Deploying your fabric on site

The Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric greatly simplifies cabling operations of the switches in a fabric by providing features to guide tasks that you or a network cabling technician must perform on site. A network administrator uses Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric to create a blueprint that includes a cabling plan for the switches. You can view and follow tasks to set up the physical fabric topology or track the progress by going to a dedicated on-site page.

Alternatively, the network administrator can give a URL for a mobile-friendly web page of the blueprint to the network cabling technicians. The technicians then open the URL on a mobile device to view the blueprint and follow that to set up the physical fabric topology or to view the status of the fabric.

The URL is in the format of "https://hyperfabric.cisco.com/fabric/fabric_ID/on-site". You can get the fabric ID from the Fabrics page or the page for the specific fabric. This is an example URL:

https://hyperfabric.cisco.com/fabric/abc1d234-567e-8901-fghi-23j4k56l78mn/on-site

The on-site page has these functionalities:

View on-site tasks in Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric on a non-mobile device

Before you can log in to Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric, you must have a cisco.com user account.

Follow these steps to view on-site tasks in Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric on a non-mobile device.

Step 1

Point your Web browser to https://hyperfabric.cisco.com/.

Step 2

If you already have an account, enter your cisco.com email address and select Continue to cisco.com. You will be authenticated by Cisco's Single Sign-On (SSO) service.

  1. If you do not have an account, select Sign up here and fill out the requested information, then repeat this procedure.

Step 3

After you are logged in, select On-site.

Step 4

View the tasks that appear on the page.

View on-site tasks in Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric on a mobile device

Before you can log in to Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric, you must have a cisco.com user account.

Follow these steps to view on-site tasks in Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric on a mobile device.

Step 1

Point your Web browser to the mobile-friendly web page URL from your network administrator.

Step 2

If you already have an account, enter your cisco.com email address and tap Continue to cisco.com. You will be authenticated by Cisco's Single Sign-On (SSO) service.

  1. If you do not have an account, tap Sign up here and fill out the requested information, then repeat this procedure.

Step 3

View the tasks that appear on the screen.

Use the step by step guide to set up the fabric topology

The step by step guide provides a continuous list of tasks to lead you through the entire process of setting up your fabric topology. The tasks include

  • inspecting equipment

  • claiming devices

  • binding devices

  • inserting pluggables, and

  • cabling the fabric.

The status of each item in a task turns green after you complete it, but only after you bind the devices to the fabric.

Follow these steps to use the step by step guide to set up the fabric topology.

Step 1

Select Step by step guide.

Step 2

Perform the tasks in the order that they are presented and scroll down to see more tasks.

Inspect equipment

The Inspect equipment screen enables you to view the hardware components of the devices in your fabric. Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric cannot report the live status of the equipment until you bind the devices.

Follow these steps to inspect equipment.

Step 1

Select Inspect equipment.

The Inspect equipment page displays. On this page, you can see the status of the hardware components of the bound devices. If a device is not bound, this page provides a list of equipment for you to examine so that you can bind the device.

Step 2

If the status of any of the equipment is not green, you must resolve the issue.

Claim devices

Claiming a device ties that device to an organization, which enables you to use that device in the organization's fabric.

Follow these steps to claim devices.

Step 1

Select Claim and bind.

By default, the Claiming screen displays. If you have not claimed any devices previously, you will not see any devices.

Step 2

Select Claim new device.

The Claim new switch screen displays.

Step 3

Get the claim code from the serial console of each device.

For more information, see the Claim a switch procedure in the Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric — Getting Started document.

Step 4

Enter the codes on the Claim new switch screen, select Verify, and follow one of these substeps depending on if the claim process succeeded or failed.

  1. If the claim process succeeded, you see the "Switch claimed successfully" message and can proceed to the next step.

  2. If the claim process failed, you see the "Switch claim was unsuccessful" message and must select either Try again to repeat the claim attempt or Return to Claiming to do something else.

Step 5

If you want to claim additional devices, select Claim new device and repeat steps 3 and 4.

Step 6

If you are done claiming devices, select Return to Claiming.

The Claiming screen shows the serial number and model of the claimed devices.

Bind devices

Before you can bind devices, you must claim at least one device. The switch model of the claimed device must match the switch model of the fabric position to which you want to bind the device.

 Note

Unlike with other parts of the Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric GUI, the on-site page does not require you to review and push configuration changes.

Follow these steps to bind devices.

Step 1

Select Claim and bind.

By default, the Claiming screen displays. If you have not claimed any devices previously, you will not see any devices.

Step 2

Select Binding.

Step 3

Select Bind for the position in the fabric to which you want to bind a device.

The Bind to <device-position> screen displays, where "<device-position>" is the position for which you selected Bind. This screen shows claimed devices that you can bind to the chosen position.

  1. If you do not see a device that you want to bind, select Claim new device.

    The Claim new switch screen displays. For the procedure on how to claim a switch, see Claim devices.

Step 4

Select the device that you want to bind.

Step 5

Select the configuration to apply to the device.

  • Use configuration from blueprint—Uses the configuration from your fabric blueprint.

  • Use configuration from device—Uses the configuration that is already on the device.

Step 6

Select Bind device and follow one of these substeps depending on if the bind process succeeded or failed.

  1. If the bind process succeeded, you see the "Switch bound successfully to [<device-position>]" message and must select Return to Binding to proceed.

  2. If the bind process failed, you see the "Switch binding was unsuccessful" message and must select either Try again to repeat the bind attempt or Return to Binding to do something else.

Step 7

Repeat this procedure if you want to bind additional devices.

Unbind devices

At least one device must be bound for you to unbind a device.

 Note

Unlike with other parts of the Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric GUI, the on-site page does not require you to review and push configuration changes.

Follow these steps to unbind devices.

Step 1

Select Claim and bind.

By default, the Claiming screen displays. If you have not claimed any devices previously, you will not see any devices.

Step 2

Select Binding.

Step 3

Select Unbind for a position in the fabric that has a bound device and you want to unbind that device.

Step 4

In the Confirm unbind dialog, select Unbind to confirm the unbinding.

Step 5

Repeat this procedure if you want to unbind additional devices.

Insert pluggables

Pluggables refers to the optics for a switch. You must insert the optics before you can cable the switches.

Before you can insert pluggables, you must claim and bind at least one device.

Follow these steps to insert pluggables.

Step 1

Select Insert pluggables.

Step 2

Follow the tasks on the page to insert the pluggables into the port interfaces of the switches.

The status of a task changes to a green checkmark after you insert the specified pluggable into the specified port interface. If you insert the wrong pluggable, the status changes to red.

Cable the fabric

Cabling is the process of connecting the devices to one another to create the fabric.

Follow these steps to cable the fabric.

Step 1

Select Cable fabric.

Step 2

Expand the entry for one of the devices and follow the instructions on the screen to connect the cables for that device.

When you complete a task, the icon next to the relevant item changes to a green checkmark.

  1. Repeat this step for each device in the fabric.

Address critical issues

The Required fix(es) page of on-site provides you with a list of things that you must fix so that your fabric can function properly.

Follow these steps to address critical issues.

Step 1

Use one of these methods to view the Required fix(es) page.

  • If you are using the mobile-friend web page, tap the notification bell ().

  • If you are using the Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric on-site page, in the Required fixes area, select Negative connections.

The Required fix(es) page displays with a list of all critical issues.

Step 2

Perform the indicated tasks to address the issues.

When you address an issue, that issue disappears from the page.

Scan the QR code on a switch

The Cisco 6000 series switches have stickers that have a unique QR code. The QR code provides a launch URL that contains the serial number of the switch. You can scan the code from a mobile device to open the Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric page that shows information about the switch.

For more information about the QR code, see the Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric Series – QR Code document.

Follow these steps to scan the QR code on a switch.

Step 1

Use the camera app on your mobile device to scan one of the QR code stickers on the switch and go to the URL from the code.

Step 2

If you are prompted to log in to Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric, enter your credentials.

Step 3

View the information about the switch on the page the displays.