Working with Reports for 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 reports navigation and workflow

Beginning with Nexus Dashboard 4.1.1, the navigation and workflow when creating reports in Nexus Dashboard SAN fabrics have been enhanced.

Understanding performance monitoring using programmable reports for SAN fabrics

The Reports area in Nexus Dashboard allows you to generate reports using Python 2.7 scripts. Report jobs are run to generate reports. Each report job can generate multiple reports. You can schedule a report to run for a specific device or fabric. These reports are analyzed to obtain detailed information about the devices.

The report template type is used to support the programmable reports feature. This template has two template subtypes: UPGRADE and GENERIC. For more information on the report template, see the "Report Template" section in the Managing Your Template Library article. A python SDK is provided to simplify report generation. This SDK is bundled with Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller.

RBAC Support

  • An admin or a network operator can create a report.

  • A network operator can view reports created by other admins and operators.

  • A network operator cannot delete/edit/rerun any reports created by an admin and other network operators.

  • An admin can view and delete any report irrespective of the user creating them.

  • Due to fabric and device association, an admin cannot edit any report created by another user, including the network operator.

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A Jython template supports a maximum file size of 100k bytes. In case any report template exceeds this size, Jython execution may fail.

Understanding programmable reports for performance monitoring

Support is available for several programmable reports, such as switch inventory, ISSU pre-upgrade, post-upgrade checks, fabric resources, and so on. For example, a switch performance monitoring programmable report is available to monitor CPU, memory, traffic, and interface utilization. Programmable reports for switch performance monitoring can be enabled for a specific switch (at the device level).

You can also use email as an out-of-band notification method to receive the programmable reports externally using the periodic programmable report generation. This allows you to receive periodic information about your data center fabric health, utilization, and performance state, and the statistics.

Navigate to Analyze > Reports to display the latest reports across all report definitions, at both the fabric level and the device level.

Prerequisites

Complete the following prerequisites before enabling performance monitoring using programmable reports:

  • Enable the Performance Monitoring option at the SAN fabric level.

    1. Navigate to Manage > Fabrics.

      The Fabrics page is displayed, with all of your configured fabrics listed.

    2. Click the check box next to the fabric you want to configure performance collections.

    3. Choose Action > Configure Performance.

      The Performance Data Collection Settings window appears.

      • If you are managing your switches with the performance manager, you must set up an initial set of flows and collections on the switch. You can use Nexus Dashboard to add and remove performance collections.

      • License the switch and keep it in the managedContinuously state before creating a collection for the switch.

      • Only licensed fabrics appear in Performance Data Collection settings window.

    4. Click the check box for Enable SAN Sensor Discovery to enable this feature.

      The Collect Temperature for SAN Switches option becomes configurable.

    5. Click the check box for Collect Temperature for SAN Switches to enable this option, if necessary.

    6. Click the check box for Performance Collection to enable the other check boxes.

    7. Click the appropriate check box to enable performance collection for any of these data types:

      • ISL/NPV Links

      • Hosts

      • Storage

      • FC Ethernet

        Or click Select All to enable performance collection for all of these data types.

    8. Click Apply to save the configuration.

    9. In the confirmation dialog box, click Yes to restart the performance collector.

  • If you want to enable email notifications, update the SMTP host information in Admin > System Settings > General > Email.

Guidelines and limitations

Following are the guidelines and limitations for performance monitoring using programmable reports in Nexus Dashboard:

  • Only NX-OS switches are supported for switch performance monitoring using programmable reports in Nexus Dashboard.

  • Prior to Nexus Dashboard release 4.1.1, the number of backup days for the CPU/memory performance monitoring data was 90 days. Beginning with Nexus Dashboard release 4.1.1, that number has been reduced to 30 days.

Configure programmable reports

Before you begin:

Complete all the tasks described in Prerequisites before proceeding with these procedures.

  1. Navigate to Analyze > Reports.

    The Reports page appears, with any configured report definitions displayed.

  2. Click Create Report.

    The Create Report page is displayed.

  3. Enter a name for the report in the Report Name field.

  4. Choose the report template that you want to use.

    You have the following report templates to choose from:

    • Common_Performance

    • Common_Switch

    • Health_Fabric

    • Health_HostToStorage_Connectivity

    • Health_Port

    • Health_StorageToHost_Connectivity

    • Health_Summary

    • Inactive_Paths

    • Storage_Enclosure_Port_Capacity

    • Storage_System_Capacity_Trend

    • Switch_Health

    • Traffic_By_VSAN

    • User_Defined

    • Zone_and_Alias_Discrepancy

  5. Click Next to move to the Recurrence step.

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    If you chose the User_Defined report template in the previous step, then make the appropriate configurations under the Inventory, Performance, and Health tabs for your user-defined report, then click Next to move to the Recurrence step.

  6. Enter the necessary information in the Recurrence page.

    1. If you have email notifications enabled, in the Email Report To field, enter an email ID or mailer ID if you want the report in an email.

      Note that the title of the report that you receive in your email will include the time in a different format than the format that is shown under the Reports tab.

      As described in Prerequisites, you must configure the SMTP settings in Admin > System Settings > General > Email. If the data service IP address is in a private subnet, the static management route for the SMTP server must be added in the Nexus Dashboard cluster configuration.

    2. Choose the frequency at which the report job should be run.

      The following table shows the options available and their description.

      Available Option Description

      Now

      The report is generated now.

      Daily

      The report is generated daily at a specified time between the Start Date and End Date that you provide.

      Weekly

      The report is generated once a week at a specified time between the Start Date and End Date that you provide.

      Monthly

      The report is generated once a month at a specified time between the Start Date and End Date that you provide.

      Periodically

      The report is generated periodically in a time period between the specified Start Date and End Date that you provide. The interval of time between the reports can be specified in minutes or hours.

  7. Click the check box next to the fabrics where you want the performance reports to run.

  8. Click Save.

    You are returned to the main Reports page. A new report and report definitions are created and appear on the Reports and Report Definitions tabs, and the report that you just created begins to run in the background.

  9. Review the information provided in the Report Definitions tab.

    The status for the new report shows as RUNNING in the Status column at first. Click the refresh icon or wait for a moment, then the status will change to SUCCESS.

    You can also view other information on the new report in the Report Definitions tab, such as the report template used for each report, the user who generated the report, and the recurrence setting for each report.

  10. Click the Reports tab.

    Information is provided for each programmable report that you configured, including the type of template used for each report, who created the report, and what the recurrence is for each report.

    • To download a report, click the box next to the report, then click Actions > Download.

    • To compare two reports, click the boxes next to the reports that you want to compare, then click Actions > Compare (2 Reports).

  11. In the Reports tab, double-click on the report that you just created.

    The overview information for the report is displayed, with additional information provided under these two tabs:

    • Details: Provides detailed information on this programmable report, with additional details available in expandable areas that are specific to each type of programmable report.

    • Commands: Provides information on executed commands, if available.

  12. If you enabled email notifications in Step 6, open the email that contains detailed information from the programmable report.

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The total report size is limited to 12 GB. If the report size exceeds this limit, reports will get purged based on the count of reports set in Settings tab. For example, if the reports count is set to 7, maximum 7 records will be retained, others will get purged.

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

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