Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst Data Sheet
Available Languages
Product overview
Cisco® Configuration Professional for Catalyst is an on-device WebUI device-management tool for Cisco IOS® classic based Cisco Catalyst® switches.
This PC-based application provides device management for Cisco Catalyst switches, simplifying management, monitoring, configuration, and services through easy-to-use wizards. The UI provides localization support for the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean languages, in addition to English.
Cisco Configuration Professional tools enhance productivity for network administrators and channel partners by enabling them to deploy routers in medium-sized businesses and enterprise branch offices with increased confidence and ease. The tools have built-in configuration checks that help reduce errors.
Cisco Configuration Professional assumes a general understanding of networking technologies and terms but assists individuals unfamiliar with the Cisco Command-Line Interface (CLI). It is available as a standalone downloadable .tar file as well as bundled with Cisco IOS (.tar file) Release 15.2(5)E and later.
To find out when a new version of Cisco Configuration Professional is available for download, visit the following link: https://software.cisco.com/download/type.html?mdfid=286310742&flowid=81002
Customer benefits
Today’s businesses depend on network-based applications and communications tools more than ever before. To preserve essential communications with your partners and customers, maintain the productivity of your employees, and sustain the profitability of your business, you need to make sure that your network is secure and reliable and that it performs optimally at all times. However, modern business networks can encompass a wide range of wired and wireless networking, security, and voice technologies. Making sure that your network is configured and operating properly is a complex, costly, and time-consuming task.
Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst can help you with
● A simple, clean, and uncluttered user interface
● Simplified networking operations and manageability
● Faster issue resolution by providing telemetry operations
Platform and browser support
Cisco Configuration Professional is currently supported on the Cisco Catalyst 2960-L, Cisco Digital Building switch, 2960-C, 2960-Plus, 2960-X, 2960-XR, 2960-CX, and 3560-CX Series Switches.
Browser requirements
Laptop or desktop computer compatible with one of the following tested and supported browsers:
● Google Chrome 52 or later
● Mozilla Firefox 48 or later
● Apple Safari 9 or later
● Microsoft Internet Explorer 11, or later
On switches shipped with Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst, users can initiate a day-0 setup with a tablet or PC browser. There are two ways of connecting to the switch.
● Using an Ethernet cable to connect a computer to any Ethernet port on the switch
● Over-the-air Bluetooth pairing between a computer or tablet and a switch with a Bluetooth USB dongle attached
Client system requirements
● Hardware: Mac (OS version 10.9.5) or Windows (OS version 7)
● Display resolution: We recommend that you set the screen resolution to 1280 x 800 or higher
Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst WebUI
The WebUI provides an intuitive interface to manage and monitor the lower-end Cisco Catalyst switches such as the Cisco Catalyst Digital Building Series and the 2960-L, 2960-Plus, 2960-C, 2960-X, 2960-CX, and 3560-CX Series. The settings have been divided among four dashboards: Monitoring, Configuration, Services, and General Settings, based on relevance and functionality. The configuration changes can be persisted (written to memory permanently) by choosing the “Save Configuration” option in the top right corner of the screen.
The default language is selected based on the preferred language configured in the browser settings. Users can override this selection by choosing the language of their choice from the language drop-down in the top right corner. The selection will persist in the browser until the browser cache is cleared or the language is changed again.
Monitoring
The Monitoring dashboard gives a snapshot of the switch and its overall general health. The Dashboard view has various dashlets that show the operator important information such as CPU usage, temperature, memory utilization, and power supply status. The event log table shows information about critical system events. The dashboard is refreshed every 60 seconds.
Ports monitoring enables users to track and monitor port parameters such as description, port status, and type. Details on a specific port in the table can be selected and highlighted by clicking on the port in the logical view at the top.
The Clients monitoring feature provides detailed information on all the devices connected to the switch in an easy-to-understand tabular format. Known device types are pictorially represented as icons.
Configuration
The Switch page of the Configuration dashboard provides an interface for the user to configure general and basic parameters such as IP address, hostname, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP), and Bluetooth. Users can save the changes in each tab independently.
The Ports page provides an interface for the user to configure the ports. To improve usability, for each of the ports the parameters are grouped under General settings, Port-Specific settings, and Advanced settings. The fields are capability based; hence they are dynamically shown and hidden.
The Troubleshooting page provides tools for the user to run basic tests and diagnostics that will help in assessing the health of the switch. The Ping and Traceroute tabs provide interfaces to run Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) tests and view the results.
On the VLAN page, the user can add a new Layer 2 VLAN by clicking the “Add” button on the Layer 2 VLAN tab. The VLAN ID range is between 2 and 4094. The user can enter a name for the VLAN and either configure it into the active state or leave it suspended. VLANs can be grouped as seen on the VLAN Group tab. A new group with a name can be specified by entering a VLAN list range, again bound by the overall VLAN range between 2 and 4094.
STP can be configured on the Configuration->Switch page. STP modes that are supported on Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst are RPVST, PVST, and MST. You can see details of VLAN ID, VLAN Name, Spanning Tree Status (enabled or disabled), and the bridge priority number.
VTP is a newly introduced feature in Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst 1.4.0. VTP can be configured on the Configuration->Switch page.
On the Bluetooth screen, a DHCP pool can be created to assign an IP address to the Bluetooth interface when the pairing occurs.
Starting with Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst 1.4.0, customers can configure switch virtual interfaces (SVIs) and assign IP addresses to the SVIs created. This can be done on the Configuration Ú VLAN tab.
Services
The NetFlow feature on the Services dashboard is enabled for platforms that support NetFlow. The user begins by choosing a template for the NetFlow record. Based on the selected template, the corresponding collect and match parameters will be set in the switch. The restrictions enforced by the switch with respect to the maximum number of samplers and the sampler allocation apply in the UI as well.
Static routing can be configured on supported platforms. On the Create Static Route page, Prefix is the network address and Prefix Mask is the corresponding subnet mask to be specified.
The authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) feature was introduced in Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst 1.4.0. Once AAA is enabled, customers can configure various AAA protocols such as RADIUS, TACACS, and LDAP. There is also a facility to ping the server and test the connectivity with the switch.
Access policy can be configured using Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst starting with the 1.4.0 release. Customers have the option to choose between 802.1X, Mac Authentication Bypass (MAB), and WebAuth. These policies can be applied to multiple interfaces at once. The default server groups are RADIUS and LDAP. Customers can choose from one of these server groups.
A complete view of the Access Policies that are configured on the switch is displayed.
Another security feature, access control list (ACL), was added in Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst 1.4.0. Actions such as permit and deny are provided and can be applied to multiple interfaces at once.
Customers can see the complete list of ACLs as well as the type of ACL and the ACE (access control entry) count.
Cisco EnergyWise® can be enabled or disabled globally.
The end devices connected to the interfaces in the switch can be powered on or off using the Wake on LAN feature.
Energy saver Client mode will help in managing the end devices connected to the interface. Cisco EnergyWise uses a set of power levels to consistently manage power usage. The power level energy management settings available in Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst are Full, Hibernate, Shut, and Sleep.
The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) prevents routing loops by implementing a limit on the number of hops allowed in a path from source to destination.
Enhanced Interior Gateway Protocol(EIGRP), a Cisco proprietary protocol, is used for automating routing decisions and configuration.
SPAN and RSPAN is a method to monitor port traffic. With this feature enabled, switch sends a copy of all the packets seen on one port to another port, where the packets can be analyzed.
General Settings
The features on the Management page of the General Settings dashboard enable a user to configure the ways in which the supported management interfaces—HTTP/HTTPS and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)–can be accessed. The user is presented with an accordion pane for configuring HTTP/HTTPS and SNMP.
The Software Update interface provides an option to upgrade the switch software in full (WebUI and Cisco IOS Software bundle) or the UI only (WebUI Only). Once a file downloaded on the client computer is selected, the button to start the update will be enabled.
The System page currently allows the user to set the time, specify a config file (import and export), and configure Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). System time can be configured locally, or the switch can be configured to read time from a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server.
The User Administration screen provides an interface to configure users and access levels. A new user can be added by clicking the “Add” button. An existing user entry can be modified by selecting it from the table.
Product specifications
Feature support in Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst Release 1.1
To see the platforms supported by Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst Release 1.1, refer to the following release notes:
Feature support in Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst Release 1.3
| Feature support in | Support details |
| CLI for WebUI | Allows you to run supported CLI commands from the web user interface. |
| Exporting logs and port monitoring data | Exporting logs enables you to export system logs from the dashboard. Port monitoring data enables you to track port parameters such as description, port status, and type |
| Export and restore | Export enables you to take a backup of the switch configuration and store it on the local hard disk or on a remote TFTP server. Restore allows you to transfer a previously backed-up configuration file to the switch. Once restarted, the switch will come up with this configuration. |
| Bluetooth | Allows the user to turn Bluetooth on and off on supported switches. |
| Static routing | Allows the user to configure static routes on supported switches. |
| Blink LED | Allows the user to set the LED status to indicate port status on Cisco Catalyst Digital Building Series Switches. |
| Find switch | Enables the user to switch on the beacon LED on Cisco Catalyst Digital Building Series Switches. |
| DHCP | Allows the user to configure DHCP on the switches. |
| Etherchannel | Users can create Etherchannels by selecting multiple ports in the port configuration window and providing a port group number as applicable for the platform. |
| Display serial number | Displays the switch serial number in the switch view. |
Feature support in Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst Release 1.3.1
| Feature support in | Support details |
| 2960L 10G support | WebUI support for 2960L 10G. Parity with 2960L 1G is provided. |
To see the platforms supported by Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst Release 1.3 and 1.3.1, refer to the following release notes:
Feature support in Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst Release 1.4.0
To see the platforms supported by Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst Release 1.4.0, refer to the following release notes:
Feature support in Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst Release 1.5.0
| Feature support in | Support details |
| SPAN and RSPAN | Analyse network traffic passing through ports or VLANs using this feature |
| RIP and EIGRP | RIP and EIGRP routing protocol support |
To see the platforms supported by Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst Release 1.5.0, refer to the following release notes:
Cost savings
Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst is ideal for enterprise branch offices and companies of all sizes that are sensitive to device deployment and network management costs and have few skilled technicians. Cisco Configuration Professional enhances the productivity of network, security, and voice administrators through built-in configuration checks, a configuration editor for experts, and meaningful defaults.
Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst features provide an additional advantage of improved network availability due to fewer configuration errors.
Ordering information
Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst is available as a free download from Cisco.com for all supported platforms. To download a copy of Cisco Configuration Professional, visit https://www.cisco.com/go/ciscocp. You can also download it from the software download center at https://www.cisco.com/cisco/software/type.html?mdfid=281795035&catid=null.
To place an order, visit the Cisco Direct Order page.
Cisco Services for the branch office
Services from Cisco and our certified partners can help you reduce the cost and complexity of branch-office deployments. We have the depth and breadth of experience across technologies to architect a blueprint for a branch-office solution to meet your company's needs. Planning and design services align technology with business goals and can increase the accuracy, speed, and efficiency of deployment. Technical services help maintain operational health, strengthen software application functions, solve performance problems, and lower expenses. Optimization services are designed to continually improve performance and help your team succeed with new technologies. For more information, please visit https://www.cisco.com/go/services.
For more information
For more information about Cisco Configuration Professional for Catalyst switches, visit https://www.cisco.com/go/ccp-catalyst or contact your local Cisco account representative.
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