Creating and Editing SAN Fabrics

 
Updated August 14, 2025
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New and changed information

The following table provides an overview of the significant changes up to this current release. The table does not provide an exhaustive list of all changes or of the new features up to this release.

Release Version Feature Description

Nexus Dashboard 4.1.1

Improved navigation and workflow for working with SAN fabrics

Beginning with Nexus Dashboard 4.1.1, Nexus Dashboard enhanced the navigation and workflow for working with SAN fabrics in Nexus Dashboard.

Nexus Dashboard 4.1.1

Support added for monitoring metrics for UCS fabric interconnects (FIs) using Intersight Managed Mode (IMM) for SAN fabrics

With this release, Nexus Dashboard added a new option, Monitor Intersight, when creating or editing a fabric on SAN deployments. The Monitor Intersight option lets you collect metrics from Intersight if the metrics are available. For more information, see Add a fabric.

View SAN fabrics

To view the SAN fabrics in your Nexus Dashboard:

  1. Navigate to Fabrics:

    Manage > Fabrics

  2. Review the information provided in Fabrics on the SAN fabrics that have been configured in your Nexus Dashboard.

    The following table describes the fields that appear in Fabrics.

    Field Description

    Fabric Name

    Specifies the name of the fabric.

    Seed Switch

    Specifies the seed switch used to discover switches in the fabric.

    State

    Specifies the state of the fabric.

    SNMPv3/SSH

    Specifies if SNMP and SSH access is allowed.

    User/Community

    Specifies the role of the user who created the fabric.

    Auth/Privacy

    Displays the authentication type.

    Licensed

    Specifies if all the switches in the fabric are licensed or not.

    Health

    Displays the health of the fabric.

    Performance Collection

    Specifies if performance collection is enabled or disabled on the fabric.

    Updated Time

    Specifies the time when the fabric was created or updated.

    Incl. VSANS

    Specifies the VSANS included with the fabric.

    Excl. VSANS

    Specifies the excluded VSANS.

    The following table describes the action items in the Actions menu drop-down list that appear in Fabrics.

    Action Item Description

    Add Fabric

    From the Actions drop-down list, select Add Fabric. For more instructions, see Add a fabric.

    Edit Fabrics

    Select a fabric to edit. From the Actions drop-down list, select Edit Fabrics. Make the necessary changes and click Apply. For more instructions, see Edit a fabric.

    Delete Fabrics

    Select one or more fabrics to delete. From the Actions drop-down list, select Delete Fabrics. Click Confirm to delete the fabrics. For more instructions, see Delete a fabric.

    Rediscover Fabrics

    Allows you to rediscover the switches, links, and end devices associated with the fabric. Select one or more fabrics to rediscover. From the Actions drop-down list, select Rediscover Fabrics. A progress bar in the State column displays the rediscovery progress. For more instructions, see Rediscover a fabric.

    Purge Fabrics

    Allows you to purge non-existent switches, links, and end devices of the fabric. Select one or more fabrics to purge. From the Actions drop-down list, select Purge Fabrics. For more instructions, see Purge a fabric.

    Configure Performance

    Allows you to enable performance monitoring on links, switch interfaces, and end devices associated with the fabric. Select one or more fabrics for performance monitoring. From the Actions drop-down list, select Configure Performance. Make the necessary changes and click Apply. For more instructions, see Working with Reports for SAN Fabrics.

    Configure SAN Insights

    Allows you configure SAN Insights on the selected fabric. For more instructions, see SAN Insights.

    Configure Backup

    Allows you to configure and schedule backup for the fabric data. For more instructions, see Backing Up and Restoring Your SAN Fabric.

View SAN fabric summary information

To view SAN fabric summary information:

  1. Navigate to Fabrics:

    Manage > Fabrics

  2. Click on a SAN fabric to open a drawer with information on that SAN fabric.

    The following sections display the summary of the SAN fabric:

    • Health - Shows the health of the SAN fabric.

    • Alarms - Displays the alarms based on the categories.

    • Switch Health: Displays the number of switches in the SAN fabric and the switch health information.

    • Switch Interfaces: Displays the number of switch interfaces in the SAN fabric, along with this information:

      • Oper. Status:

      • Admin Status: Specifies the administration status of an interface, depending on the action taken on an interface. Possible states:

        • Up: Reflects the state of a switch interface where a No Shutdown action was performed (Actions > No Shutdown).

        • Down: Reflects the state of a switch interface where a Shutdown action was performed (Actions > Shutdown)

Click the Launch icon to the right top corner to view the Fabric Overview for a SAN fabric. See Understanding Fabric Overview for SAN Fabrics for more information.

Add a fabric

To add a SAN fabric:

  1. Navigate to Fabrics:

    Manage > Fabrics

  2. Choose Actions > Add Fabrics.

  3. In the Fabric Name field, enter a unique name for the fabric.

  4. Select the Fabric Seed Switch Type.

    Nexus Dashboard allows you to discover Cisco and Non-Cisco switches to SAN Fabrics.

  5. If you chose Cisco in the Fabric Seed Switch Type, perform the following:

    1. In the Fabric Seed Switch field, enter the IP address of the seed switch.

      This is typically the IP address associated with its management interface (mgmt0).

      You can also enter the DNS name of the seed switch.

    2. Check the SNMPv3/SSH check box to enable access.

    3. From the Authentication / Privacy drop-down list, choose the appropriate authentication for switch discovery.

    4. In the User Name and Password fields, enter the appropriate details to access the seed switch if SNMPv3 is used.

      note.svg

      If SNMPv3/SSH is not used, enter the appropriate community string in the Community String field.

    5. To discover switches using VSANs only, check the Limit Discovery by VSAN check box.

      • Choose Included VSAN List to discovery switches included in VSANs.

      • Choose Excluded VSAN List to discovery switches excluded in VSANs.

      • Enter the included or excluded VSANs in the VSAN List field.

    6. To discover UCS fabric interconnects (FIs) using UCS credentials, check the Use UCS Credentials check box.

      • Enter the appropriate UCS CLI Credentials in the UCS User Name and UCS Password fields.

      • To use the same SNMP credentials, check the Use same SNMP Credentials for UCS check box.

        You must provide different SNMP details if you uncheck this check box.

      • To use Simple Network Management Protocol version 3 (SNMPv3) for UCS, check the Use SNMPv3 for UCS check box.

      • From the UCS Authentication / Privacy drop-down list, choose the appropriate authentication with privacy for UCS fabric interconnect discovery.

      note.svg

      Cisco UCS Manager Release 3.2(3) and later releases do not support SNMPv3 users without Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption, and it does not support Message-Digest Algorithm 5 (MD5) authentication if SNMPv3 is in Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) mode.

      • In the UCS SNMP User Name and UCS SNMP Password fields, enter the appropriate details to access the UCS FIs if SNMPv3 is used.

        note.svg

        If SNMPv3/SSH is not used, enter the appropriate community string in the UCS SNMP Community String field.

      • Enter the appropriate community string in the UCS SNMP Community String field, if SNMPv3 is not used.

    7. To monitor metrics for the attached UCS FIs in IMM, check the Monitor Intersight checkbox. The Intersight credentials are necessary for obtaining inventory and metrics information. For more information, see Working with Cisco Intersight.

      • Enter the Intersight region in the Intersight Region field.

      • Generate the API key ID in Intersight > API Keys and add it to API Key ID in Nexus Dashboard. Save the secret key for uploading to Nexus Dashboard.

      • Enter the Account ID in Nexus Dashboard that you obtained from Intersight > Account Details.

      • Browse to and upload the saved secret key from Intersight to Intersight Secret Key File in Nexus Dashboard.

      • Once configured and saved, you can view your Intersight integration on the Nexus Dashboard Topology page. You can view the associated blade servers, vNICs, and vHBAs.

  6. If you chose Non-Cisco in the Fabric Seed Switch Type, follow these steps:

    1. In the Fabric Seed Switch field, enter the IP address of the seed switch.

      You can also enter the DNS name of the seed switch.

    2. Check the SNMPv3/SSH check box to enable access.

    3. From the Authentication / Privacy drop-down list, choose the appropriate authentication for switch discovery.

    4. In the User Name and Password fields, enter the appropriate details to access the switches.

    5. In the Non-Cisco Switch CLI Credentials, provide appropriate username and password to access non-Cisco seed switch.

    6. To discover UCS FIs using UCS credentials, check the Use UCS Credentials check box.

      • Enter the appropriate UCS CLI Credentials in the UCS Username and UCS Password fields.

      • To use the same SNMP credentials, check the Use same SNMP Credentials for UCS check box.

        You must provide different SNMP details if you uncheck this check box.

      • To use SNMPv3 for UCS, check the Use SNMPv3 for UCS check box.

        From the UCS Authentication / Privacy drop-down list, choose the appropriate authentication with privacy for discovery of UCS fabric interconnects.

        Enter the UCS SNMP username and password in the appropriate fields.

      • If Use SNMPv3 for UCS is unchecked, enter the appropriate community string in the UCS SNMP Community String field.

  7. Click Add to add a fabric.

    note.svg

    When you start SAN fabric discovery, after 15 minutes of fabric discovery the following process is scheduled on Nexus Dashboard:

    • If the fabric is licensed, Performance Manager (PM) collection is initiated.

    • The congestion analysis job is scheduled to run continuously for a year. This job run will initiate after an hour of the schedule.

ESXi Networking for Promiscuous Mode

You can run Nexus Dashboard on top of virtual Nexus Dashboard (vND) instance with promiscuous mode that is disabled on port groups that are associated with Nexus Dashboard interfaces where External Service IP addresses are specified. vND comprises Nexus Dashboard management interface and data interface. By default, for fabric controller persona, two external service IP addresses are required for the Nexus Dashboard management interface subnet.

Enabling promiscuous mode raises the risk of security issues in Nexus Dashboard, so we recommend that you set the default setting for promiscuous mode.

note.svg

  • You can disable promiscuous mode when Nexus Dashboard nodes are layer-3 adjacent on the Data network, BGP is configured, and fabric switches are reachable through the data interface.

  • You can disable promiscuous mode when Nexus Dashboard interfaces are layer-2 adjacent to switch mgmt0 interface.

If Inband management or EPL is enabled, you must specify External Service IP addresses in the Nexus Dashboard data interface subnet. You can disable promiscuous mode for the Nexus Dashboard data or fabric interface port-group. For more information, refer to the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Deployment Guide.

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The default option for promiscuous mode is Reject.

  1. Log into your vSphere Client.

  2. Navigate to the ESXi host.

  3. Right-click the host and choose Settings.

    A sub-menu appears.

  4. Choose Networking > Virtual Switches.

    All the virtual switches appear as blocks.

  5. Click Edit Settings of the VM Network.

  6. Navigate to the Security tab.

  7. Update the Promiscuous mode settings as follows:

    • Check the Override check box.

    • Choose Accept from the drop-down list.

  8. Click OK.

Edit a fabric

To edit a SAN fabric:

  1. Navigate to Fabrics:

    Manage > Fabrics

  2. Choose a SAN fabric to edit.

  3. Click Actions > Edit Fabrics.

  4. In the Edit Fabrics window, you can edit only one fabric at a time.

  5. Check the Use SNMPv3 / SSH check box, if applicable.

    • If you uncheck the Use SNMPv3 / SSH check box, the Community String field appears. Enter the appropriate community string in the Community String field.

    • If you check the Use SNMPv3/SSH check box, these fields appear:

      • Authentication/Privacy: From the Authentication/Privacy drop-down list, choose the appropriate authentication for switch discovery.

      • Username and Password: Enter the appropriate details to access the seed switch.

  6. Change the status to Managed, Unmanaged, or Managed Continuously, if necessary.

  7. Check the Use UCS Credentials check box if you want to modify UCS credentials.

  8. Check the Monitor Intersight option, if necessary.

  9. Click Apply to save the changes.

Delete a fabric

When the orchestration feature is enabled on a fabric, the Delete Fabric option remains disabled. To delete a fabric, you must first disable its orchestration feature.

To delete a SAN fabric:

  1. Navigate to Fabrics:

    Manage > Fabrics

  2. Choose the SAN fabric that you want to delete.

  3. Click Actions > Delete Fabrics to remove the fabric from the data source and to discontinue data collection for that fabric.

Rediscover a fabric

To rediscover a SAN fabric:

  1. Navigate to Fabrics:

    Manage > Fabrics

  2. Choose a SAN fabric to rediscover.

  3. Click Actions > Rediscover Fabrics.

  4. Click Yes in the dialog box.

    In a fabric window, State column displays the progress of rediscovery for the selected fabric.

    The SAN fabric is rediscovered.

Purge a fabric

You can clean and update the fabric discovery table through the Purge option.

  1. Navigate to Fabrics:

    Manage > Fabrics

  2. Choose a SAN fabric to purge.

  3. Choose Action > Purge Fabrics.

    The SAN fabric is purged.

You can also purge a fabric from Topology:

  1. Navigate to Topology:

    Home > Topology

  2. Right-click on the SAN fabric that you want to purge, then click Purge Down Fabric.

    The SAN fabric is purged.

First Published: 2025-01-31
Last Modified: 2025-01-31

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