the search field. The search field is auto-populated based on your input.

Based on the input in the search field, the switches are highlighted on the topology window. The switches, on which the source and destination network have been attached and the flow has been redirected, are highlighted on the topology window. The service node is shown as connected by a dotted line to the leaf switch on the topology window. Hover over the dotted line to get more information about the interface. Click a switch to display the redirected flows which are initiated, redirected to, or terminated on that switch. Click Show more flows to display the Service Flows window that has information about all the redirected flows.

Click Details in the Service Flows window to display attachment details.

VXLAN ID (VNI)

The VXLAN ID or the VNI search lets you search the topology by VNI. Select the VXLAN ID (VNI) search from the drop-down list. Enter a VNI in the search field and press Enter. Click the Details link next to the search field to view the detailed VNI table. The table displays the switches that have VNI configured on them along with associated multicast address, VNI status, and mapped VLAN.

VLAN

Search by a given VLAN ID. VLAN search provides the search for the VLAN configured on the switch or the links. If STP is enabled, then it provides information that is related to the STP protocol and the STP information for links.

VSAN ID/Name

Search by a given VSAN ID. VSAN search provides the search for VSAN configured on the switch or the links. In order to view the STP details associated with the VSAN, click STP Details link.

This shows the STP details, if STP is enabled. If the link is blocked, it is marked as red, green in case of a forwarding link, and orange if the link is blocked for one VSAN range and forwarding for the other VSAN range.

This search is applicable to both the default LAN and SAN scopes.

FabricPath

Search on the FabricPath topology ID, typically 0 or 1. After search, FabricPath topology links are displayed with purple colored links. You can use the FabricPath Panel below the search box to fetch various FabricPath graphs.

Click the drop-down arrow next to FabricPath Panel, select a below type of graph:

- Multi destination—Select the switch from the Anchor drop-down list, and select the graph ID from the Graph ID drop-down list to get multi destination or broadcast graph.

- Reachability—Select the switch in the From drop-down list to get the reachable devices in FabricPath topology from the selected switch.

- Unicast—Select the switch from the Source and Destination drop-down list to get equal cost multi paths from a source to destination switch in FabricPath topology.

- Multicast—Select from the Anchor,Ftag ID, and IGMP Addr drop-down list to get the FabricPath multicast tree. The selected anchor switch is the root of the tree.

VXLAN OAM

You can track details such as reachability and actual path of the flows in a VXLAN EVPN based-fabric topology by choosing the VXLAN OAM option from the Search drop-down list or by entering VXLAN OAM in the Search field. This displays the Switch to switch and Host to host tabs. DCNM highlights the route on the topology between the source and destination switch for these two options.

The Switch to switch option provides the VXLAN OAM ping and traceroute test results for the VTEP-to-VTEP use-case. Provide the following values to enable search by using the Switch to switch option:

- From the Source Switch drop-down list, choose the source switch.

- From the Destination Switch drop-down list, choose the destination switch.

- From the VRF drop-down list, choose or enter the VRF details.

- Check the All Path Included check box to include all the paths in the search results.

The Host to host option provides the VXLAN OAM pathtrace results for the exact path that is taken by a given flow from the VTEP or switch that is connected to the source host to VTEP or switch that is connected to the destination host. For the Host to host use-case, there are two suboptions:

- VRF or SVI for a network is instantiated on the switches in the VXLAN EVPN fabric. In such a scenario, the IP address information of the end hosts is required.

- Layer 2 configuration for a given network is instantiated on the switches in the VXLAN EVPN fabric. In such a scenario, both the MAC and IP address information of the end hosts are required.

Provide the following values to enable search using the Host to host option:

- In the Source IP field, enter the IP address of the source host.

- In the Destination IP field, enter the IP address of the destination host.

- In the VRF field, choose VRF from the drop-down list or enter the VRF name that is associated with the hosts.

- (Optional) In the Source Port field, choose Layer 4 source port number from the drop-down list or enter its value.

- (Optional) In the Destination Port field, choose destination port number or enter its value.

- (Optional) In the Protocol field, choose the protocol value from the drop-down list or enter its value. This is the Layer 4 protocol, usually TCP or UDP.

- Click the Interchange/Swap Source and Destination IPs (and MACs if applicable) icon to interchange the source and destination IP addresses. This interchange allows a quick trace of the reverse path without reentering the host IP addresses or MAC addresses.

- Check the Layer-2 only check box to search the VXLAN-EVPN fabric that is deployed in Layer 2 only mode for some networks, that is, Layer 2 VNIs. Note that no SVIs or VRFs should be instantiated in the fabric for these networks when you use this search option.

Enter values for the following additional fields:

Show Panel

You can choose to view your topology based on the following options:

- Auto Refresh: Check this check box to automatically refresh the topology.

- Switch Health: Check this check box to view the switch's health status.

- FEX: Check this check box to view the Fabric Extender.

Note

The FEX feature is available only on LAN devices. Therefore, checking this check box displays only the Cisco Nexus switches that support FEX.

Note

FEX is also not supported on Cisco Nexus 1000V devices. Therefore, such devices will not be displayed in the topology when you check the FEX check box.

- Links: Check this check box to view links in the topology. The following options are available:

- Errors Only: Click this radio button to view only links with errors.

- All: Click this radio button to view all the links in the topology.

- VPC Only: Check this check box to view only vPC peer-links and vPCs.

- Bandwidth: Check this check box to view the color coding based on the bandwidth that is consumed by the links.

- OTV: Check this check box to show the Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) topology with the cloud icon and the dotted links from the OTV edge devices. Hovering the cursor over the cloud and the links shows the relevant information for OTV topology, such as control group, extended VLANs, and so on. The OTV search field appears below the filter field. Use the OTV search field to search the shown OTV topology that is based on Overlay ID and Extended VLAN ID. The searched virtual links based on the Overlay ID and Extended VLAN ID are marked green.

A Details link appears after you check the OTV check box. Clicking the link shows the OTV topology data. The Overlay Network column shows whether the particular topology is multicast based or unicast based. The Edge Device column displays the edge switches in the particular OTV topology. The other columns display the corresponding overlay interface, extended VLANs, join interface, and data group information.

- UI controls: Check the check box to show or hide the various controls on the Topology window.

- Compute: Check the check box to enable the compute visibility on the Topology window.

- Refresh: You can also perform a topology refresh by clicking the Refresh icon in the upper-right corner of this panel.

Layouts

The topology supports different layouts along with a Save Layout option that remembers how you positioned your topology.

- Hierarchical and Hierarchical Left-Right: Provide an architectural view of your topology. Various switch roles can be defined that will draw the nodes on how you configure your CLOS topology.

Note

When running a large-scale setup, being able to easily view all your switches on a leaf-tier can become difficult. To mitigate this, DCNM splits your leaf-tier every 16 switches.

- Random: Nodes are placed randomly on the window. DCNM tries to make a guess and intelligently place nodes that belong together in close proximity.

- Circular and Tiered-Circular: Draw nodes in a circular or concentric circular pattern.

- Custom saved layout: Nodes can be dragged around according to your preference. After you position as required, click Save to retain the positions. The next time you come to the topology, DCNM will draw the nodes based on your last saved layout positions.

Before a layout is chosen, DCNM checks if a custom layout is applied. If a custom layout is applied, DCNM uses it. If a custom layout is not applied, DCNM checks if switches exist at different tiers, and chooses the Hierarchical layout or the Hierarchical Left-Right layout. Force-directed layout is chosen if all the other layouts fail.

Zooming, Panning, and Dragging

You can zoom in and zoom out using the controls that are provided at the bottom left of the windows or by using your mouse's wheel.

To pan, click and hold anywhere in the whitespace and drag the cursor up, down, left, or right.

To drag switches, click, hold, and move the cursor around the whitespace region of the topology.

Switch Slide-Out Panel

You can click on the switch to display the configured switch name, IP address, switch model, and other summary information such as status, serial number, health, last-polled CPU utilization, and last-polled memory utilization.

- Beacon

- Tagging

- More Details

Beacon

This button will be shown for switches that support the beacon command. After beaconing starts, the button will show a countdown. By default, the beaconing will stop after 60 seconds, but you can stop it immediately by clicking Stop Beacon.

Note

The default time can be configured in server.properties file. Search for beacon.turnOff.time. The time value is in milliseconds. Note that this requires a server restart to take effect.

Tagging

Tagging is a powerful yet easy way to organize your switches. Tags can be virtually any string, for example, building 6, floor 2, rack 7, problem switch, and Justin debugging.

Use the search functionality to perform searches based on tags.

More Details

Click Show more details; detailed information appears in the switch's dashboard.

Link Slide-Out Panel

You can click a link to view the status and the port or switches that describe the link.

- 24-Hour Traffic

24-Hour Traffic

This feature requires Performance Monitoring to be turned ON. When Performance Monitoring is ON, traffic information is collected and the aggregate information is displayed along with a graph showing traffic utilization.

vCenter Compute Visualization

In virtualized environments, any kind of troubleshooting starts with identifying the network attachment point for the virtual machines. This means that a quick determination of the server, virtual switch, port group, VLAN, associated network switch, and physical port is critical. This requires multiple touch points and interactions between the server and the network administrator as well as reference to multiple tools (compute orchestrator, compute manager, network manager, network controller, and so on).

This allows you to visualize the vCenter-managed hosts and their leaf switch connections on the Topology window. The visualization options include viewing only the attached physical hosts, only the VMs, or both. When you select both, the topology all the way from the leaf switches to the VMs, including the virtual switches are displayed. The VM Search option highlights the path of the VM. Hover the cursor over a host or a connected uplink to view key information relevant to that entity. Up to four vCenters are supported.

VMM supports computes connecting to a border spine. Border Spine is a new switch role managed by easy fabric in Cisco DCNM 11.1(1).

Note

- The vCenter Compute Visualization feature is supported on both the LAN Classic and Easy Fabrics installations for the vCenter-managed computes.

- It is not recommended to use special characters in a VM name as vCenter does not escape special characters used in display names. For more information, see https://vss-wiki.eis.utoronto.ca/display/VSSPublic/Virtual+Machine+Naming.

- Cisco DCNM doesnot support non-Cisco blade servers.

vCenter Compute Visualization

- Enabling vCenter Compute Visualization

- Using vCenter Compute Visualization

- Troubleshooting vCenter Compute Visualization

Enabling vCenter Compute Visualization

To enable the vCenter Compute Visualization feature from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Inventory > Virtual Machine Manager.

The Inventory > Discovery > Virtual Machine Manger window appears.

Step 2

Click the + icon to add a new VMware vSphere vCenter.

Step 3

Enter the server IP address, username, and password to the vCenter. vCenter version 5.5 or later is required.

After the initial discovery, the information that is received from the vCenter is appropriately organized and displayed on the main Topology window. An extra menu item labeled Compute appears on the Show pane.

Using vCenter Compute Visualization

To use the vCenter Compute Visualization feature from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Topology.

Step 2

In the Show list, select Compute to enable the compute visibility.

By default, the Host check box is selected. This implies that the topology shows the VMWare vSphere ESXi hosts (servers), that are attached to the network switches.

The following options are available in the Compute Visualization feature.

- Host

- All

- VM Only

In the All mode, you can see double-arrows that help you to extend a node. If you double-click this node, you can see all the hidden child nodes.

Step 3

Click a specific ESXi host to view additional information.

The expanded topology displayed in the following figure, shows the virtual switches (both vSwitch and Distributed Virtual Switch) that are configured on the specific ESXi host.

Step 4

When changing from the Host suboption to the All suboption, all the compute resources are expanded.

When All is selected, an expanded view of all the hosts, virtual switches, and virtual machines that are part of the topology are displayed. If a VM is powered off, it is shown in red color; otherwise, it is shown in green color.

Note

The vCenter search is unavailable when compute visualization is not enabled. Also, this search is available only when you select the All option.

Step 5

Instead of browsing through the large set of available information, to focus on a specific VM.

Enter a host name (vCenter) in the Search field at the top-left. When you start entering the characters, the topology is instantaneously updated with matching objects.

Note

Ensure that you select the FEX checkbox when you are viewing Compute nodes. The Hosts or VMs behind the FEX will be dangling, otherwise.

Using the Virtual Machine List

The Virtual Machine List allows you to view the complete list of virtual machines.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Topology.

Step 2

Click VM List.

Click Export to export the list of virtual machines into a .csv file.

Click on the name of a VM to view additional information about that virtual machine.

Note

When you export the VM List to a .CSV file, the .CSV file may appear correct. However, when the .CSV file is imported into Microsoft Excel, it might get reformatted, for example, the VLAN column 1-1024 could be reformatted to a date 1/1/2019. Therefore ensure that columns are formatted correctly in Microsoft Excel while importing the .CSV file.

Resynchronizing Virtual Machines

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Topology.

Step 2

Click Resync vCenters icon next to Compute.

Selecting a Column in the Virtual Machine List

Procedure

Step 1

In the VM List window, click the Columns under the gear icon drop-down list.

Step 2

Select the columns that you want to display in the VM list table. If you select additional columns, click Resync vCenters icon to refresh and view the new columns.

Periodic resynchronization with the vCenter happens in the back-end.To configure the resync timer value, choose Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties. In the #GENERAL > DATA SOURCES VMWARE section, specify the timer value in the vmm.resync.timer field. The default value is 60 (for 60minutes), and this value can be increased or decreased. If you enter a value that is less than 60 minutes, the feature is disabled.

Troubleshooting vCenter Compute Visualization

The following error window appears when the vCenter times out. This error might occur when the discovery of the vCenter is in progress.

Viewing Topology in Scale Mode

The following window shows how the Topology window appears after about 200 devices are available in the topology. Note that the topology graph is trimmed down at scale.

Chapter 4. Inventory

This chapter contains the following topics:

- Viewing Inventory Information

- Discovery

Viewing Inventory Information

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Beginning with Cisco DCNM release 6.x, you can view the inventory and the performance for both SAN and LAN switches by using the global Scope pane. You can select LAN, SAN, or both to view the inventory information. You can also export and print the inventory information.

You can either Print this information or export to Microsoft Excel.

Note

You can use the Print icon to print the information that is displayed or you can also use the Export icon to export the information that is displayed to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. You can also choose the column that you want to display.

The Inventory menu includes the following submenus:

- Viewing Inventory Information for Switches

- Viewing Inventory Information for Modules

- Viewing Inventory Information for Licenses

Viewing Inventory Information for Switches

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To view the inventory information for switches from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

The Switches window with a list of all the switches for a selected Scope is displayed.

Step 2

You can also view the following information.

- Group column displays the switch group to which the switch belongs.

- In the Device Name column, select a switch to display the Switch Dashboard.

- IP Address column displays the IP address of the switch.

- WWN/Chassis ID displays the Worldwide Name (WWN) if available or chassis ID.

- Health displays the health situation of the switch.

Note

To refresh and recalculate the latest health data for all the switches on Cisco DCNM, click the Recalculate Health button above the switches table.

- Status column displays the status of the switch.

- # Ports column displays the number of ports.

- Model column displays the model name of the switch.

- Serial No. column displays the serial number of the switch.

- Release column displays the switch version.

- License column displays the DCNM license that is installed on the switch.

- Up Time column displays the time period for which the switch is active.

Step 3

In the Health column, the switch health is calculated by the capacity manager based on the following formula in the server.properties file.

The function to implement is:

# calculate(x, x1, y, y1, z).

# @param x: Total number of modules.

# @param x1: Total number of modules in warning.

# @param y: Total number of switch ports.

# @param y1: Total number of switch ports in warning.

# @param z: Total number of events with severity of warning or above.

Step 4

The value in the Health column is calculated based on the following default equation.

((x-x1)*1.0/x) *0.4 + ((y-y1)*1.0/y)*0.3 + ((z*1.0/1000>=1) ? 0: ((1000-z)*1.0/1000)*0.3).

In the above formula, the switch health value is calculated based on the following:

- Percentage of Warning Modules (Contributes 40% of the total health).

- Percentage of Warning Ports (Contributes 30% of the total health).

- Percentage of events with severity of Warning or above (Contributes 30% of the total health. If there are more than 1000 warning events, the event health value is 0).

You may also have your own health calculation formula by implementing the common interface class: com.cisco.dcbu.sm.common.rif.HealthCalculatorRif. Add the .jar file to the DCNM server and modify the health.calculator property to point to the class name you have created.

The default Java class is defined as: health.calculator=com.cisco.dcbu.sm.common.util.HealthCalculator.

- Capacity Manager calculates health only for the license switches. If the health column does not display a value, the switch either does not have a license or it has missed the capacity manager daily cycle.

- If the switch is unlicensed, click Unlicensed in the DCNM License column. The Administration > License window appears which allows you to assign a license to the user.

- The capacity manager runs two hours after the DCNM server starts. So, if you discover a device after two hours of the DCNM start time, the health will be calculated 24 hours after this DCNM start time

- Viewing System Information

- Interfaces

- VLAN

- FEX

- VDCs

- Switch On-Board Analytics

Viewing System Information

The switch dashboard displays the details of the selected switch.

Procedure

Step 1

From the Cisco DCNM home page, choose Inventory > View > Switches.

An inventory of all the switches that are discovered by Cisco DCNM Web UI is displayed.

Step 2

Click a switch in the Device Name column.

The Switch dashboard that corresponds to that switch is displayed along with the following information:

Step 3

Click the System Information tab. This tab displays detailed system information such as group name, health, module, time when system is up, serial number, the version number, contact, location, DCNM license, status, system log sending status, CPU and memory utilization, and VTEP IP address are displayed. Click Health to access the Health score screen, which includes health score calculation and health trend. The popup contains Overview, Modules, Switch Ports, and Events tabs.

- (Optional) Click SSH to access the switch through Secure Shell (SSH).

- (Optional) Click Device Manager to view a graphical representation of a Cisco MDS 9000 Family switch chassis, a Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switch chassis, a Cisco Nexus 7000 Series switch chassis, or a Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switch chassis including the installed switching modules, the supervisor modules, the status of each port within each module, the power supplies, and the fan assemblies.

- (Optional) Click HTTP to access the switch through Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for that switch.

- (Optional) Click Accounting to go to the Viewing Accounting Information window pertaining to this switch.

- (Optional) Click Backup to go to the Viewing a Configuration window.

- (Optional) Click Events to go to the Viewing Events Registration window.

- (Optional) Click Show Commands to display the device show commands. The Device Show Commands page helps you to view commands and execute them.

- (Optional) Click Copy Running Config to Startup Config to copy the running configuration to the startup configuration.

- Click Generate tac-pac to collect technical support from a device in Cisco DCNM. See the Collecting Technical Support from Devices section for more information.

- Collecting Technical Support from Devices

Collecting Technical Support from Devices

You can choose the protocol while generating technical support from a device in Cisco DCNM Web Client. To collect technical support from a device in Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

An inventory of all the switches that are discovered by Cisco DCNM is displayed.

Step 2

Click a switch in the Device Name column.

The switch dashboard that corresponds to that switch appears.

Step 3

In the Actions area, click Generate tac-pac.

The Generate tac-pac dialog box appears.

Step 4

Choose a management interface by clicking the appropriate radio button.

Valid values are default, vrf management, and vrf default. The default value selected is default.

Note

This option is valid only for Nexus switches.

Step 5

Choose the transport protocol from switch to DCNM by clicking the appropriate radio button.

Valid values are TFTP, SCP, and SFTP.

Note

If you choose the SCP or SFTP option, enter the DCNM server credentials.

Step 6

Click Ok.

After the tac-pac is generated and saved on server, a dialog box appears to open or save the file on your local machine.

Interfaces

- Adding Interfaces

- Editing Interfaces

- Deleting Interfaces

- Shutting Down and Bring Up Interfaces

- Displaying Interface Show Commands

- Rediscovering Interfaces

- Viewing Interface History

Adding Interfaces

To add the interfaces from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

You see the Switches window displaying a list of all the switches for a selected Scope.

Step 2

In the Device Name column, select a switch to display Switch Dashboard.

Step 3

Click the Interfaces tab.

Step 4

Click Add to add a logical interface. The Add Interface window appears.

If you want to add a sub-interface, you select an interface and click Add.

Step 5

In the Type field, choose the type of the interface. For example, VLAN, loopback, NVE.

Step 6

In the Number field, specify the interface number.

Step 7

Select the Admin State ON check box to specify whether the interface is shut down or not.

Editing Interfaces

To edit the interfaces from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

You see the Switches window displaying a list of all the switches for a selected Scope.

Step 2

In the Device Name column, select a switch to display Switch Dashboard.

Step 3

Click the Interfaces tab.

Step 4

Click Edit to edit an interface. The variables that are shown in the Edit Configuration window are based on the template and its policy.

- The Admin State ON check box in the Edit Configuration window indicates whether the interface is shut down or not.

- The Clear Config before the deployment check box helps you to set a port to its default configuration. When there is a set of configurations already available on the port and these configurations conflict with the configurations that want to place on the port, you may need to clear the configurations before the deployment.

- In the Preview window, the left pane shows the configurations that the template generated based on your input, whereas the right pane shows the configurations that are currently available on the switch.

Deleting Interfaces

To delete the interfaces from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

You see the Switches window displaying a list of all the switches for a selected Scope.

Step 2

In the Device Name column, select a switch to display Switch Dashboard.

Step 3

Click the Interfaces tab.

Step 4

Click Delete to add a logical interface.

Shutting Down and Bring Up Interfaces

To shut down and bring up the interfaces from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

The Switches window is displayed with a list of all the switches for a selected Scope.

Step 2

In the Device Name column, select a switch to display Switch Dashboard.

Step 3

Click the Interfaces tab.

Step 4

Click Shutdown to disable an interface. For example, you may want to isolate a host from the network or a host that is not active in the network.

To enable an interface, Click No Shutdown button.

Displaying Interface Show Commands

To display interface show commands from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

You see the Switches window displaying a list of all the switches for a selected Scope.

Step 2

In the Device Name column, select a switch to display Switch Dashboard.

Step 3

Click the Interfaces tab.

Step 4

Click Show to display the interface show commands.

The Interface Show Commands window helps you to view commands and execute them.

Rediscovering Interfaces

To rediscover interfaces from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

The Switches window is displayed showing a list of all the switches for a selected Scope.

Step 2

In the Device Name column, select a switch to display Switch Dashboard.

Step 3

Click the Interfaces tab.

Step 4

Click Rediscover to rediscover the selected interfaces. For example, after you edit or enable an interface, you can rediscover the interface.

Viewing Interface History

To view the interface history from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

You see the Switches window displaying a list of all the switches for a selected Scope.

Step 2

In the Device Name column, select a switch to display Switch Dashboard.

Step 3

Click the Interfaces tab.

Step 4

Click Interface History to display the interface history details such as Policy Name, Time of Execution, and so on.

VLAN

You create a VLAN by assigning a number to it; you can delete VLANs and move them from the active operational state to the suspended operational state.

To configure VLANs, choose Inventory > View > Switches, and then click a switch in the Device Name column.

The following table describes the buttons that appear on this page.

VLAN Tab

Field

Description

Clear Selections

Allows you to unselect all the VLANs that you selected.

Add

Allows you to create Classical Ethernet or Fabric Path VLANs.

Edit

Allows you to edit a VLAN.

Delete

Allows you to delete a VLAN.

No Shutdown

Allows you to enable a VLAN.

Shutdown

Allows you to disable a VLAN.

Show

Allows you to display the VLAN show commands.

This section contains the following:

- Adding a VLAN

- Editing a VLAN

- Deleting a VLAN

- Shutting Down a VLAN

- Displaying VLAN Show Commands

Adding a VLAN

To add a VLAN from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

You see the Switches window displaying a list of all the switches for a selected Scope.

Step 2

In the Device Name column, select a switch to display the Switch Dashboard.

Step 3

Click the VLAN tab.

Step 4

Click Add to create Classical Ethernet or Fabric Path VLANs. In the Add VLAN window, specify the following fields:

1. In the Vlan Id field, enter the VLAN ID.

2. In the Mode field, specify whether you are adding Classical Ethernet or Fabric Path VLAN.

3. Select the Admin State ON check box to specify whether the VLAN is shut down or not.

Editing a VLAN

To edit a VLAN from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

The Switches window is displayed with a list of all the switches for a selected Scope.

Step 2

In the Device Name column, select a switch to display the Switch Dashboard.

Step 3

Select one or more VLANs, and then click the Edit.

Deleting a VLAN

To delete a VLAN from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

You see the Switches window displaying a list of all the switches for a selected Scope.

Step 2

In the Device Name column, select a switch to display the Switch Dashboard.

Step 3

Click VLAN tab.

Step 4

Select the VLAN that you want to delete, and then click Delete.

Shutting Down a VLAN

To shut down a VLAN from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

You see the Switches window displaying a list of all the switches for a selected Scope.

Step 2

In the Device Name column, select a switch to display Switch Dashboard.

Step 3

Click the VLAN tab.

Step 4

Click Shutdown to disable a VLAN.

To enable a VLAN, click No Shutdown button. For example, if you want to start traffic flow on a VLAN you can enable it.

Displaying VLAN Show Commands

To display VLAN show commands from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

The Switches window is displayed, showing a list of all the switches for a selected Scope.

Step 2

In the Device Name column, select a switch to display Switch Dashboard.

Step 3

Click the VLAN tab.

Step 4

Click Show to display the VLAN show commands. Based on the VLAN selection, you can show the VLAN commands. Interface Show Commands window displays the commands and allows you to execute them.

FEX

The Fabric Extender feature allows you to manage a Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender and its association with the Cisco NX-OS switch that it is attached to. A Fabric Extender is connected to the switch through physical Ethernet interfaces or a Port Channel. By default, the switch does not allow the attached Fabric Extender to connect until it has been assigned a chassis ID and is associated with the connected interface. You can configure a Fabric Extender host interface port as a routed or Layer 3 port. However, no routing protocols can be tied to this routed interface.

Note

FEX feature is available on LAN devices only. Therefore, you will see FEX on Cisco DCNM Inventory Switches. FEX is also not supported on Cisco Nexus 1000V devices.

Note

4x10G breakout for FEX connectivity is not supported on Cisco Nexus 9500 Switches.

Note

The Fabric Extender may connect to the switch through several separate physical Ethernet interfaces or at most one port channel interface.

This section describes how to manage Fabric Extender (FEX) on Cisco Nexus Switches through Cisco DCNM.

You can create and manage FEX from Cisco DCNM Inventory > Switches.

Note

FEX tab is visible only if you choose a LAN device.

The following table describes the fields that appear on this page.

FEX Operations

Field

Description

Add

Click to add a new FEX to a Cisco Nexus Switch.

Edit

Select any active FEX radio button and click Edit to edit the FEX configuration.

You can create an edit template and use it for editing FEX. Select template type as POLICY and sub type as FEX.

Delete

Select the FEX radio button, and click Delete icon to delete the FEX associated with the switch.

Show

Allows you to view various configuration details for the selected FEX ID. You can select the following from the drop-down list.

- show_diagnostic

- show_fex

- show_fex_detail

- show_fex_fabric

- show_fex_inventory

- show_fex_module

The variables for respective show commands are displayed in the Variables area. Review the Variables and click Execute. The output appears in the Output area.

You can create a show template for FEX. Select template type as SHOW and sub type as FEX.

FEX History

Allows you to view the history of the FEX configuration tasks for a particular FEX. You can review the Event Type, Policy Name, Status, Time of Execution, User Name for the selected FEX.

FEX Field and Description

Field

Description

Fex Id

Uniquely identifies a Fabric Extender that is connected to a Cisco NX-OS device.

Fex Description

Description that is configured for the Fabric Extender.

Fex Version

Specifies the version of the FEX that is associated with the switch.

Pinning

An integer value that denotes the maximum pinning uplinks of the Fabric Extender that is active at a time.

State

Specifies the status of the FEX as associated with the Cisco Nexus Switch.

Model

Specifies the model of the FEX.

Serial No.

Specifies the configured serial number.

Note

If this configured serial number and the serial number of the Fabric Extender are not the same, the Fabric Extender will not be active.

Port Channel

Specifies the port channel number to which the FEX is physically connected to the Switch.

Ethernet

Refers to the physical interfaces to which the FEX is connected.

vPC ID

Specifies the vPC ID configured for FEX.

This chapter includes the following sections:

- Add FEX

- Edit FEX

Add FEX

To add single-home FEX from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Before you begin

You can add a Fabric Extender (FEX) to the Cisco Nexus Switches through the Cisco DCNM Web Client. If the FEX is physically connected to the switch, FEX will become online after it is added. If the FEX is not physically connected to the switch, the configuration is deployed to the switch, which in turn enables FEX when connected.

Note

You can create only single homed FEX through Inventory > Switches > FEX > Add FEX. To create a dual-homed FEX, use the vPC wizard through Configure > Deploy > vPC.

Ensure that you have successfully discovered LAN devices and configured LAN credentials before you configure FEX.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > Switches > FEX.

The FEX window is displayed.

Step 2

Click the Add FEX icon.

Step 3

In the General tab, in the PORTCHANNEL field, enter the interface port channel number which is connected to the FEX.

Step 4

In the INT_RANGE field, enter the interface range within which the FEX is connected to the switch.

Note

Do not enter the interface range, if the interfaces are already a part of port channel.

Step 5

In the FEX_ID field, enter the ID for FEX that is connected to a Cisco NX-OS device.

The identifier must be an integer value between 100 to 199.

Step 6

Click Add.

The configured Single-home FEX appears in the list of FEXs associated to the device.

Edit FEX

To edit and deploy FEX from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > Switches > FEX.

The FEX window is displayed.

Step 2

Select the FEX radio button that you must edit. Click Edit FEX icon.

Step 3

In the Edit Configuration window, from the Policy drop-down list, select Edit_FEX to edit the FEX configuration.

Step 4

Edit the pinning and FEX_DESC fields, as required.

Note

If you initially configured port 33 on the parent switch as your only fabric interface, all 48 host interfaces are pinned to this port. If you provision another port, for example 35, then you must perform this procedure to redistribute the host interfaces. All host interfaces are brought down and host interfaces 1 to 24 are pinned to fabric interface 33 and host interfaces 25 to 48 are pinned to fabric interface 35.

Step 5

Click Preview.

You can view the generated configuration for the selected FEX ID. The following is a configuration example for FEX ID 101.

fex 101
pinning max-links 1
description test

Step 6

After you review the configuration summary on the Preview window, on the Edit Configuration screen, click Deploy to deploy the FEX for the switch.

VDCs

This section describes how to manage Virtual Device Contexts (VDCs) on Cisco Nexus 7000 Switches through Cisco DCNM.

Users with the network administrator (network-admin) role can create Virtual Device Contexts (VDCs). VDC resource templates limit the amount of physical device resources available to the VDC. The Cisco NX-OS software provides a default resource template, or you can create resource templates.

You can create and manage VDCs from Cisco DCNM Inventory > Switches > VDCs. As Cisco DCNM supports DCNM on Cisco Nexus 7000 Series only, click an active Cisco Nexus 7000 Switch. After you create a VDC, you can change the interface allocation, VDC resource limits, and the high availability (HA) policies.

The following table describes the fields that appear on this page.

VDC Operations

Field

Description

Add

Click to add a new VDC.

Edit

Select any active VDC radio button and click Edit to edit the VDC configuration.

Delete

Allows you to delete the VDC. Select any active VDC radio button and click Delete to remove the VDC associated with the device.

Resume

Allows you to resume a suspended VDC.

Suspend

Allows you to suspend an active non-default VDC.

Save the VDC running configuration to the startup configuration before suspending the VDC. Otherwise, you will lose the changes to the running configuration.

Note

You cannot suspend the default VDC.

Caution

Suspending a VDC disrupts all traffic on the VDC.

Rediscover

Allows you to resume a non-default VDC from the suspended state. The VDC resumes with the configuration that is saved in the startup configuration.

Show

Allows you to view the Interfaces and Resources that are allocated to the selected VDC.

In the Interface tab, you can view the mode, admin-status, and operational status for each interface associated with the VDC.

In the Resource tab, you can view the allocation of resources and current usage of these resources.

Vdc Table Field and Description

Field

Description

Name

Displays the unique name for the VDC

Type

Species the type of VDC. The two types of VDCs are:

- Ethernet

- Storage

Status

Specifies the status of the VDC.

Resource Limit-Module Type

Displays the allocated resource limit and module type.

HA-Policy

- Single Supervisor

- Dual Supervisor

Specifies the action that the Cisco NX-OS software takes when an unrecoverable VDC fault occurs.

You can specify the HA policies for single supervisor module and dual supervisor module configurations when you create the VDC. The HA policy options are as follows:

Single supervisor module configuration:

- Bringdown—Puts the VDC in the failed state. To recover from the failed state, you must reload the physical device.

- Reload—Reloads the supervisor module.

- Restart—Takes down the VDC processes and interfaces and restarts it using the startup configuration.

Dual supervisor module configuration:

- Bringdown—Puts the VDC in the failed state. To recover from the failed state, you must reload the physical device.

- Restart—Takes down the VDC processes and interfaces and restarts it using the startup configuration.

- Switchover—Initiates a supervisor module switchover.

The default HA policies for a non-default VDC that you create is restart for a single supervisor module configuration and switchover for a dual supervisor module configuration. The default HA policy for the default VDC is reload for a single supervisor module configuration and switchover for a dual supervisor module configuration.

Mac Address

Specifies the default VDC management MAC address.

Management Interface

- IP Address Prefix

- Status

Species the IP Address of the VDC Management interface. The status shows if the interface if up or down.

SSH

Specifies the SSH status

Note

If you change the VDC hostname of a neighbor device after initial configuration, the link to the old VDC hostname is not replaced with the new hostname automatically. As a workaround, we recommend manually deleting the link to the old VDC hostname.

This chapter includes the following sections:

- Add VDCs

- Edit VDC

Add VDCs

To add VDC from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Before you begin

Ensure that you have discovered the physical device using a username that has the network-admin role.

Obtain an IPv4 or IPv6 address for the management interface (mgmt 0) if you want to use out-of-band management for the VDC.

Create a storage VDC to run FCoE. The storage VDC cannot be the default VDC and you can have one storage VDC on the device.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > Switches > VDC.

The VDC window is displayed.

Step 2

Click the Add VDC icon.

Step 3

From the drop-down list, select the VDC type.

You can configure the VDC in two modes.

- Ethernet VDC

- Storage VDC

The default VDC type is Ethernet.

Step 4

Click OK.

- Configuring Ethernet VDCs

- Configuring Storage VDCs

Configuring Ethernet VDCs

To configure VDC in Ethernet mode from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

In the General Parameter tab, specify the VDC Name, Single supervisor HA-policy, Dual supervisor HA-policy, and Resource Limit - Module Type.

Step 2

In the Allocate Interface tab, select the network interfaces (dedicated interfaces membership) to be allocated to the VDC.

Click Next.

Step 3

In the Allocate Resource tab, specify the resource limits for the VDC.

Select the radio button and choose Select a Template from existing Templates or Create a New Resource Template. VDC resource templates describe the minimum and maximum resources that the VDC can use. If you do not specify a VDC resource template when you create a VDC, the Cisco NX-OS software uses the default template, vdc-default.

- If you choose Select a Template from existing Templates, from the Template Name drop-down list, you can select None, global-default, or vdc-default.

The template resource limits are detailed in the following below:

Template Resource Limits

Resource

Minimum

Maximum

Global Default VDC Template Resource Limits

Anycast Bundled

IPv6 multicast route memory

8

8

Route memory is in megabytes.

IPv4 multicast route memory

48

48

IPv6 unicast route memory

32

32

IPv4 unicast route memory

VDC Default Template Resource Limits

Monitor session extended

Monitor session mx exception

Monitor SRC INBAND

Port Channels

Monitor DST ERSPAN

SPAN Sessions

VLAN

Anycast Bundled

IPv6 multicast route memory

IPv4 multicast route memory

IPv6 unicast route memory

IPv4 unicast route memory

VRF

- If you choose Create New Resource Template, enter a unique Template Name. In the Resource Limits area, enter the minimum and maximum limits, as required for the resources.

You can edit individual resource limits for a single VDC through the Cisco DCNM Web Client > Inventory > Switches > VDC.

Click Next.

Step 4

In the Authenticate tab, you can allow the Admin to configure the password and also authenticate users using AAA Server Groups.

In the Admin User Area:

- Check the Enable Password Strength Check checkbox, if necessary.

- In the Password field, enter the admin user password.

- In the Confirm Password field, reenter the admin user password.

- In the Expiry Date field, click the down arrow and choose an expiry date for the admin user from the Expiry Date dialog box. You can also select Never radio button not to expire the password.

In the AAA Server Groups area:

- In the Group Name field, enter an AAA server group name.

- In the Servers field, enter one or more host server IPv4 or IPv6 addresses or names, which are separated by commas.

- In the Type field, choose the type of server group from the drop-down list.

Click Next.

Step 5

In the Management Ip tab, enter IPv4 or IPv6 Address information.

Click Next.

Step 6

In the Summary tab, review the VDC configuration.

Click Previous to edit any parameters.

Click Deploy to configure VDC on the device.

Step 7

In the Deploy tab, the status of the VDC deployment is displayed.

A confirmation message appears. Click Know More to view the commands that are executed to deploy the VDC.

Click Finish to close the VDC configuration wizard and revert to view the list of VDCs configured on the device.

Configuring Storage VDCs

To configure VDCs in storage mode from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Before you begin

Create a separate storage VDC when you run FCoE on the device. Only one of the VDCs can be a storage VDC, and the default VDC cannot be configured as a storage VDC.

You can configure shared interfaces that carry both Ethernet and Fibre Channel traffic. In this specific case, the same interface belongs to more than one VDC. The shared interface is allocated to both an Ethernet and a storage VDC.

Procedure

Step 1

In the General Parameter tab, specify the VDC Name, Single supervisor HA-policy, Dual supervisor HA-policy, and Resource Limit - Module Type.

Step 2

In the Allocate FCoE Vlan tab, select the available Ethernet Vdc from the drop-down list.

The existing Ethernet VLANs range is displayed. Select None not to choose any available Ethernet VDCs.

You can allocate specified FCoE VLANs to the storage VDC and specified interfaces.

Click Next.

Step 3

In the Allocate Interface tab, add the dedicated and shared interfaces to the FCoE VDC.

Note

The dedicated interface carries only FCoE traffic and the shared interface carries both the Ethernet and the FCoE traffic.

You can configure shared interfaces that carry both Ethernet and Fibre Channel traffic. In this specific case, the same interface belongs to more than one VDC. FCoE VLAN and shared interface can be allocated from same Ethernet VDC.

Click Next.

Step 4

In the Authenticate tab, you can allow the Admin to configure the password and also authenticate users using AAA Server Groups.

In the Admin User Area:

- Check the Enable Password Strength Check checkbox, if necessary.

- In the Password field, enter the admin user password.

- In the Confirm Password field, reenter the admin user password.

- In the Expiry Date field, click the down arrow and choose an expiry date for the admin user from the Expiry Date dialog box. You can also select Never radio button not to expire the password.

In the AAA Server Groups area:

- In the Group Name field, enter an AAA server group name.

- In the Servers field, enter one or more host server IPv4 or IPv6 addresses or names, which are separated by commas.

- In the Type field, choose the type of server group from the drop-down list.

Click Next.

Step 5

In the Management Ip tab, enter IPv4 or IPv6 Address information.

Click Next.

Step 6

In the Summary tab, review the VDC configuration.

Click Previous to edit any parameters.

Click Deploy to configure VDC on the device.

Step 7

In the Deploy tab, the status of the VDC deployment is displayed.

A confirmation message appears. Click Know More to view the commands that are executed to deploy the VDC.

Click Finish to close the VDC configuration wizard and revert to view the list of VDCs configured on the device.

Edit VDC

To edit VDC from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > Switches > VDC.

The VDC window is displayed.

Step 2

Select the VDC radio button that you must edit. Click the Edit VDC icon.

Step 3

Modify the parameters as required.

Step 4

After you review the configuration summary on the Summary tab, click Deploy the VDC with the new configuration.

Switch On-Board Analytics

For the selected switch, the Switch On-Board Analytics dashboard displays the following charts:

Note

The graph data cannot be retrieved if correct certificates are not added to the Switch. Ensure that the certificates are valid for nxapi feature and SAN analytics to function properly.

- Top 10 Slowest Ports

- Top 10 Slowest Target Ports

- Top 10 Slowest Flows

- Top 10 Slowest ITLs

- Top 10 Port Traffic

- Top 10 Target Ports Traffic

- Top 10 Flow Traffic

- Top 10 ITL Traffic

The following metrics are supported by the Switch On-Board Analytics charts:

- Read and Write Completion Time—Time that is taken for an IO to complete successfully, that is, the time gap between IO status from a Target and IO command from an Initiator. The following metrics are supported:

- Read Completion Time Min

- Read Completion Time Max

- Write Completion Time Min

- Write Completion Time Max

The IO engine tracks the maximum and minimum IO completion time for read and write commands in the context of a switch’s port, target port, flows, initiators, and LUNs.

- Read and Write Initiation Time—Time that is taken for an IO to initiate, that is, the time gap between the first response packet from a Target and IO Command from Initiator. The following metrics are supported:

- Read Initiation Time Min

- Read Initiation Time Max

- Write Initiation Time Min

- Write Initiation Time Max

The IO engine tracks the maximum and minimum IO initiation time for read and write commands in the context of a switch’s port, target port, flows, initiators, and LUNs.

- Read and Write IO Bandwidth—Read and write command bandwidth observed in the context of a switch's port traffic, target port traffic, flow traffic, initiators, and LUNs. The IO bandwidth is computed at every four second time interval based on the number of bytes read or written.

- Read and Write IO Rate—Read and write command IO rate observed in the context of a switch's port traffic, target port traffic, flow traffic, initiators, and LUNs. The IO rate is computed at every four second time interval that is based on the number of IO performed.

- Read and Write IO Size—Read and write command IO size observed in the context of a switch's port traffic, target port traffic, flow traffic, initiators, and LUNs. The following metrics are supported:

- Read IO Size Min

- Read IO Size Max

- Write IO Size Min

- Write IO Size Max

The IO engine tracks the maximum and minimum IO size for read and write commands.

- Viewing Switch On-Board Analytics

- Configuring Settings for the Switch On-Board Analytics Charts

- Viewing Switch On-Board Analytics Charts

Viewing Switch On-Board Analytics

You can view the switch on-board analytics information from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Switches.

The discovered switches are displayed.

Step 2

Click a switch name in the Device Name column.

The Switch dashboard that corresponds to that switch is displayed.

Step 3

Click the Switch On-Board Analytics tab.

This tab displays the Switch On-Board Analytics charts.

Configuring Settings for the Switch On-Board Analytics Charts

Perform the following actions to configure the settings for the switch on-board analytics charts:

- From the Show Time as drop-down list, choose time to be shown in the charts. You can choose one of the following options:

- Microseconds

- Milliseconds

- Seconds

By default, Microseconds is chosen.

Note

The Show Time drop-down list is applicable only for the top ten slowest ports, target ports, flows, and ITLs.

- From the Show Flow From drop-down list, choose whether to show flows from a Target or from an Initiator. By default, flows from a Target are chosen.

Note

The Show Flow From drop-down list is applicable only for the charts displaying flows and ITLs.

- From the Show bandwidth and Size as drop-down list, choose the traffic information to be shown in the charts. You can choose one of the following options:

- Bytes

- KB

- MB

By default, Bytes is chosen.

- Check the Filter results check box, and click either the by fc port or by VSAN radio button and specify the appropriate values to filter the chart results. The FC port value must be in the fc slot/port format and the VSAN value must be a digit within the allowed VSAN range.

Click the Filter icon next to the by fc port to apply changes.

Note

Filtering results by VSAN is not applicable for the Top 10 Slowest Ports or Top 10 Port Traffic charts.

- Check the Single Column check box to display the charts in a single column instead of double columns.

- Click the Refresh icon in the upper-right corner to refresh the charts.

Viewing Switch On-Board Analytics Charts

Perform the following actions to view the charts under the Switch On-Board Analytics tab:

- View the charts for the top ten slowest ports, target ports, flows, and ITLs by choosing one of the following variables from the drop-down list:

- Read Completion Time—The read command completion time observed in the context of a switch’s port.

- Write Completion Time—The write command completion time observed in the context of a switch’s port.

- Read Initiation Time—The read command initiation time observed in the context of a switch’s port.

- Write Initiation Time—The write command initiation time observed in the context of a switch’s port.

Note

- By default, Read Completion Time is selected and all the units for time are in Microseconds.

- Each chart contains a legend that provides information about the variable displayed. Each variable has a check box. Unselecting the check box removes the variable data from the chart or table.

- View the charts for the top ten port traffic, target port traffic, flow traffic, and ITL traffic by choosing one of the following variables from the drop-down list:

- Read IO Rate—The read command data observed in the context of a switch’s port.

- Write IO Rate—The write command observed in the context of a switch’s port.

- Read IO Size—The read command size observed in the context of a switch’s port.

- Write IO Size—The write command size observed in the context of a switch’s port.

- Read IO Bandwidth—The read command bandwidth observed in the context of a switch’s port.

- Write IO Bandwidth—The write command bandwidth observed in the context of a switch’s port.

Note

- By default, Read IO Rate is selected. The Read IO Rate is IO per second. Both Rate and Bandwidth units are per second over an 8-second range. The Size value is for the life of the switch or since the last clear command was run from the CLI.

- The Read IO Size and Read IO Bandwidth units are in bytes per second. You can change this unit by using the Show Bandwidth and Size drop-down list. You can choose from the three options: Bytes, KB, and MB.

- Each chart contains a legend that provides information about the variable displayed. Each variable has a check box. Unselecting the check box removes the variable data from the chart or table.

- Choose the format to display information from the Show drop-down list. You can choose one of the following formats:

- Chart

- Table

- Chart and Table

Note

- To display information in the Chart and Table format, enlarge your browser window or check the Single Column check box on the upper right corner.

- The default for Top ten Slowest Ports and Top 10 Port Traffic is Chart and Table.

- Use the Chart Type drop-down list to display information in the Bar Chart or Stacked Bar Chart.

- Use the Actions drop-down list to export information in a CSV or PDF, or print the required information.

- To view a chart or a table in a new window, click the Detach icon on the upper-right corner of a chart or a table. After detaching a chart or table, you can view the top 25 slowest ports, target ports, flows, ITLs, or their traffic.

Viewing Inventory Information for Modules

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Modules (navtitle]

To view the inventory information for modules from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Modules.

The Modules window is displayed with a list of all the switches and its details for a selected Scope.

Step 2

You can view the following information.

- Group column displays the group name of the module.

- Switch column displays the switch name on which the module is discovered.

- Name displays the module name.

- ModelName displays the model name.

- SerialNum column displays the serial number.

- 2nd SerialNum column displays the second serial number.

- Type column displays the type of the module.

- Slot column displays the slot number.

- Hardware Revision column displays the hardware version of the module.

- Software Revision column displays the software version of the module.

- Asset ID column displays the asset id of the module.

- OperStatus column displays the operation status of the module.

- IO FPGA column displays the IO field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) version.

- MI FPGA column displays the MI field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) version.

Viewing Inventory Information for Licenses

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Licenses (navtitle]

To view the inventory information for licenses from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > View > Licenses.

The Licenses window is displayed based on the selected Scope.

Step 2

You can view the following information.

- Group column displays the group name of switches.

- Switch column displays the switch name on which the feature is enabled.

- Feature displays the installed feature.

- Status displays the usage status of the license.

- Type column displays the type of the license.

- Warnings column displays the warning message.

Discovery

Starting from Cisco DCNM release 10.x, Cisco DCNM Web Client allows the admin to associate user to one or more device scope or group. That means you can only access and configure the associated group or scope devices based on Role Based Access Control (RBAC). Though you might not have the access to other users' associated devices, you can still see all the discovered devices under the Inventory > Discovery tab.

From the left menu bar, go to Administration > Management Users. You can create users and associate groups, manage remote authentication, and see all the connected clients. For more information about RBAC, navigate to Management Users.

Note

TCP routes are favored during the DCNM discovery process. In case TCP routes are blocked using a firewall, DCNM discovery may not be completed as UDP is comparatively slower than TCP.

- Adding, Editing, Re-Discovering, Purging and Removing LAN, LAN Tasks and Switch

- Adding, Editing, Re-Discovering and Removing VMware Servers

Adding, Editing, Re-Discovering, Purging and Removing LAN, LAN Tasks and Switch

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) LAN Switches (navtitle]

Cisco DCNM Web Client reports information that is obtained by the Cisco DCNM-LAN devices.

Tip

If the discovered Device is not in the scope of the current user the check box for the LAN Device in the LAN table grays out.

This section contains the following:

- Adding LAN Switches

- Editing LAN Devices

- Removing LAN Devices from Cisco DCNM

- Rediscover LAN Task

Adding LAN Switches

To add LAN switches from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > Discovery > LAN Switches.

You see the list of LAN devices in the Switch column.

Step 2

Click the Add icon to add LAN.

You see the Add LAN Devicesdialog box.

Step 3

Select Hops from seed Switch or Switch List. The fields vary depending on your selection.

Step 4

Enter the Seed Switch IP address for the fabric.

For LAN Switches Discovery, DCNM allow both IPv4 and IPv6 address for the Seed Switch.

Step 5

The options vary depending on the discovery type selected. For example, if you check Use SNMPv3/SSH, varied fields are displayed.

Step 6

Click the drop-down list and choose Auth-Privacy security level.

Step 7

Enter the Community, or user credentials.

Step 8

Select the LAN group from the LAN groups candidates which is in the scope of the current user.

Note

Select DCNM server and click Add to add LAN switches.

Step 9

Click Next to begin the shallow discovery.

Step 10

In the LAN Discovery window, you can select all switches by using the checkbox next to the switch name column or select individual switches. Click Previous to go back and edit the parameters.

Note

.

- In the Status column, if the switch status is timeout or Cannot be contacted, these switches cannot be added. Only the switches that are reachable and not managed yet are available to select. The checkbox is disabled for the switches that are not available

Step 11

Select a switch and click Add to add a switch to the switch group.

If one of more seed switches is not reachable, it is shown as “unknown” on the shallow Discovery window.

Editing LAN Devices

To edit LAN devices from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > Discovery > LAN Switches.

Step 2

Select the check box next to the LAN that you want to edit and click Edit icon.

You see the Edit LAN dialog box.

Step 3

Enter the Username and Password.

Note

Select Credential or Management State to change the Credential or Management state. If Credential is selected, you can change the SNMP version and Auth-Privacy if v3, username or password. If Management State is selected, you can change the status to managed or unmanaged.

Step 4

Select the LAN status as Managed or Unmanaged.

Step 5

Click Apply to save the changes.

Removing LAN Devices from Cisco DCNM

You can remove a LAN switch from Cisco DCNM.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > Discovery > LAN Switches.

Step 2

Select the check box next to the LAN that you want to remove and click Delete to remove the switches and all their data.

Step 3

Click Yes to review the LAN device.

Rediscover LAN Task

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > Discovery > LAN Switches.

Step 2

Click Rediscover LAN.

Step 3

Click Yes in the pop-up window to rediscover the LAN.

Adding, Editing, Re-Discovering and Removing VMware Servers

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Virtual Machine Manager (navtitle]

This section contains the following:

- Adding a Virtual Center Server

- Deleting a VMware Server

- Editing a VMware Server

- Rediscovering a VMware Server

Adding a Virtual Center Server

You can add a virtual center server from Cisco DCNM.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose .

You see the list of VMware servers (if any) that are managed by Cisco DCNM-LAN in the table.

Step 2

Click Add.

You see the Add VCenter window.

Step 3

Enter the Virtual Center Server IP address for this VMware server.

Step 4

Enter the User Name and Password for this VMware server.

Step 5

Click Add to begin managing this VMware server.

Deleting a VMware Server

You can remove a VMware server from the Cisco DCNM.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose .

Step 2

Select the check box next to the VMware server that you want to remove and click Delete to discontinue data collection for that VMware server.

Editing a VMware Server

You can edit a VMware server from Cisco DCNM Web Client.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose .

Step 2

Check the check box next to the VMware server that you want to edit and click Edit virtual center icon.

You see the Edit VCenter dialog box.

Step 3

Enter a the User Name and Password.

Step 4

Select managed or unmanaged status.

Step 5

Click Apply to save the changes.

Rediscovering a VMware Server

You can rediscover a VMware server from Cisco DCNM.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Inventory > Discovery > Virtual Machine Manager.

Step 2

Select the check box next to the VMware that you want to rediscover.

Step 3

Click Rediscover.

A dialog box with warning "Please wait for rediscovery operation to complete." appears.

Step 4

Click OK in the dialog box.

Chapter 5. Monitor

This chapter contains the following topics:

- Monitoring Switch

- Monitoring LAN

- Monitoring Report

- Alarms

Monitoring Switch

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Switch (navtitle]

The Switch menu includes the following submenus:

- Viewing Switch CPU Information

- Viewing Switch Memory Information

- Viewing Switch Traffic and Errors Information

- Viewing Switch Temperature

- Viewing Other Statistics

- Viewing Accounting Information

- Viewing Events Information

Viewing Switch CPU Information

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) CPU (navtitle]

To view the switch CPU information from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Switch > CPU.

The CPU window is displayed. This window displays the CPU information for the switches in that scope.

Step 2

You can use the drop-down to filter the view by Last 10 Minutes, Last Hour, Last Day, Last Week, Last Month, and Last Year.

Step 3

In the Switch column, click the switch name to view the Switch Dashboard.

Step 4

Click the chart icon in the Switch column to view the CPU utilization.

You can also change the chart timeline to Last 10 Minutes, Last Hour, Last Day, Last Week, Last Month, and Last Year. You can choose the chart type and chart options to show as well.

Viewing Switch Memory Information

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Memory (navtitle]

To view the switch memory information from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Switch > Memory.

The memory panel is displayed. This panel displays the memory information for the switches in that scope.

Step 2

Use the drop-down to filter the view by Last 10 Minutes, Last Hour, Last Day, Last Week, Last Month, and Last Year.

Step 3

Click the chart icon in the Switch column to see a graph of the memory usage of the switch.

Step 4

In the Switch column, click the switch name to view the Switch Dashboard.

Step 5

You can use the drop-down to view the chart in different time lines. Use the chart icons to view the memory utilization chart in varied views.

Viewing Switch Traffic and Errors Information

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Traffic (navtitle]

To view the switch traffic and errors information from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Switch > Traffic.

The Switch Traffic panel is displayed. This panel displays the traffic on that device for the past 24 hours.

Step 2

Use the drop-down to filter the view by 24 hours, Week, Month, and Year.

Step 3

Click the Export icon in the upper-right corner to export the data into a spreadsheet.

Step 4

Click Save.

Step 5

Click the switch name to view the Switch Dashboard section.

Viewing Switch Temperature

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Temperature (navtitle]

Cisco DCNM includes the module temperature sensor monitoring feature, using which you can view the sensor temperature of a switch. You can choose an interval by which to filter the sensor list. The default interval is Last Day. Only sensors that have historical temperature data is shown in the list. You can choose between Last ten Minutes, Last Hour, Last Day, Last Week, and Last Month.

Note

It is not necessary to configure the LAN credentials under the Configure > Credentials Management > LAN Credentials screen to fetch the temperature monitoring data from the switches.

To view the switch temperature information from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Switch > Temperature.

The Switch Temperature window is displayed with the following columns.

- Scope: The sensor belongs to a switch, which is part of a fabric. The fabric that it belongs to is shown as its scope. When the scope selector at the top of Cisco DCNM is used, the sensor list is filtered by that scope.

- Switch: Name of the switch the sensor belongs to.

- IP Address: IP Address of the switch.

- Temperature Module: The name of the sensor module.

- Avg/Range: The first number is the average temperature over the interval that is specified at the top of the table. The second set of numbers is the range of the temperature over that interval.

- Peak: The maximum temperature over the interval

Step 2

From this list, each row has a chart icon, which you can click.

A chart is displayed, which shows historical data for the sensor. The interval for this chart can be changed as well, between 24 hours, 1 week, and 1 month.

- Enabling Temperature Monitoring

Enabling Temperature Monitoring

You can enable the temperature monitoring feature for LAN switches from the LAN Collections screen, and for the SAN switches by setting a few properties under Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties screens.

Enabling Temperature Monitoring for LAN Switches

1. From the menu bar, choose Administration > Performance Setup > LAN Collections.

2. Select the Temperature Sensor check box.

3. Select the type of LAN switches for which you want to collect performance data.

4. Click Apply to save the configuration.

Viewing Other Statistics

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) User Defined (navtitle]

To view the statistics in user-defined format from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Switch > User Defined.

The Other window is displayed.

Step 2

You can use the drop-down to filter the view by 24 hours, Week, Month, and Year.

There are variations to this procedure. In addition to these basic steps, you can also do the following:

- Select the time range, and click Filter to filter the display.

- Click the chart icon in the Switch column to see a graph of the performance for this user-defined object. You can change the time range for this graph by selecting it from the drop-down list in the upper right corner.

- Use the chart icons to view the traffic chart in varied views.

Viewing Accounting Information

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Accounting (navtitle]

To view the accounting information from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Switch > Accounting.

The fabric name or the group name along with the accounting information is displayed.

Step 2

Select Advanced Filter beside the filter icon to search the accounting information by Source, Username,Time, and Description. Or select Quick Filter to search under each column.

Step 3

You can also select a row and click the Delete icon to delete accounting information from the list.

Step 4

You can use the Print icon to print the accounting details and use the Export icon to export the data to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Viewing Events Information

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Events (navtitle]

To view the events and syslog from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Switch > Events.

The fabrics along with the switch name and the events details are displayed.

The Count column displays the number of times the same event has occurred during the time period as shown in the Last Seen and First Seen columns.

Click a switch name in the Switch column to view the switch dashboard.

Step 2

Select an event in the table and click the Add Suppressor icon to open the shortcut of adding an event suppressor rule.

Step 3

Select one or more events from the table and click the Acknowledge icon to acknowledge the event information for the fabric.

- After you acknowledge the event for a fabric, the acknowledge icon is displayed in the Ack column next to the fabric.

Step 4

Select the fabric and click the Unacknowledge icon to cancel an acknowledgment for a fabric.

Step 5

Select Advanced Filter beside the filter icon to search the accounting information by Source, Username,Time, and Description. Or select Quick Filter to search under each column.

Step 6

Select a fabric and use the Delete icon to delete the fabric and event information from the list.

Step 7

Click the Print icon to print the event details.

Step 8

Click the Export to Excel icon to export the data.

Monitoring LAN

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) LAN (navtitle]

The LAN menu includes the following submenus:

- Monitoring Performance Information for Ethernet

- Monitoring ISL Traffic and Errors

- Monitoring a vPC

Monitoring Performance Information for Ethernet

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Ethernet (navtitle]

To monitor the performance information for ethernet from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > LAN > Ethernet.

The Ethernet window is displayed.

Step 2

You can use the drop-down to filter the view by Last 10 Minutes, Last Hour, Last Day, Last Week, Last Month, and Last Year.

There are variations to this procedure. In addition to these basic steps, you can also perform the following steps:

- Select the name of an Ethernet port from the Name column to see a graph of the traffic across that Ethernet port for the past 24 hours. You can change the time range for this graph by selecting it from the drop-down list in the upper-right corner.

- To export the data into a spreadsheet, click the Export icon in the upper-right corner and click Save.

- Use the chart icons to view the traffic chart in varied views. You can also use the icons to Append, Predict, and Interpolate Data.

- For the Rx/Tx calculation, see the following Rx/Tx calculation.

Note

The conversion for Fabrics is 10 bit = 1 byte and for LAN traffic, the conversion is 8 bit = 1 byte.

- Average Rx/Tx % = Average Rx/Tx divided by Speed * 100

- Peak Rx/Tx % = Peak Rx/Tx divided by Speed * 100

Note

If the performance tables do not contain any data, see the Thresholds section to turn on performance data collection.

Monitoring ISL Traffic and Errors

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Link (navtitle]

To monitor the ISL traffic and errors from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > LAN > Link.

The ISL Traffic and Errors window is displayed. This panel displays the ISL information for the end devices in that scope. You can reduce or expand the scope of what is displayed by using the scope menu.

Step 2

You can use the drop-down to filter the view by Last 10 Minutes, Last Hour, Last Day, Last Week, Last Month, and Last Year.

Note

NaN (Not a Number) in the data grid means that the data is not available.

There are variations to this procedure. In addition to these basic steps, you can perform the following steps to view detailed information for ISLs:

- To change the time range for this graph, select it from the drop-down list in the upper-right corner.

- To view the detailed information for a specific period, drag the slider control to choose the time interval for which you need the information.

- Use the chart icons to view the traffic chart in varied views. You can also use the icons to Append, Predict, and Interpolate Data. To view real-time information, choose Real Time from the drop-down list in the Chart menu.

- To export the data into a spreadsheet, choose Export from the drop-down list in the Chart menu and then click Save.

- For the Rx/Tx calculation, see the following Rx/Tx calculation.

Note

The conversion for Fabrics is 10 bit = 1 byte and for LAN traffic, the conversion is 8 bit = 1 byte.

- Average Rx/Tx % = Average Rx/Tx divided by Speed * 100

- Peak Rx/Tx % = Peak Rx/Tx divided by Speed * 100

Note

If the performance tables do not contain any data, see the Performance Setup Thresholds section to turn on performance.

Monitoring a vPC

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) vPC (navtitle]

The virtual port channel (vPC) feature enables you to view the links that are physically connected to different devices as a single port channel. A vPC is an extended form of a port channel which allows you to create redundancy and increase bisectional bandwidth by enabling multiple parallel paths between nodes and allowing load balancing traffic. Traffic is distributed among two single device vPC endpoints. If there is an inconsistency in the vPC configurations, the vPC does not function correctly.

Note

To view the vPC in vPC Performance, both primary and secondary device should be designated to the user. If either one kind of switch is not designated, vPC information is isplayed.

Cisco DCNM Web Client > Monitor> vPC displays only consistent vPCs displays both the consistent and inconsistent vPCs.

You can identify the inconsistent vPCs and resolve the inconsistencies in each vPC by using the Cisco DCNM Web UI > Configure > Deploy > vPC Peer and Web Client > Configure > Deploy > vPC.

Table 1 displays the following vPC configuration details in the data grid view.

vPC Performance

Column

Description

Search box

Enter any string to filter the entries in their respective column.

vPC ID

Displays vPC ID's configured device.

Domain ID

Displays the domain ID of the vPC peer switches.

Multi Chassis vPC EndPoints

Displays the multi-chassis vPC endpoints for each vPC ID under a vPC domain.

Primary vPC Peer - Device Name

Displays the vPC Primary device name.

Primary vPC Peer - Primary vPC Interface

Displays the primary vPC interface.

Primary vPC Peer - Capacity

Displays the capacity for the primary vPC peer.

Primary vPC Peer - Avg. Rx/sec

Displays the average receiving speed of primary vPC peer.

Primary vPC Peer - Avg. Tx/sec

Displays the average sending speed of primary vPC peer.

Primary vPC Peer - Peak Util%

Displays the peak utilization percentage of primary vPC peer.

Secondary vPC Peer - Device Name

Displays the vPC secondary device name.

Secondary vPC Interface

Displays the secondary vPC interface.

Secondary vPC Peer - Capacity

Displays the capacity for the secondary vPC peer.

Secondary vPC Peer - Avg. Rx/sec

Displays the average receiving speed of secondary vPC peer.

Secondary vPC Peer - Avg. Tx/sec

Displays the average sending speed of secondary vPC peer.

Secondary vPC Peer - Peak Util%

Displays the peak utilization percentage of secondary vPC peer.

You can use this feature as following:

- Monitoring vPC Performance

Monitoring vPC Performance

You can view the relationship among consistent virtual port channels (vPCs). You can view the statistics of all member interfaces and the aggregate of the statistics at the port-channel level.

Note

This tab only displays consistent vPCs.

To view the VPC performance information from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > LAN > vPC.

The vPC Performance statistics is displayed. The aggregated statistics of all vPCs are displayed in a tabular manner.

Step 2

Click the vPC ID.

The vPC topology, vPC Details, Peer-link Details, and Peer-link Status are displayed.

The vPC Consistency, Peer-link Consistency, and vPC Type2 Consistency for the vPC are displayed.

- Click the vPC Details tab, you can view the parameter details of vPC Basic Setting and Layer 2 Settings for both Primary and Secondary vPC devices.

- Click the Peer-link Details tab, to view the parameter details of peer-link vPC Global Setting and STP Global Settings for both Primary and Secondary vPC devices.

- Click the Peer-link Status tab, the vPC Consistency, and Peer-Link Consistency status is displayed. The parameter details of Role Status and vPC Peer keep-alive Status for both Primary and Secondary vPC devices is also displayed.

Step 3

Click the peer-link icon in front of the Device Name in the Primary vPC peer or Secondary vPC peer column to view its member interface.

Step 4

Click the Show Chart icon of the corresponding interface to view its historical statistics.

The traffic distribution statistics appear at the bottom of the vPC window. By default, the Cisco DCNM Web Client displays the historical statistics for 24 hours.

There are variations to this procedure. In addition to these basic steps, you can also perform the following steps to view detailed information for flows:

- To change the time range for this graph, select it from the drop-down list in the upper right corner.

- To view the detailed information for a specific period, drag the slider control to choose the time interval for which you need the information.

- Use the chart icons to view the traffic chart in varied views.

- You can also use the icons to Append, Predict, and Interpolate Data.

- To print the vPC Utilization data, click the Print icon in the upper-right corner. The vPC Utilization page appears.

- To export the data into a spreadsheet, click the Export icon in the upper-right corner and click Save File.

Note

If the performance tables do not contain any data, see the Thresholds section to turn on performance data collection.

Monitoring Report

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Report (navtitle]

The Report menu includes the following submenus:

- Viewing Reports

- Scheduling Report Jobs in Federation Setup

- Generating a Report

- Viewing Scheduled Jobs Based on a Report Template

Viewing Reports

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) View (navtitle]

You can view the saved reports that are based on the following selection options:

- By Template

- By User

- From the menu bar, select Monitor > Report > View.

To view the reports from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

In the left pane, expand By Template or By User folder.

Step 2

Select the report that you wish to view.

You can view the report in the main screen or you can select the report in the Report column to view the HTML version of the report in a new browser.

Step 3

To delete a specific report, select the check box and click the Delete icon.

Step 4

To delete all reports, check the check box in the header, and click the Delete icon.

Note

If you have multiple fabrics, you can select the DCNM-SAN group in the Scope to view Host to Storage connectivity of multiple fabrics in a single report.

The report is divided into two sections:

- A summary report for all the devices that have faulty modules. The table displays information for every device that includes the device hostname, number of faulty modules, and the module number with its PID.

- The information for the device of the module. The table contains details about the tests failed.

Scheduling Report Jobs in Federation Setup

To schedule report job in different servers in Federation, on the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

1. Schedule pre-defined or user-defined report job in Server1.

Choose Monitor > Report > Generate. Refer to Generating a Report for detailed instructions.

2. Choose Monitor > Report > Jobs and verify that the job is scheduled correctly.

3. Schedule pre-defined or user-defined report job in Server2.

Note

Ensure that you configure the jobs on primary server, second sever and the third server in the Federation setup in the sequential order.

Generating a Report

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Generate (navtitle]

You can generate reports that are based on a selected template or you can schedule the report to run at a specified time.

Procedure

Step 1

From the menu bar, select Monitor > Report > Generate.

You see the Generate Report window.

Step 2

In the configuration window, use the drop-down to define the scope for report generation.

In the Scope drop-down, you can select a scope group with dual fabrics, the traffic data that is generated by hosts and storage end devices are displayed side by side which enables you to view and compare traffic data that is generated on dual fabrics. To view this report, in the Other Predefined folder, select Traffic by VSAN (Dual Fabrics). Click Options to select the Device Type and Fabrics. Click Save to save the configuration.

Step 3

In the pane on the left, expand the folders and select the report.

Step 4

(Optional) In the pane on the right, you can edit the Report Name.

Step 5

(Optional) Check the Export to Csv/Excel check box to export the report to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Step 6

In the Repeat radio buttons, if you select:

- Never - The report is generated only during the current session.

- Once - The report is generated on a specified date and time apart from the current session.

- Daily - The report is generated everyday based on the Start and End date at a specified time.

- Weekly - The report is generated once a week based on the Start and End date at a specified time.

- Monthly - The report is generated once every month based on the Start and End date at a specified time.

When you generate a report for Network Configuration Audit, the daily job generates a report for the selected devices for last one day. Similarly, the weekly job generates a report for the last 7 days, and the monthly job generates a report for the last 30 days.

Step 7

Click the Create button to generate a report that is based on the specifications.

You see the report results in a new browser window.

Alternatively, you can view the report by choosing Monitor > Report > View and selecting the report name from the report template that you used in the navigation pane.

Note

The Start Date must be at least five minutes earlier than the End Date.

The report is divided into two sections:

- A summary report for all the devices that have faulty modules. The table displays information for every device that includes the device hostname, number of faulty modules and the module number with its PID.

- A detailed information for the device of the module. The table contains details about the tests failed.

Viewing Scheduled Jobs Based on a Report Template

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Jobs (navtitle]

To view the scheduled jobs that are based on a report template from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Report > Jobs.

The Report Jobs window is displayed with details of the reports that are scheduled for generation along with its status.

Step 2

Select the checkbox for a specific report and click the Delete Job icon to delete a report.

Alarms

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Alarms (navtitle]

The Alarms menu includes the following submenus:

- Viewing Alarms and Events

- Monitoring and Adding Alarm Policies

- Health Monitor Alarms

Viewing Alarms and Events

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) View (navtitle]

You can view the alarms, cleared alarms, and events.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Alarms > View.

Step 2

Choose any of the following tabs.

- Alarms: This tab displays the alarms that are generated for various categories. This tab displays information such as ID (optional), Severity, Failure Source, Name, Category, Acknowledged, Creation Time, Last Updated (optional), Policy, and Message. You can specify the Refresh Interval in this tab. You can select one or more alarms and then acknowledge or unacknowledge their status using the Change Status drop-down list. In addition, you can select one or more alarms and then click the Delete button to delete them.

- Cleared Alarms: This tab displays the cleared alarms. This tab displays information such as ID (optional), Severity, Failure Source, Name, Category, Acknowledged, Creation Time, Cleared At (optional), Cleared By, Policy, and Message. You can select one or more alarms and then click the Delete button to delete them.

- Events: This tab displays the events that are generated for the switches. This tab displays information such as Ack, Acknowledged user, Group, Switch, Severity, Facility, Type, Count, Last Seen, and Description. You can select one or more events and then acknowledge or unacknowledge their status using the Change Status drop-down list. In addition, you can select one or more alarms and then click the Delete button to delete them. If you want to delete all events, click the Delete All button.

Monitoring and Adding Alarm Policies

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Alarm Policies (navtitle]

Note

- Alarm policies are stored in compute nodes. Therefore, run the appmgr backup command on each compute node in addition to taking a backup of DCNM.

You can add alarm policies for the following:

- Device Health: Device health policies enable you to create alarms when Device ICMP Unreachable, Device SNMP Unreachable, or Device SSH Unreachable. Also, these policies enable you to monitor chassis temperature, CPU, and memory usage.

- Interface Health: Interface health policies enable you to monitor Up or Down, Packet Discard, Error, Bandwidth details of the interfaces. By default all interfaces are selected for monitoring.

- Syslog Alarm: Syslog Alarm Policy defines a pair of Syslog messages formats; one which raises the alarm, and one which clears the alarm.

Before you begin

If you have created a self-signed certificate or imported an SSL certificate to the keystore, you must copy the new fmserver.jks located at /usr/local/cisco/dcm/wildfly-10.1.0.Final/standalone/configuration to /etc/elasticsearch. If you do not copy the fmserver.jks file to the elasticsearch directory, you will not be able to get the Alarms and Policies. As the elasticsearch database will be stabilizing, you cannot configure any Alarm Policy on the Cisco DCNM Web UI Monitor > Alarms > Alarm Policies.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Alarms > Alarm Policies.

Step 2

Select the Enable Alarms check box to enable alarm policies.

Step 3

From the Add drop-down list, choose any of the following:

- Device Health Policy: Select the devices for which you want to create policies. Specify the policy name, description, CPU Utilization parameters, Memory Utilization parameters, Environment Temperature parameters, device availability, and device features. Under Device Features, you can select the BFD, BGP, and HSRP protocols. When these check boxes are selected, alarms are triggered for the following traps: BFD- ciscoBfdSessDown, ciscoBfdSessUp, BGP- bgpEstablishedNotification, bgpBackwardTransNotification, cbgpPeer2BackwardTransition (), cbgpPeer2EstablishedNotification, and HSRP- cHsrpStateChange. Please refer https://snmp.cloudapps.cisco.com/Support/SNMP/do/BrowseOID.do?local=en for detailed trap OID definition.

- Interface Health Policy: Select the devices for which you want to create policies. Specify the policy name, description, link-state, Bandwidth (In/Out), Inbound errors, Outbound errors, Inbound Discards, and Outbound Discards.

- Syslog Alarm Policy: Select the devices for which you want to create policies and then specify the following parameters.

- Devices: Define the scope of this policy. Select individual devices or all devices to apply this policy.

- Policy Name: Specify the name for this policy. It must be unique.

- Description: Specify a brief description for this policy.

- Severity: Define the severity level for this syslog alarm policy. Choices are: Critical, Major, Minor, and Warning.

- Identifier: Specify the identifier portions of the raise & clear messages.

- Raise Regex: Define the format of a syslog raise message. The syntax is as follows: Facility-Severity-Type: Message

- Clear Regex: Define the format of a syslog clear message. The syntax is as follows: Facility-Severity-Type: Message

Example 1

Identifier

ID1-ID2

Raise Regex

ETHPORT-5-IF_ADMIN_UP: Interface Ethernet15/1 is admin up .

Clear Regex

ETHPORT-5-IF_DOWN_NONE: Interface Ethernet15/1 is down (Transceiver Absent)

In the above example, the regex expressions are part of the syslog messages that appear in the terminal monitor.

Example 2

Identifier

ID1-ID2

Raise Regex

ETH_PORT_CHANNEL-5-PORT_DOWN: $(ID1): $(ID2) is down

Clear Regex

ETH_PORT_CHANNEL-5-PORT_UP: $(ID1): $(ID2) is up

Example 3

Identifier

ID1-ID2

Raise Regex

ETHPORT-5-IF_SFP_WARNING: Interface $(ID1), High Rx Power Warning

Clear Regex

ETHPORT-5-IF_SFP_WARNING: Interface $(ID1), High Rx Power Warning cleared

Step 4

Click OK to add the policy.

Syslog Messages in Terminal Monitor and Console

The following examples show how the syslog messages appear in the terminal monitor and the console. The regex expression is matched with the part of the syslog messages after the % sign.

leaf-9516# terminal monitor
leaf-9516# conf t
leaf-9516(config)# int e15/1-32
leaf-9516(config-if-range)# no shut
2019 Aug 2 04:41:27 leaf-9516 %ETHPORT-5-IF_ADMIN_UP: Interface
Ethernet15/1 is admin up .
2019 Aug 2 04:41:27 leaf-9516 %ETHPORT-5-IF_DOWN_NONE: Interface
Ethernet15/1 is down (Transceiver Absent)
2019 Aug 2 04:41:27 leaf-9516 %ETHPORT-5-IF_ADMIN_UP: Interface
Ethernet15/2 is admin up .
2019 Aug 2 04:41:27 leaf-9516 %ETHPORT-5-IF_DOWN_NONE: Interface
Ethernet15/2 is down (Transceiver Absent)
2019 Aug 2 04:41:28 leaf-9516 %ETHPORT-5-IF_ADMIN_UP: Interface
Ethernet15/3 is admin up .

The syslog messages in the console have a similar format as they would appear in the terminal monitor, except for the additional port information enclosed in the %$ signs. However, the regex expression is matched with the part of the syslog messages after the last % sign.

SR-leaf1# 2019 Aug 26 23:55:45 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %PLATFORM-1-
PFM_ALERT: FAN_BAD: fan6
2019 Aug 26 23:56:15 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %PLATFORM-1-PFM_ALERT:
FAN_BAD: fan6
2019 Aug 26 23:56:18 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %ASCII-CFG-2-CONF_CONTROL:
System ready
2019 Aug 26 23:56:25 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %PLATFORM-1-PFM_ALERT:
FAN_BAD: fan6
2019 Aug 26 23:56:35 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %PLATFORM-1-PFM_ALERT:
FAN_BAD: fan6
2019 Aug 26 23:56:39 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %VMAN-2-ACTIVATION_STATE:
Successfully activated virtual service 'guestshell+'
2019 Aug 26 23:56:39 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %VMAN-2-GUESTSHELL_ENABLED:
The guest shell has been enabled. The command 'guestshell' may be used
to access it, 'guestshell destroy' to remove it.
2019 Aug 26 23:56:45 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %PLATFORM-2-FAN_REMOVED: Fan
module 5 (Serial number ) Fan5(sys_fan5) removed
2019 Aug 26 23:56:45 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %PLATFORM-1-PFM_ALERT:
System will shutdown in 2 minutes 0 seconds due to fan policy
__pfm_fanabsent_any_singlefan.
2019 Aug 26 23:56:45 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %PLATFORM-1-PFM_ALERT:
FAN_BAD: fan6
2019 Aug 26 23:56:54 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %PLATFORM-1-PFM_ALERT:
System will shutdown in 1 minutes 40 seconds due to fan policy
__pfm_fanabsent_any_singlefan.
2019 Aug 26 23:56:54 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %PLATFORM-1-PFM_ALERT:
FAN_BAD: fan6
2019 Aug 26 23:57:03 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %PLATFORM-2-FANMOD_FAN_OK:
Fan module 5 (Fan5(sys_fan5) fan) ok
2019 Aug 26 23:57:03 SR-leaf1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %PLATFORM-1-PFM_ALERT:
FAN_BAD: fan6

Activating Policies

After you create new alarm policies, activate them.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Alarms > Policies.

Step 2

Select the policies that you want to activate and then click the Activate button.

Note

Ensure that the port number for SNMP_TRAP is set to 2162, for DCNM to receive alarm traps.

Deactivating Policies

You can deactivate the active alarm policies.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Alarms > Policies.

Step 2

Select the policies that you want to deactivate and then click the Deactivate button.

Importing Policies

You can create alarm policies using the import functionality.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Alarms > Policies and then click the Import button.

Step 2

Browse and select the policy file saved on your computer.

You can only import policies in text format.

Exporting Policies

You can export the alarm policies into a text file.

Procedure

Step 1

From the menu bar, choose Monitor > Alarms > Policies.

Step 2

Click the Export button and then select a location on your computer to store the exported file.

Editing Policies

Procedure

Step 1

From the menu bar, choose Monitor > Alarms > Policies.

Step 2

Select the policy that you want to edit.

Step 3

Click the Edit button and then make necessary changes.

Step 4

Click the OK button.

Deleting Policies

Procedure

Step 1

From the menu bar, choose Monitor > Alarms > Policies.

Step 2

Select the policy that you want to delete.

Step 3

Click the Delete button. The policy is deleted.

Health Monitor Alarms

Starting from Cisco DCNM Release 11.4(1), alarms are registered and created under the External alarm category by the Health Monitor.

Health Monitor: Alarm Policy

The Health Monitor external alarm category policy is automatically activated and enabled on all the devices in a fabric. The severity level of this alarm policy can be MINOR, MAJOR, or CRITICAL.

Alarms are raised and categorized as CRITICAL for the following events:

- Elasticsearch (ES) Cluster Status is Red: Critical (For Cluster/HA mode only)

- CPU/Memory/Disk Utilization/ES JVM Heap Used Percentage >= 90%

Alarms are raised and categorized as MAJOR for the following events:

- ES Cluster Status is Yellow (For Cluster/HA mode only)

- ES has unassigned shards (For Cluster/HA mode only)

- CPU/Memory/Disk Utilization/ES JVM Heap Used Percentage >= 80% and <90%

Alarms are raised and categorized as MINOR for the following events:

- CPU/Memory/Disk Utilization/ES JVM Heap Used Percentage >= 65% and <80%

- Kafka: Number of partitions without active leader > 0

- Kafka: Qualified partition leader not found. Unclear leaders > 0

Choose Monitor>Alarms>Policies to display the Health Monitor alarm policies. These alarm policies are not editable on the web UI. Click Activate or Deactivate to activate or deactivate the selected policy.

In case an alarm policy is deactivated using the GUI, any alarms created or cleared for that policy will not be displayed in the Monitor>Alarms>View tab. To delete a policy, select the checkbox next to the policy and click Delete. However, we recommend not deleting a policy from the GUI. When a fabric is deleted, the alarm policy along with all the active alarms for the devices in that fabric are deleted.

Health Monitor: Active Alarms

Choose Monitor>Alarms>View to display the active alarms.

To clear active alarms, select the checkbox next to the alarm, click Change Status and select Clear.

To delete active alarms, select the checkbox next to the alarm and click Delete.

Health Monitor: Cleared Alarms

To view the cleared alarms, select Monitor>Alarms>View>Cleared Alarms.

Click the arrow icon to display detailed information about the required alarm.

To delete a cleared alarm from the list of cleared alarms, select the checkbox next to the alarm and click Delete.

For more information on Alarms and Policies, refer Alarms.

Chapter 6. Configure

This chapter contains the following topics:

- Deploy

- Templates

- Backup

- Image Management

- LAN Telemetry Health

Deploy

The Deploy menu includes the following submenus:

- Configuring vPC Peer

- Configuring vPC

- POAP Launchpad

Configuring vPC Peer

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) vPC Peer (navtitle]

A virtual PortChannel (vPC) allows links that are physically connected to two different Cisco Nexus devices to appear as a single PortChannel to a third device. The third device can be a Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender or a switch, server, or any other networking device. A vPC can provide Layer 2 multipathing, which allows you to create redundancy by increasing bandwidth, enabling multiple parallel paths between nodes and load-balancing traffic where alternative paths exist.

After you enable the vPC function, you create a peer keepalive link, which sends heartbeat messages between the two vPC peer devices.

The vPC domain includes both vPC peer devices, the vPC peer keepalive link, the vPC peer link, and all the PortChannels in the vPC domain connected to the downstream device. You can have only one vPC domain ID on each device.

vPC creation is divided into two steps, vPC Peer creation and vPC creation. To configure vPC, you need to configure vPC domain. To create vPC peer, navigate to Configure > Deploy > vPC Peer.

Note

After you configure the vPC peer, select vPC peer using the radio button and click Add vPC. For information about how to add a vPC to the selected vPC peer, see Add vPC.

You can view the history of tasks performed, navigate to Configure > Deploy > vPC Peer > History tab. For more information, see vPC Peer History.

You can view the list of vPC domains in the Pre Configured Peers table.

Pre Configured Peers

Column

Description

Search box

Enter any string to filter the entries in their respective column.

Domain ID

Displays the domain ID of the vPC peer switches.

Primary Switch

Displays the vPC Primary device name.

Primary Port Channel ID

Displays the peer-link port channel for vPC primary device.

Secondary Switch

Displays the vPC secondary device name.

Secondary Port Channel ID

Displays the peer-link port channel for vPC secondary device.

Consistency

Displays the vPC Consistency status. Corresponds vPC peer-link configuration and Global Consistency parameters.

This feature supports add, delete, and edit option for Domain. You can also view vPC Peer History.

- vPC Peer History

- Add vPC Peer Wizard

- Delete vPC Peer

- Edit vPC Peer Configuration

vPC Peer History

To view the deployed jobs on the vPC peers, navigate to Configure > Deploy > vPC Peer > History tab. You can view the list vPC Peer History information in the Table 1.

vPC Peer History

Column

Description

Domain Id

Specifies the domain ID for the vPC peer

Primary Switch

Specifies the Primary Switch associated with the vPC Peer.

Secondary Switch

Specifies the Secondary Switch associated with the vPC Peer.

Created By

Specifies the DCNM username, who deployed this task.

Started At

Specifies the time at which the task was performed on the vPC peer.

The time is displayed in the format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.

Task Performed

Specifies the task that is performed on the vPC peer.

Status

Species the status of the task that is performed on the vPC Peer. The status can be Failed, Success, or in_progress.

View Command History

Select an activity, click View Command History.

The Command History page displays the commands that are executed, status, and error message on the Primary Switch and Secondary Switch, in their respective tabs.

Delete vPC Peer Job

Select a vPC Peer History entry and click Delete to delete the task history.

Add vPC Peer Wizard

To add a VPC peer using the wizard from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > vPC Peer tab.

Step 2

Click Add vPC Peer icon in the toolbar.

You are directed to the vPC Peer creation wizard. There are five steps to complete the vPC Peer creation.

Step 3

On the Select Devices screen:

Click to choose the device that you want to be the primary and device secondary device on the vPC peer link. You can also filter the devices using the Scope drop-down list.

Note

The licensed devices with configured LAN credentials are displayed.

Note

If vPC is already configured on the device that you chose as primary, the secondary device information and the domain ID are populated automatically. You can also modify, as required.

In the Domain ID field, enter the vPC domain ID.

To enable LACP on the peer link, check Enable lacp on peer link checkbox.

For the VXLAN VTEP device, Loopback Interface and Loopback Secondary IP address can be specified in the Domain Setting table.

Click Next to configure peer link.

Step 4

On the Configure Peer-Link screen:

For configuring the peer-link, you have two options. You can either select an existing port-channel or create a new port-channel. If Peer link is already configured on device, on selection of peer link port-channel automatically populates secondary peer-link port-channel.

Perform the following steps on both the primary and the secondary devices.

1. Click Existing Port Channel or Create New port Channel radio button to configure port channel.

A port channel bundles physical links into a channel group to create a single logical link that provides the aggregate bandwidth of up to 8 physical links on the M series module. If a member port within a port channel fails, the traffic previously carried over the failed link switches to the remaining member ports within the port channel.

2. If you choose Existing Port Channel:

- Click the search icon next to the Port Channel Id field to select the Port channel ID for the device peer link.

- From the list of port channels for the device, check the Port Channel ID check box.

- Click OK.

The Port channels selected for the device are displayed in the below area. The interfaces and the port channel to which they are connected to are displayed in the Existing Port Channel under the Configure Secondary Device Peer Link area.

3. If you choose Create New Port Channel:

- In the Port Channel Id field, enter the port channel number for each device that you want to use as the vPC peer link.

You can use different numbers for the two port channels on the two vPC devices that you are designating as the vPC peer link.

- In the interface table below, choose the interfaces that you want to use for the vPC peer link.

Click Next to configure peer link port-channel setting.

Step 5

On the Configure Peer-Link Port Channel Settings screen:

Edit the Description, Port Mode and Native VLAN for the primary and the secondary devices. We recommend that you configure the Layer 2 port channels that you are designating as the vPC peer link in trunk mode and use two ports on separate modules on each vPC peer device for redundancy.

If you did not check the Enable lacp on peer link in the Select Devices screen, the Protocol field will display NONE.

If you want to create VLANs, the Allowed VLANs value must be a valid VLAN ID or range.

Click Next to view the summary information.

Step 6

On the Summary screen:

You can view the CLI configuration for the Primary Switch and Secondary Switch.

You can copy and save the configuration this configuration to your local directory.

Step 7

Click Previous to change any configurations.

Step 8

Click Deploy to configure vPC Peers.

After the deployment is complete, a status message shows whether the deployment is successful or a failure. Click Know More to view the status of each command deployed.

Delete vPC Peer

To delete the VPC peer from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > vPC Peer tab.

Step 2

Select the vPC domain which you want to delete, and click the Delete vPC Peer icon in the toolbar.

Click Yes when the confirmation window pops out.

Edit vPC Peer Configuration

To edit the VPC peer configuration from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > vPC Peer tab.

Step 2

Select the vPC domain which you want to edit, and click the Edit vPC Peer icon in the toolbar.

You can edit the vPC Peer configuration by following the wizard as Add vPC Peer Wizard.

Configuring vPC

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) vPC (navtitle]

After you finish configuring the vPC Peers, navigate to Configure > Deploy > vPC to configure the vPC.

You can view the history of tasks that are performed, navigate to Configure > Deploy > vPC > History. For more information, see vPC History.

You can view the list of virtual port-channels (vPC) in the Virtual Port-Channel(vPC) table.

Virtual Port-Channel(vPC)

Column

Description

Search box

Enter any string to filter the entries in their respective column.

vPC ID

Displays vPC ID's configured device.

Domain ID

Displays the domain ID of the vPC peer switches.

Primary vPC Peer-Device Name

Displays the vPC Primary device name.

Primary vPC Peer - Port Channel

Displays the vPC port channel for the primary vPC device that is connected to the multi-chassis endpoint or access switch.

Primary vPC Peer - Peer Port Channel

Displays the peer-link port channel for the vPC primary device.

Primary vPC Peer - Operational Mode

Displays the operational mode of the primary vPC endpoints.

Secondary vPC Peer - Device Name

Displays the vPC secondary device name.

Secondary vPC Peer - Port Channel

Displays the vPC port channel for the secondary device that is connected to the multi-chassis endpoint or access switch.

Secondary vPC Peer - Peer Port Channel

Displays the peer-link port channel for the vPC secondary device.

Secondary vPC Peer - Operational Mode

Displays the operational mode of the secondary vPC endpoints.

Multi Chassis vPC EndPoints - Device Name

Displays the multi-chassis vPC endpoints for each vPC ID under a vPC domain.

Multi Chassis vPC EndPoints - Port Channel ID

Displays the port channel on multi chassis vPC devices or access devices connected to the vPC peer switches.

vPC Consistency

Displays the vPC Consistency status. Corresponds vPC port channel and vPC.

This feature supports add, delete, and edit option for vPC.

- vPC History

- Add vPC

- Delete vPC

- Edit vPC Configuration

vPC History

To view the deployed jobs on the created vPC peers, navigate to Configure > Deploy > vPC > History tab. You can view the list vPC Peer History information in the table.

vPC Peer History

Column

Description

vPC Id

Specifies the domain ID for the vPC peer.

Primary Switch

Specifies the Primary Switch associated with the vPC.

Secondary Switch

Specifies the Secondary Switch associated with the vPC.

Access Switch

Specifies the Access Switch associated with the vPC.

Created By

Specifies the DCNM username who deployed this task.

Started At

Specifies the time at which the task was performed on the vPC peer.

The time is displayed in the format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.

Task Performed

Specifies the task that is performed on the vPC.

Status

Species the status of the task that is performed on the vPC.

View Command History

Select an activity, click View Command History.

The Command History page displays the commands that are executed, status and error message for every command on the Primary Switch, Secondary Switch, and Access Switch, in their respective tabs.

Delete vPC Job

Select a vPC history and click Delete to delete the task history.

Add vPC

To add vPC from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > vPC tab.

Step 2

Click the Add vPC icon in the toolbar.

The vPC creation screen appears. There are five steps to complete the vPC creation.

Note

Configure the vPC domain before configuring the vPC. After configuring the domain, choose the vPC peer to create vPCs.

Step 3

On the Select Devices page, click Search button next to the Primary Switch text box to open a list of vPC peers.

After selection, click OK. After you choose the domain, the vPC domain window is prepopulated with the vPC domain information.

Note

You cannot choose a peer link if a switch associated is not a licensed switch with configured LAN credentials.

Click Ok.

Step 4

In the vPC ID field, enter the value for this vPC.

By default, this field is autopopulated when you choose the primary and secondary switches.

Choose the option to Configure Access Switch/Fex, Configure New Fex, or Configure Host and specify the Access Switch/Fex.

A dual-home FEX is created after you successfully deploy the vPC.

Step 5

To enable LACP on VPC port-channels, check Create LACP-based Port Channels For Setting Up vPC checkbox.

Note

LACP-based port channel is created. By default, LACP is not enabled on the vPC port channel. We recommend that you create and use LACP for all these port channels. If you do not want to use LACP, deselect the option. Ensure that the LACP is configured with active mode on the interfaces on each port channel on the vPC peer devices. This configuration allows you to more easily detect compatibility between devices, unidirectional links, and multihop connection, and provides dynamic reaction to run-time changes and link failures.

Step 6

In the Configure links with vPC Primary and vPC Secondary page, configure the port channel for the Primary and Secondary vPC.

Step 7

Select or create the port-channel to configure the vPC. Select Existing Port Channel or Create New port Channel radio button to configure port channels.

A port channel bundles physical links into a channel group to create a single logical link that provides the aggregate bandwidth of up to 8 physical links on the M series module. If a member port within a port channel fails, the traffic previously carried over the failed link switches to the remaining member ports within the port channel.

- If you choose Existing Port Channel:

1. Click the search icon next to the Port Channel Id field to select the Port channel ID for the device peer link.

All the discovered port channels are displayed. The non-LACP port channel is disabled and you cannot select only LACP enabled Port-channels.

2. From the list of port channels for the device, check the Port Channel ID check box.

3. Click OK.

The Port channels that are selected for the device are displayed in the below area. The interfaces and the port channel to which they are connected to are displayed in the Existing Port Channel under the Configure Secondary Device Peer Link area.

- If you choose Create New Port Channel:

1. In the Port Channel Id field, enter the port channel number for each device that you want to use as the vPC peer link.

This field is autopopulated by default.

You can use different numbers for the two port channels on the two vPC devices that you are designating as the vPC peer link.

2. In the interface table below, choose the interfaces that you want to use for the vPC peer link.

Click Next to review and modify other vPC port channel settings.

Step 8

In the Configure vPC Port Channel Settings, review and configure parameters for the port channel for both Primary and Secondary switches.

Edit the Description, Port Mode, Native VLAN, and Protocol for the port channels of the primary and the secondary devices.

If you did not check the Create LACP-based Port Channels for setting up vPC in the Select Devices screen, the Protocol field displays NONE.

If you want to create VLANs, the Allowed VLANs value must be a valid VLAN ID or range.

Click Next.

Step 9

On theSummary page, you can view the summary of your configuration for the Primary Switch, Secondary Switch, and Access Switch.

You can copy and save the configuration this configuration to your local directory.

Step 10

Click Previous to change any configurations.

Step 11

Click Deploy to configure vPC on the devices.

After the deployment is complete, a status message shows whether the deployment is successful or a failure. Click Know More to view the status of each command deployed.

Delete vPC

To delete the VPC from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > vPC.

Step 2

Select the vPC which you want to delete, and click the Delete vPC icon in the toolbar.

Click Yes when the confirmation window pops out.

Edit vPC Configuration

To edit the VPC configuration from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > vPC tab.

Step 2

Select the vPC which you want to edit, and click the Edit vPC icon in the toolbar.

You can edit the selected vPC configuration by following the steps mentioned in the Add vPC section.

POAP Launchpad

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) POAP (navtitle]

Note

These features appear on your Cisco DCNM application only if you have deployed the Cisco DCNM installer in the Unified Fabric mode.

The POAP launchpad contains the following configuration steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Create and manage scopes for POAP creation.

Step 2

Set a server for images and configuration files.

Step 3

Generate from a template or upload existing configuration.

Step 4

Create, Publish, and Deploy Cable Plans.

- Power-On Auto Provisioning (POAP)

- DHCP Scopes

- Image and Configuration Servers

- POAP Templates

- POAP Template Annotation

- POAP Definitions

Power-On Auto Provisioning (POAP)

Power-On Auto Provisioning (POAP) automates the process of upgrading software images and installing configuration files on Cisco Nexus switches that are being deployed in the network for the first time.

If the AAA authentication is set up before adding switch, "Invalid Credential" error appears during POAP. There is no functional impact. However, it refrains from DCNM receiving accurate POAP. You must update the poap_dcnm.py file located in /var/lib/dcnm/ with the new AAA administrative password, by using the following command:

dcnm# python poap_dcnm.py dcnm-info <dcnm-ipaddress> <username> <password>

When a Cisco Nexus switch with the POAP feature boots and does not find the startup configuration, the switch enters POAP mode, locates a DHCP server and bootstraps itself with its interface IP address, gateway, and DNS server IP addresses. It also obtains the URL of an SCP server and downloads a configuration script that is run on the switch to download and install the appropriate software image and configuration file.

If the POAP does not complete any configurations, you can refresh the configurations on the device. SSH to Cisco DCNM server and logon. Navigate to the DCNM directory by using the following command:

dcnm# cd /var/lib/dcnm/<switch_serial_number>

Locate the switch configuration file is the above directory. Refresh the configuration by using the following command:

dcnm# sed -i 's/\r//g' <config_file_for_switch>

Note

When you move the mouse cursor over an error that is identified in a specific parameter in any window, it will display the exact error message before you move to the next screen.

DHCP Scopes

DHCP scope is a well-defined term in DHCP arena. It is used to define a policy for giving out IP addresses and other options to host on a specific IP subnet. In DCNM, we use the DCHP scope to distribute IPv4 address, PYTHON bootscript, (or other supported protocol + access credential + server) which stores the bootscript.

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP.

The following table details the columns in the display.

DCHP Scopes display fields

DHCP Scopes

Comment

Scope Name

The DHCP scope name must be unique among the switch scopes. This name is not used by ISC DHCP but used to identify the scope.

Scope Subnet

The IPv4 subnet used by the DHCP servers.

IP Address Range

The IP address ranges allocated to the POAP switches. Multiple IP addresses can be used, separated by comma.

Lease Time

Maximum lease time for the DHCP lease.

Default Gateway

The default gateway for the DHCP scope. Enter a valid IP as the default gateway.

Domain Name Servers

The domain name server for the DHCP scope.

Bootscript Name

The Python Bootup script.

TFTP/Bootscript Server

The server that holds the bootscript.

- Adding a DHCP Scope

- Editing an existing DHCP Scope

- Deleting a DHCP Scope

Adding a DHCP Scope

To add a DHCP scope from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > DHCP Scopes.

The DCHP Scopes window is displayed.

Step 2

Click Add scope icon.

Step 3

In the Add DHCP Scope window, specify values in the fields according to the information in Table 1.

Step 4

Click OK to add a DHCP scope.

Editing an existing DHCP Scope

Note

Once the DCNM is accessed for the first time, you must edit the default scope named enhanced_fab_mgmt and add free IP address ranges.

To edit an existing DHCP scope from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > DHCP Scopes.

Step 2

Use the checkbox to select the DHCP scope.

Step 3

Click Edit scope icon.

Step 4

In the Edit DHCP Scope window, edit the DHCP scopes.

Step 5

Click Apply to save the changes.

Deleting a DHCP Scope

To delete a DHCP scope from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > DHCP Scopes.

Step 2

Use the checkbox to select the DHCP scope.

Step 3

Click Delete scope icon.

Step 4

In the delete notification, click Yes to delete the DHCP scope.

Note

You may click the Refresh icon to refresh the DHCP Scopes list.

Image and Configuration Servers

The Image and Configuration Servers page allows you to specify the servers and credentials used to access the device images and the uploaded or Cisco DCNM generated or published device configuration. The server that is serving the images could be different from the one serving the configurations. If the same server is serving both images and configurations, you need to specify the server IP address and credentials twice for each server because the root directory holding the images or configuration files could be different. By default, the Cisco DCNM server will be the default image and configuration server. There will be two Cisco DCNM server addresses, one for configuration, one for image.

From the menu bar, choose Configure > Deploy > POAP. The Power-On Auto Provisioning (POAP) page appears. Click Images and Configuration.

The following table details the columns in the display.

DCHP Scopes display fields

Image and Configuration Servers

Description

Name

Name of the image and configuration server.

URL

URL shows where images and files are stored.

Username

Indicates the username.

Last Modified

Indicates the last modified date.

You can add your own image and configuration servers if they are different from the default.

- Add Image or Configuration Server URL

- Editing an Image or Configuration Server URL

- Deleting an Image or Configuration Server URL

- Using the File Browser

- Uploading an Image File

Add Image or Configuration Server URL

To add an image or a configuration server URL from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

On the Image and Configuration Servers page, click the Add icon.

Step 2

In the Add Image or Configuration Servers URL window, specify a name for the image.

Step 3

Select the scp radio button to select the SCP protocol for POAP and Image Management.

Step 4

Enter Hostname/Ipaddress and Path.

Step 5

Specify the Username and Password.

Step 6

Click OK to save.

Editing an Image or Configuration Server URL

To edit an image or a configuration server URL to the repository from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

On the Image and Configuration Servers page, select an existing Image and Configuration Server from the list, and click the Edit icon.

Step 2

In the Edit Image or Configuration Servers URL window, edit the required fields.

The Default_SCP_Repository cannot be edited.

Step 3

Click OK to save or click Cancel to discard the changes.

Deleting an Image or Configuration Server URL

To delete an image or a configuration server URL to the repository from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

On the Image and Configuration Servers page, select an existing Image and Configuration Server from the list, and click the Delete icon.

Step 2

In the delete notification, click Yes to delete the image and configuration server.

Note

The default SCP Repository cannot be deleted.

Using the File Browser

The file browser feature enables you to browse through the repository.

To view the files using file browser from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

On the Image and Configuration Servers page, select an existing Image and Configuration Server from the list.

Step 2

Click the File Browser button to see the file in the directory. The File browser pop-up dialog appears.

Uploading an Image File

To upload an image file from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

On the Image and Configuration Servers window, select an existing Image and Configuration Server from the list.

Step 2

Click the Image Upload button.

Step 3

Click the Choose File button to choose an image file.

Step 4

In the Platform drop-down list, choose the hardware model name of the managed device. For example, N7K, N9K.

Step 5

In the Type drop-down list, choose the image type. For example, kickstart, system.

POAP Templates

Templates can be created or imported into the template builder of DCNM. There are some predefined Fabric specific POAP templates bundled with DCNM. The template builder can be invoked from the GUI, Configure > Templates > Deploy. The templates dedicated to POAP will be used to generate many different POAP device configurations

The following icons are listed at the menu bar of the window to customize the view of the information in the window:

- Use the Show Filter icon to filter the templates.

- Use the Print icon to print the list of templates and their details.

- Use the Export icon to export the list of templates to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

This section contains the following:

- Add POAP Template

- Editing a Template

- Cloning a Template

- Importing a Template

- Exporting a Template

- Deleting a Template

Add POAP Template

To add POAP templates from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > POAP Definitions.

The POAP Definitions window is displayed.

Step 2

In the Configuration Steps, click the template hyperlink in the POAP Definitions section.

Step 3

Click the Add template icon.

Step 4

Specify the Template Name, Template Description, and Tags.

Step 5

Use the checkbox to specify the Supported Platforms.

Step 6

Select the template type from the drop-down list.

By default, CLI template type is selected.

Step 7

Select the Published checkbox if you want the template to have ‘Read Only’ access.

Step 8

In the Template Content pane, specify the content of the template.

For help on creating the template content, click the Help icon next to the Template Content header. For information about POAP template annotations, see the POAP Template Annotation section.

Step 9

Click Validate Template Syntax to validate syntax errors.

Step 10

Click Save to save the template.

Step 11

Click Save and Exit to save the template and exit the window.

Step 12

Click Cancel to discard the template.

Editing a Template

To edit a template from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > POAP Definitions.

Step 2

In the Configuration Steps, click the template hyperlink in the POAP Definitions section.

Step 3

Select a template from the list and click the Modify or View template icon.

Step 4

Edit the template content and click Save to save the template or Save and Exit to save and exit the screen.

Cloning a Template

To clone a template from an existing template, from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > POAP Definitions.

Step 2

In the Configuration Steps, click the template hyperlink in the POAP Definitions section.

Step 3

Select a template from the list and click Save Template As icon.

Step 4

Edit the template and click Save to save the template or Save and Exit to save and exit the screen.

Importing a Template

To import a template from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP.

Step 2

Under Configuration Steps, click the template hyperlink in the POAP Definitions section.

Step 3

Select a template from the list and click Import Template.

Step 4

Select the template file and upload.

Exporting a Template

To export a template from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > POAP Definitions.

Step 2

In the Configuration Steps, click the template hyperlink in the POAP Definitions section.

Step 3

Select a template from the list and click Export template icon.

Step 4

Select a location for the file download.

Deleting a Template

Note

Only user-defined templates can be deleted.

To delete a template from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > POAP Definitions.

Step 2

In the Configuration Steps, click the template hyperlink in the POAP Definitions section.

Step 3

Select a template from the list and click Remove template icon.

Step 4

Click Yes to confirm.

POAP Template Annotation

Annotation is used to add semantic, validation logic and description to the template variable.

The Annotation for a given template variable is required to precede the given template variable. Only one annotation statement is required for each template variable. When a template variable has an associated annotation statement, the template variable has to be declared on a single line, Multiple variables cannot be declared under the same annotation statement.

Format of an annotation statement is as follows:

@(<key1>=<value1>,<key2>=<value2>, ..., <keyN>=<valueN>)

Note

Each annotation statement is composed of one or more key-values pair.

- The value can be true, false, or a string.

- If the value is a string, it should be double quoted.

The following is a sample template variable, “hostname”, with annotation statement with the keys “DisplayName”, and “Description”:

@(DisplayName=”Host Name”, Description = “Description of the host”)

String hostname;

The table displays the supported keys in the annotation statement:

Annotation Keys

Key Name

Default Value

Description

DisplayName

Empty String

The value is displayed as a variable label in the template from GUI, on POAP definition screen.

Description

Empty String

Displays the description next or below the template variable field in the template from GUI.

IsManagement

false

The associated variable is of IP Address type. This will be used as the management IP address. DCNM used this IP address to manage the devices.

IsMultiplicity

false

If true, this single value can take multiple values. For example; when it is used with IsManagement annotation, it allows you to type in multiple IP addresses and assign each IP address to a device.

IsSwitchName

false

The associated variable value is used as the device host name.

IsMandatory

true

It marks the field as mandatory if the value is set as ‘true’.

UseDNSReverseLookup

false

This annotation compliments the IsSwitchName annotation. Once they are associated with a variable. The variable is populated with the reverse DNS name, if available during the creation time of the corresponding POAP definition record.

IsFabricPort

false

The associated variable value contains a list of the ports used as fabric ports. The variable value will be used by the cable plan generation from POAP

IsHostPort

false

Trunk ports connected to host/servers.

IsVPCDomainID

false

Used as the vPC Domain ID.

IsVPCPeerLinkSrc

false

Used as the VPC IPv4 source address.

IsVPCPeerLinkDst

false

Used as the VPC IPv4 peer address.

IsVPCPeerLinkPortChannel

false

Used for VPC port channel.

IsVPCLinkPort

false

Used for VPC interface.

IsVPC

false

Used as a VPC record.

IsVPCID

false

Individual VPC ID.

IsVPCPortChannel

false

Individual VPC port channel.

IsVPCPort

false

VPC Interface.

POAP Definitions

The POAP switch definition has two major functions:

- Monitoring switch POAP process

- Managing POAP switch configuration

You must copy the Cisco DCNM license files to the /var/lib/dcnm/license directory to install as part of the POAP process.

You must also copy the device licenses to the /var/lib/dcnm/licenses folder.

Note

The device licenses refers to the devices monitored by the Cisco DCNM.

The following fields and icons are listed at the menu bar of the window to customize the view of the information in the window:

Fields and Icons

Description

Serial Number

Specifies the serial number for the switch.

Switch ID

Specifies the ID defined for the switch

Management IP

Specifies the Management IP for the switch.

Status

Switch Status

Indicates if the switch is published or not.

Publish Status

Indicates if this POAP template has been published successfully to the TFTP site.

Bootscript Status

Indicates the Bootscript execution state when the device executed POAP. For details, view the “Boot Log” file.

Model

Specifies the model of the switch.

Template/Config File Name

Specifies the template used for creating the POAP definition.

Fabric and IPFabric POAP templates are available.

Bootscript Last Updated Time

Specifies the last updated time for bootscript.

Last Published

Specifies the last published time for the POAP definition.

POAP Creation Time

Specifies the time when the POAP definition was created.

System Image

Specifies the System Image used while creating the POAP definition.

Kickstart Image

Specifies the kickstart image used the POAP definition.

Icons

Add

Allows you to add a POAP definition. For more information, see Creating a POAP Definition.

Edit

Allows you to edit a POAP definition. For more information, see Editing a POAP Definition.

Delete

Allows you to delete a POAP definition. For more information, see Deleting POAP Definitions.

Write Erase and Reload

Allows you to reboot and reload a POAP definition. For more information, see Write, Erase, and Reload the POAP Switch Definition.

Change Image

Allows you to change the image for the defined POAP definition. For more information, see Change Image.

Boot Log

Display the list and view log files from the device bootflash.

Update Serial Number

Allows the user to modify the serial number of the POAP definition.

Refresh Switch

Refreshes the list of switches.

Show Filter

Filters list of switches based on the defined value for each column.

Print

Prints the list of devices and their details.

Export

Exports the list of devices and their details to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Select Columns

Displays the columns to be displayed. You can choose to show/hide a column.

Note

Each annotation statement is composed of one or more key-values pair. The value can be true, false or a string. If the value is a string, it should be mentioned in double-quotes.

This section contains the following:

- Creating a POAP Definition

- Uploading a POAP Definition

- Editing a POAP Definition

- Deleting POAP Definitions

- Write, Erase, and Reload the POAP Switch Definition

- Change Image

- Updating the Serial Number of a Switch for an Existing POAP Definition

Creating a POAP Definition

To create a POAP definition from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > POAP Definitions.

Step 2

From the Scope drop-down list, select the scope for POAP definition.

Step 3

Click Add to add a new POAP definition.

Step 4

Click Generate Definition radio button to generate POAP definition from a template, and click Next to specify the switch details.

Step 5

Enter the serial number of switches that are separated by comma. Alternatively, you can click Import from CSV File to import the list of switches.

Note

The serial number cannot be changed after you create the POAP definition. Verify that the serial numbers do not contain spaces, the POAP will not work otherwise.

Step 6

Use the drop-down list to select the Switch Type.

Step 7

Use the drop-down list to select the Image Server.

Step 8

Use the drop-down list to select the System Image and Kickstart image.

Step 9

Specify the Switch Username and Switch Password.

Step 10

Click Next to Select the Switch Config Template.

Step 11

Use the drop-down to select the Template and click View to specify the Template Parameters.

Step 12

Enter Template Parameters.

Step 13

From the Settings File drop-down list to select the file. If the settings file in unavailable, click Save Parameter as New Settings File button to specify a name for the settings file.

Step 14

Select the variables and click Manage.

Step 15

Click Add to see the variables to be saved.

Specify a name for the settings file and click Save.

Step 16

Click Manage to modify the settings file parameters.

Step 17

Click Preview CLI to view the generated configuration.

Step 18

Click Finish to publish the POAP definition.

Step 19

Click Next to generate the configuration.

Uploading a POAP Definition

To upload a POAP definition from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > POAP Definitions.

Step 2

Click Upload Startup Config radio button to upload startup configuration to the POAP repository Server, and click Next to enter the switch details.

Step 3

Enter the serial number of switches separated by comma.

Step 4

Use the drop-down to select the Switch Type.

Step 5

Use the drop-down to select the Image Server.

Step 6

Use the drop-down to select the System Image and Kickstart Image.

Step 7

Specify the Switch User Name and Password.

Step 8

Click Browse to select the upload configuration file.

Step 9

Click Finish to publish the POAP definition.

Editing a POAP Definition

To edit a POAP definition from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > POAP Definitions.

Step 2

Select the POAP switch definitions from the list and click the Edit icon.

Step 3

Follow the steps listed in Creating a POAP Definition and Uploading a POAP Definition sections.

Note

You can select multiple POAP definitions with similar parameters to edit POAP definition.

Deleting POAP Definitions

To delete POAP definitions from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > POAP Definitions.

Step 2

Select the POAP switch definitions from the list and click Delete icon.

Step 3

Click Yes to delete the switch definitions.

A prompt appears to delete the device from the data source. Check or uncheck the checkbox based if you want to delete the switches associated with the POAP Definition.

Step 4

Click OK to confirm to delete the device. Based on the check box, the device will be deleted from the data source also.

Write, Erase, and Reload the POAP Switch Definition

To write, erase, and reload the POAP switch definition from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > POAP Definitions.

Step 2

Select the POAP switch definitions from the list and click the Edit icon.

Step 3

Click Write Erase and Reload.

The Write, Erase, and Reload works only when the selected switches are listed in the Inventory > Discovery > LAN Switches window. Also, valid credentials must be specified in the Configure > Credentials Management > LAN Credentials window.

Step 4

Click Continue to reboot and reload the switch definitions.

Change Image

To change image from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Deploy > POAP > POAP Definitions.

Step 2

Select the POAP switch definitions from the list and click the Edit icon.

Step 3

Select the switch for which you must change the image. Click Change Image.

Note

You can select multiple POAP definitions with similar parameters to change the image for booting the device.

The Multi Device Image Change window is displayed.

Step 4

From the Image Server drop-down list, select the server where the new image is stored.

Step 5

From the System Image drop-down list, select the new system image.

Step 6

From the Kickstart Image drop-down list, select the new image which replaces the old image.

Step 7

Click OK to apply and change the image.

Updating the Serial Number of a Switch for an Existing POAP Definition

To update the serial number of a switch when performing an RMA from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Ensure that the old switch is in place with POAP definition and discovered.

Step 2

Manually update the serial number in Cisco DCNM on the POAP screen.

Note

This button may be hidden underneath a >> button.

Now, two devices in Cisco DCNM have the same IP address.

Step 3

Physically remove the old switch from the network.

Step 4

Place the new switch in the rack and connect network cables and power. Bring up the new switch. The new switch reboots several times so that it comes up with necessary configurations.

Step 5

Manually rediscover the switches in Cisco DCNM.

There is one device in Cisco DCNM with the same IP address.

Templates

The Templates menu includes the following option:

- Template Library

Template Library

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Template Library includes the following tabs:

- Template Library

- Configuring Jobs

Template Library

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You can add, edit, or delete templates that are configured across different Cisco Nexus and Cisco MDS platforms using Cisco DCNM Web client. From Cisco DCNM Web client home page, choose Configure > Templates > Template Library > Templates. The following parameters are displayed for each template that is configured on Cisco DCNM Web client. Templates support JavaScript. You can use the JavaScript function in a template to perform arithmetic operations and string manipulations in the template syntax.

The following table describes the fields that appear on this page.

Templates Operations

Field

Description

Add Template

Allows you to add a new template.

Launch job creation wizard

Allows you to create jobs.

Modify/View Template

Allows you to view the template definition and modify as required.

Save Template As

Allows you to save the selected template in a different name. You can edit the template as required.

Delete Template

Allows you to delete a template

Import Template

Allows you to import a template from your local directory, one at a time.

Export template

Allows you to export the template configuration to a local directory location.

Import Template Zip File

Allows you to import .zip file, that contains more than one template that is bundled in a .zip format

All the templates in the ZIP file are extracted and listed in the table as individual templates.

Note

Notifications appear next to Import Template Zip File if there are issues while loading templates after restarting the server. Click the notifications to see the errors in the Issues in loading Template window. Templates with errors are not listed in the Templates window. To import these templates, correct the errors, and import them.

Template Properties

Field

Description

Template Name

Displays the name of the configured template.

Template Description

Displays the description that is provided while configuring templates.

Tags

Displays the tag that is assigned for the template and aids to filter templates based on the tags.

Supported Platforms

Displays the supported Cisco Nexus platforms compatible with the template. Check the check box of platforms that are supported with the template.

Note

You can select multiple platforms.

Template Type

Displays the type of the template.

Template Sub Type

Specifies the sub type that is associated with the template.

Template Content Type

Specifies if it is Jython or Template CLI.

Advanced Template Properties

Field

Description

Implements

Displays the abstract template to be implemented.

Dependencies

Specifies the specific feature of a switch.

Published

Specifies if the template is published or not.

Imports

Specifies the base template for importing.

In addition, from the menu bar, choose Configure > Templates > Template Library > Templates and you can also:

- Click Show Filter to filter the templates that is based on the headers.

- Click Print to print the list of templates.

- Click Export to Excel to export the list of template to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

This section contains the following:

- Template Structure

- Adding a Template

- Configuring Template Job

- Modifying a Template

- Copying a Template

- Deleting a Template

- Importing a Template

- Exporting a Template

- Installing POAP Templates

Template Structure

The configuration template content mainly consists of four parts. Click the Help icon next to the Template Content for information about editing the content of the template.

This section contains the following:

- Template Format

- Template Variables

- Variable Meta Property

- Variable Annotation

- Templates Content

- Advanced Features

Template Format

This section describes the basic information of the template. The possible fields are as detailed in the table below.

Property Name

Description

Valid Values

Optional?

name

The name of the template

Text

No

description

Brief description about the template

Text

Yes

userDefined

Indicates whether the user created the template. Value is ‘true’ if user created.

“true” or “false”

Yes

supportedPlatforms

List of device platforms supports this configuration template. Specify ‘All’ to support all platforms.

N1K, N3K, N3500, N4K, N5K, N5500, N5600, N6K, N7K, N9K, MDS, VDC, N9K-9000v, IOS-XE, IOS-XR, Others, All list separated by comma.

No

templateType

Specifies the type of Template used.

- CLI

- POAP

- POLICY

- SHOW

- PROFILE

- FABRIC

- ABSTRACT

- REPORT

Yes

templateSubType

Specifies the sub type associated with the template.

- CLI

- N/A

- POAP

- N/A

- VXLAN

- FABRICPATH

- VLAN

- PMN

- POLICY

- VLAN

- INTERFACE_VLAN

- INTERFACE_VPC

- INTERFACE_ETHERNET

- INTERFACE_BD

- INTERFACE_PORT_CHANNEL

- INTERFACE_FC

- INTERFACE_MGMT

- INTERFACE_LOOPBACK

- INTERFACE_NVE

- INTERFACE_VFC

- INTERFACE_SAN_PORT_CHANNEL

- DEVICE

- FEX

- INTRA_FABRIC_LINK

- INTER_FABRIC_LINK

- INTERFACE

- SHOW

- VLAN

- INTERFACE_VLAN

- INTERFACE_VPC

- INTERFACE_ETHERNET

- INTERFACE_BD

- INTERFACE_PORT_CHANNEL

- INTERFACE_FC

- INTERFACE_MGMT

- INTERFACE_LOOPBACK

- INTERFACE_NVE

- INTERFACE_VFC

- INTERFACE_SAN_PORT_CHANNEL

- DEVICE

- FEX

- INTRA_FABRIC_LINK

- INTER_FABRIC_LINK

- INTERFACE

- PROFILE

- VXLAN

- FABRIC

- NA

- ABSTRACT

- VLAN

- INTERFACE_VLAN

- INTERFACE_VPC

- INTERFACE_ETHERNET

- INTERFACE_BD

- INTERFACE_PORT_CHANNEL

- INTERFACE_FC

- INTERFACE_MGMT

- INTERFACE_LOOPBACK

- INTERFACE_NVE

- INTERFACE_VFC

- INTERFACE_SAN_PORT_CHANNEL

- DEVICE

- FEX

- INTRA_FABRIC_LINK

- INTER_FABRIC_LINK

- INTERFACE

- REPORT

- UPGRADE

- GENERIC

Note

The GENERIC option is not applicable.

contentType

- CLI

- TEMPLATE_CLI

- POAP

- TEMPLATE_CLI

- POLICY

- TEMPLATE_CLI

- PYTHON

- SHOW

- TEMPLATE_CLI

- PROFILE

- TEMPLATE_CLI

- PYTHON

- FABRIC

- PYTHON

- ABSTRACT

- TEMPLATE_CLI

- PYTHON

- REPORT

- PYTHON

Yes

implements

Used to implement the abstract template.

Text

Yes

dependencies

Used to select the specific feature of a switch.

Text

Yes

published

Used to Mark the template as read only and avoids changes to it.

“true” or “false”

Yes

Template Variables

This section contains declared variables, the data type, default values, and valid values conditions for the parameters that are used in the template. These declared variables are used for value substitution in the template content section during the dynamic command generation process. Also these variables are used in decision making and in iteration blocks in the template content section. Variables have predefined data types. You can also add a description about the variable. The following table describes the syntax and usage for the available datatypes.

Variable Type

Valid Value

Iterative?

boolean

true|false

No

enum

Example: running-config, startup-config

No

float

Floating number format

No

floatRange

Example: 10.1,50.01

Yes

Integer

Any number

No

integerRange

Contiguous numbers separated by “-“

Discrete numbers separated by “,”

Example: 1-10,15,18,20

Yes

interface

Format: <if type><slot>[/<sub slot>]/<port>

Example: eth1/1, fa10/1/2 etc.

No

interfaceRange

Example: eth10/1/20-25, eth11/1-5

Yes

ipAddress

IPv4 OR IPv6 address

No

ipAddressList

You can have a list of IPv4, IPv6, or a combination of both types of addresses.

Example 1: 172.22.31.97,
172.22.31.99,
172.22.31.105,
172.22.31.109
Example 2: 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334,
2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7335,
2001:0db8:85a3:1230:0000:8a2f:0370:7334
Example 3: 172.22.31.97, 172.22.31.99,
2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334,
172.22.31.254

Yes

ipAddressWithoutPrefix

Example: 192.168.1.1

or

Example: 1:2:3:4:5:6:7:8

No

ipV4Address

IPv4 address

No

ipV4AddressWithSubnet

Example: 192.168.1.1/24

No

ipV6Address

IPv6 address

No

ipV6AddressWithPrefix

Example: 1:2:3:4:5:6:7:8

22

No

ipV6AddressWithSubnet

IPv6 Address with Subnet

No

ISISNetAddress

Example: 49.0001.00a0.c96b.c490.00

No

long

Example: 100

No

macAddress

14 or 17 character length MAC address format

No

string

Free text, for example, used for the description of a variable

Example:
string scheduledTime
{
regularExpr=^([01]\d|2[0-3]):([0-5]\d)$;
}

No

string[]

Example: {a,b,c,str1,str2}

Yes

struct

Set of parameters that are bundled under a single variable.

struct <structure name declaration > {
<parameter type> <parameter 1>;
<parameter type> <parameter 2>;
…..
} [<structure_inst1>] [, <structure_inst2>] [, <structure_array_inst3 []>];

struct interface_detail {
string inf_name;
string inf_description;
ipAddress inf_host;
enum duplex {
validValues = auto, full, half;
};
}myInterface, myInterfaceArray[];

No

Note

If the struct variable is declared as an array, the variable is iterative.

wwn

(Available only in Cisco DCNM Web Client)

Example: 20:01:00:08:02:11:05:03

No

Variable Meta Property

Each variable that is defined in the template variable section has a set of meta properties. The meta properties are mainly the validation rules that are defined for the variable.

The following table describes the various meta properties applicable for the available variable types.

Variable Type

Description

Variable Meta Property

default Value

valid Values

decimal Length

min

max

min Slot

max Slot

min Port

max Port

min Length

max Length

regular Expr

boolean

A boolean value.

Example: true

Yes

enum

Yes

float

signed real number.

Example: 75.56, -8.5

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

floatRange

range of signed real numbers

Example: 50.5 - 54.75

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

integer

signed number

Example: 50, -75

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

integerRange

Range of signed numbers

Example: 50-65

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

interface

specifies interface/port

Example: Ethernet 5/10

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

interfaceRange

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

ipAddress

IP address in IPv4 or IPv6 format

Yes

ipAddressList

You can have a list of IPv4, IPv6, or a combination of both types of addresses.

Example 1: 172.22.31.97, 172.22.31.99, 172.22.31.105, 172.22.31.109
Example 2: 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334, 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7335, 2001:0db8:85a3:1230:0000:8a2f:0370:7334
Example 3: 172.22.31.97, 172.22.31.99, 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334, 172.22.31.254

Note

Separate the addresses in the list using commas and not hyphens.

Yes

ipAddressWithoutPrefix

IPv4 or IPv6 Address (does not require prefix/subnet).

ipV4Address

IPv4 address

Yes

ipV4AddressWithSubnet

IPv4 Address with Subnet

Yes

ipV6Address

IPv6 address

Yes

ipV6AddressWithPrefix

IPv6 Address with prefix

Yes

ipV6AddressWithSubnet

IPv6 Address with Subnet

Yes

ISISNetAddress

Example: 49.0001.00a0.c96b.c490.00

long

Example: 100

Yes

Yes

Yes

macAddress

MAC address

string

literal string

Example for string Regular expression:
string scheduledTime
{
regularExpr=^([01]\d|2[0-3]):([0-5]\d)$;
}

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

string[]

string literals that are separated by a comma (,)

Example: {string1, string2}

Yes

struct

Set of parameters that are bundled under a single variable.

struct <structure name declaration > {
<parameter type> <parameter 1>;
<parameter type> <parameter 2>;
…..
} [<structure_inst1>] [, <structure_inst2>] [, <structure_array_inst3 []>];

wwn

WWN address

Example: Meta Property Usage

##template variables

integer VLAN_ID {
min = 100;
max= 200;
};

string USER_NAME {
defaultValue = admin123;
minLength = 5;
};

struct interface_a{
string inf_name;
string inf_description;
ipAddress inf_host;
enum duplex {
validValues = auto, full, half;
};
}myInterface;

##

Variable Annotation

You can configure the variable properties marking the variables using annotations.

Note

Variable Annotations are available for POAP only. However, the annotations do not impact on the template type ‘CLI’.

The following annotations can be used in the template variable section.

Annotation Key

Valid Values

Description

AutoPopulate

Text

Copies values from one field to another

DataDepend

Text

Description

Text

Description of the field appearing in the window

DisplayName

Text

Note

Enclose the text with quotes, if there is space.

Display name of the field appearing in the window

Enum

Text1, Text2, Text3, and so on

Lists the text or numeric values to select from

IsAlphaNumeric

“true” or “false”

Validates if the string is alphanumeric

IsAsn

“true” or “false”

IsDestinationDevice

“true” or “false”

IsDestinationFabric

“true” or “false”

IsDestinationInterface

“true” or “false”

IsDestinationSwitchName

“true” or “false”

IsDeviceID

“true” or “false”

IsDot1qId

“true” or “false”

IsFEXID

“true” or “false”

IsGateway

“true” or “false”

Validates if the IP address is a gateway

IsInternal

“true” or “false”

Makes the fields internal and does not display them on the window

Note

Use this annotation only for the ipAddress variable.

IsManagementIP

“true” or “false”

Note

This annotation must be marked only for variable “ipAddress”.

IsMandatory

“true” or “false”

Validates if a value should be passed to the field mandatorily

IsMTU

“true” or “false”

IsMultiCastGroupAddress

“true” or “false”

IsMultiLineString

“true” or “false”

Converts a string field to multiline string text area

IsMultiplicity

“true” or “false”

IsPassword

“true” or “false”

IsPositive

“true” or “false”

Checks if the value is positive

IsReplicationMode

“true” or “false”

IsShow

“true” or “false”

Displays or hides a field on the window

IsSiteId

“true” or “false”

IsSourceDevice

“true” or “false”

IsSourceFabric

“true” or “false”

IsSourceInterface

“true” or “false”

IsSourceSwitchName

“true” or “false”

IsSwitchName

“true” or “false”

IsRMID

“true” or “false”

IsVPCDomainID

“true” or “false”

IsVPCID

“true” or “false”

IsVPCPeerLinkPort

“true” or “false”

IsVPCPeerLinkPortChannel

“true” or “false”

IsVPCPortChannel

“true” or “false”

Password

Text

Validates the password field

UsePool

“true” or “false”

UseDNSReverseLookup

Username

Text

Displays the username field on the window

Warning

Text

Provides text to override the Description annotation

Example: AutoPopulate Annotation

##template variables
string BGP_AS;
@(AutoPopulate="BGP_AS")
string SITE_ID;
##

Example: DisplayName Annotation

##template variables
@(DisplayName="Host Name", Description = "Description of the host")
String hostname;
@(DisplayName="Host Address", Description = " test description" IsManagementIP=true)
ipAddress hostAddress;
##

Example: IsMandatory Annotation

##template variables
@(IsMandatory="ipv6!=null")
ipV4Address ipv4;
@(IsMandatory="ipv4!=null")
ipV6Address ipv6;
##

Example: IsMultiLineString Annotation

##template variables
@(IsMultiLineString=true)
string EXTRA_CONF_SPINE;
##

IsShow Annotation

##template variables
boolean isVlan;
@(IsShow="isVlan==true")
integer vlanNo;
##

##template variables
boolean enableScheduledBackup;
@(IsShow="enableScheduledBackup==true",Description="Server time")
string scheduledTime;
##
The condition "enableScheduledBackup==true" evaluates to true/false

##template variables
@(Enum="Manual,Back2BackOnly,ToExternalOnly,Both")
string VRF_LITE_AUTOCONFIG;
@(IsShow="VRF_LITE_AUTOCONFIG!=Manual",  Description="Target Mask")
integer DCI_SUBNET_TARGET_MASK
##
The condition "VRF_LITE_AUTOCONFIG!=Manual" matches string comparison to evaluate to true or false

Example: Warning Annotation

##template variables
@(Warning="This is a warning msg")
string SITE_ID;
##

Templates Content

This section includes the configuration commands and any parameters that you want to include in the template. These commands can include the variables declared in the template variables section. During the command generation process the variable values are substituted appropriately in the template content.

Note

You must specify the commands that you include as if you were entering them in the global configuration command mode on any device. You must consider the command mode when you include commands.

Template content is governed by the usage of variables.

- Scalar variables: does not take a range or array of values which cannot be used for iteration (In the variable types table those marked iterate-able as 'No'). Scalar variables must be defined inside the template content.

Syntax: $$<variable name>$$
Example: $$USER_NAME$$

- Iterative variables: used for block iteration. These loop variable must be accessed as shown below inside the iteration block.

Syntax:@<loop variable>
Example:
foreach val in $$INTEGER_RANGE_VALUE$$ {
@val
}

- Scalar Structure Variable: Structure member variables can be accessed inside the template content.

Syntax: $$<structure instance name>.<member variable name>$$
Example: $$myInterface.inf_name$$

- Array Structure Variable: Structure member variables can be accessed inside the template content.

Syntax: $$<structure instance name>.<member variable name>$$
Example: $$myInterface.inf_name$$

In addition to the template variables, you can use the conditional and iterative command generation using the following statements:

- if-else if-else Statement: makes a logical decision in inclusion/exclusion of set of configuration command based on the value assigned for the variable in it.

Syntax: if(<operand 1>  <logical operator>  <operand 2>){
command1 ..
command2..
..
}
else  if (<operand 3> <logical operator> <operand 4> )
{
Command3 ..
Command4..
..
}
else
{
Command5 ..
Command6..
..
}
Example: if-else if-else statement
if($$USER_NAME$$ == 'admin'){
Interface2/10
no shut
}
else {
Interface2/10
shut
}

- foreach Statement: used for iterating a block of commands. The iteration is performed based on the assigned loop variable value.

Syntax:
foreach <loop index variable> in $$<loop variable>$$ {
@<loop index variable> ..
}
Example: foreach Statement
foreach ports in $$MY_INF_RANGE$${
interface @ports
no shut
}

- Optional parameters: By default all parameters are mandatory. To make a parameter optional, you must annotate the parameter.

- Interactive command handling: Include prompt and response as part of the template content for handling interactive commands.

Example:

##template variables
string srcFile;
string srcDir;
string password;
string vrf;
##

##template content
copy scp://root@10.127.117.65/$$srcFile$$ bootflash: vrf $$vrf$$ <prompt:'(yes/no)?',
response:'yes'> <prompt:'(y/n)?[n]',
response:'y'> <prompt:'password:',
response:'$$password$$'>

In the variable section, you can include the following command:

- @(IsMandatory=false)

- Integer frequency;

In the template content section, a command can be excluded or included without using “if” condition check, by assigning a value to the parameter. The optional command can be framed as below:

- probe icmp [frequency frequency-value] [timeout seconds] [retry-count retry-count-value]

- Template Content Editor

- Template Editor Settings

Template Content Editor

The template content editor has the following features:

- Syntax highlighting: The editor highlights the syntax, like different types of statements, keywords, and so on, for Python scripting.

- Autocompletion: The editor suggests the template datatypes, annotations, or metaproperties when you start typing.

- Go to line: You can navigate to the exact line in the template content editor instead of scrolling. Press Command-L in Mac or Ctrl-L in Windows, and enter the line number to which you want to navigate to in the pop-up window.

If you enter a value greater than the number of lines in the editor, you will be navigated to the last line in the editor window.

- Template search and replace: Press Command-F in Mac or Ctrl-F in Windows, enter the search term in the Search for field, and select the type of search in the search window. You can perform the following searches in the editor:

- RegExp Search: You can perform the regular expression search in the editor.

- CaseSensitive Search: You can perform a case-sensitive search in the editor.

- Whole Word Search: You can perform a whole word search to find the exact words in the editor. For example, a regular search for the word "play" returns results where it is part of words like "display," but the whole word search returns results only when there is an exact match for the word "play".

- Search In Selection: You can perform a search in the selected content. Select the content to which you want to limit the search and enter the search term.

Choose the + icon in the search window to use the replace option. Enter the replacing word in the Replace with field. You can replace the selected word once by selecting Replace. To replace all the occurrences of the selected word, select All.

- Code folding: You can expand or group code blocks in the editor by clicking the arrow next to their line numbers.

- Other features: The editor automatically indents the code, the closing braces, and highlights the matching parenthesis.

Template Editor Settings

You can edit the following features of a template editor by clicking Template Editor Settings.

- Theme: Select the required theme for the editor from the drop-down list.

- KeyBinding: Select the editor mode from the KeyBinding drop-down list to customize the editor. Vim and Ace modes are supported. The default is Ace.

- Font Size: Select the required font size for the editor.

Advanced Features

The following are the advanced features available to configure templates.

- Assignment Operation

Config template supports assignment of variable values inside the template content section. The values are validated for the declared data type of the variable. If there is a mismatch, the value is not assigned.

Assignment operation can be used under the following guidelines:

- The operator on the left must be any of the template parameters or a for loop parameter.

- The operator on the right values can be any of the values from template parameters, for loop parameters, literal string values surrounded by quotes or simple string values.

If a statement does not follow these guidelines, or if it does not suit this format, it will not be considered as assignment operation. It is substituted during command generation like other normal lines.

Example: Template with assignment operation
##template properties
name =vlan creation;
userDefined= true;
supportedPlatforms = All;
templateType = CLI;
published = false;
##
##template variables
integerRange vlan_range;
@(internal=true)
integer vlanName;
##
##template content
foreach vlanID in $$vlan_range$${
vlan @vlanID
$$vlanName$$=@vlanID
name myvlan$$vlanName$$
}
##

- Evaluate methods

Config template uses the Java runtime provided Java script environment to perform arithmetic operations (such as ADD, SUBTRACT, and so on), string manipulations, and so on.

Locate the JavaScript file in the template repository path. This file contains primary set of arithmetic, string functions. You can also add custom JavaScript methods.

These methods can be called from config template content section in below format:

Example1:
$$somevar$$ = evalscript(add, "100", $$anothervar$$)

Also the evalscript can be called inside if conditions as below:

if($$range$$ > evalscript(sum, $$vlan_id$$,  -10)){
do something...
}

You can call a method that is located at the backend of the Java script file.

- Dynamic decision

Config template provides a special internal variable “LAST_CMD_RESPONSE”. This variable stores the last command response from the device during the execution of the command. This can be used in the config template content to make dynamic decisions to deliver the commands that are based on the device condition.

Note

The if block must be followed by an else block in a new line, which can be empty.

An example use case to create a VLAN, if it is does not exist on the device.

Example: Create VLAN
##template content
show vlan id $$vlan_id$$
if($$LAST_CMD_RESPONSE$$ contains "not found"){
vlan $$vlan_id$$
}
else{
}
##

This special implicit variable can be used only in the “IF” blocks.

- Template referencing

You can have a base template with all the variables defined. This base template can be imported to multiple templates. The base template content is substituted in the appropriate place of the extending template. The imported template parameters and the contents can be accessed inside the extending template.

Example: Template Referencing
Base template:
##template properties
name =a vlan base;
userDefined= true;
supportedPlatforms = All;
templateType = CLI;
published = false;
timestamp = 2015-07-14 16:07:52;
imports = ;
##
##template variables
integer vlan_id;
##
##template content
vlan $$vlan_id$$
##

Derived Template:
##template properties
name =a vlan extended;
userDefined= true;
supportedPlatforms = All;
templateType = CLI;
published = false;
timestamp = 2015-07-14 16:07:52;
imports = a vlan base,template2;
##
##template variables
interface vlanInterface;
##
##template content
<substitute a vlan base>
interface $$vlanInterface$$
<substitute a vlan base>
##

When you launch the extended template, the parameter inputs for the base template are also obtained. In addition, the substituted content is used for complete CLI command generation.

- Solution POAP Templates for VXLAN and FabricPath

From Cisco DCNM Release 10.0(1), Cisco provides you a set of defined templates to aid in POAP operations. You can download Cisco-defined templates from https://software.cisco.com/download/release.html.

For instructions on how to download and install POAP templates, see Cisco DCNM Installation Guide, Release 10.0(x).

Adding a Template

To add user-defined templates and schedule jobs from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Templates > Template Library > Templates.

The Templates window is displayed with the name of the template along with its description, supported platforms, and tags.

Step 2

Click Add to add a new template.

The Template Properties window appears.

Step 3

Specify a template name, description, tags, and supported platforms for the new template.

Step 4

Specify a Template Type for the template. Select POAP to make this template available when you power on the application.

Note

The template is considered as a CLI template if POAP is not selected.

Step 5

Select a Template Sub Type and Template Content Type for the template.

Step 6

Click the Advanced tab to edit other properties like Implements, Dependencies, Published, and Imports. Select Published to make the template read-only. You cannot edit a published template.

Step 7

From the Imports > Template Name list, check the template check box.

The base template content is displayed in the Template Content window. The base template displays the template properties, template variables, and template content. This template can be imported in to another template and the base template content is substituted in the appropriate place of the extending template. When you launch the extended template, the parameter inputs for the base template are also obtained. Also, the substituted content is used for complete CLI command generation.

Note

The base templates are CLI templates.

Step 8

Click OK to save the template properties, or click the cancel icon at the top-right corner of the window to revert the changes.

Note

You can edit the template properties by clicking Template Property.

Step 9

Click Template Content to edit the template syntax. For information about the structure of the Configuration Template, see the Template Structure section.

Step 10

Click Validate Template Syntax to validate the template values.

If an error or a warning message appears, you can check the validation details in Validation Table by clicking the error and warnings field.

Note

You can continue to save the template if there are warnings only. However, if there is an error, you must edit the templates to fix the errors before you proceed. Click the line number under the Start Line column to locate the error in the template content. You will get an error if you validate a template that does not have a template name.

Step 11

Click Save to save the template.

Step 12

Click Save and Exit to save the configuration and go back to the configuring templates screen.

Configuring Template Job

To configure and schedule jobs for individual templates from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Templates > Template Library > Templates.

Step 2

Select a template.

Note

Config Job wizard is applicable only for CLI templates.

Step 3

Click Launch job creation wizard icon and click Next.

Step 4

Use the drop-down to select Device Scope.

The devices that are configured under the selected Device Scope are displayed.

Note

If no devices are displayed, check if the device LAN credentials are configured by choosing Administration > Credentials Management > LAN Credentials.

Step 5

Use the arrows to move the devices to the right column for job creation and click Next.

Step 6

In the Define Variable section, specify the VSAN_ID, VLAN_ID, ETH_SLOT_NUMBER, VFC_SLOT_NUMBER, SWITCH_PORT_MODE, ETH_PORT_RANGE and ALLOWED_VLANS values.

Note

Based on the selected template, variables vary.

Step 7

In the Edit Variable Per Device section, double click the fields to edit the variables for specific devices and click Next.

Step 8

If you have selected multiple devices, use the drop-down to select a specific device and preview its configuration. Click Back to edit the configuration or click Next.

Step 9

Specify a job name and description.

The Device Credentials are populated from Administration > Credentials Management > LAN Credentials.

Step 10

Use the radio button to select Instant Job or Schedule Job.

If you select Schedule Job, specify the date and time for the job delivery.

Step 11

Use the check box to select Copy Run to Start.

Step 12

If you want to configure more transaction and delivery options, use the check box to select Show more options.

Step 13

Under Transaction Options(Optional), if you have a device with rollback feature support, select Enable Rollback check box and select the appropriate radio button.

You can choose one of the following options by selecting the appropriate radio button:

- Rollback the configuration on a device if there is any failure on that device

- Rollback the configuration on all the devices if there is any failure on any device

- Rollback the configuration on a device if there is any failure on any device and stop further configuration delivery to remaining devices

Step 14

Under Delivery Options (Optional), specify the command response timeout in seconds and use the radio button to select a delivery order. The value of command response timeout ranges from 1 to 180.

You can choose one of the following options by selecting the appropriate radio button:

- Deliver configuration one device at a time in sequential

- Delivery configuration in parallel to all devices at the same time

Step 15

Click Finish to create the job.

A confirmation message is displayed that the job has been successfully created. The jobs are listed in the Jobs window.

Modifying a Template

You can edit the user-defined templates. However, the predefined templates and templates that are already published cannot be edited.

Procedure

Step 1

From Configure > Templates > Template Library > Templates, select a template.

Step 2

Click Modify/View template.

Step 3

Edit the template description and tags.

The edited template content is displayed in a pane on the right.

Step 4

From the Imports > Template Name list, check the template check box.

The base template content is displayed in the Template Content window. You can edit the template content based on your requirement in the Template Content window. Click the help icon next to the Template Content window for information about editing the content of the template.

Step 5

Edit the supported platforms for the template.

Step 6

Click Validate Template Syntax to validate the template values.

Step 7

Click Save to save the template.

Step 8

Click Save and Exit to save the configuration and go back to the configuring templates screen.

Copying a Template

To copy a template from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Templates > Template Library > Templates, and select a template.

Step 2

Click Save Template As.

Step 3

Edit the template name, description, tags, and other parameters.

The edited template content is displayed in the right-hand pane.

Step 4

From the Imports > Template Name list, check the template check box.

The base template content is displayed in the Template Content window. You can edit the template content that is based on your requirement in the Template Content window. Click the help icon next to the Template Content window for information about editing the content of the template.

Step 5

Edit the supported platforms for the template.

Step 6

Click Validate Template Syntax to validate the template values.

Step 7

Click Save to save the template.

Step 8

Click Save and Exit to save the configuration and go back to the configuring templates screen.

Deleting a Template

You can delete the user-defined templates. However, you cannot delete the predefined templates. From Cisco DCNM Release 11.0(1), you can delete multiple templates at once.

To delete a template from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Templates > Template Library > Templates.

Step 2

Use the check box to select a template and click Remove template icon.

The template is deleted without any warning message.

What to do next

The template is deleted from the list of templates on the DCNM Web UI. When you restart the DCNM services, the deleted templates are displayed on the Configure > Templates > Template Library > Templates page.

To delete the template permanently, delete the template that is located in your local directory: Cisco Systems\dcm\dcnm\data\templates\.

Importing a Template

To import a template from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Templates > Template Library > Templates and click Import Template.

Step 2

Browse and select the template that is saved on your computer.

You can edit the template parameters, if necessary. For information, see Modifying a Template.

Note

The “\n” in the template is considered as a new line character when imported and edited, but it works fine when imported as a ZIP file.

Step 3

Click Validate Template Syntax to validate the template.

Step 4

Click Save to save the template or Save and Exit to save the template and exit.

Note

You can import Cisco-defined FabricPath and IP VXLAN Programmable Fabric POAP Templates to the Cisco DCNM Web Client. For more information, see Installing POAP Templates.

Exporting a Template

To export a template from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Templates > Template Library > Templates.

Step 2

Use the check box to select a template and click Export Template.

The browser requests you to open or save the template to your directory.

Installing POAP Templates

Cisco DCNM allows you to add, edit, or delete user-defined templates that are configured across different Cisco Nexus platforms. From Cisco DCNM Release 10.0(x), Cisco-defined FabricPath and IP VXLAN Programmable Fabric POAP Templates are provided as a separate download on the official Cisco website. These templates are compatible for use with the DCNM Virtual Appliance (OVA or ISO) for use with Nexus 2000, Nexus 5000, Nexus 6000, Nexus 7000, and Nexus 9000 Series switches.

You can download the Cisco-defined templates from https://software.cisco.com/download/release.html.

Perform the following task to install the POAP templates from the Cisco DCNM.

Procedure

Step 1

Navigate to https://software.cisco.com/download/release.html, and download the file.

You can choose one of the following:

- dcnm_ip_vxlan_fabric_templates.10.0.1a.zip

- dcnm_fabricpath_fabric_templates.10.0.1a.zip file

Step 2

Unzip and extract the files to the local directory on your computer.

Step 3

Choose Configure > Templates > Template Library > Templates.

Step 4

Click Import Template.

Step 5

Browse and select the template that is saved on your computer. You can edit the template parameters, if necessary.

Step 6

Check POAP and Publish check box to designate these templates as POAP templates.

Step 7

Click Validate Template Syntax to validate the template.

Step 8

Click Save to save the template or Save and Exit to save the template and exit.

Configuring Jobs

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To configure jobs from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Templates > Templates Library > Jobs.

The jobs are listed along with the Job ID, description and status. The latest task will be listed at the top.

Note

If failover is triggered in Native HA, the Job ID sequence number is incremented by 32.

Step 2

Click Show Filter to filter the list.

In the Status column, use the drop-down to select the job status.

Step 3

Select a job and click the Delete icon to delete the job.

Step 4

To view the status of a job, click the Job ID radio button and click Status.

Step 5

To view the command execution status for a device, click the radio button of a device name from the Devices table in the Job Execution Status window.

Note

You can delete multiple jobs at once, but you cannot view the status of multiple jobs at once.

Backup

The Backup menu includes the following submenus:

- Switch Configuration

- Archives

- Network Config Audit

Switch Configuration

This feature allows you to backup device configurations from running configuration as a regular text file in the file system. However, you can also perform operations on startup configuration. The backup files can be stored in the DCNM server host or on a file server.

You can also configure the archive system to support scheduling of jobs for the selected list of devices. You can configure only one job for a switch.

The following tables describe the icons and fields that appear on Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration.

Switch Configuration Operations

Icon

Description

Copy Configuration to bootflash

Allows you to copy a configuration file of a switch to the bootflash of the selected destination switches.

View Configuration

Allows you to view the configuration file.

Delete Configuration

Allows you to delete the configuration file.

Compare Configuration

Allows you to compare two configuration files, from different devices or on the same device.

Export Configuration

Allows you to export a configuration file from the DCNM server.

Import User-Defined Configuration

Allows you to import a user-defined configuration file to the DCNM server.

Restore Configuration to devices

Allows you to restore configuration from the selected devices.

Archive Jobs

Allows you to add, delete, view, or modify the jobs.

Switch Configuration Field and Description

Field

Description

Device Name

Displays the device name

Click the arrow next to the device to view the configuration files.

IP Address

Displays the IP address of the device.

Group

Displays the group of the device.

Configuration

Displays the configuration files that are archived for that device.

Archive Time

Displays the time when the device configuration files were archived.

The format is Day:Mon:DD:YYYY HH:MM:SS.

Size

Displays the size of the archived file.

This section contains the following:

- Copy Configuration

- View Configuration

- Delete Configuration

- Compare Configuration Files

- Export Configuration

- Import Configuration File

- Restore Configuration

- Archive Jobs

Copy Configuration

You can copy the configuration files to the same device, to another device, or multiple devices concurrently.

Perform the following task to view the status of tasks.

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco DCNM home page, choose Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration. Select any startup/running/archive configuration of the device that you must copy.

Step 2

Click Copy Configuration to bootflash.

Copy Configuration to bootflash page appears, displaying the Source Configuration Preview and Selected Devices area.

Source Configuration Preview area shows the contents of running/startup/version configuration file which is copied to the devices.

Step 3

In the Selected Devices area, check the device name check box to copy the configuration to the device.

Note

You can select multiple destination devices to copy the configuration.

The selected devices area shows the following fields:

- Device Name—Specifies the target device name to which the source configuration is copied.

- IP Address—Specifies the IP Address of the destination device.

- Group—Specifies the group to which the device belongs.

- Status—Specifies the status of the device.

Step 4

Click Copy.

A confirmation window appears.

Step 5

Click Yes to copy the configuration to the destination device configuration.

View Configuration

You can view or edit the configuration file on the device.

Perform the following task to view or edit the configuration file for the devices.

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco DCNM home page, choose Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration. Click the arrow next to the device name to view the configuration files on the device. Select the configuration file radio button to view the configuration file.

Step 2

Click the View Configuration.

The View Configuration window appears showing the configuration file content.

Delete Configuration

Perform the following task to delete the configuration file from the device.

Note

Ensure that you take a backup of the configuration file before you delete.

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco DCNM home page, choose Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration. Click the arrow next to the device name to view the configuration files on the device.

Step 2

Click the configuration file radio button to be deleted.

Note

You can delete multiple configuration files. However, you cannot delete startup, or running configuration files.

Step 3

Click Yes to delete the configuration file.

Compare Configuration Files

This feature allows you to compare the configuration file with another version of the same device or with the configuration file of another device.
Perform the following task to compare the configuration files.

Procedure

Step 1

Navigate to Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration. Click the arrow next to the device name to view the configuration files on the device.

Step 2

Check the check box and select two configuration files to compare.

The first file that you selected is designated as Source and the second configuration file is designated as the Target file.

Step 3

Click Compare Configuration.

View Config Diff page appears, displaying the difference between the two configuration files.

The Source and Target configuration files content is displayed in two columns. From the drop-down list in the right-top corner, choose All to view the entire configuration. You can also choose Changed to view the configuration differences of the configuration files.

The differences in the configuration file are show in the table, with legends.

- Red: Diff configuration details.

- Blue: Modified configuration details.

Step 4

Click Copy to Target to copy the source configuration to the target configuration file. Click Cancel to revert to the configuration details page.

The Copy Configuration window displays the source configuration preview and the target device of the destination configuration. The selected devices area shows the following fields:

- Device Name—Specifies the target device name to which the source configuration is copied.

- IP Address—Specifies the IP Address of the destination device.

- Group—Specifies the group to which the device belongs.

- Status—Specifies the status of the device.

Step 5

Click Yes to copy the configuration to the destination device configuration.

Export Configuration

You can export a configuration file from the Cisco DCNM server. Perform the following task to export a configuration file.

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco DCNM home page, choose Configure > Backup, select a configuration to export.

Step 2

Click Export Configuration.

The files are downloaded in your local system. You can use the third-party file transfer tools to transfer these files to an external server.

Import Configuration File

You can import the configuration file from the file server to the Cisco DCNM.

Perform the following task to import a single or multiple configuration files.

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco DCNM home page, choose Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration and click Import User-Defined Configuration.

The file server directory opens.

Step 2

Browse the directory and select the configuration file that you want to import. Click Open.

A confirmation screen appears.

Step 3

Click Yes to import the selected file.

The imported configuration file appears as a User Imported file.

Restore Configuration

You can restore the configuration file from the selected switches. From Cisco DCNM Release 11.0(1), you can restore configuration based on the selected date as well.

Note

You cannot restore the configuration for SAN switches and FCoE-enabled switches.

Perform the following task to restore the configuration from the selected devices.

Procedure

Step 1

From Cisco DCNM home page, choose Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration, and click Restore.

Step 2

Select the type of restore from the drop-down list. You can choose Version-based or Date-based.

Note

- If you choose date-based restore, you have to select the date and time. The configuration available before the mentioned time is restored.

- If you choose version-based restore, you have to choose a configuration from the Configuration column. You can view the configuration details in the View column.

Step 3

Check the Device Name check box from which you want to restore the configuration. Click Restore.

The Devices area shows the following fields:

- Device Name—Specifies the device name from which the configuration file is restored.

- IP Address—Specifies the IP Address of the device.

- Group—Specifies the group to which the device belongs.

- Status—Specifies the status of the device.

Note

You can restore the configuration only from the same device. If you select user-imported configuration files, you can restore configuration for any number of devices.

Archive Jobs

This section contains context-sensitive online help content under Cisco DCNM Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration >Archive Jobs.

Note

The configuration files from the archived jobs are located in the DCNM Server directory: \dcm\dcnm\data\archive\<dcnm-ip-address>\. You can use the third-party file transfer tools or file transfer commands to transfer these files to an external server.

The following table describes the fields that appear on the Archive Jobs window.

Field

Description

User

Specifies who created this job.

Group

Specifies the group to which this job belongs.

Group Job

Specifies whether it is a group job or a per-device job. The values are true or false.

Schedule

Specifies the schedule of the job. Also show the recurrence information.

Last Execution

Specifies the date and time at which this job was last executed.

Job Status

Specifies if the job was successful, scheduled, running, or failure.

Note

Running and Scheduled status is not applicable for existing jobs in an upgraded Cisco DCNM.

User Comments

Specifies the comments or description provided by the user.

- Archive Jobs

- Job Execution Details

Archive Jobs

To add, delete or view the job from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Note

You must set the SFTP/TFTP/SCP credentials before you configure jobs. On the DCNM Web Client, navigate to Administration > DCNM Server > Archive FTP Credentials to set the credentials.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration > Archive Jobs > Archive Jobs tab, and click Add Job.

The Create Job screen displays the Schedule, Device Selection and Selected Devices.

A backup is scheduled as defined.

1. In the Schedule area, configure the start time, repeat interval and repeat days.

- Start At: Configure the start time using the hour:minutes:second drop-down lists.

- Once: Configure the job to be executed once, on the particular day. The time at which this job will be executed is determined by the Start At field.

- Now—Configure the job to be executed immediately. Cisco DCNM will consider the default date and time as configured on the server.

Note

You can schedule a job to run Now even if a job is already scheduled.

- Daily: Check the check box on the days you want this job to be executed. The time at which this job will be executed is determined by the Start At field.

- Real Time: Configure the job to be executed if there is any configuration changes in the device. The device must be quiet for 5 minutes, after which the DCNM Sever will execute this job.

- Repeat Interval: Check the Repeat Interval check box to repeat the job at scheduled intervals. Configure the intervals using either days or hours drop-down list.

- Comments: Enter your comments, if any.

2. In the Device Selection area, use the radio button to choose one of the following:

- Device Group: Click the Device Group radio button to select the entire group of devices for this job.

Select the Device Group from the drop-down list.

Note

When the devices are not licensed, they will not be shown under the group on the Cisco DCNM Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration > Archive Jobs. When none of the devices under a group is licensed, the group alone will be shown with no devices, until a device under that group is licensed.

- Selected Devices: Click the Selected Devices radio button to select one of multiple devices from various groups for this job.

Select the devices from the drop-down list.

From Cisco DCNM Release 11.2(1), you can apply VRF for all the selected devices simultaneously. You can either apply Management VRFs or Default VRFs.

Note

When the SAN and LAN credentials are not configured for a switch, it will not be listed in the Selected Devices drop-down list. To configure, navigate to Administration > Credentials Management > SAN Credentials and Administration > Credentials Management > LAN Credentials.

3. In the Selected Devices area, the following fields are shown:

- Name: Specifies the name of the device on which the job is scheduled.

- IP Address: Specifies the IP Address of the device.

- Group: Specifies the group to which the device belongs.

- VRF: Specifies the virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instance.

Select a VRF type to modify the existing VRF type to the specified device. You can either apply Management VRFs or Default VRFs.

Note

If a job for a device exists under device level, you can create a group level job which includes this switch as part of that group. However, this switch will be excluded during the execution of the job.

4. Click Create to add a new job.

Step 2

To delete a job, from the Cisco DCNM home page, choose Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration > Archive Jobs > Archive Jobs, and select a job.

1. Click Delete Job.

The Schedule, Device Selection and the Selected devices for this job is displayed.

2. Click Delete.

Step 3

To view the details of the job, from the Cisco DCNM home page, choose Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration > Archive Jobs > Archive Jobs, and check the job check box.

1. Click View/Modify Job.

The Schedule, Device Selection and the Selected devices for this job is displayed.

2. Modify the required details. Click OK to revert to view the list of jobs.

Note

- You cannot modify a job that is scheduled to be run Now to one that is scheduled to be run Daily.

- You cannot modify the repeat interval duration for an archive job. When you try to modify, the operation fails and the job is deleted. You must delete existing repeat interval archive job and create a new job.

What to do next

You can also configure the Cisco DCNM to retain the number of archived files per device. Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties, and update the archived.versions.limit field.

Job Execution Details

The Cisco DCNM Web Client > Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration > Archive Jobs > Archive Jobs > Job Execution Details tab shows the following tabs in the Job Execution History table.

Field

Description

Job Name

Displays the system-generated job name.

User

Specifies the persona of the person who created the job.

Device Group

Specifies fabric or the LAN group under which the job was created.

Device

Specifies the IP Address of the Device.

Server

Specifies the IP Address of the DCNM Server to which the device is associated with.

Protocol

Specifies if the SFTP, TFTP, or SCP protocol is applied.

Execution time

Specifies the time at which the job was last executed.

Status

Specifies the status of the job.

- Skipped

- Failed

- Successful

Error Cause

Specifies the error if the job has failed. The categories are as follows:

- No change in the configuration.

- Switch is not managed by this server.

Note

If the error cause column is empty, it implies that the job was executed successfully.

Hover over the error cause to view the complete description.

Archives

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A user with network operator role can view configuration archives for a switch and their details in the Archives window.

The following tables describe the icons and fields that are displayed in this window.

Archive Operations

Icon

Description

Compare

Allows you to compare two configuration files either from different devices or on the same device.

View

Allows you to view a configuration file.

Archive Field and Description

Field Name

Description

Device Name

Displays the device name

Click on the arrow next to the device to view the configuration files.

IP Address

Displays the IP address of the device.

Group

Displays the group of the device.

Configuration

Displays the configuration files that are archived for that device.

Archive Time

Displays the time at which the device configuration files were archived.

The format is Day:Mon:DD:YYYY HH:MM:SS.

Size

Displays the size of the archived file.

This section contains the following:

- Compare Configuration Files

- View Configuration

Compare Configuration Files

You can compare one version of a configuration file with another version of the same configuration file in the same device, or the configuration files of two different devices.
To compare the configuration files from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Backup > Archives.

Step 2

In the Archives area, click the arrow that is adjacent the name of the device whose configuration files you want to view. The list of configuration files is displayed.

Step 3

Check the check box next to configuration files and select two configuration files to compare.

The first file that you select is designated as the source and the second configuration file is designated as the target file.

Step 4

Click Compare.

The View Config Diff page displays the difference between the two configuration files.

The Source and Target configuration files content are displayed in two columns. Choose All from the drop-down list in the right-top corner to view the entire configuration. Choose Changed to view the configuration differences between the configuration files.

The differences in the configuration files are shown in a table, with legends.

- Red: Diff configuration details.

- Blue: Modified configuration details.

View Configuration

You can view an archived configuration file.

To view or edit the configuration file for the devices from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Backup > Archives.

The Archives window is displayed.

Step 2

Click the arrow that is next to the name of the device whose configuration files you want to view.

The list of configuration files are displayed.

Step 3

Select the radio button that is next to the corresponding file you want to view.

Step 4

Click the View configuration icon.

The View configuration window appears showing the configuration file content in the right column.

Network Config Audit

Cisco DCNM provides auditing for the configuration changes across the network switches. The Network Audit Reporting feature enables you to a generate audit report so that you can track the added, deleted, or modified configurations. You will be able to generate the network audit reports only when you have existing archival jobs. Using the generated reports, you can view the config differences on a device for a specified period.

This section contains the following:

- Generating Network Config Audit Reports

Generating Network Config Audit Reports

To generate the network config audit reports from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Backup > Network Config Audit.

The Network Audit Report window is displayed.

Step 2

In the Devices drop-down list, choose the devices to generate a report.

Step 3

Specify the Start Date and the End Date.

Step 4

Click Generate Report to view the configuration differences. The configuration differences are color-coded.

- Red: Deleted Configuration

- Green: Newly Added Configuration

- Blue: Changed configuration

- Strikethrough: Old configuration

After you generate a report, you can export the configuration reports into an HTML file.

Creating a Network Config Audit Report

To create a network config audit job and view the configuration differences between the devices from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Report > Generate.

The left pane shows various reports that you can create.

Step 2

Choose Common > Network Config Audit.

Step 3

In the Report Name field, enter the name of the report.

Step 4

In the Repeat field, choose the appropriate repeat interval, that is, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.

Daily job generates a report of configuration differences for all the selected devices for last 1 day. Weekly job generates a report for the last 7 days, and the monthly job generates a report for the last 30 days.

Step 5

In the Start and End date fields, specify the start and end date for the report.

Step 6

In the Email Report field, specify the email delivery options.

- No: Select this option if you do not want to send the report through email.

- Link Only: Select this option if you want to send the link to the report.

- Contents: Select this option if you want to send the report content.

If you select Link Only or the Contents option, enter the email address and subject in the To and Subject fields.

Monitoring Network Config Audit Report

To monitor the network config audit report from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Report > View.

Step 2

Choose Common > Network Config Audit in the left pane to the network config audit reports.

Deleting a Network Config Audit Report

To delete a network config audit report from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Monitor > Report > View.

Step 2

Choose Common > Network Config Audit.

The View Reports window is displayed with the reports that you have created.

Step 3

Select the reports that you want to delete, and click the Delete icon.

Image Management

Upgrading your devices to the latest software version manually might take a long time and prone to error, which requires a separate maintenance window. To ensure rapid and reliable software upgrades, image management automates the steps associated with upgrade planning, scheduling, downloading, and monitoring. Image management is supported only for Cisco Nexus switches.

Note

Before you upgrade, ensure that the POAP boot mode is disabled for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches and Cisco Nexus 3000 Series switches. To disable POAP, run the no boot poap enable command on the switch console. You can however, enable it after the upgrade.

The Image Management menu includes the following submenu:

- Upgrade [ISSU]

- Patch [SMU]

- Package [RPM]

- Maintenance Mode [GIR]

- Image and Configuration Servers

Upgrade [ISSU]

The Upgrade [ISSU] menu includes the following submenus:

- Upgrade History [ISSU]

- Switch Level History

Upgrade History [ISSU]

This feature enables you to upgrade the Cisco Nexus Platform Switches using In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU). This upgrade procedure may be disruptive or non-disruptive based on the device configuration. You can select the Kickstart, System, or SSI images required for the upgrade from a remote server using SFTP, SCP, TFTP, FTP or from image repository or the file system on the device. Image repository can use SCP, SFTP, FTP, or TFTP as file transfer protocol. To select the images from the repository, the same needs to be uploaded from Configure > Image Management > Repositories tab.

The following table describes the fields that appear on Configure > Image Management > Upgrade [ISSU] > Upgrade History.

Field

Description

Task Id

Specifies the serial number of the task. The latest task will be listed in the top.

Note

If Failover is triggered in Native HA, the Task Id sequence number is incremented by 32.

Task Type

Specifies the type of task.

- Compatibility

- Upgrade

Owner

Based on the Role-Based Authentication Control (RBAC), specifies the owner who initiated this task.

Devices

Displays all the devices that were selected for this task.

Job Status

Specifies the status of the job.

- Planned

- In Progress

- Completed

- Completed with Exceptions

Note

If the job fails on a single or multiple devices, the status field shows COMPLETED WITH EXCEPTION indicating a failure.

Created Time

Specifies the time when the task was created.

Scheduled At

Specifies the time when the task is specified to be executed. You can also choose to schedule a task to be executed at a later time.

Completed Time

Specifies the time when the task was completed.

Comment

Shows any comments that the Owner has added while performing the task.

Note

After a fresh Cisco DCNM installation, this page will have no entries.

You can perform the following:

- New Installation

- Finish Installation

- View

- Delete

New Installation

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To upgrade the devices that are discovered from the Cisco DCNM, perform the following steps:

Before you begin

Add report templates in the Template Library window if you want pre-ISSU and post- ISSU reports. Refer to the default upgrade template packaged in DCNM for more information on pre-ISSU and post-ISSU handling. The default upgrade template is issu_vpc_check.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Upgrade [ISSU] > Upgrade History.

Step 2

Choose New Installation to install, or upgrade the kickstart and the system images on the devices.

The devices with default VDCs are displayed in the Select Switches window.

Step 3

Select the check box to the left of the switch name.

You can select more than one switch and move the switches to the right column.

Step 4

Click Add or Remove icons to include the appropriate switches for upgrade.

The selected switches appear in a column on the right.

Step 5

Click Next.

The Pre-Post ISSU Reports window appears.

Step 6

(Optional) Check the Skip Pre-Post ISSU Reports check box to skip the pre-post ISSU reports on switches and go to Step 8.

By default, this check box isn’t checked.

Step 7

Choose a report template from the Select Report Template drop-down list.

Only the templates of REPORT template type with UPGRADE sub-type that are listed in the Control > Template Library window appear in the Select Report Template drop-down list.

Step 8

Fill in the required fields in the General tab based on the template you chose in Step 6.

Step 9

Click Next.

The Specify Software Images window appears. This tab displays the switches that you selected in the previous screen. You can choose the images for upgrade as well.

- The Auto File Selection check box enables you to specify a file server, an image version, and a path where you can apply the upgraded image to the selected devices.

- In the Select File Server drop-down list, select the one of the file servers that is created in the Cisco DCNM repositories.

- In the Image Version field, specify the image version. For example, enter 7.3.9.D1.1 in the Image Version field if you have selected m9700-sf3ek9-kickstart-mz.7.3.0.D1.1.bin as the image version.

- In the Path field, specify the image path. Specify an absolute path if you choose SCP or SFTP. For example, //root/images/. Specify a relative path to the FTP or TFTP home directory if you choose FTP or TFTP. Specify the absolute path of the image if you’re using TFTP server that is provided by Cisco DCNM, local DCNM TFTP. You can’t use the same DCNM TFTP server for creating another job when the current job is in progress.

Step 10

Click Select Image in the Kickstart image column.

The Software Image Browser dialog box appears.

Note

- Cisco Nexus 3000 Series and 9000 Series Switches require only the system image to load the Cisco NX-OS operating system. Therefore, the option to select kickstart images for these devices is disabled.

- If there’s an issue in viewing the Software Image Browser dialog box, reduce the font size of your browser and retry.

Step 11

Click Select Image in the System Image column.

The Software Image Browser dialog box appears.

Step 12

On the Software Image Browser dialog box, you can choose the image from File Server or Switch File System.

If you choose File Server:

1. From the Select the File server list, choose the appropriate file server on which the image is stored.

The servers at Configure > Image Management > Repositories are displayed in the drop-down list.

2. From the Select Image list, choose the appropriate image. Check the check box to use the same image for all other selected devices of the same platform.

Example: For platform types N7K-C7009 and N7K-C7010, logic matches platform (N7K) and three characters (C70) from subplatform. The same logic is used across all platform switches.

Note

Only files with BIN extension are listed if you select File Server. To view other files, choose Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties, set FILE_SELECTION_FILTER to false, and restart the server. It is set to true by default.

3. Click OK.

If the file server selected is either ftp or tftp, in the text box, enter the relative path of the file from the home directory.

If you choose Switch File System:

1. From the Select Image list, choose the appropriate image that is located on the flash memory of the device.

Note

Only files with BIN extension are listed if you select Switch File System. To view other files, choose Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties, set FILE_SELECTION_FILTER to false, and restart the server. It is set to true by default.

2. Click OK to choose the kickstart image or Cancel to revert to the Specify Software Images dialog box.

Step 13

The Vrf column indicates the name of the virtual routing and forwarding (VRF).

Step 14

In the Available Space column, specify the available space for the Primary Supervisor and Secondary Supervisor modules of the switch.

Available Space column shows the available memory in MB on the switch (for less than 1 MB, it’s shown and marked as KB).

Bootflash browser shows the filename, size, and last modified date for all the files and directories on the switch bootflash. You can delete files by selecting them and clicking Delete to increase the available space on the switch.

Step 15

Selected Files Size column shows the size of images that are selected from the SCP or SFTP server.

If the total size of selected images is greater than available space on a switch, the file size is marked in red. We recommend that you create more space on the switch to copy images to it and install.

Step 16

Drag and drop the switches to reorder the upgrade task sequence.

Step 17

Select Skip Version Compatibility if you are sure that the version of the Cisco NX-OS software on your device is compatible with the upgraded images that you have selected.

Step 18

Select Select Parallel Line Card upgrade to upgrade all the line cards at the same time.

Upgrading a parallel line card isn’t applicable for Cisco MDS devices.

Step 19

Click Options under the Upgrade Options column to choose the type of upgrade.

Upgrade Options window appears with two upgrade options. The drop-down list for Upgrade Option 1 has the following options:

- NA

- bios-force

- non-disruptive

NA is the default value.

The drop-down list for Upgrade Option 2 has the following options:

- NA

- bios-force

When NA is selected under Upgrade Option 1, Upgrade Option 2 is disabled.

When you choose bios-force under Upgrade Option 1, Upgrade Option 2 is disabled.

When non-disruptive is selected under Upgrade Option 1, you can choose NA or bios-force under Upgrade Option 2.

Check the Use this Option for all other selected devices check box to use the selected option for all the selected devices and click OK.

Note

- The upgrade options are applicable only for Cisco Nexus 3000 Series and 9000 Series switches.

- Selecting the non-disruptive option for upgrading does not ensure a non-disruptive upgrade. Perform a compatibility check to ensure that the device supports non-disruptive upgrade.

Step 20

Click Next.

If you didn’t select Skip Version Compatibility, the Cisco DCNM performs a compatibility check.

You can choose to wait until the check is complete or click Finish Installation Later.

The installation wizard is closed and a compatibility task is created in Configure > Image Management > Upgrade [ISSU] > Upgrade History tasks.

The time that is taken to check the image compatibility depends on the configuration and the load on the device.

The Version Compatibility Verification status column displays the status of verification.

If you skip the version compatibility check by choosing Skip Version Compatibility, Cisco DCNM displays only the name of the device. The Current Action column displays Completed, and the Version Compatibility Verification column displays Skipped.

The Report Status column specifies if the pre-ISSU reports were generated. You can view the compatibility log and the report summary in the Version Compatibility Logs area. Click the hyperlink in the report summary to see a detailed report of the pre-ISSU check.

Note

The status might take some time to reflect in the Web UI depending in the internet bandwidth.

Step 21

Click Finish Installation Later to perform the upgrade later.

Step 22

Click Next.

Step 23

Check the Next check box to put a device in maintenance mode before upgrade.

Step 24

Check the check box to save the running configuration to the startup configuration before upgrading the device.

Step 25

You can schedule the upgrade process to occur immediately or later.

1. Select Deploy Now to upgrade the device immediately.

2. Select Choose time to Deploy and specify the time in MMM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS format to perform the upgrade later.

This value is relative to the server time. If the selected time to deploy is in the past, the job is executed immediately.

Step 26

You can choose the execution mode based on the devices and the line cards you have chosen to upgrade.

1. Select Sequential to upgrade the devices in the order you chose them.

2. Select Concurrent to upgrade all the devices at the same time.

Step 27

Click Finish to begin the upgrade process.

The Installation wizard closes and a task to upgrade is created on the Configure > Image Management > Upgrade [ISSU] > Upgrade History page.

What to do next

After you complete the ISSU on the switch, ensure that you wait for 20 minutes to allow the switch to reboot, and stabilize the SNMP agent. DCNM discovers polling cycles in order to display the new version of the switch on the Cisco DCNM Web UI.

Finish Installation

You can choose to complete the installation for tasks which was completed on the Compatibility Check page. Perform the following task to complete the upgrade process on the devices.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Upgrade [ISSU] > Upgrade History, select a task for which the compatibility check is complete.

Select only one task at a time.

Step 2

Click Finish Installation.

Software Installation Wizard appears.

Step 3

Check the check box to save the running configuration to the startup configuration before upgrading the device.

Step 4

Check the check box to put a device in maintenance mode before upgrade. This option is valid only for the devices that support maintenance mode.

Step 5

You can schedule the upgrade process to occur immediately or later.

1. Select Deploy Now to upgrade the device immediately.

2. Select Choose time to Deploy and specify the time in DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS format to perform the upgrade later.

Step 6

You can choose the execution mode that is based on the devices and the line cards that you have chosen to upgrade.

1. Select Sequential to upgrade the devices in the order in which they were chosen.

2. Select Concurrent to upgrade the devices at the same time.

Step 7

Click Finish to complete the upgrade process.

View

To view the image upgrade history from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Upgrade [ISSU] > Upgrade History, check the task ID check box.

Select only one task at a time.

Step 2

Click View.

The Installation Task Details window appears.

Step 3

Click Settings. Expand the Columns menu and choose the details you want to view.

You can view the following information in this window:

- Location of the kickstart and system images

- Compatibility check status

- Installation status

- Descriptions

- Logs

Step 4

Select the device.

The detailed status of the task appears. For the completed tasks, the response from the device appears.

If the upgrade task is in progress, a live log of the installation process appears.

Note

- This table autorefreshes every 30 secs for jobs in progress, when you’re on this window.

- The switch-level status for an ongoing upgrade on a Cisco MDS switch doesn't appear for other users without SAN credentials. To apply SAN Credentials, choose Administration > Credentials Management > SAN Credentials.

Delete

To delete a task from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Upgrade [ISSU] > Upgrade History, and check the Task ID check box.

Step 2

Click Delete.

Step 3

Click OK to confirm deletion of the job.

Switch Level History

You can view the history of the upgrade process at a switch level. You can view the current version of the switch and other details.

The following table describes the fields that appear on Configure > Image Management > Upgrade [ISSU] > Switch Level History.

Field

Description

Switch Name

Specifies the name of the switch

IP Address

Specifies the IP Address of the switch

Platform

Specifies the Cisco Nexus switch platform

Current Version

Specifies the current version on the switch software

Click the radio button next to a switch name to select the switch and view its upgrade history. Click View to view the upgrade task history for the selected switch.

The following table describes the fields that appear on Configure > Image Management > Upgrade [ISSU] > Switch Level History > View Device Upgrade Tasks:

Field

Description

Owner

Specifies the owner who initiated the upgrade.

Job Status

Specifies the status of the job.

- Planned

- In Progress

- Completed

KickStart Image

Specifies the kickStart image that is used to upgrade the Switch.

System Image

Specifies the system image that is used to upgrade the switch.

Completed Time

Specifies the date and time at which the upgrade was successfully completed.

Status Description

Specifies the installation log information of the job.

Patch [SMU]

The Patch [SMU] menu includes the following submenus:

- Installation History

- Switch Installed Patches

Installation History

This feature allows you to activate or deactivate packages using Software Maintenance Update (SMU). Personnel with Admin privileges can perform this operation.

The following table describes the fields that appear on Configure > Image Management > Patch [SMU] > Installation History.

Field

Description

Task Id

Specifies the serial number of the task. The latest task is listed at the top.

The tasks are performed in the sequential order.

Switch Name

Specifies the name of the switch for which the patch file is installed.

IP Address

Specifies the IP Address of the device.

Task

Specifies if the patch is installed or uninstalled on this device.

Package

Specifies the name of the patch file.

Status

Specifies the status of installation or uninstallation of the patch files.

Status Description

Describes the status of installation or uninstallation of the patch files.

This section contains the following:

- Install Patch

- Uninstall Patch

- Delete Patch Installation Tasks

Install Patch

To install the patch on your devices from Cisco DCNM Web Client, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Patch [SMU] > Installation History, click Install.

The Select Switches window appears. All the Cisco Nexus switches that are discovered by Cisco DCNM are displayed.

Step 2

Select the check box to the left of a switch name.

You can select more than one device.

Step 3

Click Add or Remove icons to include the appropriate switches for installing the patch.

The selected switches appear in the right column.

Step 4

Click Next.

Step 5

Click Select Packages in the Packages column.

The SMU Package Browser dialog box appears.

Step 6

In the SMU Package Browser dialog box, you can choose the patch file from File Server or Switch File System.

If you choose File Server:

1. From the Select the file server list, choose the appropriate file server on which the patch is stored.

The servers, which are listed in the Repositories window, are displayed in the drop-down list. Choose Configure > Image Management > Repositories to view the Repositories window.

2. From the Select Image list, choose the appropriate patch that must be installed on the device.

You can select more than one patch file to be installed on the device.

Note

If the patch installation results in the restart of the device, select only one patch file.

Check the check box to use the same patch for all other selected devices of the same platform.

Only files with BIN extension are listed if you select File Server. To view other files, choose Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties, set FILE_SELECTION_FILTER to false, and restart the server. It is set to true by default.

3. From the Select Vrf list, choose the appropriate virtual routing and forwarding (VRF).

The two options in the drop-down list are management and default.

Check the check box to use the same VRF for all other selected devices.

4. Click OK to choose the patch image or Cancel to revert to the SMU installation wizard.

If you choose Switch File System:

1. From the Select Image list, choose the appropriate patch file image that is located on the flash memory of the device.

You can select more than one patch file to be installed on the device.

Only files with BIN extension are listed if you select Switch File System. To view other files, choose Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties, set FILE_SELECTION_FILTER to false, and restart the server. It is set to true by default.

2. Click OK to choose the image, Clear Selections to uncheck all the check boxes, or Cancel to revert to the SMU Package Browser dialog box.

Step 7

Click Finish.

You will get a confirmation window. Click OK.

Note

SMU installation may reload the switch if the SMU is reloaded.

You can view the list of patches that are installed on the switch in the Switches window by choosing DCNM > Inventory > Switches.

Uninstall Patch

To uninstall the patch on your devices from Cisco DCNM Web Client, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Patch [SMU] > Installation History, click Uninstall.

The Select Switches page appears. The discovered Cisco Nexus switches are displayed.

Step 2

Check the check box on the left of the switch name.

You can select more than one image device.

Step 3

Click Add or Remove icons to include the appropriate switches for installing the patch.

The selected switches appear in a column on the right.

Step 4

Click Next.

The Active Packages page appears.

Step 5

Click Select Packages under the Installed Packages column.

The Packages Installed window appears, which lists the patches that are applied to the switch.

Step 6

Select the patches that you want to uninstall from this device.

You can select more than one patch that is applied on the device.

Note

If the patch uninstallation results in the restart of the device, select only one patch.

Step 7

Click Finish to uninstall the patch from the device.

You will get a confirmation window. Click OK.

You can uninstall more than one patch at a time.

Note

SMU uninstallation may reload the switch if the SMU is reloaded.

Delete Patch Installation Tasks

To delete the patch installation tasks from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Patch [SMU] > Installation History, check the task ID check box.

Step 2

Click Delete.

Step 3

Click OK to confirm deletion of the patch installation task.

Switch Installed Patches

You can view the patches that are installed on all the switches in the network. You can refresh the view to see the latest installed patches.

The following table describes the fields that appear on Configure > Image Management > Patch [SMU] > Switch Installed Patches.

Field

Description

Switch Name

Specifies the name of the switch.

IP Address

Specifies the IP address of the switch.

Platform

Specifies the Cisco Nexus switch platform.

Installed Patches

Specifies the currently installed patches on switches.

Click Refresh to refresh the table.

Package [RPM]

The Package [RPM] menu includes the following submenus:

- Package Installation [RPM]

- Switch Installed Packages

Package Installation [RPM]

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The package [RPM] feature allows you to install RPM packages. This feature is available for the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series and 3000 Series Switches.

The following table describes the fields that appear on Configure > Image Management > Package [RPM] > Installation History.

Field

Description

Task Id

Specifies the serial number of the task. The latest task is listed in the top.

The tasks are performed in the sequential order.

Switch Name

Specifies the name of the switch for which the package file is installed.

IPAddress

Specifies the IP address of the device.

Task

Specifies if the package is installed or uninstalled on this device.

Package

Specifies the name of the package file.

Status

Specifies the status of installation or uninstallation of the package files.

Completed Time

Specifies the time at which the installation or uninstallation task completed.

Status Description

Describes the status of installation or uninstallation of the package files.

This section contains the following:

- Install Package [RPM]

- Uninstall Package [RPM]

- Delete Package Installation Tasks

Install Package [RPM]

Perform the following task to install the package on your devices using Cisco DCNM Web client.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Package [RPM] > Installation History, click Install.

The Select Switches page appears.

Step 2

Check the check box on the left of the switch name.

You can select more than one device.

Step 3

Click Add or Remove to include appropriate switches for installing packaging.

The selected switches appear in a column on the right.

Step 4

Click Next.

Step 5

Click Select Packages in the Packages column.

The RPM Package Browser screen appears.

Step 6

Choose the package file from File Server or Switch File System.

If you choose File Server:

1. From the Select the file server list, choose the appropriate file server on which the package is stored.

The servers at Configure > Image Management > Repositories are displayed in the drop-down list.

2. From the Select Image list, choose the appropriate package that must be installed on the device.

You can select more than one package file to be installed on the device.

Only files with RPM extension are listed if you select File Server. To view other files, choose Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties, set FILE_SELECTION_FILTER to false, and restart the server. It is set to true by default.

Check the check box to use the same package for all other selected devices of the same platform.

3. Click OK to choose the patch image or Cancel to revert to the RPM Installation Wizard.

If you choose Switch File System:

1. From the Select Image list, choose the appropriate package file image that is located on the flash memory of the device.

You can select more than one package file to be installed on the device.

Only files with RPM extension are listed if you select Switch File System. To view other files, choose Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties, set FILE_SELECTION_FILTER to false, and restart the server. It is set to true by default.

2. Click OK.

Step 7

In the Installation Type column, choose one of the installation types:

- Normal—Fresh installation

- Upgrade—Upgrading the existing RPM

- Downgrade—Downgrading the existing RPM

Step 8

Click Finish.

You can view the list of packages that are installed on the switch, on the Web Client > Inventory > Switches page.

Note

If you are using Cisco DCNM Release 10.1(2), in case of installation of reload RPMs, perform a manual install commit on the switch after it switch reloads.

Uninstall Package [RPM]

To uninstall the RPM on your devices from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Package [RPM] > Installation History, click Uninstall.

The Select Switches window appears.

Step 2

Check the check box on the left of the switch name.

You can select more than one switch.

Step 3

Click the Add or Remove icons to include the appropriate switches for uninstalling the package.

The selected switches appear in a column on the right.

Step 4

Click Next.

The Active Packages page appears.

Step 5

Click Select Packages under the Installed Packages column.

The Packages Installed window appears, which lists the packages that are installed in the switch.

Step 6

Click Finish to uninstall the package from the device.

You will get a confirmation window. Click OK.

You can uninstall more than one package at a time.

Note

- If you are using Cisco DCNM Release 10.1(2), in case of uninstallation of reload RPMs, a manual install commit needs to be performed on the switch once the switch is reloaded.

- RPM uninstallation may reload the switch if the RPM is reload RPM.

Delete Package Installation Tasks

To delete the package installation tasks from the history view from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Package [RPM] > Installation History, select the task ID check box.

Step 2

Click Delete.

Step 3

Click OK to confirm deletion of the task.

Switch Installed Packages

You can view the RPM packages that are installed on all Switches in the network. You can refresh the view to see the latest installed packages.

The following table describes the fields that appear on Configure > Image Management > Packages [RPM] > Switch Installed Packages.

Field

Description

Switch Name

Specifies the name of the switch.

IP Address

Specifies the IP address of the switch.

Platform

Specifies the Cisco Nexus switch platform.

Installed Packages

Specifies the currently installed packages on the switches and the type of package. The installed packages can be base packages or non-base packages.

Click Refresh to refresh the table.

Maintenance Mode [GIR]

The Maintenance Mode [GIR] menu includes the following submenus:

- Maintenance Mode

- Switch Maintenance History

Maintenance Mode

The maintenance mode allows you to isolate the Cisco Nexus Switch from the network to perform an upgrade or debug, using Graceful Insertion and Removal (GIR). When the switch maintenance is complete, you can return the switch to normal mode. When the switch is in the maintenance mode, all protocols are gracefully brought down and all physical ports are shut down. When the normal mode is restored, all the protocols and ports are initiated again.

Perform the following to change the system mode of the devices.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Maintenance Mode [GIR] > Maintenance Mode, check the switch name check box.

You can select multiple switches.

Step 2

Choose one of the following options under the Mode Selection column:

- Shutdown

- Isolate

Note

Click the appropriate option before you change the mode.

Step 3

Click Change System Mode.

A confirmation message appears.

Step 4

Click OK to confirm to change the maintenance mode of the device.

The status of operation can be viewed in the System Mode and the Maintenance Status.

Switch Maintenance History

You can view the history of the maintenance mode changes executed from the Cisco DCNM.

The following table describes the fields that appear on Configure > Image Management > Maintenance Mode [GIR] > Switch Maintenance History.

Field

Description

Task Id

Specifies the serial number of the task. The latest tasks that are listed in the top.

Switch Name

Specifies the name of the switch for which the maintenance mode was changed.

IP Address

Specifies the IP address of the switch.

User

Specifies the name of the user who initiated the maintenance.

System Mode

Specifies the mode of the system.

Maintenance Status

Specifies the mode of the maintenance process.

Status

Specifies the status of the mode change.

Completed Time

Specified the time at which the maintenance mode activity was completed.

Click the radio button next to the switch name to select the switch for which you need to view the upgrade history. Click View to view the upgrade task history for the selected switch.

The following table describes the fields that appear on Configure > Image Management > Upgrade [ISSU] > Switch Level History > View > Upgrade Tasks History

Field

Description

Owner

Specifies the owner who initiated the upgrade.

Job Status

Specifies the status of the job.

- Planned

- In Progress

- Completed

KickStart Image

Specifies the kickstart image that is used to upgrade the Switch.

System Image

Specifies the system image that is used to upgrade the switch.

Completed Time

Specifies the date and time at which the upgrade was successfully completed.

Image and Configuration Servers

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This feature allows you to upload or delete images that are used during POAP and switch upgrade. To view the Image and Configuration Servers window from the Cisco DCNM Web UI homepage, choose Configure > Image Management > Repositories.

You can view the following details in the Image and Configuration Servers window.

Field

Descriptions

Name

Specifies the name of the repository you upload.

URL

Specifies the path where you uploaded the repository.

Username

Specifies the username of the remote server.

Last Modified

Specifies the date and timestamp of the last modification.

- Add Image or Configuration Server URL

- Deleting an Image

- Editing an Image or Configuration Server URL

- File Browser

- Image Upload

Add Image or Configuration Server URL

To add an image or a configuration server URL to the repository from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

On the Image and Configuration Servers window, click the Add icon.

The Add Image or Configuration Server URL window is displayed.

Step 2

Specify a name for the image.

Step 3

Click the radio button to select the protocol.

The available protocols are SCP, FTP, SFTP, and TFTP. Use the SCP protocol for POAP and Image Management.

You can use IPv4 and IPv6 addresses with these protocols.

Step 4

Enter the hostname or IP address and the path to download or upload files.

Step 5

Specify the username and password.

Step 6

Click OK to save.

Deleting an Image

To delete an image from the repository from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Repositories.

The Image and Configuration Servers window appears.

Step 2

Choose an existing image from the list and click the Delete Image icon.

A confirmation window appears.

Step 3

Click Yes to delete the image.

Editing an Image or Configuration Server URL

To edit an image or a configuration server URL to the repository from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

On the Image and Configuration Servers window, select an existing image and configuration server from the list, and click Edit.

Step 2

In the Edit Image or Configuration Server URL window, edit the required fields.

Step 3

Click OK to save or click Cancel to discard the changes.

File Browser

You can view the contents of the server on the Image and Configuration Servers page.

1. In the Image and Configurations page, check the Server Name check box to view the content.

2. Click File Browser to view the contents of this server.

Image Upload

To upload different types of images to the server from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Note

Devices use these images during POAP or image upgrade.

Your user role should be network-admin to upload an image. You can’t perform this operation with the network-stager user role.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Image Management > Repositories.

The Image and Configuration Servers window appears.

Step 2

Click Image Upload.

The Select File to Upload dialog box appears.

Step 3

Click Choose file to choose a file from the local repository of your device.

Step 4

Choose the file and click Upload.

Step 5

Click OK.

The upload takes some time depending on the file size and network bandwidth.

LAN Telemetry Health

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) LAN Telemetry Health (navtitle]

Starting from DCNM 11.2(1), Streaming LAN Telemetry preview feature in DCNM is obsolete and is replaced by Network Insights Resources (NIR) application. NIR can be deployed using Cisco DCNM Applications Framework on Web UI > Applications. After the NIR is enabled on a fabric, you can monitor the status on the Configure > LAN Telemetry > Health window in the Cisco DCNM Web UI.

When the connection status is shown as Disconnected the port configuration may not be accepted by the switch correctly. On the switch image 7.0(3)I7(6), if a switch already had nxapi configuration, and later it was managed by DCNM and telemetry was enabled on that fabric, DCNM pushes http port 80 configuration so that it could query some NXAPI commands such as show telemetry transport and show telemetry data collector details , to monitor telemetry connection statistics. In this case, the switch does not update http port 80 in its configuration even though the command was executed correctly. In such a scenario, issue the following commands on the switch:

switch# configure
switch(config)# no feature nxapi
switch(config)# feature nxapi
switch(config)# http port 80

Note

You cannot configure ICAM on the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches Release 7.0(3)I7(6), and therefore, the telemetry will fail until the switch issue is resolved.

LAN Telemetry has the following topics:

- Health

- Top Streamers

Health

Cisco DCNM allows you to monitor the health attributes for each fabric. The attributes are displayed for a particular fabric or all fabrics based on the selected SCOPE. Default_LAN displays all fabrics.

The following table describes the columns in the LAN Telemetry > Health tab.

Fields and Description on Health tab

Field

Description

Name

Displays the switch name at the top. The drop-down list displays all the metric names such as CPU, Memory, and so on, that are configured on the switch by the telemetry manager.

Description

At the switch level, it displays the switch model and switch image version.

At the metric level, it displays the metric description.

Update Period (seconds)

At the switch level, nothing is displayed. At the metric level, it displays the metric collection interval in seconds. Ex: 60 means that the switch shall stream that metric every 60 seconds.

Packets Sent

At the switch level, nothing is displayed.

At the metric level, it displays the number of metric samples is collected till time.

Receiver IP Port

Displays the IP address of the UTR micro-service and the port that runs as a part of the Network Insights application, which collects the streamed telemetry data from the switches.

Configuration Status

Displays the telemetry configuration status on the switches. The following statuses are displayed:

- MONITOR implies that the switch in the fabric was configured as "Monitored" in the NIR app. In this case, it is the user's responsibility to configure these switches with the required telemetry configurations and stream it to the right destination UTR IP address and Port displayed in the "Receiver IP Port" column.

- PROCESSING: This means that the swtich belonging to the fabric was configured as "Managed" in the NIR app. In this case, the telemetry manager will configure the switches and when configuration is in progress, it is displayed as "PROCESSING".

- SUCCESS: This means that the switches were successfully configured.

- FAILED: This means that the switches could not be configured successfully. It could be a partial failure i.e. some of the metrics could not be configured or a full failure i.e. none of configurations went through successfully. Click on the FAILED link to the failure reason.

Click on the Name drop-down list to check which metrics failed.

Note

FWD TCAM and ACLCAM metric configurations are not supported on Cisco Nexus C9504, C9508, C9516 series platforms. Check the release notes for any limitations or caveats that could cause a failure.

- Failure Retry: Click on the retry button to the right of FAILED to reconfigure the switches again.

Connection Status

This indicates the status of the connection used to transport telemetry data between the switch and the UTR micro-service running in the NIR app. The value can either be Connected or Disconnected.

When the connection status is Disconnected, and if Configuration Status shows either MONITOR or SUCCESS, login to the switch and check the nxapi configuration. When a Cisco DCNM managed fabric is enabled with telemetry, the telemetry manager pushes the http port 80 configuration. If the switch does not have http port 80 configuration, run the following commands on the switch:

switch# configure
switch(config)# no feature nxapi
switch(config)# feature nxapi
switch(config)# http port 80

Additional Information

Displays the switch serial number, fabric name, and the switch management IP address.

Note

The Health table data gets refreshed every 2 minutes automatically. It can be manually refreshed by clicking the refresh button on the top right corner.

Failure Troubleshooting

To get more details on the failures, click Configure > Template Library. Click on the Jobs tab. This will list all the Jobs and their Status. Click on a particular Job ID and then click Status button. This will result in a pop-up window called Job Execution Status where per switch job status is listed. Check the Failure Cause column to see the failure reason. Click on a particular switch radio button and this will display all the commands that were executed on that switch in the Command Execution Status in the bottom half of the window.

Top Streamers

Choose LAN Telemetry > Health > Top Streamers to view the graphs that depicts the top five streaming switches.

Click on the switch level bar chart to visualize a feature-wise break-down.

Chapter 7. Administration

This chapter contains the following topics:

- DCNM Server

- Manage Licensing

- Management Users

- Performance Setup

- Event Setup

- Credentials Management

DCNM Server

The DCNM Server menu includes the following submenus:

- Starting, Restarting, and Stopping Services

- Viewing Log Information

- Server Properties

- Configuring SFTP/SCP Credentials

- Modular Device Support

- Managing Switch Groups

- Managing Licenses

- Native HA

- Multi Site Manager

- Device Connector

Starting, Restarting, and Stopping Services

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Server Status (navtitle]

By default, the ICMP connectivity between DCNM and its switches validates the connectivity during Performance Management. If you disable ICMP, Performance Management data will not be fetched from the switches. You can configure this parameter in the server properties. To disable ICMP connectivity check from Cisco DCNM Web UI, choose Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties, and set skip.checkPingAndManageable parameter value to true.

To clean up the performance manager database (PM DB) stale entries, start, restart, or stop a service, from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Note

During restart, the Performance Manager waits for 20minutes for the Elasticsearch to become operational. After 20minutes, the Performance Manager aborts. Click the Re-init Elasticsearch DB Schema icon in the Actions column for the Performance collector service.

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 action you want to perform. You can perform the following actions:

- Start or restart a service.

- Stop a service.

- Clean up the stale PM DB entries.

- Reinitialize the Elasticsearch DB schema.

Step 3

View the 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. You can execute these commands directly on the server CLI.

- ifconfig: click this link to view information about interface parameters, IP address, and netmask used on the Cisco DCNM server.

- appmgr status all: click this link to view the DCNM server administrative utility script that checks the status of different services currently running.

- appmgr show vmware-info: click this link to view information about the CPU and Memory of Virtual Machine.

- clock: click this link to view information about the server clock details such as time, zone information.

Note

The commands section is applicable only for the OVA or ISO installations.

Viewing Log Information

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Logs (navtitle]

You can view the logs for performance manager, 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.

Beginning with Release 11.2(1), for DCNM OVA and DCNM ISO installations, all log files with .log extension are also listed.

Note

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

(Optional) Click Generate Techsupport to generate and download files required for technical support.

This file contains more information in addition to log files.

Note

A TAR.GZ file will be downloaded for OVA and ISO deployments, and a ZIP file will be downloaded for all other deployments.

Step 5

(Optional) 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/SCP Credentials

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Archive FTP Credentials (navtitle]

A file server is required to collect device configuration and restoring configurations to the device.

To configure the SFTP/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.

Note

The credentials are auto-populated for fresh OVA and ISO installations.

Step 2

In the Server Type field, use the radio button to select SFTP.

Note

- You must have an SFTP server to perform backup operation. The SFTP server can be an external server. The SFTP directory must be an absolute Linux/SSH path format and must have read/write access to the SFTP User.

- If you are using an external server, enter its IP address in the server.FileServerAddress field in Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties.

- If the nat.enabled field under Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties is true, you must enter the NAT device IP in the server.FileServerAddress field and the SFTP server must be local.

1. Enter the User Name and Password.

Note

From Release 11.3(1), for OVA/ISO installations, use the sysadmin user credentials to access the root directory.

2. Enter the Directory path.

The path must be in absolute Linux path format.

If SFTP is unavailable on your device, you can use third-party SFTP applications, such as, mini-SFTP, Solarwinds, and so on. When you use an external SFTP, you must provide the relative path in the STFP Directory Path. For example, consider the use cases at the end of this procedure.

Note

From Release 11.3(1), for OVA/ISO installations, enter directory as /home/sysadmin.

3. From the Verification Switches drop-down list, select a switch.

4. Click Apply to save the credentials.

5. Click Verify & Apply to verify if SFTP and switch have connectivity and save the configuration.

If there are any failures during the verification, the new changes will not be stored.

6. Click Clear SSH Hosts to clear SSH hosts for all switches or selected switches.

If there is a failure in any of the switches, an error message appears. Navigate to Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration > Archive Jobs > Job Execution Details to view the number of successful and unsuccessful switches.

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.

Note

Ensure that your switch user role includes the copy command. Operator roles receive a permission denied error. You can change your credentials in the Discovery window. Navigate to Inventory > Discovery.

1. From the Verification Switch drop-down list, select a switch.

2. Click Apply to save the credentials everywhere.

3. Click Verify & Apply to verify if TFTP and switch have connectivity and save the configuration.

If there are any failures during the verification, the new changes are not stored.

Step 4

In the Server Type field, use the radio button to select SCP.

Note

- You must have an SCP server to perform backup operation. The SCP server can be an external server. The SCP directory must be an absolute Linux/SSH path format and must have read/write access to the SCP User.

- If you are using an external server, enter its IP address in the server.FileServerAddress field under Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties.

- If the nat.enabled field under Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties is true, you must enter the NAT device IP in the server.FileServerAddress field and the server must be local.

1. Enter the User Name and Password.

2. Enter the Directory path.

The path must be in absolute Linux path format.

If SCP is unavailable on your device, use external SCP applications, such as, mini-SCP, Solarwinds, and so on. When you use an external SCP, you must provide the relative path in the SCP Directory Path. For example, consider the use cases at the end of this procedure.

3. From the Verification Switches drop-down, select the switch.

4. Click Apply to save the credentials everywhere.

5. Click Verify & Apply to verify if SCP and switch have connectivity and save the configuration. If there are any failures during the verification, the new changes will not be stored.

6. Click Clear SSH Hosts to clear SSH hosts for all switches or selected switches.

If there is a failure in any of the switches, an error message is displayed. To view the number of successful and unsuccessful switches, go to Configure > Backup > Switch Configuration > Archive Jobs > Job Execution Details.

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:

- If the path in the external SFTP is C://Users/test/sftp/, then the Cisco DCNM SFTP Directory path must be /.

- 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:

- If the path in the external SCP is C://Users/test/scp/, then the Cisco DCNM SCP directory path must be /.

- 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:

- Support any new hardware, like chassis or line cards

- Support latest NX-OS versions

- 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

For more details about how to apply and rollback a patch, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/dcnm for more information.

Managing Switch Groups

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Switch Groups (navtitle]

You can configure switch groups by using Cisco DCNM Web UI. You can add, delete, or move a switch to a group, or move switches from a group to another group.

This section contains the following:

- Adding Switch Groups

- Removing a Group or a Member of a Group

- Moving a Switch Group to Another Group

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.

Removing 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 remove 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.

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

To move a switch group to another group from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Select a switch or switch group.

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.

Note

It is not allowed to move multiple switches in the group level. You may not mix a group with switches.

Managing Licenses

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) DCNM (navtitle]

You can view the existing Cisco DCNM licenses by choosing Administration > DCNM Server > License. You can view and assign licenses in the following tabs:

- License Assignments

- Smart License

- Server License Files

Note

By default, the License Assignments tab appears.

The following table displays the SAN and LAN license information.

Field

Description

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

- Smart License

- Server License Files

License Assignments

The following table displays the license assignment details for every switch or VDC.

Field

Description

Group

Displays if the group is fabric or LAN.

Switch Name

Displays the name of the switch.

WWN/Chassis ID

Displays the world wide name or Chassis ID.

Model

Displays the model of the device. For example, DS-C9124 or N5K-C5020P-BF.

License State

Displays the license state of the switch that can be one of the following:

- Permanent

- Eval

- Unlicensed

- Not Applicable

- Expired

- Invalid

License Type

Displays the license type of the switch that can be one of the following:

- DCNM-Server

- Switch

- Smart

- Honor

Expiration Date

Displays the expiry date of the license.

Note

Text under the Expiration Date column is in red for licenses, which expire in seven days.

Assign License

Select a row and click this option on the toolbar to assign the license.

Unassign License

Select a row and click this option on the toolbar to unassign the license.

Assign All

Click this option on the toolbar to refresh the table and assign the licenses for all the items in the table.

Unassign All

Click this option on the toolbar to refresh the table and unassign all the licenses.

Note

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:

1. Permanent

2. Smart

3. 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.

Introduction to Smart Licensing

Cisco Smart Licensing is a flexible licensing model that provides you with an easier, faster, and more consistent way to purchase and manage software across the Cisco portfolio and across your organization. And it’s secure – you control what users can access. With Smart Licensing you get:

- Easy Activation: Smart Licensing establishes a pool of software licenses that can be used across the entire organization—no more PAKs (Product Activation Keys).

- Unified Management: My Cisco Entitlements (MCE) provides a complete view into all of your Cisco products and services in an easy-to-use portal, so you always know what you have and what you are using.

- License Flexibility: Your software is not node-locked to your hardware, so you can easily use and transfer licenses as needed.

To use Smart Licensing, you must first set up a Smart Account on Cisco Software Central (https://software.cisco.com/software/csws/ws/platform/home).

For a more detailed overview on Cisco Licensing, go to https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/buy/licensing/licensing-guide.html.

In the introduction, click Click Here to view the information on smart software licensing.

The menu bar has the following icons:

- 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.

- 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.

- 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

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.

Print

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

- Registering a Cisco DCNM Instance

- Renew Authorization

- Disabling Smart Licensing

Enabling Smart Licensing

To enable smart licensing 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 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

Create a token in Cisco Smart Software Manager.

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:

- Default - DCNM communicates directly with Cisco’s licensing servers

This option uses the following URL: https://tools.cisco.com/its/service/oddce/services/DDCEService

- Transport Gateway - Proxy via Gateway or Satellite

Enter the URL if you select this option.

- Proxy - Proxy via intermediate HTTP or HTTPS proxy

Enter the URL and the port if you select this option.

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.

- Troubleshooting Communication Errors

Troubleshooting Communication Errors

To resolve the communication errors during registration, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Stop the DCNM service.

Step 2

Open the server properties file from the following path: /usr/local/cisco/dcm/fm/conf/server.properties

Note

The server properties file for Windows will be in the following location: C:/Program Files/Cisco/dcm/fm/conf/server.properties

Step 3

Include the following property in the server properties file: #cisco.smart.license.production=false #smartlicense.url.transport=https://CiscoSatellite_Server_IP/Transportgateway/services/DeviceRequestHandler

Step 4

Update the Cisco satellite details in Host Database in the /etc/hosts file in the following syntax: Satellite_Server_IP CiscoSatellite

Step 5

Start the DCNM service.

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

To disable smart licensing from Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > DCNM Server > License > Smart License.

Step 2

Select Control and select Disable to disable smart licensing.

A confirmation window appears.

Step 3

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

From Cisco DCNM Web UI, choose Administration > DCNM Server > License > Server License Files. The following table displays the Cisco DCNM server license fields.

Field

Description

Filename

Specifies the license file name.

Feature

Specifies the licensed feature.

PID

Specifies the product ID.

LAN (Free/Total)

Displays the number of free versus total licenses for LAN.

Expiration Date

Displays the expiry date of the license.

Note

Text in the Expiration Date field is in Red for licenses that expires in seven days.

- Adding Cisco DCNM Licenses

Adding Cisco DCNM Licenses

To add Cisco DCNM licenses from Cisco DCNM, perform the following steps:

Before you begin

You must have network administrator privileges to complete the following procedure.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > DCNM Server > License to start the license wizard.

Step 2

Choose the Server License Files tab.

The valid Cisco DCNM-LAN license files are displayed.

Ensure that the security agent is disabled when you load licenses.

Step 3

Download the license pack file that you received from Cisco into a directory on the local system.

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.

Note

Ensure that you do not edit the contents of the .lic file or the Cisco DCNM software ignores any features that are associated with that license file. The contents of the file are signed and must remain intact. When you accidentally copy, rename, or insert the license file multiple times, the duplicate files are ignored, but the original is counted.

Native HA

Before you begin

Note

Ensure that you clear your browser cache and cookies everytime after a Federation switchover or failover.

Procedure

Step 1

By default, DCNM is bundled with an embedded database engine PostgreSQL. The native DCNM HA is achieved by two DCNMs running as Active / Warm Standby, with their embedded databases synchronized in real time. So once the active DCNM is down, the standby takes over with the same database data and resume the operation. The standby host database down scenario is documented after this procedure.

Step 2

From the menu bar, choose Administration > DCNM Server > Native HA.

You see the Native HA window.

Step 3

You can allow manual failover of DCNM to the standby host by clicking the Failover button, and then click OK.

- Alternatively, you can initiate this action from the Linux console.

1. SSH into the DCNM active host.

2. Enter " " /usr/share/heartbeat/hb_standby”

Step 4

You can allow manual syncing database and disk files to standby host by clicking Force Sync, and then click OK.

Step 5

You can test or validate the HA setup by clicking Test and then click OK.

What to do next

Some HA troubleshooting scenarios are noted in this sub section.

The standby host database is down: Typically, the DCNM database (PostgreSQL) is up on the active and standby hosts. In DCNM 10.1 and earlier versions, the standby database can be down due to a database synchronization failure.

- Enter “ps -ef | grep post”. You should see multiple postgres processes running. If not, it indicates that the database is down.

- Restore database data from a backup file that is created at the beginning of database synchronization. Change directory to “/usr/local/cisco/dcm/db”

- Check existence of file replication/ pgsql-standby-backup.tgz. If the file exists, restore database data files:

rm -rf    data/*
tar -zxf    replication/ pgsql-standby-backup.tgz    data
/etc/init.d/postgresql-9.4 start
ps -ef | grep post

The active DCNM host will synchronize the two databases.

The TFTP server is not bound to the eth1 VIP address on the active host: The TFTP server should run on the active host (not on the standby host), and it should be bound to the eth1 VIP address. In some setups, the bind address is not the VIP address, as per the TFTP configuration file, and this could cause issues when switches try to use TFTP.

- Enter “grep bind    /etc/xinetd.d/tftp” to check if the TFTP configuration file has the right bind address. If the displayed IP address is not the eth1 VIP address, then change the bind address to the VIP address. Repeat the procedure for the standby host. Update the bind address to the VIP address.

- Enter " " /etc/init.d/xinetd restart” on the active host to restart TFTP.

Note

The TFTP server can be started or stopped with the “appmgr start/stop ha-apps” command.

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.

Device Connector

The Device Connector is an embedded management controller that enables the capabilities of Cisco Intersight, a cloud-based management platform.

Networks Insights applications are connected to the Cisco Intersight cloud portal through a Device Connector which is embedded in the management controller of the Cisco DCNM platform. Cisco Intersight is a virtual appliance that helps manage and monitor devices through the Network Insights application. The Device Connector provides a secure way for connected DCNM to send information and receive control instructions from the Cisco Intersight portal, using a secure Internet connection.

Configuring Device Connector

To configure the Device Connector from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

1. Choose Administration > DCNM Server > Device Connector.

The Device Connector work pane appears.

2. Click Settings.

The Settings - General window appears.

- Device Connector (switch)

This is the main switch for the Device Connector communication with Cisco Intersight. When the switch is on (green highlight), the Device Connector claims the system and leverages the capabilities of the Cisco Intersight. If the switch is off (gray highlight), no communication can occur between Cisco DCNM and Cisco Intersight.

- Access Mode

- Read-only: This option ensures that there are no changes to this device from Intersight. For example, actions such as upgrading firmware or a profile deployment is not allowed in the Read-Only mode. However, the actions depend on the features available for a particular system.

- Allow Control: This option (selected by default) enables you to perform full read/write operations from the appliance, based on the features available in Cisco Intersight.

3. Set the Device Connector to on (green highlight) and choose Allow Control.

4. Click Proxy Configuration.

The Settings - Proxy Configuration window appears.

- Enable Proxy (switch)

Enable HTTPS Proxy to configure the proxy settings.

Note

Network Insights requires Proxy settings.

- Proxy Hostname/IP* and Proxy Port*: Enter a proxy hostname or IP address, and a proxy port number.

- Authentication (switch)

Enable proxy access through authentication. When the switch is on (green highlight), authentication to the proxy server is required. If the switch is off (gray highlight), it does not require authentication.

Username* and Password: Enter a user name and password for authentication.

The device connector does not mandate the format of the login credentials, they are passed as-is to the configured HTTP proxy server. The username must be a qualified domain name depending on the configuration of the HTTP proxy server.

5. Enable the proxy (green highlight) and enter a hostname and port number.

6. (Optional) If proxy authentication is required, enable it (green highlight) and enter a username and password.

7. Click Save.

8. Click Certificate Manager.

The trusted certificates appear in the table.

A list of trusted certificates appears. You can import a valid trusted certificate.

- Import

Browse the directory, choose, and import a CA signed certificate.

Note

The imported certificate must be in the *.pem (base64encoded) format.

- You can view the list of certificates with the following information:

- Name—Common name of the CA certificate.

- In Use—Whether the certificate in the trust store is used to successfully verify the remote server.

- Issued By—The issuing authority for the certificate.

- Expires—The expiry date of the certificate.

Note

You cannot delete bundled certificates.

Manage Licensing

The Manage Licensing menu includes the following submenus:

- Managing Licenses

- Switch Features—Bulk Install

- Application Licenses

Managing Licenses

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You can view the existing Cisco DCNM licenses by choosing Administration > DCNM Server > License. You can view and assign licenses in the following tabs:

- License Assignments

- Smart License

- Server License Files

Note

By default, the License Assignments tab appears.

The following table displays the SAN and LAN license information.

Field

Description

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

- Server License Files

License Assignments

The following table displays the license assignment details for every switch or VDC.

Field

Description

Group

Displays if the group is fabric or LAN.

Switch Name

Displays the name of the switch.

WWN/Chassis ID

Displays the world wide name or Chassis ID.

Model

Displays the model of the device. For example, DS-C9124 or N5K-C5020P-BF.

License State

Displays the license state of the switch that can be one of the following:

- Permanent

- Eval

- Unlicensed

- Not Applicable

- Expired

- Invalid

License Type

Displays the license type of the switch that can be one of the following:

- DCNM-Server

- Switch

- Smart

- Honor

Expiration Date

Displays the expiry date of the license.

Note

Text under the Expiration Date column is in red for licenses, which expire in seven days.

Assign License

Select a row and click this option on the toolbar to assign the license.

Unassign License

Select a row and click this option on the toolbar to unassign the license.

Assign All

Click this option on the toolbar to refresh the table and assign the licenses for all the items in the table.

Unassign All

Click this option on the toolbar to refresh the table and unassign all the licenses.

Note

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:

1. Permanent

2. Smart

3. 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.

- Honor License Mode

Honor License Mode

From Release 11.3(1), Cisco DCNM Eval license validity is extended from 30 days to 60 days. That implies, after 60 days. Every license has an expiry date attached to it. After the license expires, Cisco DCNM allows you to use all the licensed features. Switches remain in honor mode until the switch is licensed again or the user manually removes the license.

If there are switches in the Honor License mode, an error message appears after you logon to DCNM.

***************************************
*Your licenses are out of compliance.
Your inventory contains switches that are unlicensed for DCNM Operation*

***************************************

Go to Administration > Manage Licensing > DCNM, In the Switches/VDCs table, select the switch and click Assign License to renew the license.

Guidelines

- Switches that don’t have a license assigned to them is considered unlicensed. Unlicensed Switches aren’t allowed to use Licensed DCNM features.

- If a switch has an expired EVAL license, it will change from EVAL to Honor mode and the license features continues to be operational.

- You can’t assign expired EVAL licenses to the switches.

- Switches with switch-based honor license can’t be overwritten with any server-based license.

- When a license is assigned to a discovered switch and a valid license isn’t available, then an honor-based license with expiration date will be assigned to the switch.

Nag events for Honor-mode licenses

For every license in honor mode, an event is generated every seven days. A nag event informs the user "DCNM-SAN file license is in honor mode, need to assign/purchase a new license for this switch." Or "DCNM-LAN file license is in honor mode, need to assign/purchase a new license for this switch."

Additional popup notification appears when you logon to Cisco DCNM, to inform that “DCNM‐SAN file license is in honor mode, need to assign/purchase a new license for this switch.”

Server-based honor license support

On the DCNM Web UI > Administration > Manage Licensing > DCNM, the Licensed State column displays Honor and Expiration Date column displays the date, time, and when the license expired and changed to the Honor mode.

Switches will remain in honor mode after reboot also. To change the license from honor mode, you must manually unassign the license or assign a new valid license to the switch.

The following image shows license page with a SAN switch in Honor mode.

The following image shows license page with a LAN switch in Honor mode.

The following image shows the switch table displaying the honor mode of license and term.

The following image shows Switch Dashboard with a LAN switch in Honor mode license.

The following image shows Switch Dashboard with a SAN switch in Honor mode license.

The following image shows the SAN Client License Agreement tab.

The following image shows the SAN Client License files tab.

Note

Switch-based honor licenses can’t be overwritten with server-based license files.

Server License Files

From Cisco DCNM Web UI, choose Administration > DCNM Server > License > Server License Files. The following table displays the Cisco DCNM server license fields.

Field

Description

Filename

Specifies the license file name.

Feature

Specifies the licensed feature.

PID

Specifies the product ID.

LAN (Free/Total)

Displays the number of free versus total licenses for LAN.

Expiration Date

Displays the expiry date of the license.

Note

Text in the Expiration Date field is in Red for licenses that expires in seven days.

- Adding Cisco DCNM Licenses

Adding Cisco DCNM Licenses

To add Cisco DCNM licenses from Cisco DCNM, perform the following steps:

Before you begin

You must have network administrator privileges to complete the following procedure.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > DCNM Server > License to start the license wizard.

Step 2

Choose the Server License Files tab.

The valid Cisco DCNM-LAN license files are displayed.

Ensure that the security agent is disabled when you load licenses.

Step 3

Download the license pack file that you received from Cisco into a directory on the local system.

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.

Note

Ensure that you do not edit the contents of the .lic file or the Cisco DCNM software ignores any features that are associated with that license file. The contents of the file are signed and must remain intact. When you accidentally copy, rename, or insert the license file multiple times, the duplicate files are ignored, but the original is counted.

Switch Features—Bulk Install

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From Release 11.3(1), Cisco DCNM allows you to upload multiple licenses at a single instance. DCNM parses the license files and extract the switch serial numbers. It maps the serial numbers in the license files with the discovered fabric to install the licenses on each switch. License files are moved to bootflash and installed.

To bulk install licenses to the switches on the Cisco DCNM Web Client UI, perform the following steps:

1. Choose Administration > Manage Licensing > Switch features.

2. In the Switch Licenses area, click Upload License files to upload the appropriate license file.

The Bulk Switch License Install window appears.

3. In the Select file, click Select License file(s).

Navigate and choose the appropriate license file located in your local directory.

Click Open.

4. Choose the file transfer protocol to copy the license file from the DCNM server to the switch.

- Choose either TFTP, SCP, or SFTP protocol to upload the license file.

Note

Not all protocols are supported for all platforms. TFTP is supported for Win/RHEL DCNM SAN installation only. However, SFTP/SCP supported for all installation types.

5. Check the VRF check box for the licenses to support VRF configuration.

Enter the VRF name of one of their defined routes.

6. Check the Overwrite file on Switch checkbox, to overwrite the license file with the new uploaded license file.

Note

The overwrite command copies the new file over the existing one in boot flash. If the previous license was already installed, it won’t override the installation.

7. In the DCNM Server credentials, enter the root username and password for the DCNM server.

Enter the authentication credentials for access to DCNM. For DCNM Linux deployment, this is the username. For OVA\ISO deployments, use the credentials of the sysadmin user.

8. Click Upload.

The License file is uploaded to the DCNM. The following information is extracted from the license file.

- Switch IP – IP Address of the switch to which this license is assigned.

- License File – filename of the license file

- Features List –list of features supported by the license file

9. Select the set of licenses that you want to upload and install on their respective switches. A license file is applicable for a single specific switch.

10. Click Install Licenses.

The selected licenses are uploaded and installed on their respective switches. Status messages, including any issues or errors are updated for each file as it completes.

11. After the license matches with respective devices and installs, the License Status table displays the status.

Switch-based honor license support

On the DCNM Web UI > Inventory > Switch > License, the Type column displays “Unlicensed Honor License” and Warnings column displays Honor started: … with elapsed time since the license was changed to the Honor mode.

Note

Switch-based honor licenses can’t be overwritten with server-based license files.

Application Licenses

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Applications (navtitle]

From Release 11.3(1), you can manage licenses for applications on the Cisco DCNM. Choose Web UI > Administration > Manage Licensing > Applications to view the Application Licenses.

The Application Licenses tab displays the DCNM Applications with a summary of their unlicensed/total switches and if they are out of compliance. The PID Per Application Usage table displays the actual counts per PID given to the server from the Application Framework. The PIDs that need to be purchased for each application is also listed.

The Application License Files tab allows you to add license files for the applications. Click on Add license file to add license file from your local directory. The license filename, application name, PID, device count and expiration date details are extracted from the imported license file. If the license isn’t permanent or is eval or term, the expiration date is also listed.

The following image shows a sample error message while uploading an application license file.

Management Users

Note

Every time you login to DCNM, the DCNM server fetches information from the ISE server for AAA authentication. The ISE server will not authenticate again, after the first login.

The Management Users menu includes the following submenus:

- Remote AAA

- Managing Local Users

- Managing Clients

Remote AAA

To configure remote AAA from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Management Users > Remote AAA Properties.

The AAA properties configuration window appears.

Step 2

Use the radio button to select one of the following authentication modes:

- Local: In this mode the authentication authenticates with the local server.

- Radius: In this mode the authentication authenticates against the RADIUS servers specified.

- TACACS+: In this mode the authentication authenticates against the TACACS servers specified.

- Switch: In this mode the authentication authenticates against the switches specified.

- LDAP: In this mode the authentication authenticates against the LDAP server specified.

Step 3

Click Apply.

Note

Restart the Cisco DCNM LAN services if you update the Remote AAA properties.

- Local

- Radius

- TACACS+

- Switch

- LDAP

Local

Procedure

Step 1

Use the radio button and select Local as the authentication mode.

Step 2

Click Apply to confirm the authentication mode.

Radius

Procedure

Step 1

Use the radio button and select Radius as the authentication mode.

Step 2

Specify the Primary server details and click Test to test the server.

Step 3

(Optional) Specify the Secondary and Tertiary server details and click Test to test the server.

Step 4

Click Apply to confirm the authentication mode.

TACACS+

Procedure

Step 1

Use the radio button and select TACACS+ as the authentication mode.

Step 2

Specify the Primary server details and click Test to test the server.

Step 3

(Optional) Specify the Secondary and Tertiary server details and click Test to test the server.

Note

For IPv6 transport, enter Physical and VIP address for AAA authentication as the order of addresses changes during failover situation.

Step 4

Click Apply to confirm the authentication mode.

Switch

Procedure

Step 1

Use the radio button to select Switch as the authentication mode.

DCNM also supports LAN switches with the IPv6 management interface.

Step 2

Specify the Primary Switch name and click Apply to confirm the authentication mode.

Step 3

(Optional) Specify the names for Secondary and Tertiary Switches.

Step 4

Click Apply to confirm the authentication mode.

LDAP

Procedure

Step 1

Use the radio button and select LDAP as the authentication mode.

Step 2

In the Host field, enter either the IPv4 or IPv6 address.

If DNS service is enabled, you can enter DNS address (hostname) of the LDAP server.

Step 3

In the Port field, enter a port number.

Enter 389 for non-SSL; enter 636 for SSL. By default, the port is configured for non-SSL.

Step 4

Select the SSL Enabled check box, if SSL is enabled on the AAA server.

Note

You must enter 636 in the Port field, and select SSL Enabled check box to use LDAP over SSL.

This ensures the integrity and confidentiality of the transferred data by causing the LDAP client to establish a SSL session, before sending the bind or search request.

Step 5

In the Base DN field, enter the base domain name.

The LDAP server searches this domain. You can find the base DN by using the dsquery.exe user -name <display_name> command on the LDAP server.

For example:

ldapserver# dsquery.exe users -name "John Smith"

CN=john smith,CN=Users,DC=cisco,DC=com

The Base DN is DC=cisco,DC=com.

Note

Ensure that you enter the elements within the Base DN in the correct order. This specifies the navigation of the application when querying Active Directory.

Step 6

In the Filter field, specify the filter parameters.

These values are used to send a search query to the Active Directory. The LDAP search filter string is limited to a maximum of 128 characters.

For example:

- $userid@cisco.com

This matches the user principal name.

- CN=$userid,OU=Employees,OU=Cisco Users

This matches the exact user DN.

Step 7

Choose an option to determine a role. Select either Attribute or Admin Group Map.

- Admin Group Map: In this mode, DCNM queries LDAP server for a user based on the Base DN and filter. If the user is a part of any user group, the DCNM role will be mapped to that user group.

- Attribute: In this mode, DCNM queries for a user attribute. You can select any attribute. When you choose Attribute, the Role Admin Group field changes to Role Attributes.

Step 8

Enter value for either Roles Attributes or Role Admin Group field, based on the selection in the previous step.

- If you chose Admin Group Map, enter the name of the admin group in the Role Admin Group field.

- If you chose Attribute, enter the appropriate attribute in the Attributes field.

Step 9

In the Map to DCNM Role field, enter the name of the DCNM role that will be mapped to the user.

Generally, network-admin or network-operator are the most typical roles.

For example:

Role Admin Group: dcnm-admins
Map to DCNM Role: network-admin

This example maps the Active Directory User Group dcnm-admins to the network-admin role.

To map multiple Active Directory User Groups to multiple roles, use the following format:

Role Admin Group:
Map To DCNM Role: dcnm-admins:network-admin;dcnm-operators:network-operator

Note that Role Admin Group is blank, and Map To DCNM Role contains two entries delimited by a semicolon.

Step 10

In the Access Map field, enter the Role Based Access Control (RBAC) device group to be mapped to the user.

Step 11

Click Test to verify the configuration. The Test AAA Server window appears.

Step 12

Enter a valid Username and Password in the Test AAA Server window.

If the configuration is correct, the following message is displayed.

Authentication succeeded.
The cisco-av-pair should return 'role=network-admin' if this user needs to
see the DCNM Admin pages. 'SME' roles will allow SME page access. All other
roles - even if defined on the switches - will be treated
as network operator.

This message is displayed regardless of 'Role Admin Group' or 'Attribute' mode. It implies that Cisco DCNM can query your Active Directory, the groups, and the roles are configured correctly.

If the test fails, the LDAP Authentication Failed message is displayed.

Warning

Don’t save the configuration unless the test is successful. You cannot access DCNM if you save incorrect configurations.

Step 13

Click Apply Changes icon (located in the right top corner of the screen) to save the configuration.

Step 14

Restart the DCNM SAN service.

- For Windows – On your system navigate to Computer Management > Services and Applications > Services. Locate and right click on the DCNM application. Select Stop. After a minute, right click on the DCNM application and select Start to restart the DCNM SAN service.

- For Linux – Go to /etc/init.d/FMServer.restart and hit return key to restart DCNM SAN service.

Managing Local Users

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As an admin user, you can use Cisco DCNM Web UI to create a new user, assign the role and associate one or more groups or scope for the user.

This section contains the following:

- Adding Local Users

- Deleting Local Users

- Editing a User

- User Access

Adding Local Users

Procedure

Step 1

From the menu bar, choose Administration > Management Users > Local. You see the Local Users page.

Step 2

Click Add User.

You see the Add User dialog box.

Step 3

Enter the username in the User name field.

Note

The username is case sensitive, but the username guest is a reserved name, which is not case sensitive. The guest user can only view reports. The guest user cannot change the guest password, or access the Admin options in DCNM Web Client.

Step 4

From the Role drop-down list, select a role for the user.

Step 5

In the Password field, enter the password.

Note

All special characters, except SPACE is allowed in the password.

Step 6

In the Confirm Password field, enter the password again.

Step 7

Click Add to add the user to the database.

Step 8

Repeat Steps 2 through 7 to continue adding users.

Deleting Local Users

To delete local users from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Management Users > Local.

The Local Users page is displayed.

Step 2

Select one or more users from the Local Users table and click the Delete User button.

Step 3

Click Yes on the warning window to delete the local user. Click No to cancel deletion.

Editing a User

To edit a user from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Management Users > Local.

Step 2

Use the checkbox to select a user and click the Edit User icon.

Step 3

In the Edit User window, the Username and Role are mentioned by default. Specify the Password and Confirm Password.

Step 4

Click Apply to save the changes.

User Access

You can select specific groups or fabrics that local users can access. This restricts local users from accessing specific groups or fabrics for which they have not been provided access. To do this, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Management Users > Local.

The Local Users window is displayed.

Step 2

Select one user from the Local Users table. Click User Access.

The User Access selection window is displayed.

Step 3

Select the specific groups or fabrics that the user can access and click Apply.

Managing Clients

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Clients (navtitle]

You can use Cisco DCNM to disconnect DCNM Client Servers.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Management Users > Clients.

A list of DCNM Servers are displayed.

Step 2

Use the check box to select a DCNM server and click Disconnect Client to disconnect the DCNM server.

Note

You cannot disconnect a current client session.

Performance Setup

The Performance Setup menu includes the following submenus:

- Performance Setup LAN Collections

- Performance Setup Thresholds

- Configuring User-Defined Statistics

Performance Setup LAN Collections

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) LAN Collections (navtitle]

If you are managing your switches with the Performance Manager, you must set up an initial set of flows and collections on the switch. You can use Cisco DCNM to add and remove performance collections. License the switch and kept it in the Managed Continuously state before creating a collection for the switch.

Note

To collect Performance Manager data, ICMP ping must be enabled between the switch and DCNM server. Set pm.skip.checkPingAndManageable server property to true and then restart the DCNM. Choose Web UI > Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties to set the server property.

To add a collection, follow these steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Performance Setup > LAN Collections.

Step 2

For all the licensed LAN switches, use the check boxes to enable performance data collection for Trunks, Access, Errors & Discards, and Temperature Sensor.

Step 3

Use the check boxes to select the types of LAN switches for which you want to collect performance data.

Step 4

Click Apply to save the configuration.

Step 5

In the confirmation dialog box, click Yes to restart the Performance Manager. The Performance Manager has to be restarted for any new setting to take effect.

Performance Setup Thresholds

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Thresholds (navtitle]

If you are managing your switches with the Performance Manager, you must set up an initial set of flows and collections on the switch. You can use Cisco DCNM to add and remove performance collections. License the switch and keep it in the Managed Continuously state before creating a collection for the switch.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Performance Setup > Thresholds.

Step 2

Under Generate a threshold event when traffic exceeds % of capacity, use the check box to specify the Critical at and Warning at values. The range for Critical at is from 5 to 95, and the default is 80. The range for Warning at is from 5 to 95, and the default is 60.

Step 3

Select a value for Performance SAN ISL Polling Interval from the drop-down list. Valid values are 5 Mins, 4 Mins, 3 Mins, 2 Mins, 1 Min, and 30 Sec. The default is 30 Sec.

Step 4

Select a value for Performance Default Polling Interval from the drop-down list. Valid values are 5 Mins , 10 Mins, and 15 mins. The default value is 5 Mins.

Step 5

Click Apply.

Configuring User-Defined Statistics

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) User Defined (navtitle]

To configure user-defined statistics from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Performance Setup > User Defined.

The User-Defined statistics window is displayed.

Step 2

Click Add icon.

The Add SNMP Statistic to Performance Collection window is displayed.

Step 3

From the Switch table, select the switch for which you want to add other statistics.

Step 4

From the SNMP OID drop-down list, select the OID.

Note

For SNMP OID ModuleX_Temp,IFHCInOctets.IFINDEX,IFHCOutOctest.IFINDEX, selected from drop-down list, you must replace 'X' with correct module number or the corresponding IFINDEX.

Step 5

In the Display Name box, enter a new name.

Step 6

From the SNMP Type drop-down list, select the type.

Step 7

Click Add to add this statistic.

Event Setup

The Event Setup menu includes the following submenus:

- Viewing Events Registration

- Notification Forwarding

- Event Suppression

Viewing Events Registration

[/task/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Registration (navtitle]

To enable Send Syslog, Send Traps and Delayed Traps you must configure the following in the DCNM SAN client:

- Enabling Send Syslog: Choose Physical Attributes > Events > Syslog > Servers. Click Create Row, provide the required details, and click Create.

- Enabling Send Traps: Choose Physical Attributes > Events > SNMP Traps > Destination. Click Create Row, provide the required details, and click Create.

- Enabling Delayed Traps: Choose Physical Attributes > Events > SNMP Traps > Delayed Traps. In the Feature Enable column, use the check boxes to enable delayed traps for the switch and specify the delay in minutes.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Event Setup > Registration.

The SNMP and Syslog receivers along with the statistics information are displayed.

Step 2

Check the Enable Syslog Receiver check box and click Apply, to enable the syslog receiver if it is disabled in the server property.

To configure event registration or syslog properties, choose Administration > DCNM Server > Server Properties and follow the on-screen instructions.

Step 3

Select Copy Syslog Messages to DB and click Apply to copy the syslog messages to the database.

If this option is not selected, the events will not be displayed in the events page of the Web client.

The columns in the second table display the following:

- Switches sending traps

- Switches sending syslog

- Switches sending syslog accounting

- Switches sending delayed traps

Notification Forwarding

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Forwarding (navtitle]

You can use Cisco DCNM Web UI to add and remove notification forwarding for system messages.

This section contains the following:

- Adding Notification Forwarding

- Removing Notification Forwarding

Adding Notification Forwarding

Cisco DCNM Web UI forwards fabric events through email or SNMPv1 traps.

To add and remove notification forwarding for system messages from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Note

Test forwarding works only for the licensed fabrics.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Event Setup > Forwarding.

The events forwarding scope, the recipient email address, severity of the event and type of the event is displayed. The description Regex field is applicable only when the forwarding source is selected as Syslog while adding the events forwarder.

Step 2

Check the Enable checkbox to enable events forwarding.

Step 3

Specify the SMTP Server details and the From email address.

Step 4

Click Apply to save the configuration, or in the Apply and Test icon, use the drop-down to select the fabric.

Click Apply and Test to save and test the configuration.

Step 5

In the Event Count Filter, add a filter for the event count to the event forwarder.

The forwarding stops forwarding an event if the event count exceeds the limit as specified in the event count filter. In this field, you can specify a count limit. Before an event can be forwarded, the Cisco DCNM checks if its occurrence exceeds the count limit. If it does, the event will not be forwarded.

Step 6

Select the Snooze checkbox and specify the Start date and time and the End date and time. Click Apply to save the configuration.

Step 7

Under the Event Forwarder Rules table, click the + icon to add an event forwarder rule.

You see the Add Event Forwarder Rule dialog box.

Step 8

In the Forwarding Method, choose either E-mail or Trap. If you choose Trap, a Port field is added to the dialog box.

Step 9

If you choose the E-mail forwarding method, enter the IP address in the Email Address field. If you choose the Trap method, enter the trap receiver IP address in the Address field and specify the port number.

You can either enter an IPv4 or IPv6 addresses or DNS server name in the Address field.

Step 10

For Forwarding Scope, choose the Fabric/LAN or Port Groups for notification.

Step 11

In the Source field, select DCNM or Syslog.

If you select DCNM, then:

1. From the Type drop-down list, choose an event type.

2. Check the Storage Ports Only check box to select only the storage ports.

3. From the Minimum Severity drop-down list, select the severity level of the messages to receive.

4. Click Add to add the notification.

If you select Syslog, then:

1. In the Facility list, select the syslog facility.

2. Specify the syslog Type.

3. In the Description Regex field, specify a description that matches with the event description.

4. From the Minimum Severity drop-down list, select the severity level of the messages to receive.

5. Click Add to add the notification.

Note

The Minimum Severity option is available only if the Event Type is set to All.

The traps that are transmitted by Cisco DCNM correspond to the severity type. A text description is also provided with the severity type.

trap type(s) = 40990 (emergency)
40991 (alert)
40992 (critical)
40993 (error)
40994 (warning)
40995 (notice)
40996 (info)
40997 (debug)
textDescriptionOid = 1, 3, 6, 1, 4, 1, 9, 9, 40999, 1, 1, 3, 0

Removing Notification Forwarding

You can remove notification forwarding.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Event Setup > Forwarding.

Step 2

Select the check box in front of the notification that you want to remove and click Delete.

Event Suppression

[/concept/titlealts/navtitle {"- topic/navtitle "}) Suppression (navtitle]

Cisco DCNM allows you to suppress the specified events that are based on the user-specified suppressor rules. Such events will not be displayed on the Cisco DCNM Web UI. The events will neither be persisted to DCNM database, nor forwarded via email or SNMP trap.

You can view, add, modify, and delete suppressor rules from the table. You can create a suppressor rule from the existing event table. Select a given event as the template, and invoke the rule dialog window. Event details are automatically ported from the selected event in the event table to the input fields of the rule creation dialog window.

Note

You cannot suppress EMC Call Home events from the Cisco DCNM Web UI.

This section includes the following:

- Add Event Suppression Rules

- Delete Event Suppression Rule

- Modify Event Suppression Rule

Add Event Suppression Rules

To add rules to the Event Suppression from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Event Setup > Suppression.

The Suppression window is displayed.

Step 2

Click the Add icon above the Event Suppressors table.

The Add Event Suppressor Rule window is displayed.

Step 3

In the Add Event Suppressor Rule window, specify the Name for the rule.

Step 4

Select the required Scope for the rule that is based on the event source.

In the Scope drop-down list, the LAN groups and the port groups are listed separately. You can choose LAN, Port Groups or Any. For LAN, select the scope of the event at the Fabric or Group or Switch level. You can only select groups for Port Group scope. If use selects Any as the scope, the suppressor rule is applied globally.

Step 5

Enter the Facility name or choose from the LAN Switch Event Facility List.

If you do not specify a facility, wildcard is applied.

Step 6

From the drop-down list, select the Event Type .

If you do not specify the event type, wildcard is applied.

Step 7

In the Description Matching field, specify a matching string or regular expression.

The rule matching engine uses regular expression that is supported by Java Pattern class to find a match against an event description text.

Step 8

Check the Active Between box and select a valid time range during which the event is suppressed.

By default, the time range is not enabled, i.e., the rule is always active.

Note

In general, you must not suppress accounting events. Suppressor rule for Accounting events can be created only for certain rare situations where Accounting events are generated by actions of DCNM or switch software. For example, lots of 'sync-snmp-password' AAA syslog events are automatically generated during the password synchronization between DCNM and managed switches. To suppress Accounting events, navigate to the Suppressor table and invoke the Add Event Suppressor Rule dialog window.

Note

Choose Monitor > Switch > Events to create a suppressor rule for a known event. There is no such shortcut to create suppressor rules for Accounting events.

Delete Event Suppression Rule

To delete event suppressor rules from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Event Setup > Suppression .

Step 2

Select the rule from the list and click Delete icon.

Step 3

Click Yes to confirm.

Modify Event Suppression Rule

To modify the event suppressor rules, do the following tasks:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Event Setup > Suppression.

Step 2

Select the rule from the list and click Edit.

You can edit Facility, Type, Description Matching string, and Valid time range.

Step 3

Click Apply to save the changes,

Credentials Management

The Credential Management menu includes the following submenus:

- LAN Credentials

LAN Credentials

While changing the device configuration, Cisco DCNM uses the device credentials provided by you. However, if the LAN Switch credentials are not provided, Cisco DCNM prompts you to open the Administration > Credentials Management > LAN Credentials page to configure LAN credentials.

Cisco DCNM uses two sets of credentials to connect to the LAN devices:

- Discovery Credentials—Cisco DCNM uses these credentials during discovery and periodic polling of the devices.

- Configuration Change Credentials—Cisco DCNM uses these credentials when user tries to use the features that change the device configuration.

LAN Credentials Management allows you to specify configuration change credentials. Before changing any LAN switch configuration, you must furnish Configuration Change SSH credentials for the switch. If you do not provide the credentials, the configuration change action will be rejected.

These features get the device write credentials from LAN Credentials feature.

- Upgrade (ISSU)

- Maintenance Mode (GIR)

- Patch (SMU)

- Template Deployment

- POAP-Write erase reload, Rollback

- Interface Creation/Deletion/Configuration

- VLAN Creation/Deletion/Configuration

- VPC Wizard

You must specify the configuration change credentials irrespective of whether the devices were discovered initially or not. This is a one-time operation. Once the credentials are set, that will be used for any configuration change operation.

Default Credentials

Default credentials is used to connect all the devices that the user has access to. You can override the default credentials by specifying credentials for each of the devices in the Switch Table below.

Cisco DCNM tries to use individual switch credentials in the Switch Table, to begin with. If the credentials (username/password) columns are empty in the Switch Table, the default credentials will be used.

Switch Table

Switch table lists all the LAN switches that user has access. You can specify the switch credentials individually, that will override the default credentials. In most cases, you need to provide only the default credentials.

You can perform the following operations on this screen.

- Edit Credentials

- Validate Credentials

- Clear Switch Credentials

- Credentials Management with Remote Access

The LAN Credentials for the DCNM User table has the following fields.

Field

Description

Switch

Displays the LAN switch name.

IP Address

Specifies the IP Address of the switch.

User Name

Specifies the username of the switch DCNM user.

Password

Displays the encrypted form of the SSH password.

Group

Displays the group to which the switch belongs.

Edit Credentials

Perform the following task to edit the credentials.

1. From the Cisco DCNM home page, choose Administration > Credentials Management > LAN Credentials, check the Switch check box for which you need to edit the credentials.

2. Click Edit icon.

3. Specify User Name and Password for the switch.

Validate Credentials

Perform the following task to validate the credentials.

1. From the Administration > Credentials Management > LAN Credentials, check the Switch check box for which you need to validate the credentials.

2. Click Validate.

A confirmation message appears, stating if the operation was successful or a failure.

Clear Switch Credentials

Perform the following task to clear the switch credentials.

1. From the Administration > Credentials Management > LAN Credentials, check the Switch check box for which you need to clear the credentials.

2. Click Clear.

3. Click Yes to clear the switch credentials from the DCNM server.

- Credentials Management with Remote Access

Credentials Management with Remote Access

DCNM allows you to authenticate users in different modes such as:

- Local Users - In this mode, you can use the Cisco DCNM Web UI to create a new user, assign a role, and provide access to one or more fabrics or groups for the user.

- Remote Users - In this mode, you can log in to DCNM. The DCNM server fetches information from the Remote Authentication server, for example, the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), for AAA authentication. Cisco supports TACACS+, RADIUS, and LDAP options for remote authentication. For more information, see Remote AAA.

When you configure DCNM for remote authentication, the AAA server handles both authentication and authorization. DCNM forwards the entered user login and password to the AAA server to check for authentication. Post authentication, the AAA server returns the appropriate privileges/role assigned to the user through the cisco-avpair attribute. This attribute can contain the list of fabrics that a particular user can access. The supported roles for DCNM LAN deployments are as follows:

- network-admin

- network-operator

Both device discovery credentials and LAN credentials provide write access to the devices, but they differ—as the write operation is performed only with LAN credentials. Device discovery credentials are associated with each device and entered only once, that is, when you import the device into DCNM. DCNM uses these credentials for periodic rediscovery using a mix of SSH and SNMPv3 access to the device. However, LAN credentials are configured for every user on a per-user basis. If a user with an appropriate role has access to DCNM, then that user can enter the LAN credentials to get write access to the devices. The write operations use the LAN credentials to access the device, which allows for an appropriate audit trail of the changes made in DCNM by every user and the resultant changes in the device.

When you configure DCNM using Remote Authentication Methods such as TACACS+ or RADIUS, the users can set their LAN credentials as follows:

- Regular AAA Remote Authentication

- AAA Remote Authentication Passthrough Mechanism

- AAA Remote Authentication Using DCNM Service Account

Regular AAA Remote Authentication

Post authentication, when a user with an appropriate role logs in to DCNM for the first time, DCNM prompts the user to enter the LAN credentials. As mentioned earlier, DCNM uses these credentials to provide write access to the devices. All users must follow this process. Consider that an internal business policy requires the users to change password every 3-6 months. Then all the users must update their passwords for device access in the DCNM LAN Credentials window. Also, they must update their passwords in the AAA server.

For example, let us consider a user named John, who has authentication on the ISE server.

1. John logs in to DCNM with his user credentials.

2. The ISE server authenticates the user credentials of John, and DCNM displays a message to enter his LAN switch credentials. DCNM uses these credentials to perform various configurations and write operations on the devices.

3. John enters his LAN switch credentials. DCNM uses the LAN switch credentials for all write operations triggered by John on all devices. However, John can also opt to enter LAN switch credentials on a per-device access basis. This per-device access option overrides the access provided by entering the default credentials.

When John logs in to DCNM again, DCNM doesn't display any message to enter the LAN switch credentials as it has already captured his LAN switch credentials. John uses the same credentials to log in to DCNM and to the devices that he can access.

4. Now, consider that after a few months, the Corporate IT policy changes. Then John must update his password in the Remote AAA server, and also perform Step 3 to allow DCNM to update his LAN switch credentials.

Thus, in this mode, when John logs in to the DCNM Web GUI with his updated password, DCNM doesn't display any message to enter LAN credentials. However, John must update the password in LAN Credentials. Updating the password is necessary as it allows DCNM to inherit the newly updated password and perform write operations on the devices.

AAA Remote Authentication Passthrough Mechanism

In this mode, when a user enters the username and password to log in to DCNM, DCNM automatically copies the user credentials to the Default Credentials in the LAN switch credentials settings for that user. As a result, when the user logs in for the first time, DCNM doesn't display the message to enter the LAN switch credentials.

1. Use SSH to log in to DCNM as a sysadmin user.

2. Log in to the /root/directory using the su command.

3. Navigate to the /usr/local/cisco/dcm/fm/conf/server.properties file.

4. Add the following server property to the file and save the changes.

dcnm.lanSwitch.sameUserAccount=true

5. Restart DCNM using the service FMServer restart command.

6. Now, John logs in to DCNM.

7. After successful authentication, DCNM doesn't display the message to update the LAN switch credentials, as it automatically copies this information to the LAN switch credentials.

8. Consider that after a few months, the Corporate IT policy changes. In this mode, John must update his password in the Remote AAA server. After that, when John logs in to DCNM, DCNM automatically copies the updated credentials to the Default LAN Credentials associated with the user John.

AAA Remote Authentication Using DCNM Service Account

Often, the customers prefer to track all the changes made from the DCNM controller with a common service account. In the following example, a user makes changes using the DCNM controller, which results in changes on the device. These changes are audit logged on the device, against a common service account. Thus, it is possible to distinguish the controller-triggered changes from other changes (also known as Out-of-Band changes) made by the user directly on the device. The Out-of-Band changes appear in the device accounting logs as made from the user account.

For example, create a service account with the name Robot on the remote AAA server. Using the corresponding credentials, the Robot user can log in to DCNM. The Robot user can enter the default LAN credentials to have write access to the devices. The DCNM network-admin enables a server property that automatically sets the default LAN credentials for all the users and inherits the default LAN credentials associated with Robot.

Therefore, when any user logs in to DCNM and makes any configuration changes, DCNM pushes the changes to the devices using the LAN credentials of Robot. The DCNM deployment history logs track the user who triggered the change and display the corresponding changes deployed from DCNM to the switch in the audit log with the user Robot.

To set up the service account on the DCNM, perform the following steps:

1. Use SSH to log in to DCNM as a sysadmin user.

2. Log in to the /root/ directory using the su command.

3. Navigate to the /usr/local/cisco/dcm/fm/conf/server.properties file.

4. Add the following server property to the file and save the changes.

service.account=robot

Note

You can enable either an AAA passthrough account or a Service Account.

5. Restart DCNM using the service FMServer restart command.

6. Now, John logs in to DCNM.

7. After successful authentication, DCNM doesn't display the message to update the LAN switch credentials. However, when John navigates to the LAN Credentials page, DCNM displays a message stating that the Service Account is enabled in DCNM and, hence, all LAN credentials will be inherited from the service account.

Service Account Configuration Audit

The following workflow example allows for verification of the configuration audit while using the DCNM service account feature. However, you must have completed the Service Account Activation procedure.

1. John creates a test loopback on a device.

2. John deploys the configuration using DCNM.

3. The DCNM Deployment history confirms that John made the recent configuration change.

4. The accounting logs of the device indicate that the DCNM Service Account (that is, Robot, in this example) has triggered the changes on the NX-OS device.

Chapter 8. Applications

Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) uses the application framework to host various plugins and microservices to support operations and related features in Cisco DCNM.

The Applications Framework provides the following features:

- An infrastructure for hosting applications that require more system resources as the scale of the network increases.

- An independent application development-deployment-management lifecycle for applications.

Cisco DCNM Applications Framework supports two modes namely clustered mode and unclustered mode. In clustered mode, the compute nodes are clustered together whereas in the latter only the DCNM server nodes namely the active/standby exist. Most of the applications for ex: Network Insights require clustered setup to be ready before they can be uploaded and deployed using DCNM Applications Framework.

- Cisco DCNM in Unclustered Mode

- Cisco DCNM in Clustered Mode

- Installing and Deploying Applications

- Application Framework User Interface

- Catalog

- Compute

- Preferences

- Failure Scenario

Cisco DCNM in Unclustered Mode

From Cisco DCNM Release 11.0(1), the unclustered mode is the default deployment mode in both Standalone and Native HA environment. In this mode, the Cisco DCNM runs some of its internal services as containers, also.

- Endpoint Locator is running as a container application, from Cisco DCNM Release 11.1(1).

- Configuration Compliance service is a container application, from Cisco DCNM Release 11.0(1).

- Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) is also a container application, from Cisco DCNM Release 11.0(1)

Cisco DCNM leverages resources from the Standby node for running some containers applications. The Cisco DCNM Active and Standby nodes work together to extend resources to the overall functionality and deployment of DCNM and its applications. However, it has limited resources to run some of the advanced applications and to extend the system to deploy more applications delivered through the Cisco AppCenter. For example, you cannot deploy the Network Insights applications that are downloaded from the Cisco AppCenter, for production, in unclustered mode.

To install and deploy applications, see Installing and Deploying Applications.

For best practices and recommended deployments for IP address configurations of all interfaces of the Cisco DCNM and Compute nodes, see Best Practices for Deploying Cisco DCNM and Computes in Cisco DCNM Installation Guide, for your deployment type.

Cisco DCNM in Clustered Mode

By default, the clustered mode if not enabled on the Cisco DCNM deployments. Enable the cluster mode after you deploy the Cisco DCNM Server. In a clustered mode, the Cisco DCNM Server with more compute nodes provides an architecture to expand resources, as you deploy more applications.

Compute nodes are scale out application hosting nodes that run resource-intensive services to provide services to the larger Fabric. When compute nodes are added, all services that are containers, run only on these nodes. This includes Config Compliance, Endpoint Locator, and Virtual Machine Manager. The Elasticsearch time series database for these features runs on compute nodes in clustered mode. In the clustered mode deployment, the DCNM Servers do not run containerized applications. All applications that work in unclustered mode works in the clustered mode, also.

Refer to Installing Cisco DCNM Compute Node in the Cisco DCNM Installation and Upgrade Guide for Classic LAN Deployment, Release 11.3(1).

Note

The clustered mode is not supported on Cisco DCNM for Media Controller deployment.

From Cisco DCNM Release 11.1(1), in a Native HA setup, 80 switches with Endpoint Locator, Virtual Machine Manager, config compliance are validated in the unclustered mode. For a network exceeding 80 switches, with these features in a given Cisco DCNM instance (maximum qualified scale is 256 switches), we recommend that you enable clustered mode.

In a Native HA setup, 80 switches with Endpoint Locator, Virtual Machine Manager, config compliance are validated in the unclustered mode. For a network exceeding 80 switches, with these features in a given Cisco DCNM instance (the maximum qualified scale is 350 switches starting from Cisco DCNM 11.3(1) Release), we recommend that you enable clustered mode.

While the Cisco DCNM core functionalities only run on the Native HA nodes, addition of compute nodes beyond 80 switches is to build a scale-out model for Cisco DCNM and related services.

From Release 11.2(1), you can configure IPv6 address for Network Management for compute clusters. However, DCNM does not support IPv6-address for containers, and must connect to DCNM using only IPv4 address only.

For best practices and recommended deployments for IP address configurations of all interfaces of the Cisco DCNM and Compute nodes, see Best Practices for Deploying Cisco DCNM and Computes in Cisco DCNM Installation Guide, for your deployment type.

- Requirements for Cisco DCNM Clustered Mode

- Installing a Cisco DCNM Compute

- Networking Policies for OVA Installation

- Enabling the Compute Cluster

- Managing Application Network Pools

- Adding Computes into the Cluster Mode

- Preferences

- Telemetry Network and NTP Requirements

Requirements for Cisco DCNM Clustered Mode

Note

We recommend that you install the Cisco DCNM in the Native HA mode.

Cisco DCNM LAN Fabric Deployment Without Network Insights (NI)

Note

For information about various system requirements for proper functioning of Cisco DCNM LAN Fabric deployment, see .

Refer to Network Insights User guide for sizing information for Cisco DCNM LAN Deployment with Network Insights (NI).

To see the verified scale limits for Cisco DCNM 11.4(1) for managing LAN Fabric deployments, see .

Upto 80 Switches

Node

CPU Deployment Mode

CPU

Memory

Storage

Network

DCNM

OVA/ISO

16 vCPUs

32G

500G HDD

3xNIC

Computes

NA

—

—

—

—

81–250 Switches

Node

CPU Deployment Mode

CPU

Memory

Storage

Network

DCNM

OVA/ISO

16 vCPUs

32G

500G HDD

3xNIC

Computes

OVA/ISO

16 vCPUs

64G

500G HDD

3xNIC

Cisco DCNM LAN Deployment with NIA and NIR Software Telemetry

Note

We recommend that you install the Cisco DCNM in the Native HA mode.

Upto 80 Switches

Node

CPU Deployment Mode

CPU

Memory

Storage

Network

DCNM

OVA/ISO

16 vCPUs

32G

500G HDD

3xNIC

Computes x 3

OVA/ISO

16 vCPUs

64G

500G HDD

3xNIC

81–250 Switches

Node

CPU Deployment Mode

CPU

Memory

Storage

Network

DCNM

OVA/ISO

16 vCPUs

32G

500G HDD

3xNIC

Computes x 3

ISO

32 vCPUs

256G

2.4-TB HDD

3xNIC[1]

[1] Network card: Quad-port 10/25G

Subnet Requirements

In general, Eth0 of the Cisco DCNM server is used for Management, Eth1 is used to connect Cisco DCNM Out-Of-Band with switch management, and eth2 is used for In-Band front panel connectivity of Cisco DCNM. The same concept extends into compute nodes as well. Some services in clustered mode have other requirements. Some services require a switch to reach into Cisco DCNM. For example, Route Reflector to Endpoint Locator connection or switch streaming telemetry into the Telemetry receiver service of the application require a switch to reach DCNM. This IP address needs to remain sticky during all failure scenarios. For this purpose, an IP pool must be provided to Cisco DCNM at the time of cluster configuration for both out-of-band and In-Band subnets.

Telemetry NTP Requirements

For telemetry to work correctly, the Cisco Nexus 9000 switches and Cisco DCNM must be time that is synchronized. Cisco DCNM telemetry manager does the required NTP configuration as part of enablement. If there is a use-case to change the NTP server configuration manually on the switches ensure that the DCNM and the switches are time synchronized, always. To set up telemetry network configuration, see In-Band Telemetry Network and NTP Configuration.

Installing a Cisco DCNM Compute

Note

With Native HA installations, ensure that the HA status is OK before DCNM is converted to cluster mode.

A Cisco DCNM Compute can be installed using an ISO or OVA of a regular Cisco DCNM image. It can be deployed directly on a bare metal using an ISO or a VM using the OVA. After you deploy Cisco DCNM, using the DCNM web installer, choose Compute as the install mode for Cisco DCNM Compute nodes. On a Compute VM, you will not find DCNM processes or postgres database; it runs a minimum set of services that are required to provision and monitor applications.

Refer to Installing Cisco DCNM Compute Node in the Cisco DCNM Installation and Upgrade Guide for Classic LAN Deployment, Release 11.3(1).

Networking Policies for OVA Installation

For each compute OVA installation, ensure that the following networking policies are applied for the corresponding vSwitches of host:

- Log on to the vCenter.

- Click on the Host on which the computes OVA is running.

- Click Configuration > Networking.

- Right click on the port groups corresponding to the eth1 and eth2, and select Edit Settings.

The VM Network - Edit Settings is displayed.

- In Security settings, for Promiscuous mode, select Accepted.

- If a DVS Port-group is attached to the compute VM, configure these settings on the vCenter > Networking > Port-Group. If a normal vSwitch port-group is used, configure these settings on Configuration > Networking > port-group on each of the Compute's hosts.

Security Settings for vSwitch Port-Group

Security Settings for DVSwitch Port-Group

Note

Ensure that you repeat this procedure on all the hosts, where a Compute OVA is running.

Enabling the Compute Cluster

Note

Ensure that you enable Compute Cluster before you install applications. The applications that are installed via the AppCenter will not work if you enable the compute cluster after installing the applications.

Note

The services are down until the configuration is complete. Ensure that the session is active while configuration is in progress.

Use the following command to enable the compute cluster.

appmgr afw config-cluster [--ewpool <InterApp-Subnet>] --oobpool <OutOfBand-Subnet> --ibpool <Inband-Subnet> --computeip <compute-ip>

Where:

- ewpool: specifies the east-west pool subnet; for inter-service connectivity.

This field is optional, if the inter-application subnet is specified during Cisco DCNM installation for your deployment type. These addresses are not used directly between the computes, or to communicate with another node. These are used by containers to communicate with each other. This subnet must be minimum of /24 (256 addresses) and a maximum of a /20 (4096 addresses).

This field is optional if the Inter-app subnet is specified during Cisco DCNM deployment installation.

- oobpool: specifies the out-of-band pool; a smaller prefix of available IP addresses from the eth1 subnet. For example: Use 10.1.1.240/28 if the eth1 subnet was configured as 10.1.1.0/24 during installation.

This subnet must be a minimum of /28 (16 addresses) and maximum of /24 (256 addresses). It should also be longer than the east-west pool. This subnet is assigned to containers, to communicate with the switches.

- ibpool: specifies the in-band pool; a smaller prefix of available IP addresses eth2 subnet. For example: Use 11.1.1.240/28 if the eth2 subnet was configured as 11.1.1.0/24 during installation.

This subnet must be a minimum of /28 (16 addresses) and maximum of /24 (256 addresses). It should also be longer than the east-west pool. This subnet is assigned to containers, to communicate with the switches.

- computeip: specifies the dcnm-mgmt network (eth0) interface IP address of the first compute node added to the cluster. This compute is added into the cluster as part of this command process and is used to migrate application data from DCNM servers to computes.

The other two computes are Discovered automatically, and is displayed on the Cisco DCNM Web UI > Applications > Compute.

The In-Band or out-of-band pools are used by services to connect with switches as required. The IP addresses from these pools must be available for configuration.

Note

To add computes to the cluster mode, see Adding Computes into the Cluster Mode.

Managing Application Network Pools

When you alter the eth1 or eth2 interface subnets, the corresponding oob pool and inband pool must be modified to match the new configuration. Network Insights and Endpoint Locator applications use the IP addresses from the Out-of-Band and In-Band pools.

To modify the IP addresses that are assigned to services running in the compute cluster, use the following command:

Note

The inband or out-of-band pools are used by applications to connect with Cisco Nexus Switches. Hence, the IP addresses from these pools must be available and free.

appmgr afw config-pool [--ewpool <InterApp-Subnet>] --oobpool <OutOfBand-Subnet> --ibpool <Inband-Subnet> --compute <compute-IP>

Where:

- ewpool: specifies the east west pool subnet; for inter-service connectivity.

The network mask ranges from 20 to 24 These addresses aren’t used directly between the computes, or to communicate with another node. These are used by containers to communicate with each other.

- oobpool: specifies the out-of-band pool; a smaller prefix of available IP Addresses from eth1 subnet.

The network mask ranges from 24 to 28.

- ibpool: specifies the inband pool; a smaller prefix of available IP addresses from eth2 subnet.

The network mask ranges from 24 to 28.

- ipv6oobpool: specifies the out-of-band IPv6 pool; a smaller prefix of available IPv6 addresses from eth1 subnet.

If IPv6 is enabled, these addresses are required on both inband and out-of-band subnet.

The network mask ranges from 112 to 124.

- ipv6ibpool: specifies the inband IPv6 pool; a smaller prefix of available IPv6 addresses from eth2 subnet.

If IPv6 is enabled, these addresses are required on both inband and out-of-band subnet.

The network mask ranges from 112 to 124.

Adding Computes into the Cluster Mode

To add computes into the cluster mode from Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Applications > Compute.

The Compute tab displays the computes enabled on the Cisco DCNM.

Step 2

Select a Compute node which is in Discovered status. Click the Add Compute (+) icon.

- While using Compute, ensure that Cisco DCNM GUI shows nodes as Joined.

- Offline indicates some connectivity issues, therefore no applications are running on Offline Computes.

- Failed indicates that the compute node could not join the cluster.

- Health indicates the amount of free memory and disk on the Compute node. The application provides more detailed statistics.

- Cisco DCNM 3 node cluster is resilient to single node failure only.

- If the Performance Manager was stopped during or after the inline upgrade and after all the computes have changed to Joined, you must restart the Performance Manager.

The Compute window allows you to monitor the health of computes. The health essentially indicates the amount of memory that is left in the compute, this is based on applications that are enabled. If a Compute is not properly communicating with the DCNM Server, the status of the Compute appears as Offline, and no applications are running on Offline Computes.

Step 3

In the Add Compute dialog box, view the Compute IP Address, In-Band Interface, and the Out-Band Interface values.

Note

The interface value for each compute node is configured by using the appmgr afw config-cluster command.

Step 4

Click OK.

The Status for that Compute IP changes to Joining.

Wait until the Compute IP status shows Joined.

Step 5

Repeat the above steps to add the remaining compute node.

All the Computes appear as Joined.

Note

When you install compute as a virtual machine on the VMware platform, vSwitch or DV switch port groups associated eth1 and eth2 must allow for packets that are associated with Mac address other than eth1 and eth2 to be forwarded.

Transitioning Compute nodes from VM to Service Engine

To transition Cisco DCNM Compute Nodes from VMs to Applications Services Engine using the Cisco DCNM Web Client, perform the following steps:

Before you begin

- Ensure that Cisco DCNM Web Client is functioning.

- On the Cisco DCNM Web Client > Applications > Compute, all the Compute nodes must be in Joined state.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Applications > Compute.

For example, let us indicate the three Compute nodes as compute1 , compute2 , and compute3 .

Step 2

Open the vCenter Server application and connect to the vCenter Server with your vCenter user credentials.

Step 3

Navigate to Home > Inventory > Hosts and Clusters and identify the VM on which the DCNM Compute nodes are deployed.

Step 4

For compute1, make a note of the configurations and setup details provided during installation.

Step 5

Turn off compute1. Right click on the VM, select Power off.

On the Web UI > Applications > Compute, the status of compute1 shows Offline.

Step 6

Using the configuration details of the compute node VM, install the compute node on Cisco Applications Services Engine.

For instructions, refer to Installing DCNM Compute Node on Cisco ASE.

Step 7

Launch the Web UI, and choose Applications > Compute.

The newly added compute automatically joins the cluster. The status of compute1 changes from Offline → Joining → Joined.

Step 8

Repeat Steps Step 4 to Step 7 on compute2 and compute3 compute nodes.

After completion, all the Compute nodes on Web UI > Applications > Compute are in the Joined state.

All are Compute nodes are successfully hosted on the Cisco Applications Services Engine.

Transitioning Compute nodes from Service Engine to VM

To transition Cisco DCNM Compute Nodes from Applications Services Engine to VMs using the Cisco DCNM Web Client, perform the following steps:

Before you begin

- Ensure that Cisco DCNM Web Client is functioning.

- On the Cisco DCNM Web Client > Applications > Compute, all the Compute nodes must be in Joined state.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Applications > Compute.

For example, let us indicate the three Compute nodes as compute1 , compute2 , and compute3 .

Step 2

On the Cisco Applications Server console, for compute1, make a note of the configurations and setup details provided during installation.

Step 3

Power off the Applications Service Engine to turn off compute1.

On the Cisco DCNM Web UI > Applications > Compute, the status of compute1 shows Offline.

Step 4

Using the configuration details of the compute node on Applications Service Engine, install the compute node on the VM.

Step 5

Launch the Web UI, and choose Applications > Compute.

The newly added compute automatically joins the cluster. The status of compute1 changes from Offline → Joining → Joined.

Step 6

Repeat Steps 3 to 5 on compute2 and compute3 compute nodes.

After completion, all the Compute nodes on Web UI > Applications > Compute are in the Joined state.

All are Compute nodes are successfully hosted on the VMs.

Preferences

This tab is relevant to the cluster mode of deployment, where the application instances are placed. This tab enables you to compute cluster connectivity and configure the Cluster Connectivity preferences.

Compute Cluster Connectivity

The fields show the IP address that is used to configure the connectivity interfaces for the cluster node. The IP addresses for in-band fabric, out-of-band fabric, and Inter-Application are displayed.

Object Archival Configuration

The NIA application collects tech support logs for all switches in Fabric, and determines the advisory, based on the data. The logs are saved on the Cisco DCNM server for further analysis or troubleshooting. If you need to download these logs before their life span ends or to create some space on the DCNM server, you can move the logs to a remote server.

In the URI field, enter the relative path to the archive folder, in the format host[:port]/[path to archive]. Enter the username and password to access the URI, in the username and Password field. Click Submit to configure the remote server.

- In-Band Telemetry Network and NTP Configuration

In-Band Telemetry Network and NTP Configuration

The UTR micro-services running inside the NIR connects to the discovered switches through an interface and receives telemetry traffic. By default, the telemetry is configured to stream via the Out-Of-Band (eth1) interface. You can choose to change it to In-Band interface from the drop-down list. To configure the in-band network in Cisco DCNM Classic LAN Deployment on the Web UI, perform the following steps:

Before you begin

If Network Insights Resources (NIR) application is running, you must disable it on all the fabrics before you begin the procedure.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Templates > Template Library.

Step 2

Locate and select TelemetryBatch template, and click Edit icon.

Step 3

Click Yes to cancel any pending scheduled template jobs associated with this template.

The Template Content window is displayed.

Step 4

Locate the ##template content in the text section.

Step 5

Change the use-vrf $$VRF$$ to use-vrf management.

Click the Save icon. Click OK on the Validation Result window.

Step 6

Choose Applications > Preferences.

The Preferences tab is displayed.

Step 7

From the Interface drop-down list, select In-Band.

Step 8

In the VRF field, enter the VRF name and the loopback interface, which have connectivity to the Cisco DCNM In-Band interface.

The VRF value is set to default, while the loopback interface is set to 0. You can also change this to any other VRF assuming that the switches are configured with the VRF and the corresponding loopback interface that has the reachability to the in-band interface of the Cisco DCNM.

Click Submit.

Step 9

Click OK to confirm the network operation.

The telemetry network configuration is now complete.

What to do next

To download and install the Network Insights applications, see c_application-catalog.xhtml#concept_cjf_5nt_mhb.

After the telemetry is enabled via Network Insights Resources (NIR) application, the telemetry manager in Cisco DCNM will push the necessary NTP server configurations to the switches by using the DCNM In-Band IP address as the NTP server IP address on the appropriate VRF as shown below:

switch# show run ntp
!Command: show running-config ntp
!Running configuration last done at: Thu Jun 27 18:03:07 2019
!Time: Thu Jun 27 20:32:18 2019

version 7.0(3)I7(6) Bios:version 07.65
ntp server 172.168.126.117 prefer use-vrf default

Telemetry Network and NTP Requirements

For the Network Insights Resource (NIR) application, a UTR micro-services running inside the NIR receives the telemetry traffic from the switches either through Out-Of-Band (Eth1) or In-Band (Eth2) interface. By default, the telemetry is configured, and is streaming via the Out-Of-Band interface. You can choose to change it to In-Band interface as well.

Telemetry Using Out-of-band (OOB) Network

By default, the telemetry data is streamed through the management interface of the switches to the Cisco DCNM OOB network eth1 interface. This is a global configuration for all fabrics in Cisco DCNM LAN Fabric Deployment, or switch-groups in Cisco DCNM Classic LAN Deployment. After the telemetry is enabled via NIR application, the telemetry manager in Cisco DCNM will push the necessary NTP server configurations to the switches by using the DCNM OOB IP address as the NTP server IP address. The following example is sample output for show run ntp command.

switch# show run ntp

!Command: show running-config ntp
!Running configuration last done at: Thu Jun 27 18:03:07 2019
!Time: Thu Jun 27 20:32:18 2019

version 7.0(3)I7(6) Bios:version 07.65
ntp server 192.168.126.117 prefer use-vrf management

Installing and Deploying Applications

The following sections describes how to download, add, start, stop, and delete applications from the Cisco DCNM Web UI.

Download App from the App Store

To download new applications from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

1. Choose Applications.

By default, the Catalog tab displays.

2. Click Browse App Center on the top-right corner on the window.

On the Cisco ACI App Center, locate the required application and click the download icon.

3. Save the application executable file on your local directory.

Add a New Application to DCNM

To add new applications from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

1. Choose Applications.

By default, the Catalog tab displays.

2. Click Add Application (+) icon.

On the Application Upload window, from the Type drop-down field, choose one of the following to upload the application.

From the Type drop-down list, select one of the following:

- If the file is located in a local directory, select Local-file.

In the Upload field, click Select files…. Navigate to the directory where you have stored the application file.

Select the application file and click Open.

Click Upload.

- If the application is located on a remote server, select Secure copy.

Note

Ensure that the remote server must be capable of serving Secure-copy (SCP).

In the URI field, provide the path to the application file. The path must be in {host-ip}:{filepath} format.

In the Username field, enter the username to access the URI.

In the Password field, enter the appropriate password for accessing the URI.

Click Upload.

After the application successfully uploaded, it is displayed in the Catalog window.

The green icon on the left-top corner indicates that the application is launched successfully and is operational. If there is no green icon on the application, it indicates that the application is not running. Click the application to Launch it.

Note

Ensure that the Compute Cluster is enabled before you install applications. A few applications may not work is the compute cluster is configured after installing the applications.

Click the gear icon on the left-bottom on the application icon to view the Application Specifications. The Info tab displays the running container information. The Specs tab displays the configuration.

Starting Application

After the application is installed on the Cisco DCNM server, you must deploy the application. Click on the Application to begin deployment. Cisco DCNM starts all the services in the backend that are required for the application.

The green icon on the left-top corner indicates that the application is launched successfully and is operational.

The applications utilizing the Kafka infrastructure services require three actively joined compute nodes, when you begin the application. For example, NIR and NIA applications. If the application has a user interface, after the application is successfully started the UI redirects to the index page served by the application.

If the application has a user interface, after the application is successfully started the UI redirects to the index page served by the application.

To check the services that are running go back to Applications > Catalog. Click the gear icon on the left-bottom on the application icon to view the Application Specifications. The Info tab displays the running container information and the Specs tab displays the configuration as shown in the figures below.

For information on how to remove computes from the cluster, stopping or deleting the applications, see Application Framework User Interface.

Stop and Delete Applications

To delete the applications from the Catalog on the Cisco DCNM Web UI, perform the following steps:

1. Choose Applications.

By default, the Catalog tab displays, showing all the installed applications.

2. Click the red icon on the right-bottom corner to stop the application.

3. Check the Wipe Volumes check box to erase all the data that is related to the application.

4. Click Stop to stop the application from streaming data from Cisco DCNM.

The Green icon disappears after the application is successfully stopped.

5. After you stop the application, click the Waste Basket icon to remove the application from the Catalog.

Application Framework User Interface

To use the Applications Framework feature, in the Cisco DCNM home page's left pane, click Applications.

The Applications window displays the following tabs:

- Catalog—This tab lists the applications that are used by Cisco DCNM. These applications for performing various functions within Cisco DCNM. For more information, see Catalog.

- Compute—This tab displays the existing compute nodes. The tab shows nodes that are part of the hosting infrastructure. The uptime indicates how long they have been part of the infrastructure. In a High Availability (HA) setup, both the active and the standby nodes appear as joined. For more information, see Compute.

Note

In the cluster mode, the Cisco DCNM servers will not appear under the Compute tab.

- Preferences—This tab is relevant to the cluster mode of deployment, where the application instances are placed. This tab enables you to compute the cluster connectivity and configure the Cluster Connectivity preferences. For more information, see Preferences.

Cisco DCNM uses the following applications:

- Compliance: This application helps in building fabrics for the Easy Fabric installation. The Compliance application runs as one instance per fabric. It is enabled when fabric is created. Similarly, it is disabled when fabric is deleted.

- Kibana: This is an open-source data-visualization plug-in for Elasticsearch, which provides visualization capabilities. Cisco DCNM uses the Kibana application for the Media Controller, and Endpoint Locator.

- vmmplugin: The Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) plug-in stores all the computes and the virtual machine information that connects to the fabric or the switch groups that are loaded into Cisco DCNM. VMM gathers compute repository information and displays the VMs, VSwitches/DVS, hosts in the topology view.

- Endpoint Locator: The Endpoint Locator (EPL) feature allows real-time tracking of endpoints within a data center. The tracking includes tracing the network life history of an endpoint and getting insights into the trends that are associated with endpoint additions, removals, moves, and so on. An endpoint is anything with an IP and MAC address. In that sense, an endpoint can be a virtual machine (VM), container, bare-metal server, service appliance and so on.

Catalog

The Catalog allows you to view all the applications that you have installed or enabled on the Cisco DCNM. Few applications are installed and are operational by default, when you install the Cisco DCNM.

The following applications appears based on the Cisco DCNM Deployments:

- Compliance (2.0)

- Debug plug-in (1.0)

- Endpoint Locator (1.1)

- Kibana (1.1)

- Vmmplugin (3.0)

Note

The applications started by default, or also installed on the DCNM utilizes infrastructure services are operational, by default.

You can install more applications from the App Center, via the Web UI.

For instructions about downloading, adding, starting, stopping, and deleting applications from the Cisco DCNM Web UI, see Installing and Deploying Applications.

The helps you to monitor the infrastructure health and status. You can monitor the Alerts, Service Utilization, and Compute Utilization using the application. When you install or upgrade to 11.2(1), the application is installed and operational, by default.

To launch the app, on the Cisco DCNM Web UI, choose Applications. On the Catalog tab, click on to launch the application.

Note

application is installed by default in Cisco DCNM cluster mode.

Health Monitor app broadly monitors and alerts on the following metrics for Services, Computes and DCNM server:

- CPU utilization

- Memory utilization

- Network I/O (eth0)

- Disk I/O

Note

Health Monitor metrics can also be viewed in iReasoning or any other MIB browser/tool.

You can monitor the following using the application:

- Alerts

- Service Utilization

- Compute Utilization

Alerts

The Alerts window provides information about the number of alerts that have occurred, from the specified date and time. You can view the alerts, based on the following categories, in the graphical view and the list view.

In the graphical view, the categories are:

- Severity displays the alerts, based on the severity: Critical/Major/Minor/Info.

- Type displays the alerts, based on the cluster type.

- Compute displays the alerts, for each compute node.

- Service displays the alerts, for all the services running on Cisco DCNM.

Click on the Refresh icon to refresh the alerts. Click on the list view icon to view the alerts in list format.

In the List View, alerts are displayed in tabular format with the following categories:

- Timestamp displays the time when the alert triggers. Format is MM/DD HH:MM AM/PM.

- Alert Severity displays the severity of alert.

- Alert Type displays the cluster alert type.

- Node Name displays the node name where the alert triggers.

- Container Name specifies the service name which triggered the alert.

- Alert Description displays the summary of the alert.

Click on the right or left navigation arrows to move to the next or the previous page.

You can also choose to set the number of items to view on page. Select a suitable number from the Objects Per Page drop-down list.

Click on the Graphical representation icon to go to the graphical view. Click on Download Data icon to download alerts information for troubleshooting purposes.

Service Utilization

You can monitor all the services running on the Cisco DCNM on this window. Based on the time range and the service, the graphical view shows the CPU and Memory utilization for service. Click on the Service Utilization icon on the top-right corner to launch the CPU utilization graphical view.

From the Time Range drop-down list, choose the time range for which you want to view the utilization. You can select a specific time interval to view the metrics during that time interval. Click the fields showing the date and time to select the required date and time interval. You can also click the date on the calendar to set range. Click Apply to confirm the time range.

From the Services drop-down list, choose the service to view its Service utilization. This list comprises of all the services that are currently running on the Cisco DCNM.

Select the Time Range to view the Service, the Cpu Utilization, and Memory Utilization graphs. You can hover over specific points on the respective graphs for more information on CPU and Memory utilization at specific time.

The memory utilization graphical view depicts the actual memory consumption (RAM) in Gigabytes (GB).

Click [X] icon on the top-right corner to close the Service Utilization window and revert to the Alerts window.

Compute Utilization

You can monitor all the computes installed with the Cisco DCNM. Based on the time range and the service, the graphical view shows the CPU and Memory utilization for service. Click on the Compute Utilization icon on the top-right corner to launch the CPU utilization graphical view.

From the Time Range drop-down list, choose the time range for which you want to view the utilization. You can select a specific time interval to view the metrics during that time interval. Click the fields showing the date and time to select the required date and time interval. You can also click the date on the calendar to set range. Click Apply to confirm the time range.

Select the Time Range to view the Service, the Cpu Utilization, and Memory Utilization graphs. You can hover over specific points on the respective graphs for more information on CPU and Memory utilization at specific time.

The memory utilization graphical view depicts the actual memory consumption (RAM) in Gigabytes (GB).

Click [X] icon on the top-right corner to close the Service Utilization window and revert to the Alerts window.

Compute

This tab displays the existing compute nodes. The tab shows nodes that are part of the hosting infrastructure. The uptime indicates how long they have been part of the infrastructure. In a High Availability (HA) setup, both the active and the standby nodes appear as joined. In clustered mode, the compute nodes status indicate if the nodes are joined or discovered.

Note

If the NTP server for compute nodes is not synchronized with the NTP server for DCNM Servers (Active and Standby) and Computes, you cannot configure a cluster.

The certificates are generated with a timestamp. If you configure the Compute nodes using a different NTP server, the mismatch in timestamp will not allow to validate the certificates. Therefore, if the compute cluster is configured despite of a mismatch of NTP server, the applications will not function properly.

Note

In clustered mode, the Cisco DCNM servers will not appear under the Compute tab.

The following table describes the fields that appear on Applications > Compute.

Field and Description on Compute Tab

Field

Description

Compute IP Address

Specifies the IP Address of the Compute node.

In-Band Interface

Specifies the in-band management interface.

Out-Band Interface

Specifies the out-band management interface.

Status

Specifies the status of the Compute node.

- Joined

- Discovered

- Failed

- Offline

Memory

Specifies the memory that is consumed by the node.

Disk

Specifies the disk space that is consumed on the compute node.

Uptime

Specifies the duration of the uptime for a compute node.

When you install a compute node with correct parameters, it appears as Joined in the Status column. However, the other two computes appears as Discovered. To add computes to the cluster mode from Cisco DCNM Web UI, see Adding Computes into the Cluster Mode.

To configure or modify the Cluster Connectivity preferences, see Preferences.

Preferences

This tab is relevant to the cluster mode of deployment, where the application instances are placed. This tab enables you to compute cluster connectivity and configure the Cluster Connectivity preferences.

Compute Cluster Connectivity

The fields show the IP address that is used to configure the connectivity interfaces for the cluster node. The IP addresses for in-band fabric, out-of-band fabric, and Inter-Application are displayed.

Object Archival Configuration

The NIA application collects tech support logs for all switches in Fabric, and determines the advisory, based on the data. The logs are saved on the Cisco DCNM server for further analysis or troubleshooting. If you need to download these logs before their life span ends or to create some space on the DCNM server, you can move the logs to a remote server.

In the URI field, enter the relative path to the archive folder, in the format host[:port]/[path to archive]. Enter the username and password to access the URI, in the username and Password field. Click Submit to configure the remote server.

- In-Band Telemetry Network and NTP Configuration

In-Band Telemetry Network and NTP Configuration

The UTR micro-services running inside the NIR connects to the discovered switches through an interface and receives telemetry traffic. By default, the telemetry is configured to stream via the Out-Of-Band (eth1) interface. You can choose to change it to In-Band interface from the drop-down list. To configure the in-band network in Cisco DCNM Classic LAN Deployment on the Web UI, perform the following steps:

Before you begin

If Network Insights Resources (NIR) application is running, you must disable it on all the fabrics before you begin the procedure.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configure > Templates > Template Library.

Step 2

Locate and select TelemetryBatch template, and click Edit icon.

Step 3

Click Yes to cancel any pending scheduled template jobs associated with this template.

The Template Content window is displayed.

Step 4

Locate the ##template content in the text section.

Step 5

Change the use-vrf $$VRF$$ to use-vrf management.

Click the Save icon. Click OK on the Validation Result window.

Step 6

Choose Applications > Preferences.

The Preferences tab is displayed.

Step 7

From the Interface drop-down list, select In-Band.

Step 8

In the VRF field, enter the VRF name and the loopback interface, which have connectivity to the Cisco DCNM In-Band interface.

The VRF value is set to default, while the loopback interface is set to 0. You can also change this to any other VRF assuming that the switches are configured with the VRF and the corresponding loopback interface that has the reachability to the in-band interface of the Cisco DCNM.

Click Submit.

Step 9

Click OK to confirm the network operation.

The telemetry network configuration is now complete.

What to do next

To download and install the Network Insights applications, see c_application-catalog.xhtml#concept_cjf_5nt_mhb.

After the telemetry is enabled via Network Insights Resources (NIR) application, the telemetry manager in Cisco DCNM will push the necessary NTP server configurations to the switches by using the DCNM In-Band IP address as the NTP server IP address on the appropriate VRF as shown below:

switch# show run ntp
!Command: show running-config ntp
!Running configuration last done at: Thu Jun 27 18:03:07 2019
!Time: Thu Jun 27 20:32:18 2019

version 7.0(3)I7(6) Bios:version 07.65
ntp server 172.168.126.117 prefer use-vrf default

Failure Scenario

Recommendation for minimum redundancy configuration with a DCNM OVA install is as follows:

- DCNM Active Node(Active) and compute node 1 in server1.

- DCNM Standby Node and compute node 2 in server2.

- Compute node 3 in server3.

When DCNM Active node is down, the Standby node takes full responsibility of running the core functionality.

When a compute node is down, the applications may continue to function with limited functionality. If this situation persists for a longer duration, it affects the performance and reliability of the applications. When more than one node is down, it affects the applications functionality and most of the applications fail to function.

You must maintain 3 compute nodes at any time. If a compute node goes down, rectify the issue as soon as possible, for the services to function as expected.

Compute Node Disaster Recovery

When a compute node is lost due to a disaster and is irrecoverable, you must install another compute node with the same parameters. This will essentially appear as a reboot of the compute with lost data and it tries to join the cluster automatically. After it joins the cluster, all the data will synchronize from the other two compute nodes.

Chapter 9. DCNM Integration with ServiceNow

- DCNM Integration with ServiceNow

DCNM Integration with ServiceNow

ServiceNow offers applications for IT Service Management (ITSM) and IT Operations Management (ITOM). There are four primary modules - inventory discovery, incident management, event management & change management workflows. Starting from Cisco DCNM Release 11.3(1), we provide Cisco DCNM integration with ServiceNow. This enables you to integrate end-user IT data with the ServiceNow platform. The integration provides a default set of ServiceNow custom tables which are populated with configuration data.

To utilize this functionality, install the DCNM application in the ServiceNow customer instance and provide the DCNM mid-server details. Information or data regarding switch details, port details, and alarms, is retrieved to the ServiceNow Configuration Management Database (CMDB) tables. By default, data is retrieved every 15 minutes and displayed.

Details about the switches and ports of each switch are collected from the DCNM inventory. The alarms are collected by polling DCNM. Alarms are then filtered and categorized based on their type, such as, CPU, MEMORY, POWER, LINKSTATE, EXTERNAL, ICMP, SNMP, and SSH. The alarms are then stored in an Events table. These events are then used to generate incidents for the CPU, MEMORY, SNMP, and SSH categories. The source, description, severity and category of each alarm is stored. When an alarm is cleared on DCNM, it is also cleared on ServiceNow in the next poll cycle. When polling of alarms is initiated for the first time, the alarms that were raised in the last seven days are pulled in from DCNM. In case there is a gap of more than seven days between collection of alarms, the old alarms are cleared and the polling process is reinitiated.

The DCNM application on ServiceNow runs scheduled scripts and connects with the mid-server which in turn connects with DCNM to retrieve data. The DCNM sends the requested data to the mid-server which then passes on the data to DCNM application on ServiceNow. The tables in the DCNM instance on ServiceNow are then populated with this retrieved data.

- Guidelines and Limitations of DCNM Integration with ServiceNow

- Installing and Configuring the Cisco DCNM Application on ServiceNow

- Viewing the Dashboard

- Troubleshooting DCNM Integration with ServiceNow

Guidelines and Limitations of DCNM Integration with ServiceNow

- Details about only one mid-server should be added in the Cisco DCNM>Properties table.

- Scheduled scripts to retrieve data are run only after insertion of a server record in the Cisco DCNM>Properties table.

- In case the mid-server IP Address and credentials in the Cisco DCNM>Properties table are changed, the data that was imported using the previous mid-server is deleted from the application scope tables. However, data that was imported to the ServiceNow CMDB (global scope) remains and is not deleted.

- To ensure optimal performance in the ServiceNow database, each entry is matched with the switch database ID and IP Address ensuring that there is no duplication of entries.

- Entries in the cmdb_ci_ip_switch table have to be manually deleted in case a new server is added in the Cisco DCNM>Properties table.

Installing and Configuring the Cisco DCNM Application on ServiceNow

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to https://dcnm1.service-now.com. Select System Applications > Applications. Install the Cisco DCNM Application from the All Apps tab.

Step 2

After installation is complete, verify that the Cisco DCNM Properties and Dashboard tabs are appearing in the application.

Step 3

Choose MID Servers and click the MID Server that is used for DCNM integration.

Step 4

Scroll down and click the Properties tab. Click New and add the property given below in the MID Server Property New record window. Click Submit.

Name

Type

Value

glide.http.outbound.max_timeout.enabled

True/false

False

Step 5

Now, select the Configuration Parameters tab.

Step 6

In the Configuration Parameters tab, click New. Enter the required details in the fields.

Step 7

Click Submit to set up the MID Server.

Step 8

Choose Cisco DCNM > Properties. Click New Server. Enter the required parameters.

DCNM IP Address - IP Address of the DCNM.

Username - Enter the username used to log in to DCNM.

Password - Enter the password used to log in to DCNM.

Note

Access should be provided only for DCNM admins.

Mid server - Specify the name of the midserver to be used. The name is auto-populated as you type. You can also click the search icon next to this field to bring the MID Servers window. You can then select a MID Server from the list that is displayed.

User - Create a new user and add the user name in this field. The Caller field in the incidents that are created is populated with this user name. This field is auto-populated as you type. You can also click the search icon next to this field to bring the Users window. You can then select a user from the list that is displayed.

Create Incident - Select this checkbox in case you need incidents to be raised automatically for alarm events.

Now, Click Submit.

After the server details are submitted, the DCNM Connection Status field will display Reachable on successful communication with DCNM, and Unreachable, in case the connection is unsuccessful.

Viewing the Dashboard

Choose Cisco DCNM>Dashboard to display the dashboard. The DCNM IP Address, the DCNM Connection Status and the MidServer Status are displayed at the top of the dashboard.

DCNM Incidents - This displays the number of incidents that have been raised based on the alarms retrieved from DCNM. Click the donut for more details about the incidents.

Inventory by Model - This displays the number and type of switches present in DCNM. Each band represents a device model. Click a band for more information.

Inventory by Role - This displays the number and types of switch roles present in DCNM. Click the required section to display the number of roles that are operational and click on that pictorial representation to display more details about the roles.

Port Availability - This displays information about port availability. The IP address along with the total number of ports, available ports, used ports and health of the switch id displayed. Click an IP address to display more information.

Port Utilization - This displays information about port utilization based on each IP address. The number of ports having 1G, 2G, 4G, 8G, 10G, 16G, 25G, 32G, 40G, and 100G availability, are displayed. Click an IP address to display more information.

Troubleshooting DCNM Integration with ServiceNow

In case data is not being retrieved in the ServiceNow table:

- Check if the MID server is up or down.

- Check for information entries in system logs with the source “x_caci_cisco_dcnm”.

- Check the login credentials added in Cisco DCNM Properties.

For more information on DCNM application integration with ServiceNow, click here.

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