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 to the Switch Overview page for SAN fabrics |
Beginning with Nexus Dashboard 4.1.1, the navigation and workflow to the Switch Overview page for SAN fabrics in Nexus Dashboard have been enhanced. |
Navigate to Switch Overview for SAN fabrics
To navigate to the Switch Overview window for SAN fabrics:
-
Navigate to the Switches window using either of the following paths:
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To see switch overview information for all of the switches in a specific fabric, click Manage > Fabrics, double-click on a SAN fabric, then click the Switches tab , or
-
To see switch overview information for all of the switches in all SAN fabrics in the Nexus Dashboard, click Manage > Inventory, then click the Switches tab.
Any switches in the SAN fabrics that have already been configured is displayed.
-
-
Double-click on the appropriate switch.
The Switch Overview window for that switch is displayed, with the Summary tab selected by default.
The Switch Overview window contains tabs that allows you view and perform certain operations on the fabric:
View summary information
To navigate to the Summary window:
-
Click the Summary tab.
The following areas appear in the Switch Overview > Summary window:
Area Description Switch Information
Displays the details of the switch such as the name, health status, IP address, fabric, model, including version information, and other switch details.
Event Analytics
Displays events with a Critical, a Major, a Minor, or a Warning severity.
In this area, click an event to navigate to the Switch Overview > Event Analytics tab to view the alarms for the event.
Resources
Displays the resource utilization of the switch in graphical form.
Modules
Displays the switches on which the modules are discovered, the status of the modules, and the module count.
Interfaces
Displays the operational and administrative status of the switches.
Port Usage
Displays the available and in-use port summary information.
View module information
To view the inventory information for modules in SAN fabrics:
-
Click the Modules tab.
The Modules tab displays a list of all the switches and its details for a selected scope.
Field
Description
Module Name
Displays the module name.
Model
Displays the model name.
Serial Number
Displays the serial number.
Type
Displays the type of the module.
Oper. Status
Displays the operation status of the module.
Slot
Displays the slot number.
HW Revision
Displays the hardware version of the module.
Software Revision
Displays the software version of the module.
Asset ID
Displays the asset id of the module.
View and configure interfaces on switches
To view information on interfaces in SAN fabrics:
-
Click the Interfaces tab.
The following table describes the fields that appear on the Interfaces tab.
Field
Description
Switch Name
Specifies the name of the switch the interface belongs to.
Interface Name
Specifies the name of the interface.
The Show 24hr chart icon to the left of the interface name opens the Interface Details and Performance Chart dialog box for the selected interface. It displays details about the interface and a performance chart that depicts the traffic details through the interface. This chart is available only for interfaces that are connected to another interface.
Admin. Status
Specifies the administration status of the interface.
Oper. Status
Specifies the operational status of the interface.
Reason
Specifies the reason for failure.
Admin. Speed
Specifies the configured speed of the interface in Gbs.
Oper. Speed
Specifies the current operational speed of the interface in Gbs.
Mode
Specifies the mode of the interface.
VSAN
Specifies the name of the connected VSAN.
Connected To
Specifies the connection details.
Connected To Type
Specifies the type of connection.
Description
Specifies the description that you have added about the interface.
Owner
Specifies the name of the port owner.
Port Group
Specifies the port group number to which the interface belongs to.
You can also filter the performance data that is shown using the following options:
-
Real time: Gathers performance data every 10 seconds
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Custom: Gathers performance data based on the calendar begin and end dates that you select
You can make these configurations for switch interfaces in a SAN fabric:
Perform a No Shutdown for an interface
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Check the check box for the required interface and choose No Shutdown from the Actions drop-down list.
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Click Confirm in the warning dialog box that appears.
Perform a Shutdown for an interface
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Check the check box for the required interface and choose Shutdown from the Actions drop-down list.
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Click Confirm in the warning dialog box that appears.
Assign a port owner for an interface
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Check the check box for the required interface and choose Owner from the Actions drop-down list.
You can select multiple interfaces while assigning the port owner, if required.
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Enter the required name in the Set Port Owner dialog box.
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Click Apply.
Add a description for an interface
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Check the check box for the required interface and choose Description from the Actions drop-down list.
You can add a description for multiple interfaces, simultaneously.
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Enter the description in the Set Port Description dialog box.
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Click Apply.
Set up diagnostics for an interface
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Check the check box for the required interface.
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Choose Link Diagnostics from the Actions drop-down list.
Edit port VSAN membership
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Check the check box for the required interface.
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Choose Edit Port VSAN Membership from the Actions drop-down list.
The Edit Port Vsan Membership dialog box appears.
You can select multiple interfaces for editing VSAN port membership if the interfaces are in the same VSAN.
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Choose the Trunk, No Trunk, or Auto option for New Admin Trunk Mode and populate the New Trunking VSAN Allowed List with a comma-separated or a dash-separated list of the allowed VSANs.
The following table describes the fields that appear on the Edit Port Vsan Membership dialog box.
Field
Description
Switch
Specifies the name of the switch the interface belongs to.
Interface
Specifies the name of the interface.
Status
Specifies the operational status of the interface.
VSAN
Specifies the configured VSAN ID.
Admin Mode
Specifies the administrative mode of the interface.
Oper Mode
Specifies the operational mode of the interface.
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Choose the new port number for the VSAN.
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Click Apply.
You should receive a success message.
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Choose the same interface and verify that the new port number is assigned to the VSAN.
Edit port trunking VSAN membership
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Check the check box for the required interface and choose Edit Port VSAN Membership from the Actions drop-down list.
The Edit Port Trunking Mode and Vsan Allowed List dialog box appears.
You can select multiple interfaces for editing VSAN membership with port trunking if the interfaces have the same Port Trunking Allowed VSAN list.
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Choose the Trunk, No Trunk, or Auto option for New Admin Trunk Mode and populate the New Trunking VSAN Allowed List with a comma-separated or a dash-separated list of the allowed VSANs.
The following table describes the fields that appear on the Edit Port Trunking Mode and Vsan Allowed List dialog box.
Field
Description
Switch
Specifies the name of the switch the interface belongs to.
Interface
Specifies the name of the interface.
Status
Specifies the operational status of the interface.
Oper Mode
Specifies the operational mode of the interface.
oper Trunk
Specifies the operational trunk mode.
admin Trunk
Specifies the administrative trunk mode.
Up VSAN List
Specifies the list of the VSANs where the interface is up.
Allowed Vsan List
Specifies the list of the VSANs where the interface is configured.
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Click Apply.
You should receive a success message.
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Choose the same interface and verify that the Allowed VSAN List is updated with the allowed VSANs.
Clear FICON RNID Old value
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Filter for the value of old in the Connected To column.
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Check the check box for the switch or switches that display old in the Connected To column.
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Choose Clear FICON RNID Old Value from the Actions drop-down list.
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Click OK in the confirmation dialog box.
Nexus Dashboard displays a success message indicating that the FICON (fiber connectivity) Request Node Identifier (RNID) status changed from old to invalid. The switch clears out the old RNID information, and Nexus Dashboard fetches the updated RNID information in the next discovery cycle.
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Refresh the page to verify that the Connected To column no longer displays the value of old.
View switch licenses
You can view the following information on the Licenses tab.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
|
Feature |
Displays the feature names of the selected switch. |
|
Status |
Displays the status of licenses. Status will be either In Use or Unused. |
|
Type |
Displays the type of the licenses. |
|
Warnings |
Displays the grace period of licenses and its expiry date. |
You can use Filter by attribute to view required information.
Click Refresh icon to refresh the table.
View and configure event analytics
The information shown in the Event Analytics tab is described in greater detail in these areas:
-
Alarms: See the "Alarms" section in Event Analytics
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Events: See the "Events" section in Event Analytics
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Accounting: See the "Accounting" section in Event Analytics
Back up and restore switch configurations
This table describes the columns that appears on the Backup tab.
| Fields | Descriptions |
|---|---|
|
Switch |
Specifies the name of switch. |
|
Backup Date |
Specifies the backup date. |
|
Backup Tag |
Specifies the backup name. |
|
Backup Type |
Specifies the backup type, whether it is a golden backup. |
|
Configuration Files |
Specifies the configuration files details. |
The following table describes the fields and descriptions that appears on Action tab.
| Actions | Descriptions |
|---|---|
|
Copy to bootflash |
Choose Copy to bootflash. A confirmation window appears, click OK. For more information on bootflash, see Copy to bootflash. |
|
Compare |
Choose required switch names to compare configuration of switches, choose Compare. You can select only two switches at an instance. Compare Config window appears, displaying the difference between the two configuration files. The Source and Target configuration files content is displayed in two columns. The differences in the configuration file are show in the table, with legends.
|
|
Export |
Click Export. The files are downloaded in your local system. You can use the third-party file transfer tools to transfer these files to an external server. |
|
Edit tag |
Click Edit tag to change the backup tag name. |
|
Mark as golden |
To mark existing backup as golden backup, choose Mark as golden, a confirmation window appears, click Confirm. |
|
Remove as golden |
To remove existing backup from golden backup, choose Remove as golden, a confirmation window appears, click Confirm. |
|
Delete |
To delete existing backups, choose Delete a confirmation window appears, click Confirm.
If you have marked backup as golden backup. make sure that the golden backup is removed, else error appears you can’t delete existing backup. |
Copy to bootflash
To copy a backup to bootflash:
-
Click the Backup tab.
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Click the checkbox next to the backup that you want to copy to bootflash.
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Click Actions> Copy to bootflash.
After several moments, a Success window appears.
-
Click Ok.
Compare configuration files
This feature allows you to compare two different configuration files.
To compare configuration files:
-
Click the Backup tab.
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Click the check boxes next to two different configuration files to select those files to compare.
The first file that you select is designated as the Source file and the second configuration file is designated as the Target file.
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Click Actions > Compare.
The View Config Diff page appears, displaying the difference between the two configuration files.
The content in the Source and Target configuration files is displayed in two columns. From the drop-down list in the right-top corner, choose All to view the entire configuration. You can also choose Changed to view the configuration differences of the configuration files.
The differences in the configuration file are shown in the table, with these legends:
-
Red: Diff configuration details.
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Green: New added configuration.
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Blue: Modified configuration details.
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-
Click Copy to Target to copy the source configuration to the target configuration file, or click Cancel to revert to the configuration details page.
The Copy Configuration window displays the source configuration preview and the target device of the destination configuration. The selected devices area shows the following fields:
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Device Name: Specifies the target device name to which the source configuration is copied.
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IP Address: Specifies the IP Address of the destination device.
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Group: Specifies the group to which the device belongs.
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Golden Config: Specifies the version of the destination configuration.
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Status: Specifies the status of the device.
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-
Click Yes to copy the configuration to the destination device configuration.
Export a configuration file
You can export a configuration file from Nexus Dashboard. Perform the following task to export a configuration file.
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Click the Backup tab.
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Select a configuration to export.
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Click Export.
The files are downloaded in your local system. You can use the third-party file transfer tools to transfer these files to an external server.
View port usage information
To view port usage information:
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Click the Port Usage tab.
You can view the following information on the Port Usage tab.
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Port Speed column displays the speed of the port.
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Used Ports column displays the total ports with the mentioned port speed.
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Available Ports column displays the available ports for the port speed.
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Total Ports column displays the total ports with the mentioned speed.
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Estimated Day Left column displays the estimated days left for the ports.
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You can use Filter by attribute to view required information.
Click Refresh icon to refresh the table.
Used ports displays the total used ports for the selected switch. Total ports displays the total available ports for the selected switch.
View bootflash information
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Click the Bootflash tab to view the following areas:
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Primary Bootflash Summary area displays the total, used, and available space.
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Secondary Bootflash Summary area displays the total, used, and available space.
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Directory Listing area displays a check box for the Primary Bootflash and Secondary Bootflash.
This area shows the filename, the size, the last modified date, and the size in bytes for all of the files and directories on the switch bootflash.
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-
Choose the Delete files option from the Actions drop-down list to delete files to increase the available space on the switch.
View CPU, memory, traffic, temperature, and power metrics
To view CPU and memory utilization, traffic, temperature, and power utilization for your fabric and the connected switches:
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Click the Metrics tab.
If you do not see the Metrics tab, click on the three dots (. . .) to access the Metrics tab.
The tabs and their fields on the page are explained in the following sections.
CPU and Memory
The following table describes the columns that appear on the CPU and the Memory tabs.
|
Field |
Description |
|
Switch Name |
Specifies the name of the switch. Click the name of a switch to access a Switch slide-in pane with the switch details. Click on the graph icon to view the CPU or memory performance chart. |
|
IP Address |
Specifies the switch IP address. |
|
Low Value (%) |
Specifies the lowest CPU utilization value on the switch. |
|
Avg. Value (%) |
Specifies the average CPU utilization value on the switch. |
|
High Value (%) |
Specifies the high CPU utilization value on the switch. |
|
Low to High Value Range (Preview) |
Specifies the linear range preview. |
Click the drop-down list to view CPU or memory data for the selected Day, Week, Month, or Year.
The label for the drop-down list changes based on your selection. For example, if you clicked Day, the label changes to Show last day.
Temperature
The following table describes the columns that appear on the Temperature tab.
|
Field |
Description |
|
Switch Name |
Specifies the name of switch. Click the name of a switch to access a Switch slide-in pane with the switch details. Click the graph icon to view the temperature chart. |
|
IP Address |
Specifies the switch IP address. |
|
Temperature Module |
Specifies the module of temperature. |
|
Low Value (°C) |
Specifies the lowest temperature value in degrees. |
|
Avg. Value (°C) |
Specifies the average temperature value in degrees. |
|
High Value (°C) |
Specifies the high temperature value in degrees. |
Click the drop-down list to view temperature data for the selected Hour, Day, Week, or Month.
The label for the drop-down list changes based on your selection. For example, if you clicked Day, the label changes to Show last day.
Power
The following table describes the columns that appear on the Power tab.
|
Field |
Description |
|
Switch Name |
Specifies the name of the switch. Click the name of a switch to access a Switch slide-in pane with the switch details. |
|
IP Address |
Specifies the switch IP address. |
|
Power Module |
Specifies the power module. Click the graph icon to view the power usage chart. |
|
Power Usage (%) |
Specifies the power usage as a percentage with subcategories based on the selected switch. |
|
Avg |
Specifies the average power usage. |
|
Min |
Specifies the minimum power usage. |
|
Max |
Specifies the maximum power usage. |
|
Capacity (AMPs) |
Specifies the capacity in (amps) amperes. |
|
Draw (AMPs) |
Specifies the power usage draw with subcategories based on the selected switch. |
|
Avg |
Specifies the average power usage draw. |
|
Min |
Specifies the minimum power usage draw. |
|
Max |
Specifies the maximum power usage based. |
|
Capacity (WATTs) |
Specifies the power capacity in watts. |
|
Draw (WATTs) |
Specifies the power usage draw in watts with subcategories based on the selected switch. |
|
Avg |
Specifies the average power usage draw in watts. |
|
Min |
Specifies the minimum power usage draw in watts. |
|
Max |
Specifies the maximum power usage draw in watts. |
|
Power Module |
Click on the graph icon under the Power Module column to filter the power usage based on the chosen data type. Options include:
Click on Day, Week, or Month to filter the data based on time increments. If you click on the Day increment, the graph displays one line for the selected data type. If you click on the Week or Month option, the graph displays the average, minimum, or maximum power usage values depending on the chosen data type. |
Click the drop-down list to view power data for the selected Hour, Day, Week, or Month.
The label for the drop-down list changes based on your selection. For example, if you clicked Hour, the label changes to Show last hour.
View switch limit information
View and monitor the zone, Fibre Channel Name Server (FCNS), and Fabric login (Flogi) limitations in the Switch Limit.
Follow these steps to view switch limits.
-
Click Switch Limits.
The following metrics with the maximum limit are displayed.
Metric
Max Limit
Current Value
Global Zones
16000
Global Zone Unique Members
32000
Global Zonesets
1000
Global Zone Database Size (Bytes)
4000000
Global Zone EEM Limit
16000
Global Zone Unique Member EEM Limit
32000
Global Zoneset EEM Limit
1000
Global Zone Database Size EEM Limit(Bytes)
4000000
Switch Flogi
8000
Module Flogi
2000
Interface Flogi
256
Use the Rows per page drop down at the bottom of the Switch Limits table to choose the number of rows you want to display in the Switch Limits table. The row count range is 5-100 rows.
You can also click the Show Raw CLI Output to view the switch limit data in a CLI format.
-
show zone internal global-info | inc Limit: This command is used to display the zone global information, with only the limitations information included in the output.
-
show flogi internal info | inc EEM: This command is used to display details about FLOGI scale optimization, with only the Embedded Event Manager (EEM) information included in the output.
-
show fcns internal debug-info | inc EEM: This command is used to display the name server database and statistical information for a specified VSAN or for all VSANs, with only the EEM information included in the output.
-
show flogi database vsan 1-4093 | include "Total number of flogi" This command is used to display flogi based on the vsan.
View Device Manager information
See Device Manager for descriptions and instructions for using the Cisco MDS 9000 Device Manager.
A Device Manager session is terminated when you navigate to another tab on the Switch Overview screen.
Monitor zone/FCNS/FLOGI limitations
Support is available to monitor zone, Fibre Channel Name Server (FCNS), and Fabric login (FLOGI) limitations.
To monitor the zone, Fibre Channel Name Server (FCNS), and Fabric login (FLOGI) limitations:
-
Click the Max. Values tab in the Switch Overview page.
-
View the zone, FCNS, and FLOGI limitations information in the Max. Values page.
The Max. Values page shows the output from these CLI commands:
-
show zone internal global-info | inc Limit: This command is used to display the zone global information, with only the limitations information included in the output.
-
show flogi internal info | inc EEM: This command is used to display details about FLOGI scale optimization, with only the Embedded Event Manager (EEM) information included in the output.
-
show fcns internal debug-info | inc EEM: This command is used to to display the name server database and statistical information for a specified VSAN or for all VSANs, with only the EEM information included in the output.
-
View blades information
You can view the interfaces of the UCS switches in the Switch Overview window.
Ensure that the UCS switches are listed on Nexus Dashboard and the status of these switches are correct. You can view these tabs only for UCS switches.
Blades tab displays information of all server blades attached to the UCS FI.
The UCS has three tabs:
-
Blades
-
vNICs
-
vHBAs
The blades tab displays all blade information as cards. Click More Details icon on each blade area to view details on the side panel of the selected blade.
You can click the Collapse All or Expand All icon to collapse all or expand all blade areas respectively.
Blades tab displays information of all server blades attached to the UCS FI. Primary UCS FI only in redundancy setup or standalone UCS FI are displayed.
vNICs
vNICs tab displays the list of vNIC for that UCS FI. Click the chart icon to show the 24 hour traffic for the vNIC.
vHBAs
vHBAs tab displays the list of vHBA for that particular UCS FI. Click the chart icon to view 24 hour traffic for the vHBA.
First Published: 2025-01-31
Last Modified: 2025-01-31