Overview and Initial Setup of Cisco NDFC: LAN, Release 12.2.2

Overview

From the left menu bar, choose Dashboard > Overview. The Overview window displays the default dashlets. The dashlets display donuts summary.

The following are the default dashlets that appear in the Overview dashboard window:

Viewing vCenter VMs

vCenter VMs UI Path: Dashboard > vCenter VMs

You can view the Virtual Machine details for the added vCenter cluster in the dashboard and topology window by navigating to Dashboard > vCenter VMs.

The vCenter VMs tab displays the following details of VMs:

You can search and filter VMs by using the Filter by attributes search field.

Viewing Kubernetes Pods

Kubernetes Pods UI Path: Dashboard > Kubernetes Pods

You can view Kubernetes pods on Fabrics window, navigate LAN > Fabrics, double-click on required fabric, it navigates to Fabric Overview window, click Virtual Infrastructure > Kubernetes Pods.

You can view Kubernetes pods on Switch window, navigate LAN > Switches, double-click on required switch, it navigates to Switch Overview window, click Virtual Infrastructure > Kubernetes Pods.

You can search and filter kubernetes pods by using filter by attributes search field.

The following table describes the fields and description on the window.

Endpoint Locator Dashboard

To explore endpoint locator details from the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, choose Dashboard > Endpoint Locator. The Endpoint Locator dashboard is displayed.

Due to an increase in scale, the system may take some time to collect endpoint data and display it on the dashboard. On bulk addition or removal of endpoints, the endpoint information displayed on the EPL dashboard takes a few minutes to refresh and display the latest endpoint data.

The top pane of the window displays the following information:

The top pane of the window displays the number of active endpoints, active VRFs, active networks, dual attached endpoints, single attached endpoints and dual stacked endpoints, for the selected scope. Support for displaying the number of dual attached endpoints, single attached endpoints and dual stacked endpoints has been added. A dual attached endpoint is an endpoint that is behind at least two switches. A dual stacked endpoint is an endpoint that has at least one IPv4 address and one IPv6 address.

The 'middle pane' of the window displays the following information:

The 'bottom pane' of the window displays the list of active endpoints.

If a virtual machine has been configured, the name of the VM is displayed in the Node Name field. Note that it can take up to 15 minutes for the name of the VM to be reflected in the EPL dashboard. Until then, the EPL dashboard displays No DATA in the Node Name field.

Click Export to download the list of active endpoints in .csv format.

Click on required endpoint identifier, a slide-in pane appears and the related details are displayed. Click Endpoint Life. The Endpoint Life window appears for selected endpoint identifier. For more information, refer to Endpoint Life.

Click the search icon in the Endpoint Identifier column to search for specific IP addresses.

Consider a scenario in which EPL is first enabled and the Process MAC-Only Advertisements checkbox is selected. Then, EPL is disabled and enabled again without selecting the Process MAC-Only Advertisements checkbox. As the cache data in elasticsearch is not deleted on disabling of EPL, the MAC endpoint information is still displayed in the EPL dashboard. The same behavior is observed when a Route-Reflector is disconnected. Depending on the scale, the endpoints are deleted from the EPL dashboard after some time. In certain cases, it may take up to 30 minutes to remove the older MAC-only endpoints. However, to display the latest endpoint data, you can click Resync.

Endpoint Search

UI Path: DashboardEndpoint > Locator.

On Endpoint Locator window, click Actions > Endpoint Search to view a real-time plot displaying endpoint events for the period specified in a date range.

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You cannot change time on the clock icon. Ignore the tooltip to change the time.

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The results displayed here are dependent on the fields listed under Selected fields located in the menu on the left. You can add any field listed under Available fields to Selected fields to initiate a search using the required fields.

Layout Selection

There are two types of predefined layouts:

The next figures show examples of both types of layouts.

The vertical layout only allows scrolling along the vertical axis, while the horizontal only allows scrolling along the horizontal axis. In whichever layout that you choose, the other axis will remain constant according to your screen size. When zooming in and out, certain elements might shift around to allow for all elements to be shown in the screen for that layout.

If you find that neither of these layouts provide the view that you want, click Actions > Layout, then toggle on the Edit option to go into a freeform edit mode. Move elements around on the screen in the Edit mode until you are satisfied with the result, then click Save to save this layout. This saved layout will then get loaded every time you come back into this view.

Note the following guidelines when you are in freeform edit mode:

Once you have saved a freeform layout, the Custom menu option appears and is selected under the Actions > Layout menu. A Delete option also becomes available, which you can use when you don’t want to use your freeform layout anymore. Note that the zoom controls are disabled when you are in a Custom layout.

Tooltips

Single-click on an element to access a general summary of that element.

For example, single-clicking on a node provides tooltips that contain information about the existing connections, as well as a summary of general information. The content of the tooltips is scrollable.

You can also get a more detailed view by clicking View more details on the top of the content.

When clicking on a link, you will get information related to the connected interfaces and the name of the connected devices.

Contextual Menus

When you right-click on any of the rendered elements, a contextual menu opens.

Filtering

The filter bar at the top of an element showcases possible filters and operators that can be applied to the view that you are in, as shown in the next figure. The filters change according to the view that you are in.

Link Aggregation

In the Actions dropdown, a toggle is available for Aggregate Links, which is enabled by default. This action transforms all individual full lines into one thick full line, while all individual dotted lines become one thick dotted line. The colour of this aggregated link is based on the least-healthy status of all its constituents.

This figure shows an example scenario where the Aggregate Links option is enabled:

This figure shows an example scenario where the Aggregate Links option is disabled:

You can view a summary of all the connections by clicking on the line:

To access the actions for each of the aggregated links, click View All that is shown at the top of the depicted content. A side panel appears where all of the links are presented in a table.

If you click on the circle in a row of the table to select that element, then the Actions on the right top corner is enabled.

Navigating to a Fabric Group

A fabric group is depicted as a grey box encapsulating all of its child fabrics.

If you double-click on the grey area, a view showcasing all of its child fabrics up to switch level is opened.

Double-click in the grey areas representing the fabric children to navigate to that fabric.

The breadcrumbs shown in the blue box in the middle top changes according to the selections made.

To go back to a previous view, single-click on any of the elements highlighted in blue.

Intra-Fabric Navigation

While in the All Fabrics view, you can double click on any of the nodes with a globe icon to open their topology up to the switch level.

To see the topology for a given switch, double-click on any of the nodes.

To display other connected devices in this view, click Actions, then toggle the Show Hosts option.

Overlays

Overlays are depicted as nodes with a number badge to their right that shows the total number of elements, while the text is a link that opens a side panel with the data displayed in a table.

You can open the same side panel by double-clicking on these nodes, or opening the tooltip and clicking on View All shown at the top of the section.

Network Overlays

To access all of the networks, click the number on the network overlay node to open the side panel. The first column displays an icon that is used to access the topology of each network.

Click that icon to render the topology for this network. You are placed in the Configuration mode by default with the layout selection disabled.

VRF Overlays

To access all of the VRFs, click the number on the VRF overlay node to open the side panel. The first column displays an icon that is used to access the topology of each VRF.

Click that icon to render the topology for this VRF. You are placed in the Configuration mode by default with the layout selection disabled.

Security Group Overlays

To access all of the security groups, click the number on the security group overlay node to open the side panel. The first column displays an icon that is used to access the topology of each security group.

Click that icon to render the topology for this security group. You are placed in the Configuration mode by default with the layout selection disabled and the layout changed to horizontal.

VM Overlays

To access all of the VMs, click the number on the VM overlay node to open the side panel. The first column displays an icon that is used to access the topology of each VM.

Click that icon to render the topology for this VM, with the layout selection disabled.

Multi-Node Selection

You can select multiple nodes using either of these methods:

The selected nodes will have a highlighted background.

To access actions for your selection, right-click on any of the selected elements.

Searching Topology

Use a combination of search attributes and search criteria in the search bar for an effective search. As you enter a combination of search attribute and search criteria in the search bar, the corresponding devices are highlighted in the topology.

You can apply the search criteria such as equals (=), does not equal (!=), contains (contains), and does not contain (!contains).

The search attributes that you can use for LAN fabrics are ASN, Fabric Type, Fabric Name, and Fabric technology. The fabric type attributes that you can use for search include switch fabric, multi-fabric domain, external, and LAN monitor. The fabric technology attributes that you can use for search include fabricpath fabric, VXLAN fabric, VLAN fabric, external, LAN classic, IPFM classic, IPFM fabric, switch group, multi-fabric domain, eBGP VXLAN fabric, eBGP routed fabric, MSO site group, meta fabric, LAN monitor fabric, and IOS-XE VXLAN fabric.

For IPFM fabrics, the following fields are available to search on: switch or hostname, switch or host IP address, switch MAC, and switch serial number. In the Generic Multicast mode, also, you can search the receiver-interface name or IP addresses in this window.

Server Settings

The following topics provide initial setup information for the LAN operational mode in the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller.

Server Settings

You can set the parameters that are populated as default values.

To set the parameters of the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller server from the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Admin > System Settings page.

2. Click on the Server Settings tab.

   NDFC classifies server settings by different tabs.

3. Modify the settings on any of the tabs in Server Settings based on your requirements.

4. Click Save to apply the settings.

Each microservice of an enabled feature has additional tabs and properties other than those listed below.

Each field has a short description. If there is an error when configuring any of the features in Server Settings, the corresponding tab displays in red. The Save button is disabled until you resolve those errors.

NDFC services perform comprehensive checks on the NDFC server. If there are any errors, those errors are displayed on the NDFC UI.

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• You can modify the properties in Server Settings without the support of Cisco TAC.

• If the Nexus Dashboard is rebooted, NDFC services are down for a period of time.

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Enable AAA Passthrough Feature

This feature is available in NDFC release 12.2.1. In the LAN-Fabric area in Server Settings, check the checkbox for the Enable AAA Passthrough feature to enable the authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) passthrough feature. When enabled, the AAA passthrough feature allows NDFC to automatically copy the NDFC user login credentials to the LAN switch credentials settings for that user. When a local user logs in, that user can set the default credentials. The local user workflow remains intact even after the local user enables the AAA passthrough feature.

NDFC maintains the LAN switch credentials settings in Admin > Switch Credentials > LAN Credentials Management > Default Credentials. When the user logs in to NDFC for the first time, NDFC does not display the message to enter the LAN switch credentials, as NDFC automatically copies the NDFC user login information to the LAN switch credentials.

You can still set per device login credentials to handle devices not using AAA. The default setting is disabled (check box is unchecked).

LAN Device Management Connectivity under Admin

You can change persistent IP addresses that are assigned for mandatory pods such as POAP-SCP and SNMP trap.

This setting determines the Persistent IPs usage for the PODs required for Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller. When you select the Fabric Controller persona for the first time, there is a pre-check to determine if Persistent IPs are allocated on Nexus Dashboard. If Persistent IPs are not allocated, then you will see an error.

You can provide Persistent IPs in either the management network or the data network in Nexus Dashboard. Based on this selection, you must specify the option under LAN Device Management Connectivity, which can be found under Server Settings in the NDFC application page. By default, management is selected, but if you provide Persistent IPs under the Nexus Dashboard data network, then you must select Data as the option.

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When you change the LAN Device Management connectivity from management to data or vice versa, some of the devices might have a SSH Unreachable critical error for a short time, but the connectivity will eventually be restored.

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SMTP Host under SMTP

This setting is used as an email out-of-band notification for programmable reports and alarms.

You can receive NDFC alarms and reports through email notification. The SMTP Host address must be reachable through the Nexus Dashboard management interface. If the Nexus Dashboard management interface and SMTP Host are part of different IP subnets, then you must create a static route entry in the Nexus Dashboard Cluster configuration.

You can enter other texts for STMP fields. To initiate alarms to an external receiver, provide the IP address of the SNMP listener and the port that it is listening on.

Disable Deployment Across all Fabrics Under LAN Fabric

This setting disables deployments for all the fabrics that are defined in the NDFC instance. You will not be able to enable the deployment on a per fabric level. For example, if you have three fabrics, then all three fabrics will be disabled from the configuration point of view. You can continue to stage various configurations if necessary. Later, you can enable the deployment action by unchecking this server setting.

Collect Non-Link Physical Interfaces for LAN Switches Under PM

This setting enables collection of non-link physical information for LAN switches. Enable this checkbox when you want to view information for physical interfaces on LAN switches that are connected to non-NDFC managed devices. The default is not enabled.

Collect Temperature for LAN Switches Under PM

This setting enables NDFC to collect switch temperate details and show it in the Fabric Overview and the Metric areas. By, the default temperature data is not collected. After you enable this setting, you can view the temperature information of the fabric switches as well.

Feature Management

In Cisco DCNM Release 11.x, you must choose the install mode while installing the DCNM. From Release 12.0.1a, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller allows you to install the service on the Nexus Dashboard. After you launch the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller UI, you will see three different Install modes on the Feature Management page.

Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller 12 allows you to dynamically enable the feature set and scale applications. Choose Admin > System Settings > Feature Management to choose the installer type and enable or disable few features on the selected deployment.

When you launch Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller for the first time from Cisco Nexus Dashboard, the Feature Management screen appears. You can perform only Backup and Restore operations before you choose the feature set.

On the Feature Management page, you can choose one of the following install modes:

After you select a Feature Set, from the next login, Dashboard page opens when you launch Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller from Nexus Dashboard.

Choosing Feature Set

When you launch Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller 12 for the first time, none of the feature set is enabled. During this state, you can perform Backup and Restore to restore the DCNM 11.5(x) data on Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller 12. Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller will read the data from the backup file and select the installer type accordingly.

To deploy feature-set from Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI perform the following steps:

1. Choose Admin > System Settings > Feature Management.

2. Select a persona to view the default set of features.

   For information about the features available in Cisco NDFC personas, see Features with each Persona.

3. In the table below, select the check box against the feature name available with the feature set.

4. Click Apply.

   The feature-set will be deployed. The selected applications will be enabled. A message appears that the feature set is installed, and you must refresh to take effect.

5. Refresh the browser to deploy Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller with the selected feature set and applications.

   The left pane shows the features supported specifically with the deployed feature set.

Features with each Persona

Fabric Controller

Features available for Fabric Controller Persona

Feature Name	Description
Kubernetes Visualizer	Network Visualization of K8s Clusters
Endpoint Locator	Tracking Endpoint IP-MAC Location with Historical Information
IPAM Integration	Integration with IP Address Management (IPAM) Systems
Openstack Visualizer	Network Visualization of Openstack Clusters
Performance Monitoring	Monitor Environment and Interface Statistics
IP Fabric for Media	Media Controller for IP Fabrics
PTP Monitoring	Monitor Precision Timing Protocol (PTP) Statistics
VMM Visualizer	Network visualization of Virtual Machines
Fabric Builder	Easy Fabric Functionality for NX-OS and Other devices

Kubernetes Visualizer

After enabling this feature, reload to view left pane Virtual Management > Virtual Infrastructure Manager. This feature allows you to visualize Kubernetes cluster as Container Orchestrator with the Cisco NDFC. See the "Kubernetes Cluster" section in Virtual Infrastructure Manager for more information.

Endpoint Locator

This 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. See the "Monitoring Endpoint Locator" section in Endpoint Locator for more information.

IPAM Integration

IPAM Integrator allows read-only access to the IPAM and NDFC servers. See IPAM Integrator for more information.

Openstack Visualizer

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Ensure that the vCenter cluster or Kubernetes cluster feature must be enabled to add an OpenStack cluster. See the "OpenStack Cluster" section in Virtual Infrastructure Manager

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Performance Monitoring

This feature is supported for IPFM fabrics. Enabling performance monitoring will monitor the performance of fabric. See IPFM Fabrics for more information.

IP Fabric for Media

You can enable this feature to configure fabrics related to IP Fabric for Media (IPFM). See IPFM Fabrics for more information.

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You can either enable Fabric builder or IP Fabric for Media feature on NDFC. Enabling both features on single NDFC is not supported, it displays error message Features Fabric Builder and IP Fabric for Media are mutually exclusive. Please select only one at a time

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PTP Monitoring

PTP is a time synchronization protocol for nodes that are distributed across a network. On a local area network, it achieves clock accuracy in the sub-nanosecond range, making it suitable for measurement and control systems. See the "PTP Monitoring" section in About Switch Overview for LAN Operational Mode Setups for more information.

VMM Visualizer

Enable this feature to configure network visualization of Virtual Machines on fabrics. See Virtual Infrastructure Manager for more information.

Fabric Builder

To configure fabrics and functionalities for NX-OS and other devices, enable this feature. See Understanding LAN Fabrics for more information.

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If you are using a Virtual Nexus Dashboard Cluster before you begin, ensure that the Persistent IP address and required settings are enabled.

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LAN Credentials Management

While changing the device configuration, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller uses the device credentials provided by you. However, if you do not provide the LAN switch credentials, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller prompts you to open the Admin > Switch Credentials > LAN Credentials Management page to configure the LAN credentials.

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller uses two sets of credentials to connect to the LAN devices: