Cisco Prime DCNM Release Notes, Release 7.0(1)
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Table of Contents
Cisco Prime DCNM Release Notes, Release 7.0
New Features and Enhancements in Cisco DCNM Release 7.0
OVA Form Factor Packaged with all DFA Components
Enhanced Visualization and Topology
Supported Cisco Platforms and Software Versions
Registering a Product Authorization Key
Limitations in Cisco DCNM Release 7.0(x)
General Limitations for Cisco DCNM Release 7.0
Open Caveats—Cisco DCNM Release 7.0
Open Caveats—Prime NSC adapter Release 1.0.1
Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switch Documentation
Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender Documentation
Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switch Documentation
Cisco Nexus 4000 Series Switch Documentation
Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch Documentation
Cisco Nexus 6000 Series Switch Documentation
Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch Documentation
Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request
Cisco Prime DCNM Release Notes, Release 7.0
This document provides the release notes for Cisco Prime Data Center Network Manager (DCNM), Release 7.0. Use this document in combination with the documents listed in the “Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request” section.
DCNM 7.0(1) release is specifically targeted to manage Dynamic Fabric Automation (DFA) architecture. This release is not intended for traditional DCNM LAN/SAN users, looking for 6.x upgrade for bug fixes and regular maintenance updates.
Note Release notes are sometimes updated with new information about restrictions and caveats. See the following website for the most recent version of the Cisco DCNM Release Notes:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9369/prod_release_notes_list.html
Table 1 shows the online change history for this document.
Contents
This document includes the following sections:
- Introduction
- System Requirements
- Hardware Supported
- Software Download Site
- Deployment Best Practices
- Installation Notes
- New Features and Enhancements in Cisco DCNM Release 7.0
- Supported Cisco Platforms and Software Versions
- Licensing
- Limitations in Cisco DCNM Release 7.0(x)
- Caveats
- Related Documentation
- Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request
Introduction
Cisco Prime DCNM combines the management of Ethernet and storage networks into a single dashboard to help network and storage administrators manage and troubleshoot health and performance across the following product families that run Cisco NX-OS software. DCNM 7.0 specifically addresses the deployment of Cisco Dynamic Fabric Automation (DFA). The following devices are supported for DFA deployments:
System Requirements
This section lists the tested and supported hardware and software specifications for Cisco DCNM server and client architecture. The application has been tested in English locales only.
This section includes the following topics:
- Java Requirements
- Server Requirements
- Client Requirements
- Browsers
- Other Supported Software
- Software Download Site
- Hardware Supported
Java Requirements
Cisco DCNM Server is distributed with Java JRE 1.6.0_31. Cisco DCNM clients should also use Java JRE 1.6.0_31. The DCNM installer installs JRE 1.6.0_31 to the following directory: DCNM_root_directory/java/jre1.6.
Server Requirements
Cisco DCNM Release 7.0(1) supports the following databases:
- Oracle11g Express (XE), Standard, and Enterprise Editions, and Oracle 11g Real Application Clusters (RAC).
For deployment best practices, see the “Deployment Best Practices” section.
Note
Customers are responsible for all support associated with Oracle database, including maintenance, troubleshooting, and recovery. Cisco recommends that customers perform regular database backups, either daily or weekly, to ensure that all data is preserved.
Cisco DCNM Release 7.0(x) supports running the Cisco DCNM server on the following hypervisor:
Table 2 lists the minimum and recommended database server system requirements for running Cisco DCNM and using an external Oracle Database.
DCNM Host Requirements
Table 3 lists the server resource requirements for deploying Cisco DCNM 7.0 Virtual Appliance (OVA).
Note The Cisco DCNM desktop client that manages vPC, VDC, and FabricPath features using deep discovery through XML can manage a maximum of 50 devices (2500 ports) with one Cisco DCNM server or a cluster of two servers. A cluster of two servers provides High Availability (HA) (Active-Active) in case one of the Cisco DCNM servers fails.
Client Requirements
Cisco DCNM clients support Windows 7, Windows 2008, and Red Hat Linux. Table 4 lists the minimum hardware requirements for these client systems.
Some Cisco DCNM features require a license. Before you can use the licensed features, you must install the Cisco DCNM license. For more information, see the Cisco DCNM Installation and Licensing Guide, Release 7.x.
Be sure to set the correct time zone value on the client system’s clock (for example, UTC). Otherwise, Cisco DCNM-LAN cannot manage the switch properly.
Browsers
Web browsers that support Adobe Flash 10 are qualified for use with Cisco DCNM. These include Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.
Other Supported Software
Table 5 lists other software supported by Cisco DCNM Release 6.2(x).
In addition, Cisco DCNM supports the following types of events: EMC Call Home events, fabric change events, and events that are forwarded by traps and e-mail.
Software Download Site
To download the Cisco DCNM 7.0 software, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/dcnm and click Download Software.
Deployment Best Practices
Observe the following guidelines when deploying Cisco DCNM:
– Deploy an Oracle database when managing production or mission critical environments.
– Deploy an Oracle database on a separate server from the Cisco DCNM application server.
– If you plan to use an Oracle 11g database, configure the Oracle database as follows:
Increase the number of sessions and processes to 150 each from the default of 50.
Increase the number of open cursors to 1000 from the default of 300.
– We recommend deploying Oracle11g for mission-critical production environments.
Note The password for the Oracle 11g Express (XE) database expires after 180 days. You must change this setting by using the following steps.
1. Log in to the Oracle database.
2. Enter the commands as shown in this example:
– We recommend that the Cisco DCNM server run the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to synchronize its clock with those of the managed devices.
– Do not deploy Cisco DCNM when network latency is more then 50 ms from the switch management subnet to the Cisco DCNM server and Cisco DCNM database.
– Deploy Cisco DCNM on high-performance tier storage (2 ms to 4 ms response time).
Installation Notes
The following installation notes apply to Cisco DCNM Release 7.0:
- The Cisco DCNM virtual appliance includes the Cisco DCNM server and clients, Device Manager, PostgreSQL, Cisco XCP, OpenLDAP, RabbitMQ, DHCPD, all of which are installed on a 64-bit CentOS.
- Upgrade support is not available from any previous versions of DCNM.
For information about installing Cisco DCNM Release 7.(x), see the Cisco DCNM Installation Guide. You can find this publication on Cisco.com at this location:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9369/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
New Features and Enhancements in Cisco DCNM Release 7.0
DCNM 7.0 Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) form factor is not intended to be used to upgrade from DCNM6.x.
This release is specifically targeted with special features related to the DFA architecture. Traditional DCNM6.x LAN/SAN users should use DCNM6.x release train for bug fixes and updates.
Cisco DNCM Release 7.0 includes the new features, enhancements, and hardware support that are described in the following sections:
- OVA Form Factor Packaged with all DFA Components
- Enhanced Visualization and Topology
- POAP
- Auto-Configuration
- Web Services API
- Network Services
- Platform-Specific Features
- Supported Cisco Platforms and Software Versions
OVA Form Factor Packaged with all DFA Components
- DCNM 7.0 release provides DCNM as an Open Virtual Applianc (OVA), that can be deployed on VMware vSphere infrastructure. DCNM 7.0 ships only in the OVA format. The vCenter and ESXi must be version 5.1 or higher for a successful deployment.
- This Virtual Appliance has a pre-installed operating system (CentOS) with pre-installed DCNM Cisco Data Center Network Manager components for Dynamic Fabric Architecture.
- After deployment of the OVA, you can access DCNM Web UI at the configured IP address with credentials: admin/<user provided password>. To login to an ssh session of this deployment you can use the credentials: root/ <user provided password>.
Enhanced Visualization and Topology
A new topology paradigm with color-coded icons and leaf or spine representation with links is designed to give you a quick and useful view of health and functionality of the fabric and end hosts. You can view the topology at Dashboard->Dynamic Fabric Automation.
Following are a few highlights of the new DFA topology:
- Inter Switch Link view and Edge Ports view of Fabric.
- Node and Link status clearly color-coded for easy problem-recognition and reconciliation in large networks.
- Easy Search and Filter options based on:
– Real-time End Host Virtual/Physical Machine association (Tenant-awareness)
POAP
Power On Auto Provisioning (POAP). This is a feature that allows a device to automatically bootup with the desired configuration and images. You can access the configuration at config->Power On Auto Provisioning (POAP).
To facilitate this feature, DCNM has useful GUI and packaged utilities for:
- DHCP Scope definition
- Image and Configuration repository definitions
- Default POAP Templates for Leaf or Spine etc
- Creating required POAP template definition
- Associating a single template to multiple Device instances using a simple UI
- Viewing CLI-previews of deployed templates before they are applied on the device
- Cable plan management from POAP templates or learned Inter-switch links for a given fabric
- Automatically import and management of POAP devices in DCNM, when a device is powered up
Auto-Configuration
Auto-configuration feature enables Automated Network provisioning by integrating and interacting with:
Internal or External LDAP server to which DCNM can read or write profile, organization, partition and network definition These provide data read by the Leaf switches.
Internal or external Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) server to monitor any creation/update/deletion of auto-configuration elements.
Local DHCPD packaged by default where user can define DHCP scopes to be used by DHCP requests coming from the Leaf.
Internal or external Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) server used for multi device communication by DCNM leaves and spines. DCNM can notify leaf switches via XMPP when an auto-configuration event occurs.
- DCNM OVA packages a reference synchronization script for VMware vCD (vCloud Director) integration
- DCNM OVA packages reference script for Cisco Prime Network Registrar (CPNR) integration
Settings for auto-config are available at Admin> Dynamic Fabric Automation (DFA) > Settings
Web Services API
DCNM Provides REST based API for the following operations:
For more details on actual usage guidelines and request/response samples, please refer to the Web Services API Guide.
Network Services
In the Cisco DFA solution, traditional services, such as firewalls and load balancers, are deployed at regular leaf nodes within the spine-leaf topology, and at border leaf nodes. This is unlike more traditional data centers where these services are deployed at the aggregation layer.
Cisco Prime Network Services Controller (Prime NSC) provides the orchestration and automation of network services in Cisco DFA. The Prime NSC supports integration with virtual compute and storage managers such as UCS Director and Openstack Controller to provide end-to-end orchestration and automation for services in Cisco DFA.
A Prime NSC Adapter is bundled within the Cisco DCNM OVA. It performs the following functions:
- Enables DCNM to interoperate with one or more instances of the Prime NSC.
- Provides translation of DCNM language and objects into the Prime NSC language and objects.
- Ensures that the Prime NSC and DCNM are always synchronized.
- Maps the tenants and virtual data centers to the Prime NSC instances responsible for network services.
Platform-Specific Features
Cisco DCNM Release 7.0(1) supports the following platform-specific features:
– Cisco Nexus 3000 buffer usage charts and tabular data for microburst monitoring
Cisco DCNM Release 7.0(1) supports the following platform-specific features:
– Cisco Nexus 7718 18-slot chassis
– Cisco Nexus 7710 10-slot chassis
– Cisco Nexus 7700 Enhanced 48-port 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ I/O module (F2 Series)
Supported Cisco Platforms and Software Versions
For information about the software platforms and versions that Cisco DCNM supports, see the Cisco DCNM Release Compatibility Matrix.
Note For compatibility reasons, we recommend that you run the same version (or a later version) of Cisco DCNM as Cisco NX-OS software.
Hardware Supported
Table 6 lists the products and components that Cisco DCNM Release 7.0 supports.
8-Port 10-Gigabit Ethernet Module with XL Option (requires X2) |
|
48-port 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ I/O module (Enhanced F2 Series) |
|
Cisco Nexus 7700 Enhanced 48-port 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ I/O module (F2 Series) |
|
Cisco Nexus 1110-S Virtual Services Appliance1 |
|
Cisco Nexus 1110-X Virtual Services Appliance 1 |
|
Licensing
The free product features that come with Cisco Prime DCNM are referred to as Essentials Edition. This includes base functionality required for DFA Fabric Management. No license is required to use these features because they are unlocked with the image. They are included at no cost and are a part of the image that can be downloaded from http://www.cisco.com/cisco/software/navigator.html?a=a&i=rpm.
For the list of these features, see the Cisco DCNM Installation and Licensing Guide.
Cisco DCNM Advanced Edition can be licensed for both LAN and SAN switches using the product IDs listed in Table 7 .
Note Cisco Nexus Access licenses (DCNM-NXACC-100-K9 and DCNM-NXACC-250-K9) are no longer available in Cisco DCNM Release 6.1(1a) and later releases. Use DCNM-LAN-N3K and DCNM-LAN-N5K licenses above in place of DCNM-NXACC licenses.
Service contract PIDs are required for opening a case with TAC for breakage or repair and for upgrade from older versions of Cisco DCNM and Fabric Manager. You can also select Cisco DCNM as part of the purchase of a switch chassis, under software options. For more information on licensing, see the FAQs at this URL: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9369/prod_literature.html.
Registering a Product Authorization Key
To receive a Cisco DCNM license, you must register the Product Authorization Key (PAK) that you receive when you purchase Cisco DCNM. To register the PAK, follow these steps:
1. Go to http://www.cisco.com/go/license.
2. Enter the PAK, contact information, and MAC address or host ID of the Cisco DCNM server.
The license is sent as an e-mail attachment that is uploaded to Cisco DCNM Server and then assigned from the licensing pool to individual switches.
Caveats
This section includes the following topics:
Open Caveats—Cisco DCNM Release 7.0
This section lists caveats that apply to both Cisco DCNM-LAN and Cisco DCNM-SAN.
Symptom : OVA gets deployed successfully, but the user is unable to login to DCNM Web UI or connect to XMPP. However, the user is able to login to the virtual appliance using SSH terminal.
Conditions : Either the administrative password or hostname entered while deploying the OVA does not conform to the expected format. The format is indicated in the help text shown in the vSphere client screen during deployment.
Workaround : Redeploy the virtual appliance using a proper password that conforms to the description in the help text and a hostname as a fully qualified domain name.
Symptom : The two layer VPC id is not shown on topology pane and links do not display correctly on Topology--> port channel and VPC view.
Conditions : When you discover the two n5k and n1k one by one with hop 0.
Workaround : Discover all the devices (2N5ks and 1 n1k) in one task Or rediscover the 2 uplink N5ks one by one.
Symptom : Connection between Fex and N1k not shown for 2 layer vPC.
Conditions : When using 2 layer vPC setup, the connection between the Fex and N1k is not shown. This is a rare occurrence.
Workaround : Discover the devices in 2 layer vPC serially, one after the other.
Symptom : When a switch is discovered, the mgmt0 interface is not shown in the Interface listing page for the switch.
Workaround : There is no workaround.
Symptom : From POAP definitions, if user edits a definition, goes through all the steps, and finally publishes it, and then tries to go to DFA topology, the screen becomes blank and unresponsive.
The same issue occurs when POAP definition is saved and published, then the user navigates to the DFA screen.
Conditions : When the POAP definition is saved or edited and published and the user goes to DFA topology screen.
Workaround : Doing a browser reload (clicking the reload button on the browser being used) fixes the issue.
Open Caveats—Prime NSC adapter Release 1.0.1
Symptom : Some tenants or networks are missing in NSC after addingVM-mgr for a deployment where VM-mgr has existing tenants or networks.
Conditions : When a VM-mgr is added to a Prime NSC instance where VM-mgr has tenants or networks already present. In some cases, all the tenants or networks are not synced to Prime NSC.
Workaround : Remove the NSC instance using nsc-adapter-mgr nsc remove <ip> comman and then add the NSC instance again using nsc-adapter-mgr nsc add <ip-address> <user-name> <password> command.
Symptom : Upon restarting the NSC adapter, the adapter connections command shows "initializing" state.
Conditions : This happens when one of the NSC instance specified in config.ini file is unreachable due to NSC load.
# /opt/nscadapter/bin/nsc-adapter-mgr adapter connections
Workaround : Using the GUI login, verify the NSC instance reachability. Identify the NSC instance where GUI is not reachable to find out if NSC is unreachable even though pingable. Then follow these steps:
Related Documentation
This section contains information about the documentation available for Cisco DCNM and for the platforms that Cisco DCNM manages.
This section includes the following topics:
- Cisco DCNM Documentation
- Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switch Documentation
- Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender Documentation
- Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switch Documentation
- Cisco Nexus 4000 Series Switch Documentation
- Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch Documentation
- Cisco Nexus 6000 Series Switch Documentation
- Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch Documentation
Cisco DCNM Documentation
The Cisco DCNM documentation is available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9369/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
The documentation set for Cisco DCNM includes the following documents:
Cisco DCNM for LAN Configuration Guides
FabricPath Configuration Guide, Cisco DCNM for LAN, Release 6.x
Cisco DCNM Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 6.x
Cisco DCNM Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide, Release 6.x
Cisco DCNM Security Configuration Guide, Release 6.x
Cisco DCNM System Management Configuration Guide, Release 6.x
Cisco DCNM Unicast Routing Configuration Guide, Release 6.x
Cisco DCNM Virtual Device Context Configuration Guide, Release 6.x
Cisco DCNM Getting Started with Virtual Device Contexts, Release 6.x
Cisco DCNM for SAN Configuration Guides
System Management Configuration Guide, Cisco DCNM for SAN, Release 6.x
Interfaces Configuration Guide, Cisco DCNM for SAN, Release 6.x
Fabric Configuration Guide, Cisco DCNM for SAN, Release 6.x
Quality of Service Configuration Guide, Cisco DCNM for SAN, Release 6.x
Security Configuration Guide, Cisco DCNM for SAN, Release 6.x
IP Services Configuration Guide, Cisco DCNM for SAN, Release 6.x
Intelligent Storage Services Configuration Guide, Cisco DCNM for SAN, Release 6.x
High Availability and Redundancy Configuration Guide, Cisco DCNM for SAN, Release 6.x
Inter-VSAN Routing Configuration Guide, Cisco DCNM for SAN, Release 6.x
SMI-S and Web Services Programming Guide, Cisco DCNM for SAN, Release 6.x
Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switch Documentation
The Cisco Nexus 1000V Series switch documentation is available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9902/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender Documentation
The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender documentation is available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10110/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switch Documentation
The Cisco Nexus 3000 Series switch documentation is available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11541/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
Cisco Nexus 4000 Series Switch Documentation
The Cisco Nexus 4000 Series switch documentation is available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10596/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch Documentation
The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switch documentation is available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9670/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
Cisco Nexus 6000 Series Switch Documentation
The Cisco Nexus 6000 Series documentation is available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps12806/tsd_products_support_general_information.html
Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch Documentation
The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series switch documentation is available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9902/tsd_products_support_series_home.html
Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request
For information on 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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