Feature Comparison

Overview

Cisco Business Dashboard (CBD) is a network management tool designed for Cisco Catalyst 1200 and 1300 series switches, Cisco Business switches, routers, and wireless access points. It streamlines the task of managing a business network by automating the deployment, monitoring, and lifecycle management of the network.

Cisco Business Dashboard Lite (CBD Lite) is a simplified version of Cisco Business Dashboard, optimized for the Microsoft Windows environment. It retains the core features of the original product while reducing complexity and resource usage.

Below is a comparative table outlining the features of the two versions for your immediate reference.

Feature	Cisco Business Dashboard Lite	Cisco Business Dashboard
Deployment options	Native Microsoft Windows installation	Virtualized environments (e.g., VMWare, VirtualBox, Hyper-V, AWS, Microsoft Azure) or to be installed directly on Ubuntu Linux
Deployment location requirements	Same network as managed devices	Any convenient location, even when it’s hosted in the cloud and the managed devices are behind Network Address Translation (NAT)
Device onboarding requirements	No configuration changes necessary for management	Requires changes to device configurations, enabling the Cisco Business Dashboard (CBD) agent, and establishing an active connection to CBD for management
OS requirements	Microsoft Windows	Ubuntu Linux
Minimum system requirements	Any CPU/RAM specifications required by Windows, 3 GB Disk	2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 60 GB Disk
Supported devices	Refer to the Cisco Business Dashboard Lite – Device Support List for details	Refer to the Cisco Business Dashboard – Device Support List for details
Maximum supported devices	25	3000
Network discovery and inventory report	Yes	Yes
Device configuration and operation	Yes	Yes
Customizable monitoring dashboard	Yes	Yes
Device lifecycle report	Yes	Yes
Automatic firmware update notifications & One-click apply	Yes	Yes
Be alerted automatically to important events such as network devices going offline	Popup	Popup, email, open helpdesk ticket, send to collaboration space
Manage networks across multiple sites	No	Yes
Remote access to sites and devices without VPNs	No	Yes
Cisco Network Plug and Play (PnP)	No	Yes
Role-based access	Yes	Yes
Multi-tenant support/organizations	No	Yes
Device groups	No	Yes
API support for third-party integration	No	Yes
Integrates with popular Professional Service Automation (PSA) tools	No	Yes