After you have configured your appliances, log in to Catalyst Center and complete the essential setup tasks. During this first-time setup, provide this information:

• New admin superuser password: You will be prompted to enter a new password for the Catalyst Center admin super user. Resetting the super user password enhances operational security. This is especially important if, for example, the enterprise staff member who installed and configured the Catalyst Center appliance is not a Catalyst Center user or administrator.

• Cisco.com credentials: The cisco.com user ID and password that your organization uses to register software downloads and receive system communications through email.

• Cisco Smart Account credentials: The cisco.com Smart Account user ID and password your organization uses for managing your device and software licenses.

• IP Address Manager URL and credentials: The host name, URL, admin user name, and admin password of the third-party IP address manager (IPAM) server you plan to use with Catalyst Center. This release supports InfoBlox and Bluecat.

• Proxy URL, port, and credentials: The URL (host name or IP address), port number, user name, and user password of the proxy server you plan to use with Catalyst Center in order to get updates to the Catalyst Center software, manage device licenses, and retrieve other downloadable content.

• Catalyst Center users: User names, passwords, and privilege settings for the new Catalyst Center users you will be creating. Always use one of the new user accounts for normal Catalyst Center operations. Use the admin super user account only for reconfiguring Catalyst Center and for operations that require super user privileges.

Ensure that the passwords you configure for Catalyst Center users and the admin super user comply with the Password requirements.

For details about how to launch and respond to the first-time setup wizard that prompts you for this information, see Complete First-Time Setup.

Use this information to complete additional setup tasks, which can be done after your first login:

• Catalyst Center server IP address and credentials: You will need the Cisco ISE server IP address and credentials, administrative user name, and password. These are needed to log in to and configure your organization's ISE server to share data with Catalyst Center, as explained in Integrate Cisco ISE With Catalyst Center.

  When you install or upgrade to the latest release of Catalyst Center, the system checks whether Cisco ISE is configured as an authentication and policy (AAA) server. If the correct version of Cisco ISE is already configured, you can start migrating group policy data from Cisco ISE to Catalyst Center.

  If Cisco ISE is not configured, or if the required version of Cisco ISE is not present, Catalyst Center installs, but Group Based Policy is disabled. You must install or upgrade Cisco ISE and connect it to Catalyst Center. You can then start the data migration.

  Catalyst Center data present in the previous version is preserved when you upgrade. The data migration operation merges data from Catalyst Center and Cisco ISE. If a conflict occurs during migration, the system uses data from Cisco ISE.

  If Catalyst Center becomes unavailable, and it is imperative to manage policies before Catalyst Center becomes available again, there is an option in Cisco ISE to override the Read-Only setting. This allows you to make policy changes directly in Cisco ISE. After Catalyst Center is available again, you must disable the Read-Only override on Cisco ISE, and re-synchronize the policy data on Catalyst Center Group Based Access Control Settings page.

  Caution

  Use this option only when necessary. Changes made directly in Cisco ISE do not transfer to Catalyst Center.

• Authorization and policy server information: If you are using Cisco ISE as your authentication and policy server, you need the same information listed in the previous bullet, plus:

  • ISE CLI user name

  • CLI password

  • server FQDN

  • subscriber name (such as cc )

  • ISE SSH key (optional)

  • protocol choice (RADIUS or TACACS)

  • authentication port

  • accounting port

  • retry and timeout settings

  If you are using an authorization and policy server that is not Cisco ISE, you will need the server's IP address, protocol choice (RADIUS or TACACS), authentication port, accounting port, and retry and timeout settings.

  This information is required to integrate Catalyst Center with your chosen authentication and policy server, as explained in Configure authentication and policy servers.

• SNMP retry and timeout values: This is required to set up device polling and monitoring, as explained in Configure SNMP properties.