Get Started with Catalyst Center

Catalyst Center overview

Using Catalyst Center, you can centrally manage your network easily and quickly design, provision, and apply policies. Using the Catalyst Center GUI, you gain end-to-end network visibility and can use network insights to improve performance.

Log in

Access Catalyst Center by entering its network IP address in your browser. Check the list of compatible browsers in the Cisco Catalyst Center Release Notes. This IP address connects to the external network and is configured during the Catalyst Center installation. For more information about installing and configuring Catalyst Center, see the Cisco Catalyst Center Installation Guide.

You can configure the idle session timeout as an administrator option. See "Account Lockout" in the Cisco Catalyst Center Administrator Guide for steps to configure the idle session timeout.

Procedure


Step 1

Enter an address in your web browser's address bar in this format. Here, server-ip is the IP address (or the hostname) of the server on which you have installed Catalyst Center:

https://server-ip

Example: https://192.0.2.1

You might need to update your browser configuration to trust the Catalyst Center server security certificate based on your network setup. This step ensures a secure connection between your client and Catalyst Center.

Step 2

Enter the Catalyst Center username and password assigned to you by the system administrator. Catalyst Center displays its home page.

If your user ID has the SUPER-ADMIN-ROLE and no other user with the same role has logged in before, you will see a first-time setup wizard instead of the home page.

Step 3

You can log out by clicking your displayed username in the top-right corner, then selecting Log Out.


Complete the Quick Start workflow

After you have installed and configured the Catalyst Center appliance, you can log in to its GUI. Use a compatible, HTTPS-enabled browser when accessing Catalyst Center.

When you log in for the first time as the admin superuser (with the username admin and the SUPER-ADMIN-ROLE assigned), the Quick Start workflow automatically starts. Complete this workflow to discover the devices that Catalyst Center will manage and enable the collection of telemetry from those devices.

Before you begin

Log in to Catalyst Center and complete the Quick Start workflow using:

  • The admin superuser username and password that you specified while configuring your Catalyst Center appliance.

  • The information described in the installation guide "Required First-Time Setup Information" topic.

Procedure


Step 1

After the Catalyst Center appliance reboot completes, launch your browser.

Step 2

Enter the host IP address to access the Catalyst Center GUI, using HTTPS:// and the IP address of the Catalyst Center GUI that displays at the end of the configuration process.

After entering the IP address, one of these messages appears (depending on the browser you are using):

  • Google Chrome: Your connection is not private

  • Mozilla Firefox: Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead

Step 3

Ignore the message and click Advanced.

One of these messages displays:

  • Google Chrome:
    This server could not prove that it is GUI-IP-address; its security certificate is not trusted by your computer's
     operating system. This may be caused by a misconfiguration or an attacker intercepting your connection.
  • Mozilla Firefox:
    Someone could be trying to impersonate the site and you should not continue.
    Websites prove their identity via certificates.
    Firefox does not trust GUI-IP-address because its certificate issuer is unknown,
    the certificate is self-signed, or the server is not sending the correct intermediate certificates.

These messages display because the controller uses a self-signed certificate. For information about how Catalyst Center uses certificates, see the "Certificate and Private Key Support" section in the Cisco Catalyst Center Administrator Guide.

Step 4

Ignore the message and do one of these tasks:

  • Google Chrome: Click the Proceed to GUI-IP-address (unsafe) link.

  • Mozilla Firefox: Click Accept the Risk and Continue.

Step 5

After the Catalyst Center login window opens, do one of these configuration wizard completion tasks and then click Log In:

  • With Maglev configuration wizard completion and selection of the Start using pre manufactured cluster option, enter the admin username (admin) and password (P@ssword9).

  • With Maglev configuration wizard completion and selection of the Start configuration in advanced mode option, enter the admin username (admin) and password that you configured for your Catalyst Center appliance.

  • With Install configuration wizard completion, enter the admin username (admin) and paste the password (P@ssword9) that you copied from the wizard's final window.

  • With Advanced Install configuration wizard completion, enter the admin username (admin) and password that you set when you configured your Catalyst Center appliance.

Step 6

Configure a new admin user, as a security measure:

  1. In the Username field, enter the admin user's username.

  2. In the Password and Confirm Password fields, enter the admin user's password.

    Ensure that this password complies with the requirements described in the Cisco Catalyst Center Installation Guide's "Password requirements" topic.

  3. Click Submit.

Catalyst Center logs you out.

Step 7

Configure a new admin user, as a security measure. Enter this information and then click Submit:

  • Roles: Confirm that the SUPER-ADMIN role is already set.

  • New Username: Enter the admin user's username.

  • Email: Enter the admin user's email address.

  • New Password and Confirm Password: Enter the admin user's password. Ensure that this password complies with the requirements described in the Cisco Catalyst Center Installation Guide's "Password requirements" topic.

Catalyst Center logs you out.

Step 8

Log back in to Catalyst Center:

  1. Click Log In.

  2. Enter the new admin username and password you just configured.

  3. Click Log In.

You are prompted to authenticate using your cisco.com credentials, which are used to register software downloads and receive system communications.

Step 9

Click Authenticate.

Note

 

If you don't want to authenticate now, click Skip instead.

Step 10

Confirm that an activation code is listed in the Activate your device pop-up window, then click Next.

The Terms & Conditions screen opens, providing links to the software End User License Agreement (EULA) and any supplemental terms that are currently available.

Step 11

Review the documents and click Next to accept the EULA.

When the Quick Start Overview slider opens, click > to view a description of the tasks that the Quick Start workflow helps you to complete in order to start using Catalyst Center.

Step 12

Complete the Quick Start workflow:

  1. Click Let's Do it.

  2. In the Discover Devices: Provide IP Ranges window, enter this information and then click Next:

    • The name for the device Discovery job.

    • The IP address ranges of the devices you want to discover. Click + to enter additional ranges.

    • Specify whether you want to designate your appliance's loopback address as its preferred management IP address. For more information, see the "Preferred Management IP Address" topic in the Cisco Catalyst Center User Guide.

  3. In the Discover Devices: Provide Credentials window, enter the information described in this table for the type of credentials you want to configure and then click Next:

    Field Description

    CLI (SSH) Credentials

    Username

    Username used to log in to the CLI of the devices in your network.

    Password

    Password used to log in to the CLI of the devices in your network. The password you enter must be at least eight characters long.

    Name/Description

    Name or description of the CLI credentials.

    Enable Password

    Password used to enable a higher privilege level in the CLI. Configure this password only if your network devices require it.

    SNMP Credentials: SNMPv2c Read tab

    Note

     

    Catalyst Center does not support SNMPv2c credentials when FIPS mode is enabled. You'll need to enter SNMPv3 credentials instead. For more information about FIPS mode, see the "Configure the Primary Node Using the Maglev Wizard" topic in the Catalyst Center Appliance Installation Guide.

    Name/Description

    Name or description of the SNMPv2c read community string.

    Community String

    Read-only community string password used only to view SNMP information on the device.

    SNMP Credentials: SNMPv2c Write tab

    Name/Description

    Name or description of the SNMPv2c write community string.

    Community String

    Write community string used to make changes to the SNMP information on the device.

    SNMP Credentials: SNMPv3

    Name/Description

    Name or description of the SNMPv3 credentials.

    Username

    Username associated with the SNMPv3 credentials.

    Mode

    Security level that SNMP messages require:

    • No Authentication, No Privacy (noAuthnoPriv): Does not provide authentication or encryption.

    • Authentication, No Privacy (authNoPriv): Provides authentication, but does not provide encryption.

    • Authentication and Privacy (authPriv): Provides both authentication and encryption.

      Note

       

      When FIPS mode is enabled, Catalyst Center only supports Authentication and Privacy mode.

    Authentication Password

    Password required to gain access to information from devices that use SNMPv3. The password must be at least eight characters in length. Consider these points:

    • Some wireless controllers require that passwords be at least 12 characters long. Be sure to check the minimum password requirements for your wireless controllers. Failure to ensure these required minimum character lengths for passwords results in devices not being discovered, monitored, or managed by Catalyst Center.

    • Passwords are encrypted for security reasons and do not display in the configuration.

    Authentication Type

    Hash-based Message Authentication Code (HMAC) type used when either Authentication and Privacy or Authentication, No Privacy is set as the authentication mode:

    • SHA: HMAC-SHA authentication.

    • MD5: HMAC-MD5 authentication.

      Note

       

      Catalyst Center does not support this authentication type when FIPS mode is enabled.

    Privacy Type

    Privacy type. (Enabled if you select Authentication and Privacy as Mode.) Select one of these privacy types:

    • AES128: 128-bit CBC mode AES for encryption.

    • CISCOAES192: 192-bit CBC mode AES for encryption on Cisco devices.

    • CISCOAES256: 256-bit CBC mode AES for encryption on Cisco devices.

    Privacy Password

    SNMPv3 privacy password that is used to generate the secret key for encrypting messages are exchanged with devices supported with AES128, AES192, and AES256 encryption standards. Passwords (or passphrases) must be at least eight characters long.

    Consider these points:

    • Some wireless controllers require that passwords be at least 12 characters long. Be sure to check the minimum password requirements for your wireless controllers. Failure to ensure these required minimum character lengths for passwords results in devices not being discovered, monitored, or managed by Catalyst Center.

    • Passwords are encrypted for security reasons and do not display in the configuration.

    NETCONF

    Port

    The NETCONF port that Catalyst Center should use in order to discover wireless controllers that run Cisco IOS-XE.

  4. In the Create Site window, group the devices you are going to discover into one site in order to facilitate telemetry and then click Next.

    You can enter the site's information manually or click the location you want to use in the provided map.

  5. In the Enable Telemetry window, check the network components that you want Catalyst Center to collect telemetry for and then click Next.

    Note

     

    If both the Enable Telemetry and Disable Telemetry options are dimmed, it indicates that either devices are not capable of supporting telemetry or devices are running an OS version that does not support telemetry enablement.

  6. In the Summary window, review the configuration settings. (To make any changes, click Edit.)

    • If you're happy with the settings, click Start Discovery and Telemetry. Catalyst Center validates your settings to ensure that they will not result in any issues. After the validation completes, the window updates.

      Catalyst Center begins the process of discovering your network's devices and enabling telemetry for the network components you selected. The process takes a minimum of 30 minutes (more for larger networks).

  7. After the message displays at the top of the homepage to indicate that the Quick Start workflow has completed, do one of these tasks:

    • Click View Discovery to open the Discovery window and confirm that the devices in your network have been discovered.

    • Click the Go to Network Settings link to open the Device Credentials window. From here, you can verify that the credentials you entered previously have been configured for your site.

    • Click the View Activity Page link to open the Tasks window and view any tasks (such as a weekly scan of the network for security advisories) that Catalyst Center has already scheduled to run.

    • Click the Workflow Home link to access guided workflows that will help you set up and maintain your network.


User profile roles and permissions

Catalyst Center supports role-based access control (RBAC). Your permissions are defined by your user role. Catalyst Center has three main default user roles —

  • SUPER-ADMIN-ROLE

  • NETWORK-ADMIN-ROLE, and

  • OBSERVER-ROLE.

The SUPER-ADMIN-ROLE allows comprehensive access and supports creating and assigning custom roles in the Catalyst Center GUI. The NETWORK-ADMIN-ROLE and the OBSERVER-ROLE provide limited access.

You can create access groups that limit access to certain network sites. An access group is a combination of the role and site. At any point, you can log in to one specific access group.

Catalyst Center supports these default access groups:

  • NW-ADMIN_Global - Access group for global access to the role NW-ADMIN

  • OBSERVER_Global - Access group for global access to the role OBSERVER, and

  • SUPER-ADMIN_Global - Access group for global access to the role SUPER-ADMIN.

The behavior of Catalyst Center features depends on the user role and site specified in the access group. For more information, see Configure site-based, role-based access control in the Cisco Catalyst Center Administrator Guide.

Default home page

After you log in, Catalyst Center displays its home page.

The home page has these main areas: Assurance Summary and Network Snapshot.

Assurance Summary

This area includes:

  • Health: Provides the health score of your overall enterprise, which includes network devices, wired clients, and wireless clients. Clicking View Details takes you to the Overall Health window.

  • Critical Issues: Provides the count of P1 and P2 issues. Clicking View Details takes you to the Open Issues window.

    • P1: Critical issues that need immediate attention before they cause a wider impact on network operations.

    • P2: Major issues that can potentially impact multiple devices or clients.

  • Trends and Insights: Provides insights about the performance of your network. Clicking View Details takes you to the Trends and Insights window.

Network Snapshot

This area includes:

  • Sites: Provides the number of sites discovered on your network along with the number of DNS and NTP servers. Clicking Add Sites takes you to the Network Hierarchy window.

  • Network Devices: Provides the number of network devices discovered on your network along with the number of unclaimed, unprovisioned, and unreachable devices. Clicking Find New Devices takes you to the Discover Devices window.

  • Network Profiles: Provides the number of profiles discovered on your network. Clicking Manage Profiles takes you to the Network Profiles window.

  • Application Policies: Provides the number of application policies discovered on your network along with the number of successful and errored deployments. Clicking Add New Policy takes you to the Application Policies window.

  • Import Images/SMUs: Provides the number of images discovered on your network along with the number of untagged and unverified images. Clicking Import Images/SMUs takes you to the Image Repository window.

  • Software Image Updates: Provides the status of software image updates. Clicking Update Devices takes you to the Image Update workflow.

  • Licensed Devices: Provides the number of devices that have a Catalyst Center license along with the number of switches, routers, and wireless devices. Clicking Manage Licenses takes you to the License Manager window.

  • EoX Status: Provides the number of devices scanned and EoX alerts discovered on your network. Clicking Authorize Consent to Connect opens the Consent to Connect dialog box. Review the information, check the check box confirming you have read the conditions, and click Authorize to scan the network for EoX alerts.

  • Field Notices: Provides the number of hardware and software field notices that affect devices in the network. Clicking the displayed number takes you to the Field Notices window.

  • AI Endpoint Analytics: Provides information about the endpoints that are connected to your network, including profiled endpoints, trust score alerts, and AI rules. (If Cisco AI Endpoint Analytics isn’t installed, click Setup AI Endpoint Analytics.) Clicking View Details takes you to the Policy > AI Endpoint Analytics > Overview window.

    • Fully profiled endpoints have these entries in the Endpoint Inventory window: Endpoint Type, OS Type, Hardware Model, and Hardware Manufacturer.

    • Partially profiled endpoints are missing at least one of these entries: Endpoint Type, OS Type, Hardware Model, Hardware Manufacturer.

    • Unprofiled endpoints are missing the preceding entries.

Different views of the home page

The home page can vary depending on factors such as the different stages of Catalyst Center and what role is used to log in.

For example, the day-zero view of the Catalyst Center home page displays when there are no devices in the system or if you skipped the getting started workflow.

Figure 1. The day-zero view of the Catalyst Center home page
The day-zero view of the Catalyst Center home page displays a snapshot of your network with no devices in the system.

Main menu

From here, you can access the many network management features that Catalyst Center provides.

Figure 2. Catalyst Center main menu

To open a particular Catalyst Center window, either click or hover your cursor over the appropriate menu option to view its submenu. Then click the link for the window you want to open (such as the LAN Automation window in this example).

Figure 3. Catalyst Center submenu

Some options (such as Workflows) don't have a submenu. You can open them directly from the main menu.

By default, Catalyst Center displays the main menu labels. To toggle between displaying and hiding these labels, click the Expand/Collapse icon ().

Icons

Click the icons in the top-right portion of the Catalyst Center window to do common tasks:

Icon Description

Search: Search for devices, users, hosts, menus, and other items that are stored anywhere in the Catalyst Center database.

Favorite: You can add any window on Catalyst Center to your favorites, so you can navigate to it more easily and quickly. For more information, see Add a window to your favorites.

Help

  • About: Displays the current Catalyst Center software version.

    Click Release Notes to launch the release notes in a separate browser tab.

    Click Packages to view the system and application package versions.

    Click Serial number to view the serial number of the Catalyst Center appliance.

    Click Member ID to view the member ID.

  • API Reference: Open the Catalyst Center platform API documentation in Cisco DevNet.

  • Developer Resources: Open Cisco DevNet, where you can access developer tools.

  • Contact Support: Open a support case with the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC).

  • Remote Support Authorization: Grant remote access to a Cisco specialist to access Catalyst Center for troubleshooting your network. For more information, see View the remote support authorization dashboard.

  • Help: Launch context-sensitive online help in a separate browser tab.

  • Cisco CX Cloud Success Tracks: Access the Cisco CX cloud success tracks website in a new window.

  • Keyboard Shortcuts: Display the keyboard shortcut names, shortcut keys, and shortcut key combinations for shortcut groups.

  • Make a Wish: Submit your comments and suggestions to the Catalyst Center product team.

Software Updates: See a list of available software updates. Click the Go to Software Updates link to view system and application updates.

Notifications: View event notifications and set notification preferences. A red circle by the notification icon indicates that there are new notifications.

Interactive Help

Interactive Help contains walkthroughs for specific tasks in Catalyst Center. The walkthroughs provide onscreen guidance to help you complete the task.

You can open Interactive Help by either

  • clicking the Help icon and choosing Interactive Help, or

  • clicking the Interactive Help widget displayed by default in the bottom-right corner of the Catalyst Center window.

Figure 4. Interactive Help widget
Figure 2: The Cisco DNA Center homepage has an interactive help bar in the bottom-right.

1

Interactive Help widget

You can move the Interactive Help widget (callout 1) from the default location to other locations on the GUI window. Drag and drop the widget to the possible locations, which are indicated by green dotted-line rectangles.

You can move Interactive Help pop-ups by dragging their top border and dropping them in a new location on the GUI window. However, if the Interactive Help pop-up is associated with a specific menu option, you can’t move it.

Reauthenticate Cisco.com and Smart Account credentials

Cisco has implemented a new authentication infrastructure. As a result, if you upgraded to Catalyst Center Release 2.3.7.9 or later, a message at the top of the home page indicates that the cisco.com and Smart Account credentials that were configured previously have expired. Click the Cisco.com Credentials and Smart Account links to open the relevant Catalyst Center window and reauthenticate these credentials.

Catalyst Center journey map

The Catalyst Center journey map shows various capabilities provided by Catalyst Center and its use.

Procedure


Step 1

To launch the Catalyst Center journey map, do any one of these tasks:

  • From the main menu, choose Explore.

  • In the Catalyst Center home page, click Begin Your Journey.

  • In the Catalyst Center home page, click Explore.

In the Catalyst Center journey map, the various features (capabilities) provided by Catalyst Center are grouped into tabs, including AIOps, NetOps, DevOps, and SecOps. Hover your cursor over the icon to view details about each tab.

Step 2

Click the icon to view the journey map in a pie chart.

The pie chart shows the details of the chosen tab. A number next to a step (for example, ) indicates the suggested order of the recommended steps within a segment for your journey map. You can do these actions in the pie chart:

  • Hover your cursor over the features displayed in the pie chart to view a brief description about the feature and its status.

  • If a feature is installed or in use, click the feature name in your journey map to view its configuration or settings page.

  • To view the details about a segment, click the segment name in the pie chart. To return to the previous view containing all the segments, click the segment name again.

Step 3

Click the icon to view the journey map in a table format.

The table shows the details of the chosen tab. Hover your cursor over the feature name to view a brief description about the feature and its status.

Step 4

Check the Completed check box to view information about the completed and incomplete steps in the journey map.

  • If you click Completed, the completed steps are highlighted with green borders.

  • If you click Incomplete, the incomplete steps are highlighted with orange borders.


View the remote support authorization dashboard

Remote support authorization allows you to grant remote access to a Cisco specialist to access Catalyst Center and troubleshoot your network.


Note


The Catalyst Center remote support authorization is supported only with RADKit version 1.2.1 and later.


Procedure


Step 1

From the top-right corner, click the help icon () and choose Remote Support Authorization.

In the Remote Support Authorization dashboard, the SUMMARY area shows the total, current, and past remote support authorizations. The Remote Support Cloud service connectivity status shows in the top-right corner as:

  • A green check mark indicates that the remote support authorization is connected to the Remote Support Cloud service.

  • An exclamation point indicates that the remote support authorization is not connected to the Remote Support Cloud service.

Step 2

In the Create New Authorization tab, click Create a Remote Support Authorization to create a new authorization. For more information, see Create a remote support authorization.

Step 3

Click the Current Authorizations tab to view the current remote support authorization tiles with various statuses, including:

  • All: Displays all the scheduled and active remote support authorizations.

  • Scheduled: Displays the scheduled remote support authorizations.

  • Active: Displays the active remote support authorizations.

For troubleshooting purposes, the support authorization tile shows the schedule and duration of the Cisco specialist's access to Catalyst Center.

Step 4

To revoke an authorization, click Revoke Authorization in the respective support authorization tile.

Step 5

Click the Past Authorizations tab to view the past authorizations.

The Past Authorizations table shows the support authorization based on Case Number, Date, Session Status, Cisco Specialist, and Log and lists these statuses for past authorizations:

  • All: Lists all the expired and revoked remote support authorizations.

  • Expired: Lists all the expired remote support authorizations.

  • Revoked: Lists all the revoked remote support authorizations.

Using the search bar, you can search for past authorizations by case number.

Step 6

To view the remote support authorization logs, click View Logs for the desired authorization.

The Audit Logs window is displayed. For more information, see "View Audit Logs" in the Cisco Catalyst Center Administrator Guide.


Use global search

Use the global search function to find items in these categories anywhere in Catalyst Center:

  • Activities: Search for Catalyst Center menu items, workflows, and features by name.

  • Applications: Search for them by name.

  • Application Groups: Search for them by name.

  • Authentication template: Search for them by name or type.

  • Devices: Search for them by collection status, reachability status, location, or tag.

  • Fabric: Search by fabric name.

  • Feature Templates: Search for them by feature template name or parameter name.

  • Help: Search for topics that include your search string.

  • Hosts and Endpoints: Search for them by name, IP address, or MAC address.

  • IP Pools: Search for them by name or IP address.

  • Network Devices: Search for them by name, IP address, serial number, software version, platform, product family, or MAC address.

  • Network Profiles: Search by profile name.

  • Network Settings

    • Device Credentials: Search by name.

    • IP Address Pools: Search for them by group name or pool CIDR.

    • Service Provider Profiles: Search for them by profile name, WAN provider, or model.

    • Wireless Network Settings: Search for them by wireless network settings name or parameter name.

  • Policy: Search for them by name or description.

  • Sites: Search for them by name.

  • Traffic copy: Search for them by name and description.

  • Transits: Search by transit name.

  • Users: Search for the system settings and users by username. Case-insensitivity and substring search are not supported for usernames.

  • Workflows: Search for them by task name or parameter name.

  • Other items, as new versions of Catalyst Center are released.

To start a global search, click the search icon () in the top-right corner of any Catalyst Center window. Catalyst Center displays a global search window, with a search field where you can begin entering identifying information about an item.

You can enter all or part of the item's name, address, serial number, or other identifying information. The search field is case-insensitive and can contain any character or combination of characters.

As you begin entering your search string, Catalyst Center displays a list of possible search targets that match your entry. If more than one category of item matches your search string, Catalyst Center sorts them by category, with a maximum of five items in each category. The first item in the first category selects automatically, and summary information for that item is displays in the summary panel on the right.

You can scroll the list as needed, and click any of the suggested search targets to see information for that item in the summary panel. If there are more than five items in a category, click View All next to the category name. To return to the categorized list from the complete list of search targets, click Go Back.

As you add more characters to the search string, global Search automatically narrows the displayed list.

Catalyst Center allows you to search for a device using its entire IPv6 address or any abbreviated form of the IPv6 address.

For example, to search for 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334, you can use these search entries:

  • 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334 (using the full IPv6 address)

  • 2001:db8:85a3:0:0:8a2e:0:7334 (truncating leading zeros)

  • 2001:db8:85a3::8a2e:0:7334 (compressing consecutive zeros with a double colon)

  • 2001:db8:85a3 (using a portion of the IPv6 address)

Catalyst Center allows you to search for an IPv6 address by using the double colon in the IPv6 address with prefix, postfix, or any combination.

For example, to search for 2001:db8:85a3::8a2e:0:7334, you can use these search entries:

  • :: (using double colon alone)

  • 85a3::8a2e (using prefix and postfix with double colon)

  • 85a3:: (using prefix with double colon)

  • ::8a2e (using postfix with double colon)

You can search for devices in Catalyst Center by entering their MAC addresses in any format (with a hyphen or colon).

When users with scope-based access permissions search for network devices by device name or client ID or IP address, no device details are displayed. However, searching by MAC address shows device data limited to the device or client 360 cross-launch link.

Global search can display five results per category at a time.

The search occurs on data that is synchronized every 10 minutes. Therefore, after a change occurs, the search results reflect the change after up to 10 minutes.

Set the clock format to 12 hours or 24 hours

You can set a 12-hour or 24-hour display format for time across the GUI.

Procedure


Step 1

From the top-right corner, click your displayed username and choose My Profile and Settings > Display Settings.

Step 2

In the Set Clock Format area, click 12 hours or 24 hours.

Step 3

Click Save.


Apply light or dark appearance in Catalyst Center

You can view Catalyst Center in light (default) or dark appearance.

Procedure


Step 1

From the top-right corner, click your displayed username and choose My Profile and Settings > Display Settings.

Step 2

In the Set Appearance area, click Light or Dark to view Catalyst Center in light appearance or dark appearance.

Step 3

Click Save.

Catalyst Center caches the appearance you choose in the browser storage. Therefore, in these scenarios where the browser cache that stores the appearance is not available, the Catalyst Center GUI displays in light appearance for several seconds:

  • You log in to Catalyst Center from a different browser.

  • In a three-node cluster, you log in to the second or third Catalyst Center node for the first time after dark appearance is applied in a primary node.

When dark appearance is enabled, the Catalyst Center GUI displays like this example:

The Catalyst Center GUI displays a black background when dark appearance is enabled.

Enable localization

You can view the Catalyst Center GUI windows in English (the default), Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.

To change the default language:

Procedure


Step 1

In your browser, change the locale to one of the supported languages: Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.

  • From Google Chrome:

    1. Click the icon in the top-right corner, and then select Settings.

    2. Click Languages.

    3. Click Add languages.

    4. In the Add languages dialog box, select Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, and then click Add.

  • From Mozilla Firefox:
    1. Click the icon in the top-right corner, and then select Settings.

    2. From the Language and Appearance > Language area, click Choose.

    3. From the Select a language to add drop-down list, select Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.

    4. Click OK.

Step 2

Log in to Catalyst Center.

The GUI shows in the selected language.


Add a window to your favorites

You can add any window on Catalyst Center to your favorites (the list of your favorited windows). With your favorites, you can navigate to favorited windows more easily and quickly.

You can also add different views of the same window to your favorites if the view has a unique URL. For example, on the Tasks window, you can add this window to your favorites when it’s filtering tasks or work items with the Success status and, separately, when it’s filtering tasks or work items with the Last Updated 24 hours status.

Procedure


Step 1

Navigate to the window that you want to add to your favorites.

Step 2

On the window, in the top-right corner, click the star icon () to add the window to your favorites.

Step 3

On the This window is favorited dialog box, in the Name field, you can either:

  1. Keep the autopopulated name as the title of your favorited window.

  2. Delete the autopopulated name and type a new name.

Step 4

(Optional) To view the list of your favorited windows, click View my favorites.

The My Favorites slide-in pane displays all your favorited windows.

Tip

 
To quickly display the My Favorites slide-in pane from any window on Catalyst Center, use the keyboard shortcut q + f.

Step 5

Click Done to save any edits to the favorited window name and to close the dialog box.

Step 6

(Optional) To remove a window from your favorites, you can either remove it from the This window is favorited dialog box or the Favorites Preferences window.

  1. Navigate to the favorited window that you want to remove, and then click the star icon (). In the This window is favorited dialog box, click Remove.

  2. To remove a window from your favorites, see Manage your favorites.


Manage your favorites

You can manage your favorited windows on the Favorites Preferences window. For information about adding a window to My Favorites, see Add a window to your favorites.

Procedure


Step 1

From the top-right corner, click your displayed username and choose My Profile and Settings > Favorites Preferences.

The Favorites Preferences window displays the list of your favorited windows.

Step 2

(Optional) To remove a favorited window:

  1. Locate the favorited window that you want to remove from the list.

  2. Click the star icon () next to the favorited window to remove it from the list.

Step 3

(Optional) To go to a favorited window:

  1. Locate the favorited window that you want to go to.

  2. Under the favorited window, click its hyperlinked pathway.


Subscribe to Catalyst Center Insights

You can subscribe to Catalyst Center Insights, which contains product announcements, network highlights, information about your network performance, and more. The Catalyst Center Insights publication is sent in PDF format to the email address that you specify.


Note


If your Catalyst Center appliance is deployed in a secure, air-gapped network, certain metrics are omitted from Catalyst Center Insights. To view the complete Catalyst Center Insights, you must have internet and telemetry connectivity, which aren't available in air-gapped environments.


Before you begin

  • Under System > Settings > Integration Settings, enter your callback URL hostname or IP address. For more information, see "Configure Integration Settings" in the Cisco Catalyst Center Administrator Guide.

  • Under System > Settings > External Services > Destinations > Email, configure the SMTP servers that you will use to receive the publication.

Procedure


Step 1

From the top-right corner, click your displayed username and choose My Profile and Settings > Communication Preferences.

Step 2

Click the Subscription Off toggle button to Subscription On.

Step 3

Enter the email address where you want to receive Catalyst Center Insights, and click Save.

Insights are archived for up to one year. You can read past publications by choosing Actions > Download PDF for the desired date range.

Step 4

(Optional) To change the email address, click the pencil icon.

Step 5

(Optional) To unsubscribe from Catalyst Center Insights, click the Subscription On toggle button to Subscription Off.