Cisco Data Center Network Manager 10 Data Sheet

Cisco^® Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) 10 unifies and automates Cisco Nexus^® and Cisco MDS 9000 Family multitenant infrastructure for data center management across Cisco Nexus 5000, 6000, 7000, and 9000 Series Switches in NX‑OS mode using Cisco NX-OS Software as well as across Cisco MDS 9100 and 9300 Series Multilayer Fabric Switches, 9200 Series Multiservice Switches, and 9500 and 9700 Series Multilayer Directors. Data Center Network Manager 10 lets you manage very large numbers of devices while providing ready-to-use management and automation capabilities plus Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) overlay visibility into Cisco Nexus LAN fabrics.

Product Overview

Cisco Data Center Network Manager 10 software provides an advanced network management system (NMS) for LAN, SAN, and programmable fabric management infrastructure on Cisco Nexus switch infrastructure (Figure 1).

This initial release supports multitenant, multifabric infrastructure management for Cisco Nexus switches with available support for Cisco MDS 9000 Family storage management integration. The manager is deployed in a ready-to-use virtual appliance that includes the infrastructure necessary to manage and automate the deployment and operation of large fabrics.

The manager provides fabric-oriented configuration and operations management. It is optimized for very large deployments with little overhead, but traditional deployments are supported as well for implementations that do not require automation. Fabric deployments can be customized by the user to meet business needs.

Representational state transfer (REST) APIs allow easy integration from Cisco or third-party overlay managers.

Multitenant cloud deployments and scalable fabric management are supported through integration with popular hypervisor solutions such as VMware vSphere and OpenStack alongside orchestration mechanisms such as Cisco UCS^® Director.

Data Center Network Manager 10 provides a virtual appliance form factor to simplify deployment and reduce labor and operating expenses (OpEx). No external database is required for enterprise deployments in high-availability configurations.

Data Center Network Manager 10 provides new interfaces for reoccurring management tasks such as SAN zoning, device-alias management, slow-drain analysis, SAN host-path redundancy, and port-monitoring configuration.

Features and Benefits

Table 1 lists the features and benefits of Data Center Network Manager 10.

Table 1.       Features and Benefits

Multiple-Fabric Management Provides Support for Mixed Environments

Data Center Network Manager 10 allows customers considering moving to Cisco Nexus 9000 Series infrastructure to manage new programmable fabrics alongside existing Cisco Nexus 5000 and 7000 Series environments. This capability helps reduce the overhead for operations staff because the manager visualizes both traditional and overlay networks. The administrator can define independent fabrics, in which pools and other unique sets of information can be defined on a per-fabric basis. Single-pane management helps ensure that all aspects of the data center are visible and manageable so that organizations can administer Cisco Nexus and MDS 9000 Family fabrics.

Pool Management and Best-Practice Templates Help Reduce Errors Deploying VXLAN Networks

VXLAN deployment can be daunting for users new to the technology because each VXLAN tunnel endpoint (VTEP) may require multiple addresses. Validated VXLAN templates along with existing FabricPath templates help IT keep the fabric well ordered (Figure 2).

Hybrid Topology Views Help IT Understand and Troubleshoot Problems on Multitenant Fabrics

Topology views show overlay networks such as VXLAN and FabricPath LAN segments regardless of which manager or controller provisioned those segments (Figure 3). This feature allows IT to visualize the extent of the LAN segment in the fabric and understand where the traffic from a given tenant transits the fabric. Topology views also show and integrate cable-plan data to identify cabling and link-level errors on the fabric. This feature helps administrators quickly identify miscabled devices. The built-in search function allows administrators to search by virtual machine name, virtual machine IP address, virtual machine MAC address, segment ID, or switch ID. A click-and-go slide-out panel in the topology view allows individual switches to be managed without the need to leave the topology view.

Multisite Manager Gives Administrators Global View and Search Capabilities

The multisite manager feature allows administrators to attach views from remote instances of Data Center Network Manager 10 (Figure 4). This capability provides administrators with high-level statistics about the remote instances.

New and Improved SAN Zoning Interface Vastly Improves Task Efficiency

The new SAN zoning interface in Data Center Network Manager 10 vastly improves zoning functions and efficiency. With its focus on the administrator, this next-generation interface provides an enhanced experience, allowing administrators to quickly and accurately perform the most common of SAN management tasks. Visual indicators provide information a­nd actions to decrease the cycle time for common zoning tasks.

Product Specifications

Table 2 provides preliminary specifications for Data Center Network Manager 10.

Table 2.       Preliminary Product Specifications

System Requirements

This section lists supported hardware and software for Data Center Network Manager 10 server and client architecture. The application has been tested in English language browsers only.

Server Requirements

Data Center Network Manager 10 is available as an ISO virtual appliance and supports installation on the following hypervisors:

●   VMware ESXi 5.5

●   VMware vCenter 5.5

●   VMware vCenter 6.0

●   KVM on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6

Host Requirements

Table 3 lists the server resource requirements for deploying the Data Center Network Manager 10 ISO virtual appliance.

Table 3.       Host Requirements for Bare-Metal or ISO Cisco Data Center Network Manager 10 Deployment on Hypervisor

Browsers

Web browsers that support HTML5 are qualified for use with Data Center Network Manager 10, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome.

Ordering and Installation Information

To order Data Center Network Manager 10 licenses, contact your Cisco sales representative.

About Cisco Data Center Network Manager Software Licenses

Data Center Network Manager is Cisco's unified data center fabric manager for LAN and SAN fabrics, including LAN and SAN platforms that support NX-OS.

The manager includes some base functions with no license applied, but most users will want to purchase Advanced Feature licenses that enable performance and configuration management for their fabrics and platforms.

The manager is licensed by platform type (for example, Cisco Nexus 9300 platform or MDS 9700 Series) and operational domain (LAN or SAN). For hybrid devices that support both LAN and SAN functions (such as Cisco Nexus 7000, 5000, and 6000 Series and Cisco Nexus 7700 platform switches), a LAN plus SAN license may be available.

Licenses are either server based (green token), with the license installed on the Data Center Network Manager server, or switch based (blue token), with the license installed on the switch itself. Table 4 summarizes the differences.

Table 4.       Server-Based and Switch-Based Licenses

Advanced Feature licenses are available for the following switch platforms:

●   Cisco Nexus 9500 platform

●   Cisco Nexus 9300 platform

●   Cisco Nexus 9200 platform

●   Cisco Nexus 7000 Series

●   Cisco Nexus 7700 platform

●   Cisco Nexus 6000 Series

●   Cisco Nexus 5000 Series

●   Cisco Nexus 3000 Series

●   Cisco MDS 9100 Series

●   Cisco MDS 9200 Series

●   Cisco MDS 9300 Series

●   Cisco MDS 9700 Series

●   Cisco MDS 9500 Series

License prices depend on the type of switch (LAN or SAN) and the form factor of the chassis (modular or fixed chassis).

The advanced features for Cisco Nexus 1000V and Cisco Nexus 4000 Series Switches are included in the base Data Center Network Manager server software.

Data Center Network Manager through version 10.1(0) also supports older Fabric Manager licenses (SAN only) installed on the switch.

Service contract SKUs (CON-SAU) are required for Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) support, including upgrades from one version of Data Center Network Manager to another.

How to Order

Follow these steps to order Data Center Network Manager:

1.     Obtain the non-licensed base Data Center Network Manager server part number: for example, R-DCNM-SVR-10-K9. Order this part number as a spare or as a license option for the switch (if available). This is the US$0 base part number for the Data Center Network Manager server. It is used for TAC support if no Advanced Feature licenses are installed.

2.     Obtain Advanced Feature licenses for each device to be managed. Remember that if you are using server-based licenses, you register the MAC address of the Data Center Network Manager server (you can see this requirement on the Administration > License page).

3.     Choose options such as the following popular choices:

●   Order a software bundle that includes Data Center Network Manager: for example, select N7K-C7004-SBUN-P1.

●   Select the DCNM-LAN or DCNM-SAN or DCNM-LS option for the switch platform: for example, select DCNM-N7K-K9 as a software license option for a Cisco Nexus chassis.

●   Order a spare server-based license: for example, select DCNM-N7K-K9= to manage one Cisco Nexus 7000 Series chassis using a server-based license.

●   Order a spare switch-based license: for example, select DCNM-S-M91XK9= to manage an MDS 9100 Series switch.

Note:    If you are purchasing a chassis and selecting license options, look carefully at the Data Center Network Manager license options available. For storage devices, you may see a choice of switch-based or server-based license options or possibly an Enterprise bundle with a Data Center Network Manager license (for example, M91ENTDCNMX-K9). An "X" in the Data Center Network Manager part number or the Enterprise bundle indicates that the DCNM license is a switch-based license.

How to Register and Install Your Licenses

Follow these steps to register and install Data Center Network Manager licenses:

1.     Register the licenses.

●   For server-based licenses, identify the MAC address of the server. Go to the Administration > DCNM Server > License page and select the Server License Files tab. You will find your Data Center Network Manager server's MAC address there. Use this address for PAK registration (Figure 6).

●   For switch-based licenses, obtain the switch's serial number for each switch you want to manage and register that number. From the NX-OS command line, enter the command show licenses host-id.

Switch# show license host-id

License hostid: VDH=SAL1832Y6W3

Switch#             

2.     Install the license files. Go to the Administration > DCNM Server > License page and select the Server License Files tab. Select the Add License File button to add your license file to Data Center Network Manager.

3.     Assign licenses to your switches. After you add the license files, Data Center Network Manager will display an option to assign all available licenses. Alternatively, you can access the License Assignments tab on the same page to assign licenses manually using the buttons (Figure 7).

Cisco Data Center Network Manager Server Base Part Numbers

Order a base nonlicensed part number for TAC support and tracking (Table 5). If you do not order Advanced Feature licenses, then you need this part number to order CON-SAU PIDs for Data Center Network Manager server TAC support.

Table 5.       Base Part Numbers

Note:    There are no associated licenses for the part numbers in Table 5. These are software delivery part numbers used to track, distribute, and provide access and support for the Data Center Network Manager server.

Cisco Data Center Network Manager Advanced Feature License Part Numbers

The Advanced Feature license part numbers include part numbers for licenses that can be installed on the DCNM server (for LAN, SAN or combination), licenses that can be installed on the switch (SAN only) and spare part numbers for physical or e-delivery. Various software bundles (SBUNs) for a given platform may include one or more of the nonspare option part numbers listed in Table 6.

Table 6.       Advanced Feature License Part Numbers

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