Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM Software Installation and Upgrade Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Table Of Contents

Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM Software Installation and Upgrade Guide, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3)

Audience

Information About the Virtual Ethernet Module

Introduction to Cisco Nexus 1000V and the Virtual Ethernet Module

Obtaining the VEM Software

VMware Patch Releases

Prerequisites for Installing VEM Software

Flow Chart: Installing or Upgrading the VEM Software

Installing the VEM Software

Upgrading the ESX Host and the VEM Software

Upgrading the VEM Software

Uninstalling the VEM Software

Available Documents

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM Software Installation and Upgrade Guide, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3)

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Revised: March 7, 2011

OL-21656-03

This document describes how to install software on the Cisco Nexus 1000V Virtual Ethernet Module (VEM) on a VMware ESX or ESXi 4.0 server.

This document includes the following topics:

•Audience

•Information About the Virtual Ethernet Module

•Prerequisites for Installing VEM Software

•Flow Chart: Installing or Upgrading the VEM Software

•Installing the VEM Software

•Upgrading the ESX Host and the VEM Software

•Upgrading the VEM Software

•Uninstalling the VEM Software

•Available Documents

•Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

Audience

This document is intended for use by experienced server administrators who configure and maintain server software. Table 1 compares the roles of the network administrator and server administrator.

Table 1 Administrator Roles  

Network Administrator	Server Administrator
•Creates, configures, and manages vswitches. •Creates, configures, and manages port profiles, including the following: –Security –Port channels –QoS policies	•Assigns the following to port groups: –Virtual network interface cards (VNICs) –vmkernel interfaces –Service console interfaces •Assigns physical NICs (PNICs) to vswitches on each host.

This document includes instructions for installing new VEM software as a fresh install or after upgrading the VSM software to a new version.

To install the Virtual Supervisor Module (VSM), see the following document:

Cisco Nexus 1000V Software Installation Guide, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3)

For detailed information about upgrading the software on the VSM and VEM, see the following document:

Cisco Nexus 1000V Software Upgrade Guide, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3)

Information About the Virtual Ethernet Module

This section provides information about the Virtual Ethernet Module and includes the following topics:

•Introduction to Cisco Nexus 1000V and the Virtual Ethernet Module

•Obtaining the VEM Software

•VMware Patch Releases

•VMware Patch Releases

Introduction to Cisco Nexus 1000V and the Virtual Ethernet Module

The Cisco Nexus 1000V is compatible with any upstream physical access layer switch that is Ethernet standard compliant, including the Catalyst 6500 series switch, Cisco Nexus switches, and switches from other network vendors. The Cisco Nexus 1000V is compatible with any server hardware listed in the VMware Hardware Compatibility List (HCL), which runs VMWare vSphere 4.0 Enterprise Plus.

Cisco and VMware jointly designed APIs that produced the Cisco Nexus 1000V. The Cisco Nexus 1000V is a distributed virtual switch solution that is fully integrated within the VMware virtual infrastructure, including VMware vCenter for the virtualization administrator. This solution off-loads the configuration of the virtual switch and port groups to the network administrator to enforce a consistent data center network policy.

The Cisco Nexus 1000V has the following components that can virtually emulate a 66-slot modular Ethernet switch with redundant supervisor functions:

•Virtual Ethernet module (VEM) data plane—Each hypervisor is embedded with one VEM, a lightweight software component that replaces the virtual switch by performing the following functions:

–Advanced networking and security

–Switching between directly attached virtual machines

–Uplinking to the rest of the network

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Note There can be one and only one version of VEM installed on an ESX host at any given time.

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•Virtual supervisor module (VSM) control plane—The VSM is a standalone, external, physical or virtual appliance that performs the following functions for the Cisco Nexus 1000V system (that is, the combination of the VSM itself and all VEMs it controls):

–Configuration

–Management

A single VSM can manage up to 64 VEMs.

–Monitoring

–Diagnostics

–Integration with VMware vCenter

Active-standby VSMs increase high availability

In the Cisco Nexus 1000V, traffic is switched between virtual machines locally at each VEM instance. Each VEM also interconnects the local virtual machine with the rest of the network through the upstream access-layer network switch (blade, top-of-rack, end-of-row, and so forth). The VSM runs the control plane protocols and configures the state of each VEM accordingly, but it never forwards packets.

In the Cisco Nexus 1000V, the module slots are primary module 1 and secondary module 2. Either module could act as active or standby. The first server or host is automatically assigned to Module 3. NIC ports are 3/1 and 3/2 (vmnic0 and vmnic1 on ESX host). The ports to which the virtual NIC interfaces connect are virtual ports on the Cisco Nexus 1000V where they are assigned a global number.

Figure 1 shows an example of the Cisco Nexus 1000V distributed architecture.

Figure 1 Cisco Nexus 1000V Distributed Switching Architecture

Obtaining the VEM Software

You can obtain the VEM software from the sources listed in Table 2.

Table 2 Obtaining VEM Software  

Source	Description
VUM	If you are using vCenter Update Manager (VUM), then VUM obtains the VEM software from the VSM through the web server hosted on the VSM. After obtaining it, VUM installs the VEM software either during the VSM Add Host operation on the Cisco Nexus 1000V DVS, or after the VEM software is updated on the VSM.1
VSM	After the VSM has been installed as a VM, copy the file containing the VEM software from the VSM homepage located at the following url: http://VSM_IP_Address/
VMware	Download the VEM software from the VMware website. Click Download Vmware vSphere 4 Enterprise Plus > Download Download the VMware patches if you are utilizing VMware releases with patches.
Cisco	Download the VEM software from the Cisco website.

1 vCenter Update Manager 4.0 does not list Cisco Nexus 1000V patches or updates, but you can add a Cisco Nexus 1000V patch source using the VMware knowledge base procedure located at the following url: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1013134 vCenter Update Manager 4.0 Update 1 and later versions do not have this limitation.

VMware Patch Releases

The Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM software is updated to support VMware patch releases and is available on both the VMware and Cisco software download web sites. The Cisco Nexus 1000V software posted on these websites can be used for both installation and upgrade of the VEM for both the VMware Classic and VMware Embedded platforms.

For information about installing software on an ESX or ESXi, see your VMware documentation.

For information about VEM software packages and compatibility, see the following document:

Cisco Nexus 1000V Compatibility Information, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3) .

Prerequisites for Installing VEM Software

Before installing the Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM software, you must know or do the following:

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Note When performing any VUM operation on hosts which are a part of a cluster, ensure that VMWare High Availability (HA), VMware Fault Tolerance (FT), and VMware Distributed Power Management (DPM) features are disabled for the entire cluster. Otherwise, VUM will fail to upgrade the hosts in the cluster.

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Note Any ESX patches or updates after ESX400/ESXi400-201006201-UG will be backward compatible with the Cisco Nexus 1000V U2 VEM vib (cross_cisco-vem_v120-4.0.4.1.3.0.0-1.20.2.vib).

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•You have a copy of your VMware documentation available for installing software on a host.

•You have already obtained a copy of the VEM software file from one of the sources listed in Table 2.

•If you are installing the VEM software for the first time, you can install it before the Virtual Supervisor Module (VSM) is installed; however, verification and configuration of the VEM can only be done after installing the VSM.

•You have already downloaded the correct VEM software based on the current ESX host patch level. For more information, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V Compatibility Information, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3) .

•If you install the VEM software on an ESXi host before adding the host to a vSphere Server, you need to reboot the host. The alternative is to add the host to vSphere Server first, and then install the VEM software.

•If using VUM for a first-time installation, no action is required by the server administrator.
VUM automatically installs the VEM software.

•If you use a proxy server to connect VUM to the Internet, you may need to disable the proxy before starting a VUM upgrade. In VMware versions before VUM Update 1, the proxy prevents VUM from communicating locally with the VSM. For this reason, automatic VEM upgrades may fail if the proxy is not disabled first.

•On upstream switches the following configuration is mandatory:

–cat6k IOS:
(config-if) portfast trunk
or
(config-if) portfast edge trunk

–n5k: (config-if) spanning-tree port type edge trunk

•On upstream switches it is highly recommended that the following are enabled globally:

–Global BPDU Filtering

–Global BPDU Guard

•On upstream switches where you cannot globally enable BPDU Filtering and BPDU Guard, it is highly recommended that the following are configured:

–(config-if) spanning-tree bpdu filter

–(config-if) spanning-tree bpdu guard

•For more information about configuring spanning-tree, BPDU, or portfast, see the documentation for your upstream switch.

Flow Chart: Installing or Upgrading the VEM Software

The following flow chart is designed to guide you through the software installation process.

Figure 2 Installing or Upgrading the VEM Software

Installing the VEM Software

You can use this procedure to install the Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM software with vCLI on an ESX or ESXi host.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Before beginning this procedure, you must know or do the following:

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Note If you are using VUM, then the Cisco Nexus 1000V software will be installed automatically. No action is required by the server administrator.

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•You have downloaded and installed the VMware vCLI. For information about installing vCLI, see the VMware vCLI documentation.

•You have already copied the VEM software installation file to the /tmp directory.

•You know the name of the VEM software file to be installed.

•You are logged in to the remote host where vCLI is installed.

PROCEDURE

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Step 1 Go to the directory where the new VEM software was copied.

[root@serialport -]# cd tmp

[root@serialport tmp]# 

Step 2 Using the vihostupdate utility and the correct name of the new VEM software file, install the VEM software.

[root@serialport tmp]# vihostupdate -i -b ./cisco-vem-v120-4.0.4.1.3.0.0-1.9.2.vib.zip 
--server 192.0.2.0

Enter username: root

Enter password:

Please wait patch installation is in progress...

Host updated successfully.

[root@serialport tmp]#

Step 3 Verify that the installation was successful.

[root@serialport tmp]# vihostupdate -q --server 192.0.2.0

Enter username: root

Enter password:

-----Bulletin ID----- -----Installed----- ----------Summary----------

VEM400-20904000-BG    2009-J4-TO6:02:56    A Cisco switch module for VMware ESX Server 
4.0.0 systems

[root@serialport tmp]#

Step 4 Run the following commands and compare the output with the Cisco Nexus 1000V Compatibility Information, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3) .

root@serialport tmp]# esxupdate --vib-view query | grep cisco

cross_cisco-vem-v120-esx_4.0.4.1.3.0.0-1.9.2  installed     
2010-07-18T16:56:00.787147+00:00

root@serialport tmp]# rpm -qa | grep vmkernel | awk -F. `{print $5}'

208167

root@serialport tmp]# vmware -v

VMware ESXi 4.0.0 Build-208167

root@serialport tmp]# esxupdate query

-----Bulletin ID----- -----Installed----- ----------Summary----------

ESXi400-Update01    2010-07-18T14:30:58    VMware ESXi 4.0 Update 1 

VEM400-201004265419109-BG 2010-07-18T16:56:00 Cisco Nexus 1000V 4.0(4)SV1(3) 

Step 5 Do one of the following:

•If the installation was successful, the installation procedure is complete.

•If not, see the Recreating the Cisco Nexus 1000V Installation section in Cisco Nexus 1000V Troubleshooting Guide, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3) .

You have completed this procedure.

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Upgrading the ESX Host and the VEM Software

You can use this procedure to upgrade either of the following hosts and the Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM software using the vCLI.

•ESX

•ESXi

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Before beginning this procedure, you must know or do the following:

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Note If you are using VUM, then follow the VMware patch installation documentation to create a software baseline for upgrading ESX or ESXi hosts.

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•You have downloaded and installed the VMware vCLI.
For information about installing vCLI, see the VMware vCLI documentation.

•You have already copied the ESX or ESXi host software and VEM software installation file to the /tmp directory.

•Check the Cisco Nexus 1000V Compatibility Information, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3) for compatible versions.

•You know the name of the ESX or ESXi and VEM software file to be installed.

•You are logged in to the remote host where vCLI is installed.

DETAILED STEPS

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Step 1 Go to the directory where the new VEM software was copied.

[root@serialport -]# cd tmp

[root@serialport tmp]# 

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Note If you are upgrading your ESX/ESXi host from ESX/ESXi400-201006201-UG, then you do not need to include any VEM bundle.

vihostupdate --install -- bundle "[path to VMware Update offline bundle]" --server [ESX host IP address]

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Step 2 Using the vihostupdate utility and the correct name of the new VEM software file, install the ESX or ESXi and VEM software.

[root@serialport tmp]# vihostupdate -i -b ./VEM400-200911014.zip,./ESXi-4.0.0-Update01.zip 

--server 192.0.2.0

Enter username: root

Enter password:

Please wait patch installation in progress  ...

Host updated successfully.

[root@serialport tmp]#

Step 3 Verify that the installation was successful.

[root@serialport tmp]# vihostupdate -q --server 192.0.2.0

Enter username: root

Enter password:

-----Bulletin ID----- -----Installed----- ----------Summary----------

ESXi400-Update01    2010-05-18T14:46:38    VMware ESXi 4.0 Update 1 

VEM400-200911014-BG 2010-05-18T14:46:52    Cisco Nexus 1000V 

root@serialport tmp]# esxupdate -vib-view query | grep cisco

cross_cisco-vem-v120-esx_4.0.4.1.3.0.0-1.20.21 installed 2010-0718T17:20:57.288739+00:00

cross_cisco-vem-v120-esx_4.0.4.1.3.0.0-1.9.2   retired 2010-07-18T16:56:00.787147+00:00

cross_cisco-vem-v120-esx_4.0.4.1.3.0.0-1.11.2  retired 2010-07-18T17:06:53.675403+00:00

The highlighted text shows the upgraded Cisco VEM.

root@serialport tmp]# rpm -qa | grep vmkernel | awk -F. `{print $5}'

261974

root@serialport tmp]# vmware -v

VMware ESXi 4.0.0 Build-261974

Step 4 Do one of the following:

•If the installation was successful, the installation procedure is complete.

•If not, see the Recreating the Cisco Nexus 1000V Installation section in Cisco Nexus 1000V Troubleshooting Guide, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3) .

You have completed this procedure.

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Upgrading the VEM Software

You can use this procedure to manually install the Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM software on an ESX or ESXi host.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Before beginning this procedure, you must know or do the following:

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Note If you are using VUM, then the Cisco Nexus 1000V software will be installed automatically. No action is required by the server administrator.

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•You are logged in to the ESX host.

•Check the Cisco Nexus 1000V Compatibility Information, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3) for the compatible VEM version.

•You know the name of the VEM software file to be installed and have have already copied it to the following directory on the ESX host:

–/tmp

DETAILED STEPS

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Step 1 From the ESX 4.0 host /tmp directory, using the esxupdate command and the correct name of the VEM software file, install the VEM software as shown in the following example:

[root@cos1-]# esxupdate -b ./cross_cisco-vem-v100-4.0.4.1.3.nn-0.4.nn-release.vib update 
cross_cisco-vem-v100-4.0.4.1.1.nn-0.4.nn..   ################################### [100%]

Unpacking cross_cisco-vem-v100-esx_4..        ################################### [100%]

Installing cisco-vem-v100-esx                 ################################### [100%]

Running [/usr/sbin/vmkmod-install.sh]...

ok.

[root@cos1-]#

This command loads the software manually onto the host, loads the kernel modules, and starts the VEM Agent on the running system.

Step 2 Verify that the installation was successful by checking for the statement, VEM Agent is running, in the output of the vem status command.

[root@cos1-]# vem status

VEM modules are loaded

Switch Name   Num Ports   Used Ports  Configured Ports  MTU   Uplinks

vSwitch0      32          3           32                1500  vmnic0

VEM Agent is running

[root@cos1-]#

Step 3 Run the following commands and compare the output with the Cisco Nexus 1000V Compatibility Information, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3) .

root@cos1-]# esxupdate -vib-view query | grep cisco

The highlighted text shows the upgraded Cisco VEM.

root@cos1-]# rpm -qa | grep vmkernel | awk -F. `{print $5}'

261974

root@cos1-]# vmware -v

VMware ESXi 4.0.0 Build-261974

root@cos1-]# vem status -v

Step 4 Do one of the following:

•If the installation was successful, the installation procedure is complete.

•If not, see the Recreating the Cisco Nexus 1000V Installation section in Cisco Nexus 1000V Troubleshooting Guide, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3) .

You have completed this procedure.

Step 5 For details about adding a host to the DVS, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V Getting Started Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3).

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Uninstalling the VEM Software

You can use this procedure to uninstall the Cisco Nexus 1000V software from a VEM.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Before beginning this procedure, you must know or do the following:

•Make sure the host is not currently a part of any DV switch by removing all of the following active ports from the DV switch:

–VMware kernel NICs

–Virtual switch interfaces

–Virtual NICs

•You are logged in to the ESX/ESXi host remotely using SSH.

DETAILED STEPS

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Step 1 Uninstall the VEM software using the vem-remove -d command.

This command removes the software from the host, removes the kernel modules, and stops the VEM Agent on the running system.

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Note The following example is being run on ESX.

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[root@fcs-cos2 ~]# vem-remove -d

Watchdog-vemdpa: Terminating watchdog with PID 6651

Removing CIsco VEM VIB from COS system

Removing VIB cross_cisco-vem-v100-esx_4.0.4.1.2.3.0-1.11.2

Removing cisco-vem-v100-esx ############################### [100%]

Running [/usr/sbin/vmkmod-install.sh]...

Ok.

root@fcs-cos2 ~]#

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Note The following command is being run on ESXi.

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~ # vem-remove -d

watchdog-vemdpa: Terminating watchdog with PID 8815

Removing Cisco VEM VIB from visor system

Removing VIB cross_cisco-vem-v100-esx_4.0.4.1.2.3.0-1.11.2

Removing packages :cisco-vem-v100-esx ########################### [100%]

Running [/usr/sbin/vmkmod-install.sh]...

ok.

Cleaning up running visor system

~ #

Step 2 Verify that the software was successfully removed by checking for the output of the esxupdate --vib-view query command:

[root@fcs-cos2 -]# esxupdate --vib-view query

------------------VIB ID------------------ Package State -----------Timestamp------------ 

cross_cisco-vem-v100-esx_4.0.4.1.3.27-0.4.3 retired       2009-07-02T15:26:45.994264-05:00 

root@fcs-cos2 -]#

~ # esxupdate --vib-view query

------------------VIB ID------------------ Package State -----------Timestamp------------ 

cross_cisco-vem-v100-esx_4.0.4.1.3.27-0.4.3 retired       2009-07-02T05:20:47.860404+00:00 

~ # 

Step 3 Do one of the following:

•If the removal was successful, your uninstallation is complete.

•If not, see the Recreating the Cisco Nexus 1000V Installation section in Cisco Nexus 1000V Troubleshooting Guide, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3) .

You have completed this procedure.

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Available Documents

This section lists the documents used with the Cisco Nexus 1000 and available on Cisco.com at the following url:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9902/tsd_products_support_series_home.html

General Information

Cisco Nexus 1000V Documentation Roadmap, Release 4.0(4) SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V Release Notes, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V Compatibility Information, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1010 Management Software Release Notes, Release 4.0(4)SP1(1)

Install and Upgrade

Cisco Nexus 1000V Software Installation Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V Software Upgrade Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM Software Installation and Upgrade Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1010 Virtual Services Appliance Hardware Installation Guide

Configuration Guides

Cisco Nexus 1000V License Configuration Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V Getting Started Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V High Availability and Redundancy Configuration Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V Interface Configuration Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V Port Profile Configuration Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V Quality of Service Configuration Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V Security Configuration Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V System Management Configuration Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1010 Software Configuration Guide, Release 4.0(4)SP1(1)

Programming Guide

Cisco Nexus 1000V XML API User Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Reference Guides

Cisco Nexus 1000V Command Reference, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V MIB Quick Reference

Cisco Nexus 1010 Command Reference, Release 4.0(4)SP1(1)

Troubleshooting and Alerts

Cisco Nexus 1000V Troubleshooting Guide, Release 4.0(4)SV1(3)

Cisco Nexus 1000V Password Recovery Guide

Cisco NX-OS System Messages Reference

Network Analysis Module Documentation

Cisco Network Analysis Module Software Documentation Guide, 4.2

Cisco Nexus 1000V NAM Virtual Service Blade Installation and Configuration Guide

Network Analysis Module Command Reference Guide, 4.2

User Guide for the Cisco Network Analysis Module Virtual Service Blades, 4.2

Cisco Network Analysis Module Software Release Notes, 4.2

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

For information about obtaining documentation, submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see the monthly What's New in Cisco Product Documentation, which also lists all new and revised Cisco technical documentation, at:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html

Subscribe to the What's New in Cisco Product Documentation as a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed and set content to be delivered directly to your desktop using a reader application. The RSS feeds are a free service and Cisco currently supports RSS Version 2.0.

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This document is to be used in conjunction with the documents listed in the Available Documents section.

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