Modern data centers are getting increasingly complex and massive. Proliferation of new technologies such as virtualization is adding yet another level of complexity while enabling higher workloads to be placed on the network. Innovations such as Cisco® Unified Fabric unify storage and data networking to deliver convergence, scalability, and intelligence with reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) and faster return on investment (ROI). IT departments today are challenged to look beyond traditional silos of networking and storage to manage this converged, virtualized data center. Meeting this challenge calls for unification of the management plane to enable holistic management of the data center infrastructure.
Recognizing the need to support this convergence in management, Cisco is merging two best-in-class management solutions, Cisco Fabric Manager and Cisco Data Center Network Manager for LAN, into one unified product called Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM). Administrators can still maintain control and segmentation through role-based access control (RBAC), now with single-pane visibility across the network and storage access infrastructure. Cisco DCNM streamlines the provisioning of the unified fabric and proactively monitors the SAN and LAN components. Offering an exceptional level of visibility and control through a single pane for the Cisco Nexus®, Cisco Unified Computing System™, and Cisco MDS 9000 Family products, Cisco DCNM is the Cisco recommended solution for managing mission-critical data center networks. Cisco DCNM can be licensed to manage a combination of SAN and LAN environments. Depending on the licenses deployed, the following new features are available.
New Features in DCNM for SAN
• At-a-glance operationally focused summary and host dashboards
– Summary dashboard shows SAN health, top host, and storage ports with detailed view into key performance indicators (KPIs)
– Host dashboard provides visibility into the host-to-storage port path for both physical and virtualized servers along with contextual performance and inventory information
• Virtual machine-aware (VM-aware) topology view showing all the dependencies from the virtual machine to the physical host, to the switch, and to storage, with one-click access to their attributes; VM-aware views increase service availability by identifying performance bottlenecks on a virtual machine, and on VMware ESX server and extend visibility to the rest of the switch fabric
• VMpath: Detailed topology views providing end-to-end path information across multiple fabric clouds, shortest path, and all possible paths to available storage ports
• Performance management enhancements including the capability to view trends and correlation across multiple performance indicators on a single chart, interactive zooming options, and predictive analysis features
• Comprehensive Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) management, including provisioning, discovery, and operation monitoring across a wide variety of Cisco platforms (Cisco Nexus 5000 and 7000 Series Switches and Cisco MDS 9000 Family directors)
• Addition of new Reports including end device connectivity and VSAN performance distribution
• Support for industry standard Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) interfaces for integration into enterprise management solutions
New Features in DCNM for LAN
• Network State Tracking (NST) monitoring to detect link failures when using Nexus 1000v
• Management of Nexus 2232TM 10GE Fabric Extender (N2K-C2232TM-10GE)
• Configuration and monitoring on Nexus 2000 deployed as a fabric extender with Nexus 7000
• Nexus 3000 series discovery, inventory, configuration and operational management
• Support for Module Pre-Provisioning, Private VLAN on port Channel and vPC and Configuration Sync enhancements while managing Nexus 5000 series platforms
• Network Path Analysis using PONG
• Management of shared interfaces, port profiles and layer 3 interfaces on FEX when managing Nexus 7000 series platforms
• Support for new hardware modules on the Nexus 7000 series platform and support for managing Nexus 7009
Cisco DCNM supports a variety of Cisco hardware platforms including:
• Cisco MDS 9500 Multilayer Directors and Cisco MDS 9200 and 9100 Series Multilayer Switches
• Cisco Nexus 7000, 5000, 4000, 3000, and 2000 Series Switches
• Cisco Nexus 1000v virtual switches
• Cisco Catalyst 6500 series switches
• Cisco UCS 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects
Upgrade Paths
Customers running previous version of Cisco Fabric Manager 5.x or Cisco Data Center Network Manager 5.x with an active Software Application Support plus Upgrades (SASU) contract can transparently upgrade to Cisco DCNM 5.2 at no charge by downloading the software from the Cisco Software Center, accessible at http://www.cisco.com/go/dcnm. Current Cisco Fabric Manager licenses will continue to work with Cisco DCNM for SAN.
Ordering Information
Cisco DCNM is available with multiple licensing options for a wide range of data center deployments. Cisco DCNM can be licensed for SAN and LAN environments separately or together. An important change in the licensing model with Cisco DCNM (compared to Cisco Fabric Manager) is that licenses are hosted on the server and not the switch. All prior Cisco Fabric Manager licenses on existing Cisco MDS switches deployed in the network will remain valid for this licensing model, and customers do not need to order or deploy any additional licenses to manage their existing Cisco MDS 9000 Family switches (see the Q&A document at http://www.cisco.com/go/dcnm). Cisco DCNM Release 5.2 is available starting July 2011.
Furthermore, two types of Cisco DCNM for SAN and DCNM for LAN licenses are available: Essentials Edition and Advanced Edition. Cisco DCNM for SAN Essentials Edition is included with every Cisco MDS 9000 Family hardware purchase at no charge and can be downloaded from http://www.cisco.com/go/dcnm. Cisco DCNM for LAN Essentials Edition is included with every Cisco Nexus Family hardware purchase at no charge and can be downloaded from http://www.cisco.com/go/dcnm.
Cisco DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition adds capabilities such as performance monitoring and trending, virtual machine-aware path analysis, event forwarding, and federation across multiple data centers and can be licensed using specific part numbers (see the data sheet at http://www.cisco.com/go/dcnm).
Cisco DCNM for LAN Advanced Edition adds capabilities such as configuration management, image management, virtual device contexts (VDCs), and Cisco FabricPath and can be licensed using specific part numbers listed in Tables 1 and 2.
Table 1. DCNM for SAN Ordering Information
Product Name
Part Number
Configure to Order PIDs (Configure Option When Purchasing a Switch Chassis i.e MDS9513)
DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition for MDS 9100
DCNM-SAN-M91-K9
DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition for MDS 9200
DCNM-SAN-M92-K9
DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition for MDS 9500
DCNM-SAN-M95-K9
DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition for Nexus 7000
DCNM-SAN-N7K-K9
DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition for Nexus 5000
DCNM-SAN-N5K-K9
Spare PIDs (Used Outside of Chassis Purchase i.e. Building Inventory or Licensing Already Purchased Switches)
DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition for MDS 9100 Spare
DCNM-SAN-M91-K9=
DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition for MDS 9200 Spare
DCNM-SAN-M92-K9=
DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition for MDS 9500 Spare
DCNM-SAN-M95-K9=
DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition for Nexus 7000 Spare
DCNM-SAN-N7K-K9=
DCNM for SAN Advanced Edition for Nexus 5000 Spare
DCNM-SAN-N5K-K9=
DCNM for SAN PAK Contains All of the Chassis PIDs
L-DCNM-SAN-PAK=
Table 2. DCNM for LAN Ordering Information
Product Name
Part Number
Configure to Order and Spare PIDs
DCNM for LAN Essentials Edition (FREE) for Nexus 1000 Through Nexus 5000
DCNM-NXACC-K9
DCNM for LAN Essentials Edition (FREE) for Nexus 1000 Through Nexus 5000
DCNM-NXACC-K9=
DCNM for LAN Advanced Edition for Nexus 7000
DCNM-N7K-K9
DCNM for LAN Advanced Edition for Nexus 7000 Spare
DCNM-N7K-K9=
Service and Support
Using the Cisco Lifecycle Services approach, Cisco and its partners provide a broad portfolio of end-to-end services and support that can help increase your network's business value and ROI. This approach defines the minimum set of activities needed, by technology and by network complexity, to help you successfully deploy and operate Cisco technologies and optimize their performance throughout the lifecycle of your network.
For More Information
For more information about the Cisco DCNM software, send an email to ask-dcnm@cisco.com, visit the product homepage at http://www.cisco.com/go/dcnm, or contact your local account representative.
