Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Release Notes, Release 12.2.1

March 07, 2024

Release 12.2.1 became available.

Nexus Dashboard

3.1.1k

Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller

12.2.1

Base Functionality

Added support for new Cisco Nexus switches

Support added for the Cisco Nexus N9K-C93400LD-H1 and Cisco Nexus N9K-C93108TC-FX3 switches. For more information, see the “New Hardware Features” section in the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Release Notes, Release 12.2.1.

Ease of Use

Updates to navigation menu

Beginning with NDFC release 12.2.1, all the navigation menu items have been clubbed into four categories: Overview, Manage, Analyze, and Admin. Every sub-menu option that was available in prior releases has been re-mapped to one of these main categories.

Ease of Use

Added an NDFC journey for the first-time setup of the Fabric Controller

When the Fabric Controller is enabled during the Nexus Dashboard (ND) bootstrap process, the ND cluster is brought up with the corresponding service already enabled. However, for the first-time setup of the Fabric Controller, the user is led through a guided step-by-step workflow (journey) for the initial bring-up of the Fabric Controller persona and the corresponding feature/feature-sets and pre-requisites that need to be enabled.

Ease of Use

Upgrade groups for switches in a fabric

Beginning with NDFC release 12.2.1, for LAN deployments, you can now perform image updates at a fabric level using a simple two-step workflow: Prepare & Install. NDFC can optionally automatically generate an upgrade plan for an existing fabric by assigning switches into different update groups based on the switch role and operational state. Users are free to customize the groups as they deem appropriate before they can proceed with the actual update. The Image Management page is now: Fabric Software.

The navigation path to the new Fabric Software is now:

Manage > Fabric Software

For more information, see the section “Upgrade or Downgrade Switches in a Fabric” in Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Fabric Software.

Security

Security for VXLAN EVPN fabrics using security groups

Security for VXLAN EVPN fabrics using security groups is a beta feature that is visible in the Cisco NDFC GUI. This feature is not supported in this release. Contact Cisco for information about this feature.

Ease of Use

Ability to export switch inventory information to a .csv format

Beginning with NDFC release 12.2.1, you can export switch inventory information to a .csv format. For more information, see the “Switches” section in About Fabric Overview for LAN Operational Mode Setups.

Ease of Use

Custom time range and real-time options available for monitoring performance data

Beginning with NDFC release 12.2.1, for the Interface and Link tabs on the Metrics page, you can filter performance data that is shown using new Real time and Custom options. For more information, see the “Metrics” section in About Fabric Overview for LAN Operational Mode Setups.

Ease of Use

Support added for automatically importing a pre-provisioned device to a fabric using PowerOn Auto Provisioning (POAP)

When you enable this feature, NDFC automatically imports the pre-provisioned device to the fabric using POAP. You enable this feature using the Auto admit pre-provisioned switches during re-poap option on the Admin > System Settings > Server Settings > LAN-Fabric tab. With this feature, you can avoid having to reenter a username, password, and the bootstrap parameters on the Add Switches (Bootstrap) page.

For more information, see the “Automatically Importing a Pre-provisioned Device Using POAP” section in Add Switches for LAN Operational Mode.

Ease of Use

Support added for both synchronous and asynchronous options for moving a device from normal to maintenance mode and vice versa

When you enable this feature and you perform a switch change mode request from NDFC, the specified switch goes to maintenance mode and the NDFC GUI waits until the mode is completely changed on the switch.

After the NDFC GUI completes the switch change mode request, the switch changes mode to maintenance or normal mode based on your selection.

You enable the Wait for switch mode change to maintenance on deploy option from the Fabric Overview > Switches page, the Actions drop-down list on the Manage > Inventory > Switches page, or by double-clicking on a fabric to access a switch on the Topology page. You can then right-click on the switch and click More > Change Mode to access the Change Mode dialog box.

For more information, see the “Waiting for a Switch to Change Modes” section in Add Switches for LAN Operational Mode.

Ease of Use

Support for import or export of NDFC templates to or from a Git repository

With this feature, you can import or export your non-default NDFC templates to or from your Git repository. For more information, see the “Importing a Template from Git” and “Exporting a Template to Git sections in Templates.

Security

Support for NDFC discovery of IOS-XR devices without requiring SNMP configuration

With this feature, you can discover an IOS-XR device without having to configure the Simple Network Management Protocol version 3 (SNMPv3) on the device. NDFC uses the Secure Shell (SSH) CLI option for IOS-XR device discovery.

For more information, see the "VRF Lite Between Cisco Nexus 9000 Based Border and Non-Nexus Device" section in VRF Lite.

For more information, see the “Managing Cisco IOS-XR Devices using NDFC” section in External Connectivity Networks.

Security

Support authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) remote authentication passthrough

With this feature enabled, when you log on to ND, the user’s login credentials are copied to the LAN switch settings in Admin > Switch Credentials > LAN Credentials Management > Default Credentials. When you log on to ND for the first time, you are no longer prompted to enter the LAN switch credentials, as NDFC automatically copies the user login credentials to the LAN switch credentials.

You can still set per user per switch credentials. Enable this feature by navigating to Admin > System Settings > LAN-Fabric and checking the checkbox for the Enable AAA Passthrough feature. For more information, see the ”LAN-Fabric” section in Overview and Initial Setup of Cisco NDFC LAN.

Base Functionality

Added support for additional Cisco Catalyst 9000 switches

Support added for Cisco Catalyst switches for LAN deployments. For more information, see the “New Hardware Features > Cisco Catalyst Switches for LAN Deployments” section in the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Release Notes, Release 12.2.1.

Ease of Use

Support for border gateway (BGW) in BGP fabrics for VXLAN EVPN Multi-Site

Beginning with NDFC release 12.2.1, border gateway (BGW) support is available in eBGP-based fabrics. The supported roles are Border Gateway, Border Gateway Spine, and Border Gateway Super Spine. Furthermore, the eBGP-based fabric can now participate in a VXLAN EVPN Multi-Site domain (MSD). For more information, see the “Border Gateway Support” section in BGP Fabric.

Ease of Use

Support for Layer 3 VNI in VXLAN EVPN fabrics without requiring a core-facing VLAN/SVI

Beginning with NDFC release 12.2.1, in a VXLAN BGP EVPN fabric, support is available for configuring a Layer 3 VNI (also known as a VRF on a NX-OS device) without needing a VLAN/SVI. This is available for the following fabric types:

·  BGP (eBGP EVPN)

·  Campus VXLAN EVPN

·  Data Center VXLAN EVPN

A new field is available when creating or editing these fabric types to enable this feature. For more information, see the “Layer 3 VNI Without VLAN” section in BGP Fabric, in Campus VXLAN EVPN, and in Data Center VXLAN EVPN.

Ease of Use

Support for AI/ML QoS and queuing policies

Beginning with NDFC release 12.2.1, support is available for configuring artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) QoS and queuing policies when creating or editing the following fabric types:

·  BGP (with or without VXLAN EVPN enabled)

·  Data Center VXLAN EVPN

A new field is available when creating or editing these fabric types to enable this feature. For more information, see the “AI/ML QoS Classification and Queuing Policies” section in BGP Fabric and in Data Center VXLAN EVPN.

Performance and Scalability

Support for 250 switches with NDFC plus NDI in a three-node physical ND (pND) deployment

This feature increases the scale limits for cohosting Nexus Dashboard Insights (NDI) with NDFC on a three-node physical Nexus Dashboard cluster. The scale limit has been increased from 50 to 250 switches.

For more information on the verified scalability values for NDFC, see the Verified Scalability Guide for Cisco Nexus Dashboard Controller.

Base Functionality

Support for Nexus 3000 switches at the Layer 2 access layer for the Enhanced Classic LAN fabric

Cisco Nexus 3000 Series switches with an access role are now supported in the Enhanced Classic LAN fabric.

For more information, see Managing Legacy/Classic Networks in Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller.

Base Functionality

Support for IP ACLs using native NDFC policies for existing as well as new VXLAN EVPN and Enhanced Classic LAN fabrics

In earlier releases, IP/IPv6 based ACLs were learnt into switch freeform policies. From NDFC release 12.2.1, these ACLs will be learnt into native ACL policies for VXLAN EVPN and Enhanced Classic LAN fabrics.

For more information, see Enabling Freeform Configurations on Fabric Switches.

Ease of Use

Ability to monitor zone, Fibre Channel Name Server (FCNS), and Fabric login (FLOGI) limitations

Support is now available to monitor zone, Fibre Channel Name Server (FCNS), and Fabric login (FLOGI) limitations.

For more information, see the “Monitoring Zone/FCNS/FLOGI Limitations” section in About Switch Overview for SAN Operational Mode Setups.

Ease of Use

Support for viewing power utilization

With this feature, you can view the power utilization for each switch and power module. You can view a graph of power usage data per day, week, or month based on the selected data type.

For more information, see the “Metrics” sections in About Switch Overview for SAN Operational Mode Setups and in About Fabric Overview for SAN Operational Mode Setups.

Ease of Use

Configure VSAN port membership and port trunking allowed VSAN membership directly from the Interface tab

With this feature, you can edit VSAN port membership and port trunking allowed VSAN membership directly from the Interface tab for the specified interface.

For more information, see the “Edit Port VSAN Membership” and the “Edit VSAN Membership with Port Trunking” sections in About Switch Overview for SAN Operational Mode Setups.

For more information, see the “Edit Port VSAN Membership” and the “Edit Port Trunking VSAN Membership” sections in About Fabric Overview for SAN Operational Mode Setups.

Ease of Use

Support for clearing FICON RNID status

With this feature, you can clear the fiber connectivity (FICON) Request Node Identifier (RNID) status by replacing a value of old with invalid.

For more information, see the “Clear FICON RNID Old Value” section in About Switch Overview for SAN Operational Mode Setups and in About Fabric Overview for SAN Operational Mode Setups.

Ease of Use

Configure AAA servers for Cisco MDS switches

With this feature, you can view or configure authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) servers, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), RADIUS, or TACACS+, for Cisco MDS switches. You can also create a search map for attaching an LDAP server group and for managing your LDAP switches.

For more information, see the “AAA” and the “Creating an AAA Server, Creating an AAA Server, a Server Group, a Search Map, and an Authentication Type” sections in About Fabric Overview for SAN Operational Mode Setups.

Ease of Use

Custom time range and real-time options available for performance data

Beginning with NDFC release 12.2.1, you can filter performance data that is shown using new Real time and Custom options. For more information, see the “Viewing Interfaces” section in About Fabric Overview for SAN Operational Mode Setups and the “Dashboard Overview” section in Overview and Initial Setup of Cisco NDFC SAN.

For more information, see the “Viewing Performance Information for FC Ports” and “Viewing Performance Information for Ethernet Ports” sections in Add Interfaces for SAN Operational Mode.

Ease of Use

Allow expansion of network elements in SAN topology

With this feature, when you click on a switch or a zone with host and storage devices, you can view the interface nodes connected to that host, storage, or switch. You can toggle a Show Interfaces option from the View drop-down list that allows you to view the connected interfaces. For more information, see the “Show Interfaces Option” section in Overview and Initial Setup of Cisco NDFC SAN.

Ease of Use

Navigate to specific pages from the top dashlets on the Overview dashboard

With this feature, you can navigate to specific pages after clicking a row in the TOP dashlets from the Overview dashboard page. For more information, see  the “Dashboard Overview” section in Overview and Initial Setup of Cisco NDFC SAN.

Ease of Use

Add grouping to SAN topology

With this feature, you can single-click on a VSAN on the SAN Controller > Topology page to display the VSANs slide-in pane. You can filter based on VSAN attributes or based on search criteria.

If you click on a VSAN in the slide-in pane, you can see the grouping of hosts, switches, and storage devices connected to the VSAN in the fabric topology.

Click on the Status column to view a tooltip displaying the connected switch.

Click on a VSAN name to view the number of zones connected to the VSAN.

Click a zone name to view the connected host and storage devices for the zone.

For more information, see the “Viewing Elements in SAN Topology” section in Overview and Initial Setup of Cisco NDFC SAN.

Ease of Use

Make SAN Web Device Manager optional

With this feature, you can disable the SAN Web Device Manager in Admin > System Settings > Feature Management.

For more information, see the “Device Manager” section in Add Switches for SAN Operational Mode.

Ease of Use

IGMP host proxy configuration

The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) host proxy feature helps you connect a Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM)-enabled multicast network domain to a domain that does not understand PIM. This feature configures an interface as a proxy interface that proxies PIM join or prune requests that are received on the internal PIM network to IGMP join or leave requests.

Enable the IGMP source group proxy in the Layer 3 interface using the following policy: int_ipfm_l3_port. You can filter by proxy groups, or you can add a new proxy group.

For more information, see the “Editing an Interface for IPFM Fabrics” section in the IPFM and Classic IPFM.

Ease of Use

IS-IS support added as a link-state IGP for an IPFM fabric template

This feature adds support for the Intermediate System-to-Intermediate System (IS-IS) link-state Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) in an IPFM fabric template.

You configure the IS-IS IGP when creating or editing an IPFM fabric template.

NOTE: Once devices are imported into an IPFM fabric, you cannot change the IGP unless you delete and re-add the devices.

For more information, see the “General Parameters” and “Protocols” sections in IPFM and Classic IPFM.

Performance and Scalability

Extend support for up to 120 switches in a Classic IPFM fabric

This feature extends support for up to 120 switches in a Classic IPFM fabric.

For more information on the verified scalability values for NDFC, see the Verified Scalability Guide for Cisco Nexus Dashboard Controller.

Ease of Use

IP Fabric for Media (IPFM) for Layer 2 port visibility

In previous releases of NDFC, you could view the IPFM flow status only at the Layer 3 boundary, as a physical interface, or as a switch virtual interface (SVI). Layer 2 physical interface visibility was not possible. Beginning with the NDFC 12.2.1 release, visibility into the Layer 2 VLAN is possible below the SVI. You can identify the receiver connected Layer 2 interface.

View the Layer 2 port and the Layer 3 SVI in the Receiver Interface column, or by clicking on the active link under the Flow Link State column on the Fabric Overview > Flows > Flow Status page. If you click on the active link, you can view the Layer 2 port in the topology diagram with an updated tooltip and a table that includes the Layer 2 port. You can view the Layer 2 receiver port along with the SVI details by navigating to the Overview > Topology page.

For more information, see the “IPFM and Generic Multicast Flow Status” section in About Fabric Overview for LAN Operational Mode Setups.

Ease of Use

IPFM critical event notifications

With this release, you can view IPFM critical events by navigating to Fabric Overview > Event Analytics > IPFM Events. You can click on a Distinguished Name (DN) to view additional information about the DN or to filter information by Identifier, Reason, Time, or Status.

You configure IPFM event notification retention history and other options from the Fabric Controller > Admin > System Settings > Server Settings > IPFM tab.

For more information, see the “IPFM Events” section in About Fabric Overview for LAN Operational Mode Setups and in Overview and Initial Setup of Cisco NDFC LAN.

Active Zones

SAN > Active Zones

Analyze > Active Zones

Backup and Restore

Operations > Backup and Restore

Admin > Backup and Restore

Change Control

Operations > Change Control

Manage > Change Control

End Devices

SAN > End Devices

Manage > Inventory > End Devices

Event Analytics

Operations > Event Analytics

Analyze > Event Analytics

Fabrics

LAN > Fabrics

SAN > Fabrics

Manage > Fabrics

Feature Management

Settings > Feature Management

Admin > System Settings > Feature Management

Host Path Redundancy

SAN > Host Path Redundancy

Analyze > Host Path Redundancy

Hosts

SAN > Hosts

Manage > Inventory > Hosts

Image Management

Operations > Image Management

Manage > Fabric Software

Interfaces

SAN > Interfaces

Manage > Inventory > Interfaces

LAN Credentials Management

Settings > LAN Credentials Management

Admin > Switch Credentials > LAN Credentials Management

License Management

Operations > License Management

Admin > Licensing

Links

SAN > Links

Manage > Inventory > Links

Networks

LAN > Fabrics > Networks

Manage > Fabrics > Fabric Overview > Networks

NX-API and Bootstrap Certificates

Operations > NX-API and Bootstrap Certificates

Admin > Certificate Management

Port Monitoring

SAN > Port Monitoring

Manage > Port Monitoring

Programmable Reports

Operations > Programmable Reports

Analyze > Reports

Route Peering

Services > Route Peering

Manage > Fabrics > Fabric Overview > Services > Route Peering

Server Settings

Settings > Server Settings

Admin > System Settings > Server Settings

Storage Devices

SAN > Storage Devices

Manage > Inventory > Storage Devices

Switches

LAN > Switches

SAN > Switches

Manage > Inventory > Switches

Templates

Operations > Templates

Manage > Templates

Topology

LAN > Topology

SAN > Topology

Overview > Topology

Zoning

SAN > Zoning

Manage > Zoning

CSCwi52337

When NDFC attempts status discovery of a device, the Manage > Inventory table displays "Session Error (Code 103)" on the device.

12.2.1 and later

CSCwi54582

When you navigate to the Manage > Inventory > Switches tab, you may see a configuration status of NA in the Config Status column that displays for more than an hour. Also, you might encounter an error message when NDFC performs a recalculation configuration indicating that configuration compliance is in a transient state. If you encounter such an error, retry the operation.

12.2.1 and later

CSCwi79166

After a fresh installation of Nexus Dashboard (ND) or a clean wipe of the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC), NDFC displays as "Healthy" prematurely while NDFC internal components are still initializing.

12.2.1 and later

CSCwj01445

In a multi-attach scenario, if only one attachment is failing and the rest are valid, NDFC should allow you to proceed with that attachment and give you a warning. If all the attachments are failing, NDFC should not allow you to proceed.

12.2.1 and later

CSCwj05451

When you navigate to the Manage > Inventory > Switches tab, and you notice that the device displays an SSH error in the Discovery Status column and the model number is empty in the Model column, restart all the workers as described in the workaround text for this incident.

12.2.1 and later

CSCwj23120

The Precision Time Protocol (PTP) monitoring option is missing for switches in Classic LAN fabrics. Contact Cisco Technical Support for more information.

12.2.1 and later

CSCwj38937

The Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller service fails to enable after an upgrade if a Domain Name System (DNS) server is unavailable.

12.2.1 and later

CSCwe60313

When creating port-channel interfaces on Cisco Catalyst 9000 series switches, your deployment might fail and display one of the following messages:

12.2.1

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On the Fabric Overview > Interfaces tab, Sync Status displays as NA for port channel and vPC interfaces.

12.2.1

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If a primary node with Elasticsearch in a 3-node cluster shuts down, the active alarm pod goes down and becomes active on another node. In this case, Operations > Event Analytics > Alarms > Alarms Policies may not show any default or existing policies.

12.2.1

CSCwh15025

When deleting Border Gateway switches with overlay extensions which has 'Force delete border role switches' enabled, the system may not remove some switches at the first attempt.

12.2.1

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The credentials from Credentials Management System (CMS) that appear on Actions > Edit Fabric misses an entry of UCS SNMP credential. This happens due to a schema change after restoring NDFC from 11.5.4 to 12.1.x. However, this does not have an impact on SAN discovery as it reconstructs the UCS SNMP user and saves to its own cache.

12.2.1

CSCwh29489

The address family for VRF context of BGP gets negated in Pending Config when Export Gateway IP for service_static_route and service_ebgp_route templates is changed from enabled to disabled in the Route Peering of L4-L7 services for VXLAN EVPN fabric.

12.2.1

CSCwh29913

Missing policies or configuration diffs are observed after manual RMA on the Catalyst 9K switches in a Campus VXLAN EVPN fabric.

12.2.1

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When you run pre-ISSU and post-ISSU reports using the custom_swift_issu template on a switch, the post-ISSU report fails for the 'Validate License Usage' category in the report.

12.2.1

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While performing Recalculate & Deploy, you may get a traceback with getPersistentIp(): expected 2 args.

12.2.1

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While performing a Recalculate & Deploy on switches that are imported with preserve-config ‘yes’ in an Enhanced Classic Lan fabric (Brownfield migration), the following error appears:

Error updating VRF Id [50000] Name [default]. Reason [OSPFv3 Process Tag needs to be defined in Fabric Settings for VRF default of IP version IPv4_and_IPv6]

12.2.1 and later

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After a reload of any one of the nodes, all the fabric data may appear to be lost in the NDFC user interface.

12.2.1 and later

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vCenter Visualization plugin crash when VMware DVS configured with PVLAN.

Releases prior to 12.1.3b

CSCwd84563

Upgrade to v2.3 from v2.1.2d - No warning messages to disable old App/containers.

Nexus Dashboard Release 2.1.2d

CSCwd85885

Network creation error on upgraded setup.

12.0.1a

CSCwe53978

Persistent configuration difference is observed for ‘ip dhcp relay address’ command.

12.1.2

CSCwf12259

For a SAN fabric, the timelines beneath the graph on Congestion Analysis are not accurately aligned for the interface graphs.

12.1.3b

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On SAN Insights for a host, the Rx/Tx graphs for a switch interface appear as truncated.

12.1.3b

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When you perform an install or upgrade using a Software Maintenance Upgrades (SMU) image, the upgrade status fails to change from out-of-sync to in-sync.

12.1.3b