Java Requirements

The Cisco DCNM server is distributed with JRE 11.0.8 into the following directory:

DCNM_root_directory/java/jdk11

Server Requirements

Cisco DCNM Release 11.5(1), supports the Cisco DCNM server on these 64-bit operating systems:

• SAN Deployments:

  • Microsoft Windows 2016

  • Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 update 2919355

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Release 7.8, 8.1, and 8.2

  • Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) with an integrated CentOS Linux release 7.8

  • ISO Virtual Appliance (ISO) with an integrated CentOS Linux release 7.8

• IP for Media, and LAN Fabric Deployments:

  • Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) with an integrated CentOS Linux release 7.8

  • ISO Virtual Appliance (ISO) with an integrated CentOS Linux release 7.8

Supported Latency

The supported latency for Cisco DCNM LAN FabricMedia Controller deployment is defined below:

• Between Native HA Primary and Secondary appliances, latency is 50ms.

• Between DCNM Native HA Primary appliance to Switches, latency is 50ms.

• Between DCNM Computes latency is 50ms.

Database Requirements

Cisco DCNM Release 11.5(1) supports the following databases:

• Oracle11g Express (XE), Standard, and Enterprise Editions, and Oracle 11g Real Application Clusters (RAC)

• Oracle 12c Enterprise Edition (Conventional)—(Nonpluggable installation)

  Note	Oracle 12c pluggable database version installation is not supported.

• Oracle 12c RAC (nonpluggable installation)

• PostgreSQL 10.15 - For OVA/ISO deployments

• PostgreSQL 10.15 - For Linux/OVA/ISO deployments

• PostgreSQL 10.15 - For Windows deployments

Note

The database size increases according to the number of nodes and ports that the DCNM manages, with Performance Manager Collections enabled. You cannot restrict the database size. If you choose an Oracle database, we recommend that you use Oracle SE or Enterprise edition, instead of Oracle XE due to table space limitations.

Note	You are responsible for all the support that is associated with the Oracle databases, including maintenance, troubleshooting, and recovery. We recommend that you take regular backup of the database; either daily or weekly, to ensure that all the data is preserved.

Note	The ISO and OVA installations support only the embedded PostgreSQL database.

Hypervisors

Cisco DCNM supports the ISO installation on a bare-metal server, no hypervisor, on the following server platforms:

Note	Cisco DCNM can work on an alternative computing hardware with appropriate specifications, despite Cisco is only testing on Cisco UCS.

Supported Hypervisors

You can use the Cisco DCNM Server on the following hypervisors:

Server Resource (CPU/Memory) Requirements

Note	If you install Cisco DCNM on a virtual machine, you must reserve resources equal to the server resource requirements to ensure a baseline with the physical machines.

If the existing Elasticsearch database is more than 250GB, Cisco DCNM Server requires more than 500GB HDD space to complete reindexing.

Note	For Huge and Compute deployments, you can add extra disk. The size of the disk can range from a minimum of 32GB to a maximum of 1.5TB.

If the existing Elasticsearch database is more than 250GB, Cisco DCNM Server requires more than 500GB HDD space to complete reindexing.

Ensure that there is enough disk space to the root partition or mount another disk where the /tmp directory can be mounted during the installation or upgrade.

Allocate sufficient disk space to the root partition to complete DCNM installation and for stable continuous operation of the DCNM applications. Refer to the applications’ User guides for disk space requirements. You can mount another disk where the /tmp directory can be mounted during the installation or upgrade. You can also add additional disk space and the disk file system using appmgr system scan-disks-and-extend-fs command.

Note

From Release 11.3(1), Cisco DCNM Windows deployments does not support the SAN Insights feature. Cisco SAN Insights feature is only supported with the Huge deployment. Every federation deployment consists of three large configuration nodes. From Cisco DCNM Release 11.2(1), synchronize the Federation nodes from the Primary node only.

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 System Requirements. 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 11.5(1) for managing LAN Fabric deployments, see Verified Scale Limits for Cisco DCNM.

Client Hardware Requirements

Cisco DCNM SAN desktop client and Cisco Device Manager support Microsoft Windows 10, Microsoft Windows 2012, Microsoft Windows 2016, and Red Hat Linux. The following table lists the minimum hardware requirements for these client systems.

If you install Cisco DCNM on a virtual machine, reserve resources equal to the server resource requirements to ensure a baseline with the physical machines.

Some Cisco DCNM features require a license. Before using the licensed features, install a Cisco DCNM license for each Nexus-managed or MDS-managed platform. For information about Licensing in DCNM, see https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/sw/11_x/licensing/cisco_dcnm_licensing_guide_11_x.html.

VMware Snapshot Support for Cisco DCNM

Snapshots capture the entire state of the virtual machine at the time you take the snapshot. You can take a snapshot when a virtual machine is powered on, powered off. The following table shows snapshot support for your deployment.

Note	You need VMware vCenter server to deploy Cisco DCNM OVA Installer. However, to install DCNM directly on VMware ESXi without vCenter, you can choose DCNM ISO deployment. Ensure that correct CPU, Memory, Disk, and NIC resources are allocated to that VM.

To take a snapshot on the VM, perform the following steps:

1. Right-click the virtual machine the inventory and select Snapshots > Take Snapshot.

2. In the Take Snapshot dialog box, enter a name and description for the snapshot.

3. Click OK to save the snapshot.

The following snapshots are available for VMs.

• When VM is powered off.

• When VM is powered on, and active.

Note	Cisco DCNM supports snapshots when VM is either powered on or powered off. DCNM doesn’t support snapshots when the Virtual Machine memory option is selected.

Ensure that Snapshot the Virtual Machine's memory check box must not be selected, as shown in the following figure. However, it is grayed out when the VM is powered off.

You can restore VM to the state in a Snapshot.

Right-click on the Virtual Machine and select Manage Snapshot. Select the snapshot to restore, and click Done.

Supported Web Browsers

Cisco DCNM supports the following web browsers:

• Google Chrome version: 86.0.4240.198

• Mozilla Firefox version: 82.0.3 (64-bit)

• Microsoft Edge version: 86.0.622.63

Other Supported Software

The following table lists the other software that is supported by Cisco DCNM Release 11.5(1).

Also, Cisco DCNM supports call-home events, fabric change events, and events that are forwarded by traps and email.