Welcome back to Catalyst capsules. In this 3rd video of our series, we are focusing on building the foundation of your Catalyst Center deployment, which is the network hierarchy. Let's dive into this important aspect. In this capsule, we'll explore several key areas.00:02We'll start with the importance of network hierarchy and then break down the structure of sites, buildings, and floors. We'll proceed to discuss global network settings, including DNS, NTP, and syslog. Wireless and IP pool considerations will also be covered. Finally, we'll engage in a live demo to construct a hierarchy within catalyst.00:18Let's discuss why network hierarchy is crucial. There are three main reasons. Location context, allowing for faster troubleshooting by mapping devices to sites, setting inheritance for consistent configurations across child sites, and assurance accuracy enabling location based health dashboards and wireless heat maps, a proper hierarchy.00:40Marquee is foundational for effective network management.01:00Now we'll examine the hierarchy structure. It begins at the global level, followed by areas which represent broad regions such as US East. Within an area you define buildings, like the headquarters in summerset. Floors are defined within buildings to support wireless maps and access point placements. It's important to include all floors for wireless deployment.01:05That's.01:25Let's cover global network settings. These encompass essential services like DNS for domain resolution and NTP for time synchronization, crucial for logs and certificates. Syslog and SNMP determine where telemetry data is sent, and device credentials are pivotal for managing your devices. Set these at the globe.01:27Global level to ensure universal inheritance.01:47Let's move into practical application. I'll guide you through creating your site hierarchy, adding a building with a real address, designing a floor, and uploading its plan. We'll also configure network settings. Let's proceed with this live demonstration in Catalyst Center.01:52Let's begin by logging into the Catalyst Center. From the main dashboard, we'll open the menu, navigate to design, and then select network hierarchy. This section contains the entire network structure. At the top, you'll see global, which branches into geographic areas such as Asia, Europe, and North America will expla.02:08Expand Europe and then England to observe how the structure is organized.02:28Inside England, we have a building named London one which contains several floors, including the ground floor, the 1st floor, 2nd floor, and an IIOT experience center. This setup mirrors the physical layout. Let's click on the 1st floor. Here Catalyst Center provides a two dimensional floor map with a live wireless heat map.02:32The green zones indicate strong signal coverage displaying access points such as the CW 9178I and CW 9166I series.02:53A key feature is visualizing coverage by radio band. We'll toggle between 2.4 ghz 5 ghz, and 6 ghz filters. Notice the heat map updates to show different band coverages. We can also switch to a3D view for detailed coverage analysis across the space.03:03Moving on, let's examine the global network settings. Navigate to design then, network settings, and access the servers tab where we configure external services. Expand the DNS section to see that our domain name is pseudo.com, and the DNS server is ten.ten.ten.ten facilitating.03:43Host name resolution.04:03Next, the NTP server is configured as ten.one.0.one. This is critical for time synchronization ensuring accurate logging and valid certificates. In the triple AAA section, notice our use of Cisco Identity Services engine, i. E. With the radius protocol for authentication, linked to declos.04:05Cloud ice simulator instances.04:24Finally, let's discuss inheritance. Green check marks indicate settings inherited from the parent site. Anging an inherited setting only affects that site and its children, not the parent, and it cannot revert back to being inherited. This concludes our tour of the network hierarchy and settings. Let's return to the slides to review best practices.04:27Before concluding, let's review some best practices. Consistency in naming conventions aids in management. Aligning your hierarchy with real world addresses enhances accuracy, begin by setting global settings, and override them at lower levels only if necessary. Always include floors for wireless deployments to ensure proper.04:48For access point placement and functionality.05:08That's how you establish a robust network hierarchy in Catalyst Center. Thank you for joining this catalyst capsule. In the next video, we'll explore network automation, covering topics like software image management and templates. Looking forward to seeing you there.05:12
