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With the unprecedented increases in scale and complexity of networks, it is challenging to keep up with the demands of operating a large network without the aid of intelligent and adaptive tools. Cisco Nexus® Dashboard Insights for the data center stands out as the first comprehensive technology solution in the industry, developed by Cisco, for network operators to manage operations in their networks.
Cisco Nexus Dashboard functions as a central management console for all the onboarded data center sites as well as a central hosting platform for data center operation services such as Nexus Dashboard Insights. It simplifies the operation and life-cycle management of various applications, and reduces the infrastructure overhead to run those applications by providing a common platform and application infrastructure. Additionally, it provides a central integration point for API-driven third-party applications with the applications that are hosted on Nexus Dashboard. For operators to manage, maintain, and troubleshoot their networks effectively, it is important to have a deep understanding of a network’s constituents and their properties, what the network is doing, how it is being used, how it is responding to the demands on it, and, most importantly, how it will respond to new loads arising due to new business processes. When changes occur in the control plane, data plane, and forwarding plane of a network, it is important to detect, locate, and root cause anomalies as close to real time as possible. Proactive notification of known vulnerabilities that may cause suboptimal network behavior is very critical. Timely detection and reduction of human errors can help minimize the operational and financial impact associated with network downtime.
The operational intelligence engine of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights incorporates a set of advanced alerting, baselining, correlation, and forecasting algorithms to provide deep insights into the behavior of the network by utilizing telemetry data obtained from networking and compute components. Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights automates troubleshooting and helps rapid root-causing and early remediation. Unified network repository and compliance rules keep the network state aligned with operator intent. It simplifies audits and ensures compliance while also helping infrastructure owners comply with SLA requirements for their users.
The Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights for the data center is supported for deployments based on Cisco® Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI®) and Cisco NX-OS with Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC). It is a microservices-based service natively hosted on Cisco Nexus Dashboard. Nexus Dashboard provides a cluster of compute nodes that are horizontally scalable. The sizing and number of compute nodes required for Nexus Dashboard Insights depends on the number of sites, the number of switches in each site, and the workflows per second that the users want the application to support.
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights features and benefits
Table 1. Features and benefits
| Feature |
Benefit |
|
| Multisite support |
Use a single instance of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights application to monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot multiple data-center sites |
|
| Unified application |
Deploy a single tool with assurance, advisory, and troubleshooting capabilities to address your operational needs for prevention, diagnosis, and remediation |
|
| Hybrid sites support |
Use a single instance of the application to onboard and operate Cisco ACI and DCNM multisite deployments |
|
| One view |
With single sign-on (SSO) and role-based access control (RBAC), operate your multisite environment distributed across multiple Cisco Nexus Dashboard clusters from a single focal point of control |
|
| NetFlow collector |
Maintain business continuity by having backward compatibility with legacy protocols |
|
| One-click remediation |
Reduce MTTR with one-click automated fixes of known behaviors |
|
| Upgrade assist |
Detect changes in configuration or operational state before and after switch upgrades and validate across 40+ checks |
|
| Change management |
One-stop shop for information about assurance on policy and configuration analysis changes |
|
| Explorer |
||
| Compliance |
Configuration compliance ensures that naming and golden template configurations meet IT requirements for enhanced productivity while communication compliance ensures that regulatory and business communication always meets compliance. |
|
| Pre-change analysis |
Predict the impact of the intended configuration changes before deploying and leverage insight-driven change management |
|
| TCAM utilization |
Manage TCAM capacity resources and security policy with advanced utilization analysis |
|
| Delta analysis |
Comprehensive view of health drift between any two points in time, minimizing the change window Comprehensive view of policy/config drift between two points in time, minimizing troubleshooting time |
|
| Time-series database |
Gather evidence from past data. Peek back in time to look at a specific sequence of events and gather intelligent insights. |
|
| Flow analytics |
Use FT/FTE to minimize troubleshooting time through automated root-cause analysis of data plane anomalies, such as packet drops, latency, workload movements, routing issues, ACL drops, and more. Monitor flow rate usage to optimize FT performance. |
|
| Microburst detection |
Expose and locate invisible microbursts. Find out congestion hot spots and protect application performance. |
|
| AppDynamics® |
Break operational silos between network and server teams. Gain cross domain visibility and perform rapid troubleshooting with qualitative and quantifiable data. Know the application geography and layout with the mapping of application topology to physical topology information. |
|
| Multicast control plane |
Use detailed statistics and state information of PIM, IGMP, and IGMP-snooping protocols to monitor multicast control plane health |
|
| Anomaly analysis |
Compare and contrast time-synced data of multiple parameters to derive deeper understanding of issues and behaviors. Know the impacted endpoints, applications, and flows due to network anomalies. |
|
| Anomaly assignment |
Tag anomaly events to the right team member for faster resolution |
|
| Resource utilization |
Provide efficient capacity planning to maintain top network performance. Get fabric-wide visibility of resource utilization and historical trends. Detect components exceeding capacity thresholds ahead of time. Examples: TCAM, routes, ACL entries, ports, tenants, VRFs, EPGs, and many more. |
|
| Environmental |
Proactively monitor and report environmental anomalies by leveraging telemetry data from hardware sensors such as CPU, memory, disk, power supply, fan speed, and temperature |
|
| Statistics |
Use detailed data-plane statistics to diagnose, locate, and remediate issues. Monitor and use protocol anomalies and state information to remediate BGP, vPC, LACP, CDP, and LLDP problems. |
|
| Customizable dashboards |
Create custom dashboard views for your own preferred way of monitoring. Keep a close eye on parameters of your choice. |
|
| Endpoint analytics |
Locate virtual machines, bare-metal hosts, and other endpoints in the data center fabric. Use historical data to track their movements. |
|
| Topology view |
Use your natural visuo-spatial ability to explore, navigate, discover, and zoom into issues. Never get lost! Visualize logical constructs such as tenant, VRF, EPG, and more on top of the physical topology. Perform rapid troubleshooting using filters to focus on problematic nodes. |
|
| Advisories |
Stay up to date on new software and hardware availability. Be up to date on hardware and software end-of-sale announcements, and get lead time to plan for upgrades. |
|
| PSIRTs/bugs |
Get notified and take necessary action to stay secure and in compliance. Get instant visibility into any applicable bugs. Prevent unscheduled outages. |
|
| Risk and conformance |
Minimize risk of running end-of-sale (EoS) or end-of-life (EoL) devices. View current and project the future status of network software and hardware inventory against known EoS/EoL notices to ensure conformance. |
|
| Cisco TAC assist |
Automate the mundane, repetitive tasks of log collection, and attach them to TAC service requests (SRs). Delegate additional log collection to the TAC team, and free yourself from dull work. |
|
| Connectivity Analysis |
Verify software and hardware programming consistency across all available traffic paths between endpoints. Track per-hop information and behavior. |
|
| Kafka-messaging support |
Share Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights’ enriched, value-added output with the application ecosystem. Build synergetic workflows with third-party IT applications. |
|
| Email-notification support |
Get offline alerts about network health using the email-notification facility. Pick and choose which issues you need to be alerted about |
|
| Cisco ACI multi-tier support |
Monitor Cisco ACI multi-tier topology with all Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights features and functions |
|
| Product-usage telemetry |
Enabled by Cisco to significantly improve product lifecycle management for IT teams that have deployed Cisco data-center fabrics. These data and related insights proactively identify product issues, improve services and support, and activate discussions to glean additional value from new and existing features. |
|
| Assurance analysis (online, offline) |
Validate low-level design configurations across your environment for both online and offline sites |
|
| Orchestrator assurance |
Ensure basic Cisco Nexus Dashboard Orchestrator functionality is deployed across multiple sites |
|
| L4-L7 traffic visibility |
Track end-to-end flows across externally connected devices such as firewalls, to help locate data-plane issues across device silos and deduce the locations of packet drops |
|
| Air-gap support |
Offline customers can utilize Insights’ Advisory features to better identify risks to their infrastructure (includes PSIRTS, defects, EoX notices, and field notices). |
|
| Reporting |
Export Anomaly and Advisory summaries through email and PDFs |
|
| Syslog messaging support |
Share Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights’ enriched, value-added output with the application ecosystem. Build synergetic workflows with third-party IT applications. |
|
| vCenter |
Break operational silos between network and server teams. Gain cross-domain visibility into virtualized workload data, and perform rapid troubleshooting with qualitative and quantifiable data. Know the application geography and layout through the mapping of application topology to physical topology information. |
|
Table 2. Hardware platform support
| Feature |
Cisco Nexus 9300/9500/9700 EX/FX/FX2/FX3/GX series switches |
Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches |
Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches |
| Multisite |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Unified application |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Hybrid site support |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| One view |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| NetFlow collector |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| One-click remediation |
Yes (Cisco ACI only) |
No |
No |
| Upgrade assist |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Explorer |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Compliance |
Yes (Cisco ACI only) |
No |
No |
| Pre-change analysis |
Yes (Cisco ACI only) |
No |
No |
| TCAM utilization |
Yes (Cisco ACI only) |
No |
No |
| Delta analysis |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Time-series database |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Flow analytics (FT/FTE*) |
Yes* |
No |
No |
| Microburst detection |
Yes** |
No |
No |
| AppDynamics |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Multicast control plane |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Anomaly analysis |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Anomaly assignment |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Resource utilization |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Environmental |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Statistics |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Customizable dashboards |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Endpoint analytics |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Topology view |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Advisories |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| PSIRTs/bugs |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Risk and conformance |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Cisco TAC assistance |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Connectivity Analysis |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Kafka-messaging support |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Email-notification support |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Cisco ACI Multi-tier support |
Yes (Cisco ACI only) |
No |
No |
| Assurance analysis (online, offline) |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Orchestrator assurance |
Yes (Cisco ACI only) |
No |
No |
| L4-L7 traffic visibility |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Air-gap support |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Reporting |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Syslog messaging support |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| vCenter |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Cisco Intersight Nexus Dashboard Base
Cisco Intersight™ Nexus Dashboard Base lets you view all your data center networking inventory directly from Intersight. For more information, see Cisco Intersight Nexus Dashboard (ND) Base.
Cisco Intersight Nexus Dashboard (ND) Base offers customers basic information on data-center network assets, inventory, and status in the Intersight portal. It provides customers with a single, high-level view of your Cisco Nexus infrastructure health. The consolidated view supports consistency and compliance checks and makes it easier to prevent administrative lapses in end-of-support contracts.
These benefits and business outcomes are made possible through a prepackaged Cisco Nexus Insights Cloud Connector (described below), which comes with the Cisco data center network controllers such as Cisco APIC and Cisco DCNM/NDFC.
Cisco Nexus Insights Cloud Connector
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights provides a license-free version of the application, called Cisco Nexus Insights Cloud Connector, which will benefit operators by collecting valuable information about the status and capabilities of Cisco data-center platforms.
The Cisco Nexus Insights Cloud Connector (Cisco NI Cloud Connector) application provides customers with the benefit of faster time to remediation with Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) functionalities along with automatic, secure collection of tech-support logs. Cisco Nexus Insights Cloud Connector will empower IT teams to provide inventory reports of license entitlement, upcoming renewals, and proactive defect notifications, along with lifecycle management support from integrated Cisco Customer Experience (CX) programs.
Cisco Nexus Insights Cloud Connector is prepackaged with Cisco data-center platforms to automatically connect and transmit product usage data to Cisco. All product-usage telemetry data is transmitted to Cisco through an encrypted channel. The categories of data collected are limited to product usage. For details about the product usage telemetry information that is collected, please see the table below.
Table 3. Product usage telemetry
| Category |
Data elements |
Purpose of collection |
| Cisco.com |
● Cisco.com user ID
|
Identify customer account |
| System |
● Controller and device information (Cisco APIC/DCNM/NDFC switch/appliance serial number, type, software versions, platform ID)
● Operational metrics – (including CPU, memory, file system, and uptime) for deployed fabric components
|
Identify potential device issues in customers’ environments to prevent problems and improve the product |
| Feature usage |
● Number of fabrics created, number of leaf nodes, spine nodes, border nodes, number of IP subnets, routing protocols in use, and fabric and switch-level capacity
● Number of tenants/contracts/endpoints/endpoint groups/etc. (Cisco ACI), access lists/hosts/VLANs/etc. (Cisco NX-OS/DCNM/NDFC), virtual networks, features enabled, and feature scale
|
Facilitate customer adoption and customer value |
| License entitlement |
● License-entitlement information (network device type, IP address of network device, Cisco Smart Software Manager registration status, Cisco ACI and NX-OS license information, number of days until license expires)
● Signed EULA flag
|
Assist customers in tracking and maintaining license entitlement and renewals |
For information on Cisco data protection and privacy, please refer to the following: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/trust-center/data-protection-and-privacy.html.
Users can also choose to opt out of the data collection of product-usage telemetry by switching off the device connector in their specific data-center platforms. For further information, please refer to the Cisco Nexus Insights Cloud Connector configuration guides.
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights
● Minimum supported release for Cisco ACI APIC controller is 4.2(5) and for Cisco ACI switch software is 14.2(5).
● Minimum supported release for Cisco NX-OS DCNM controller is 11.4 and for Cisco NX-OS switch software is 7.0(3) I7(6) in the 7 train and 9.3(2) in the 9 train.
● Please refer to the support matrix by clicking here for detailed information.
Cisco Intersight Nexus Dashboard Base
● Supported with Cisco ACI APIC controller releases 3.2(9), 4.2(4), and beyond. Minimum supported release for Cisco NX-OS DCNM controller is 11.3.1.
Cisco Nexus Insights Cloud Connector
● Supported with Cisco ACI APIC controller releases 3.2(9), 4.2(4), and beyond. Minimum supported release for Cisco NX-OS DCNM controller is 11.3.1.
● Please refer to the latest configuration guides and release notes by clicking here for detailed information.
The Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights applications run on both Cisco ACI and NX-OS/NDFC–based deployments, and have the following installation requirements:
1. Starting with Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights Release 5.1, the Cisco Nexus Dashboard platform is required to host the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights application. This is applicable for Cisco ACI and Cisco NDFC–based fabrics.
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights licensing
● Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights application licenses are included as part of the Cisco Data Center Networking (DCN) Premier license.
● For customers who have a Cisco DCN Essentials or Advantage license, customers can acquire Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights licenses through a Day2Ops bundle.
● Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights licenses are available in subscription mode only.
● For Cisco ACI environments, the number of device licenses required is equal to the total number of leafs. The spines do not require a device license.
● For a Cisco NX-OS/NDFC environment, device licenses are required for all nodes. The number of device licenses required is equal to the total number of leafs, fixed spines, and/or modular spines.
● Cisco Intersight Nexus Dashboard Base application does not require additional licensing. The user is required to create an account in Cisco Intersight to use the functionality.
● Cisco Nexus Insights Cloud Connector application is included in the Cisco APIC and Cisco NDFC software OS as a license-free offering.
● For a more detailed overview on Cisco licensing, go to https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/data-center-analytics/nexus-dashboard/guide-c07-744361.html?ccid=cc001903&oid=giddnc023703
● Download the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights applications in the Cisco DC App Center.
● Contact your Cisco account team to learn pricing and additional details.
See the How to Buy Ordering Guide for Nexus Dashboard Insights license details.
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