Catalyst Center Global Manager Overview

Cisco Catalyst Center Global Manager

Catalyst Center Global Manager is a platform that provides you with a single pane of glass (SPoG) interface to easily manage multiple Catalyst Centers. Catalyst Center Global Manager integrates information from various Catalyst Center platforms into a single display.

Catalyst Center Global Manager provides an overview of network status changes, including alerts and visibility into well-performing sites, as well as poor-performing sites. You can view and monitor summaries reported by any connected Catalyst Center, covering:

  • Routing

  • Switching

  • Wireless

  • Endpoints

  • Software-Defined Access

Catalyst Center Global Manager supports up to 25 controllers and a maximum of 20 active users. Once these controllers are registered with Catalyst Center Global Manager, they will continue to monitor and control networks.


Note

The minimum supported versions of the Catalyst Center are:

  • 2.3.7.9

  • 2.3.7.10

  • 3.1.3

  • 3.1.5

Single-node and 3-node clusters, supported Catalyst physical appliance, virtual appliance (VA) on VMware ESXi, and virtual appliance (VA) on Amazon Web Services (AWS) can be integrated in to Catalyst Center Global Manager.

Catalyst Center Global Manager has a global search feature that lets you search for devices or clients by many attributes such as IP address, hostname, MAC address, software version, client user name, application name, or site name. You can cross-launch into the 360 view of the client or device in Catalyst Center. You can also cross launch into the Catalyst Center interfaces without entering your username and password again, if the same user exists in both the systems. Your passwords can be different.

Key features of Catalyst Center Global Manager are:

  • Scale and Enterprise Readiness: Ensures the system is capable of handling large-scale operations and meets the robust operational requirements of enterprise environments.

  • System Health and Monitoring: Provides tools and capabilities to continuously observe and assess the operational status and performance of Catalyst Center Global Manager and the underlying Catalyst Center control plane.

  • SSO Cross-Controller Navigation: Enables you to seamlessly navigate between different controllers and Catalyst Center Global Manager with a single sign-on authentication.

  • Global Search: Allows you to quickly find information or resources across the entire system from a centralized search bar.

  • Dashboard Customization: Lets you personalize dashboard views and display relevant information and metrics based on your preferences.

  • UI Error Handling Improvements: Enhances the user interface to better manage and communicate errors, improving the overall user experience.

  • Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Implements security measures that restrict system access based on each user’s organizational role.

  • Day 0 Setup Improvements: Streamlines and improves the initial configuration and deployment process for new installations.

  • Control Plane and System Visualization: Displays a graphical representation of the system's control plane, providing insights into its architecture and operational status.

  • Site Hierarchy Unification: Integrates and standardizes the organizational structure of different sites, creating a unified and consistent view.

  • Network Summary: Presents an overview of the network status, performance, and key metrics.

  • Endpoint Visibility: Offers comprehensive insight into all connected endpoints for improved monitoring and management.

  • EoL Visibility: Shows clear information about the End-of-Life (EoL) and End-of-Sale (EoS) status of hardware and software components.

  • SDA Visibility: Provides monitoring and insights for Software-Defined Access (SDA) deployments.

  • Inventory: Lists all assets and resources managed on the network.

  • Device Infrastructure Health Devices Export : This feature is in beta. Lets you export all matching results based on the filter selected. Data table export is only available for device Health under Device Infrastructure.

  • Drill-Down for Sites, Clients, Devices, and Issues: Enables you to navigate from a high-level overview to detailed information about specific sites, clients, devices, or issues.

  • Improved Cross-Launch: Enhances the functionality and user experience of launching cross-system applications and tools.

  • Situational Dashboard: This feature is in beta. It offers dashboard-building tools to design to customized, real-time, context-specific views into operational telemetry.

  • Complete UI/API parity: Ensures that all functionalities available through the user interface are also accessible and controllable via the Application Programming Interface (API), providing consistent capabilities across both interfaces.

Audience

This guide is designed for:

  • System administrators: to deploy the Catalyst Center Global Manager virtual appliance, connecting controllers, and provisioning access for other users to allow additional configurations.

  • Network administrators: to monitor aggregated network details and controller health via a Single Pane of Glass (SPOG).

  • Users or operators: to manage or operate enterprise-scale network infrastructure.