Explains the required and optional interface cable connections and provides cabling guidance.
Connect the ports on the appliance to a switch that provides the following types of network access. At a minimum, you must configure the Enterprise and Intracluster port interfaces, as they are required for Catalyst Center functionality.
When NIC bonding is enabled on an appliance, a secondary instance of the Enterprise, Intracluster, Management, and Internet ports resides on the Intel X710-DA4 NIC. Connect these ports to a switch that's different from the one that you will connect the primary instance of these ports to (see NIC bonding overview).
During appliance configuration, the Maglev Configuration wizard does not let you proceed until you assign the Cluster Link option to an interface. For both single-node and three-node deployments in a production environment, assign the Intracluster port as the Cluster Link.
Be aware that the interface marked as the Cluster Link cannot be changed after configuration completes. Later, if you must change the interface marked as the Cluster Link, you are required to reimage the appliance. (For a description of the tasks you need to complete in order to reimage your Catalyst Center appliance, see Reimage the appliance.) With this in mind, we recommend that you set up the Cluster Port with an IP address, so as to allow for expansion to a three-node cluster in the future. Also, make sure that the cluster link interface is connected to a switch port and is in the UP state.
If you plan to build multiple clusters, you must use a separate IP scheme for each cluster in order to prevent cross-cluster interaction (which might corrupt the clusters).
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(Required) 10-Gbps Enterprise port (network adapter 1): The purpose of this port is to enable Catalyst Center to communicate with and manage your network. Connect this port to a switch with connections to the enterprise network and configure one IP address with a subnet mask for the port.
Primary instance:
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On the 44- and 56-core appliance, this is the left-hand port on the Intel X710-DA2 NIC that resides in PCIe slot 1.
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On the 112-core appliance, this is the top 10-Gbps port on the Intel X710-DA2 NIC that resides in PCIe slot 9.
Secondary instance:
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On the 44- and 56-core appliance, this is the second port on the Intel X710-DA4 NIC that resides in PCIe slot 2.
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On the 112-core appliance, this is the third 10-Gbps port from the top on the Intel X710-DA4 NIC that resides in PCIe slot 12.
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(Required) 10-Gbps Intracluster port (network adapter 2): The purpose of this port is to enable communications among the primary and secondary nodes in a cluster. Connect this port to a switch with connections to the other nodes in the cluster and configure one IP address with a subnet mask for the port.
Primary instance:
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On the 44- and 56-core appliance, this is the right-hand port on the Intel X710-DA2 NIC that resides in PCIe slot 1.
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On the 112-core appliance, this is the bottom 10-Gbps port on the Intel X710-DA2 NIC that resides in PCIe slot 9.
Secondary instance:
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On the 44- and 56-core appliance, this is the first port on the Intel X710-DA4 NIC that resides in PCIe slot 2.
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On the 112-core appliance, this is the bottom 10-Gbps port on the Intel X710-DA4 NIC that resides in PCIe slot 12.
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(Optional) 1-Gbps/10-Gbps Management port (network adapter 3): This port provides access to the Catalyst Center GUI, allowing users to use the software on the appliance. Connect this port to a switch with connections to your enterprise management network, and configure one IP address with a subnet mask for the port.
Primary instance: Labeled 1 on the appliance's rear panel.
Secondary instance:
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On the 44- and 56-core appliance, this is the fourth port on the Intel X710-DA4 NIC that resides in PCIe slot 2.
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On the 112-core appliance, this is the top 10-Gbps port on the Intel X710-DA4 NIC that resides in PCIe slot 12.
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(Optional) 1-Gbps/10-Gbps Internet port (network adapter 4): This port, labeled 2 on the rear panel, is optional. Use it only if you cannot connect the appliance to the Internet (including to your Internet proxy server) using the 10-Gbps Enterprise Port (Network Adapter 1). If you need to use this port, connect it to a switch with connections to your Internet proxy server and configure one IP address with a subnet mask for the port.
Primary instance: Labeled 2 on the appliance's rear panel.
Secondary instance:
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On the 44- and 56-core appliance, this is the third port on the Intel X710-DA4 NIC that resides in PCIe slot 2.
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On the 112-core appliance, this is the second 10-Gbps port from the top on the Intel X710-DA4 NIC that resides in PCIe slot 12.
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(Optional, but strongly recommended) 1-Gbps Cisco IMC port: This port provides browser access to the Cisco Integrated Management Controller (Cisco IMC) out-of-band appliance management interface and its GUI. Its purpose is to allow you to manage the appliance and its hardware. Connect this port to a switch with connections to your enterprise management network and configure an IP address with a subnet mask for the port.
The following figures show the recommended connections for a single-node Catalyst Center cluster, as well as the label that's assigned to each interface:
For both the Management and Internet interface, their primary instance has a bandwidth of 1 Gbps and their secondary instance 10 Gbps.
For both the Management and Internet interface, their primary instance has a bandwidth of 1 Gbps and their secondary instance 10 Gbps.
The connections for each node in a three-node Catalyst Center cluster are the same as those for a single-node cluster and use the same ports. Do the following when you cable a three-node cluster:
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Connect the primary instance of each node's Enterprise, Intracluster, Management, and Internet Port, as well as the Cisco IMC port, to the primary switch.
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Connect the secondary instance of each node's Enterprise, Intracluster, Management, and Internet Port to the secondary switch.
For more details on each of the ports, see the rear panel diagram and accompanying descriptions for your chassis in Front and rear panels.
Multinode cluster deployments require all the member nodes to be in the same network and at the same site. The appliance does not support distribution of nodes across multiple networks or sites.
When cabling the 10-Gbps enterprise and cluster ports, note that the ports support only the following media types:
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SFP-10G-SR-S (Short range, MMF)
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SFP-10G-LR (Long range, SMF)
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SFP-H10GB-CU1M (Twinax cable, passive, 1 Meter)
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SFP-H10GB-CU3M (Twinax cable, passive, 3 Meters)
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SFP-H10GB-CU5M (Twinax cable, passive, 5 Meters)
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SFP-H10GB-ACU7M (Twinax cable, active, 7 Meters)