Introduction

The Cisco Network Plug and Play solution provides a simple, secure, unified, and integrated offering for enterprise network customers to ease new branch or campus device deployments or for provisioning updates to an existing network. The solution provides a unified approach to provision enterprise networks comprised of Cisco routers, switches, and wireless access point devices with a near zero touch deployment experience.

What’s New in Release 1.3.3

This software release provides new functionality for configuration templates, to escape the $ character when you do not want it to be interpreted as a variable definition, such as a $ character in an encrypted password. To escape a $ character, add {esc.d} immediately following the $ in a configuration template.

For example, if you have the following line in a configuration template, you would not want the $ characters to be interpreted as variables:

Escape the $ characters as follows:

What’s New in Release 1.3.2

This software release provides the following new features and functions:

■New and enhanced functionality in the Cisco Network Plug and Play application in the APIC-EM:

–Configuration template support is enhanced with a new Template tab at the top level. Use this tab to upload and manage configuration templates.

–When you add a device or claim an unplanned device, and are specifying the configuration file, you can now choose either Configuration or Template and then select the file to apply.

What’s New in Release 1.3

This software release provides the following new features and functions:

■Configuration template support allows an administrator to define a configuration template of CLI commands that can be used to consistently configure multiple network devices, reducing deployment time. Variables in the template allow customization of specific settings per device and templates support constructs such as #set, #if, #else, and #foreach. Configuration templates are based on the open source Velocity templating engine, version 1.7.

■API support for passing the specified device management IP address to the APIC-EM discovery function. The first active device IP address is considered to be the management IP address, if the management IP address is not specified.

■IPv6 support in the Cisco Plug and Play IOS agent beginning with software release IOS XE 16.4.

■Support for Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure Software platforms.

■New and enhanced functionality in the Cisco Network Plug and Play application in the APIC-EM:

–Configuration template support, including text view, form view, and preview for a template.

–Configuration file syntax validation to catch non-ASCII and control characters when a configuration file is uploaded. This functionality does not verify CLI command validity.

–Individual device credential support, allowing the controller to manage devices that require individual TACACS or RADIUS credentials for access. The credentials are passed to the device securely and the password is not logged. This enhancement simplifies the process to provision a device with a configuration that contains aaa authorization commands. This feature requires software release IOS 15.6(3)M1, IOS XE 16.3.2, or IOS XE 16.4 or later on the device.

–Bulk import improvements to handle device credentials and configuration templates.

Supported Platforms and Software Requirements

The following tables list Cisco routers, switches, wireless access points, NFVIS platforms, and software releases that support the Cisco Plug and Play IOS Agent and the Cisco Network Plug and Play Solution.

 

1.The non-VLAN 1 feature is not supported on release 15.2.4E. 2.Limited feature support: Trustpool support for devices with smaller NVRAM space is only by using the DHCP options T and Z.

Table 2 lists software releases that have limited feature support. For software releases not listed, all features are supported.

 

1. The following caveats apply: CSCuv42560, CSCuw63034, CSCuy16820, CSCvb56482.

2. The following caveat applies: CSCux54515.

3. The following caveat applies: CSCux52544.

 

3.The CSR 1000v router supports Plug and Play discovery only on an ISO deployment, not when deployed with an OVA.

 

 

 

Note: Only official software releases obtained from the Cisco.com software download website are supported for image deployment. Engineering builds are not supported.

Upgrade and Downgrade Support

Limitations

Cisco Network Plug and Play has the following limitations:

■The bulk import function is similar to adding new provisioning rules that can set a device to the pending state. When you export the project and device database, the application displays the correct device state. If you then import the saved database, the devices must contact the APIC-EM controller again to return to the provisioned state because the bulk import feature restores only the device provisioning rules and does not restore the state of devices.

■Bulk import does not support uploading template configurations.

■Virtual Switching System (VSS) is not supported.

■Configuration templates are based on the Velocity templating engine version 1.7, with the following limitations:

–The #parse and #include directives are not supported.

–Structured objects are not supported.

–The #foreach element works only with lists, not maps or enumerations, and #foreach attributes like "foreach.count" are not supported.

■For stack switch functionality in Projects in the Cisco Network Plug and Play application for APIC-EM, only the Cisco Catalyst 3650 Series Switches and Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches are supported.

Sizing Guidelines

The Cisco Network Plug and Play application on APIC-EM can support the following:

■A maximum of 10000 devices pre-provisioned in the Cisco Network Plug and Play application for APIC-EM, of which a maximum of 4000 can be router and switch devices and the remainder can be wireless access point devices

■A maximum of 50 devices of all types simultaneously contacting the server and being provisioned

■A maximum of 200 unclaimed devices of all types in the Cisco Network Plug and Play application for APIC-EM

See the Release Notes for Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module for APIC-EM device support guidelines.

Upgrading a Cisco Catalyst 3650 or 3850 Series Switch to Cisco IOS XE Denali 16.1.1 While Provisioning

This section applies if you have a Cisco Catalyst 3650 or 3850 Series switch with a software release of Cisco IOS XE 3.6.3, 3.7.2, or earlier, it is in a factory default state (unprovisioned in the network), and at the same time as provisioning you want to upgrade it to Cisco IOS XE Denali 16.1.1E.

Such devices with older software releases fail the normal upgrade process to release 16.1.1E, however, you can use the Cisco Network Plug and Play application to do the upgrade while provisioning the device, by using the following steps:

Prerequisite: The Cisco network device to be provisioned is in a factory default state and can be auto-booted with the 16.1.1E image. If you are using a network device that was previously configured or is in an unknown state, see the reset details in the Solution Guide for Cisco Network Plug and Play.

1. Put the Cisco IOS XE Denali 16.1.1E image on a TFTP server that is accessible to the device you are upgrading.

2. Create a configuration file for the device and add the following lines to the end of the file, which will upgrade the software and reload the switch:

The tftp URL must include the IP address of the TFTP server ( ip-address), the directory in which the image resides ( dir), and image filename ( filename).

3. Upload the configuration file in the Cisco Network Plug and Play application, by using the Upload button in the Configurations tab.

4. Add the configuration file to the device information, either in the Projects tab (for a new device that you are preprovisioning) or in the Unplanned Devices tab (for an unclaimed device that is already installed but not yet provisioned).

5. If the device is unclaimed, click Claim to provision it, or if you are preprovisioning a device that is not yet installed, it is automatically provisioned when it is installed. Note that it takes about 25 minutes for the upgrade to complete and there is minimal console output from the device during the process.

6. Verify that device status is Provisioned in the Cisco Network Plug and Play GUI.

7. Verify that the device is successfully deployed by checking the log messages by clicking on the device serial number. Look for the message, “Device was successfully deployed!!”

8. Verify that the installed software release is Denali 16.1.1E by using the show version command on the device.

Caveats

■Release 1.3.3 Resolved Caveats

■Release 1.3.3 Open Caveats

■Release 1.3.2 Resolved Caveats

■Release 1.3.2 Open Caveats

■Release 1.3 Resolved Caveats

■Release 1.3 Open Caveats

Related Documentation

■ Solution Guide for Cisco Network Plug and Play —Solution Guide for the Cisco Network Plug and Play solution.

■ Configuration Guide for Cisco Network Plug and Play on Cisco APIC-EM —Describes how to use the Network Plug and Play application in the APIC-EM to configure Cisco network devices.

■ Cisco Open Plug-n-Play Agent Configuration Guide —Describes how to configure the Cisco Open Plug-n-Play Agent software application that runs on a Cisco IOS or IOS-XE device.

■ Mobile Application User Guide for Cisco Network Plug and Play —Describes how to use the Cisco Network Plug and Play mobile application.

■ Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module Deployment Guide —Describes how to deploy and troubleshoot the Cisco APIC-EM.

■ Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module Configuration Guide —Describes how to configure settings for the Cisco APIC-EM.

■ Release Notes for the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module —Release Notes for the Cisco APIC-EM.

■ Release Notes for Cisco Intelligent Wide Area Network Application (Cisco IWAN App) —Release Notes for Cisco IWAN.

■ Software Configuration Guide for Cisco IWAN on APIC-EM —Configuration Guide for Cisco IWAN.

■ Cisco APIC-EM Quick Start Guide —Guide to getting started with the APIC-EM and including a list of related documentation (available in the APIC-EM GUI).

■ Open Source Used In Cisco APIC-EM —List of open source code used in the Cisco APIC-EM.

■ Open Source Used In Cisco IWAN App Release 1 —List of open source code used in the Cisco IWAN and Cisco Network Plug and Play applications for APIC-EM.

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

For information on obtaining documentation, using the Cisco Bug Search Tool (BST), submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation.

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