Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights Software Management, Release 6.4.1 - For Cisco ACI

Found inactive devices

This validation checks if all devices are active.

6.0.1

Select a compatible target version

This validation checks if the target firmware version is compatible with the current running version.

6.0.1

Remote leaf compatibility

This validation checks if remote leaf feature is supported in the target firmware version and if the fabric is using remote leaf feature.

6.0.1

Multi-Tier compatibility

This validation check if Multi-Tier topology is supported in the target firmware version and if the fabric has Tier-2 leaf nodes.

6.0.1

The fabric has 4 active critical configuration faults

This validation checks the presence of critical configuration faults or specific faults that may impact the firmware update.

6.0.1

Pod(s) have fewer than two route reflectors for infra MP-BGP

This validation checks if each pod has at least two spine nodes configured as route reflectors for infra MP-BGP.

6.0.1

Nodes are not in vPC

This validation checks if leaf nodes are configured with vPC to ensure the redundancy/high availability during the firmware update.

6.0.1

Nodes do not have out-of-band management IP

This validation checks the presence of nodes without OOB (Out-of-Band) management IP configuration to ensure that you always have access to all nodes.

6.0.1

NTP is not configured

This validation checks if Network Time Protocol (NTP) is configured for Cisco APICs.

6.0.1

Switch upgrade maintenance group check

This validation checks if APICs have maintenance and firmware groups.

6.0.1

Failed to validate rule

This validation checks if the target firmware version is compatible with current running CIMC versions.

6.0.1

Cisco APICs in cluster have different infra VLAN IDs

This validation checks if APICs in the cluster have same infra VLAN IDs

6.0.1

Cisco APIC cluster status is not fully-fit for all APIC nodes

This validation checks if the APIC cluster status is fully-fit for all APIC nodes.

6.0.1

Fabric recovery is in progress

This validation checks if there is any fabric recovery in progress.

6.0.1

The configured SNMPv3 user authorization and/or privacy types are not supported in the target Cisco APIC firmware version

This validation checks if configured SNMPv3 user authorization and/or privacy types are supported in the target APIC firmware version.

6.0.1

Endpoint network redundancy

This validation checks if nodes have non-redundant endpoints to avoid traffic loss during the reboot of nodes.

6.0.2

APIC Cluster Status

This validation checks if the APIC cluster status is fully-fit for all APIC nodes.

If it is data-layer-partially-diverged or anything other than fully-fit, firmware update for APICs and switches should not be performed.

6.3.1

APIC Cluster Status

This validation checks if the APIC cluster status is fully-fit for all APIC nodes.

If it is data-layer-partially-diverged or anything other than fully-fit, firmware update for APICs and switches should not be performed.

6.3.1

APIC Disk Space

This validation checks if there are any faults warning that an APIC is running low on disk space.

This could cause the APIC upgrade to fail. APICs raise three different faults depending on the amount of disk space remaining. If any of these faults are raised on the system, the issue should be resolved prior to performing the upgrade.

6.3.1

Switch Bootflash Usage

This validation checks if there is enough bootflash storage to successfully upgrade a switch node.

6.3.1

APIC SSD Health

This validation checks if there are any faults warning the APIC SSD health status.

6.3.1

Switch SSD Health

This validation checks if there are any faults warning the Switch SSD health status.

6.3.1

Daily Configuration Backup

This validation checks if there is a valid configuration backup taken in the last 24 hours.

6.3.1

NTP Configuration

This validation checks if Network Time Protocol (NTP) is configured for APICs.

6.3.1

NTP Status

This validation checks if Network Time Protocol (NTP) is Synced on APICs and Switches in the Fabric.

6.3.1

OOB management IP

This validation checks the presence of nodes without OOB (Out-of-Band) management IP configuration to ensure that you always have access to all nodes.

During the upgrade/downgrade, nodes may not be reachable via ACI infra. It is recommended to prepare console access to each node as well just in case.

6.3.1

Ongoing Fabric Recovery

This validation checks if there is any fabric recovery in progress.

6.3.1

Active Apps

This validation checks if there are any active apps in the APIC that need to be disabled.

6.3.1

Configuration Zones

This validation checks if there are any configuration zones that need to be disabled or removed prior to the upgrade.

6.3.1

Switch High Availability (vPC Leafs)

This validation checks if leaf nodes are configured with vPC to ensure the redundancy/high availability during the firmware update.

If the fabric provides redundancy via other means such as ECMP, or has single-homed servers on purpose, ignore this check.

6.3.1

Switch High Availability (Spine Route Reflectors)

This validation checks if each pod has at least two spine nodes configured as route reflectors for infra MP-BGP.

If all route reflector spine nodes are unavailable at the same time, the fabric will lose the reachability to external routes from L3Outs.

6.3.1

Upgrade Group (Spine HA)

If any maintenance groups are found, this validation checks for

1) Not all spines in the same pod are upgraded in the same group.

2) Not all BGP Route Reflector spines are upgraded in the same group.

3) Not all IPN/ISN spines are upgraded in the same group.

6.3.1

Upgrade Group (vPC HA)

This validation checks that both leaf nodes of the same vPC pair are not in the same upgrade group.

6.3.1

Upgrade Group (APIC Leaf HA)

This checks that both leaf nodes connected to the same APIC do not belong to the same upgrade group.

6.3.1

Critical Configuration Faults

This validation checks the presence of critical config faults or specific faults that may impact the firmware update.

6.3.1

Controller Port Configuration Conflict

This validation checks if there are any faults warning that there is configuration being rejected because it’s deployed on an APIC connected port.

6.3.1

L3 Interface Deployment Conflict

This validation checks if there are any faults warning that L3 configuration is being rejected on a port already operating in L2 mode.

6.3.1

L2 Interface Deployment Conflict

This validation checks if there are any faults warning that L2 configuration is being rejected on a port already operating in L3 mode.

6.3.1

Overlapping BD Subnets

This validation checks if there are any faults warning that BD subnets are not the same but overlapping in the same VRF.

Only one of those configurations takes effect at a given time. Hence, after the upgrade, a different BD subnet than before may take effect.

6.3.1

Duplicated BD Subnets

This validation checks if there are any faults warning that external Bridge Domains in the same VRF have overlapping prefixes.

6.3.1

External EPG Prefix Overlap

This validation checks if there are any faults warning that external EPGs in the same VRF have overlapping prefixes.

6.3.1

HW Programming Failure (L3Out Prefixes, Contracts)

This validation checks if there are any faults warning that L3Out prefix to pcTag mapping entries or contracts are failed to be programmed.

6.3.1

Scalability (Faults Related to Capacity Dashboard)

This validation checks if there are any stats faults (TCA: Threshold Crossing Alert) related to object eqptcapacityEntity warning scalability issues that can be checked via Capacity Dashboard in the APIC GUI.

By default, not all stats in Capacity Dashboard are configured with thresholds to raise a fault. This can be checked and configured under Fabric > Fabric Policies > Policies > Monitoring > default > Stats Collection Policies > Monitoring Object > Equipment Capacity Entity (eqptcapacityEntity) > Stats Type.

6.3.1

Overlapping VLAN Pools

This detects VLAN pools with overlapping VLAN IDs on the same EPG.

Such configuration may cause traffic impact after or during an upgrade unless this configuration is intentional and you are familiar with how VNIDs are assigned and work in ACI.

6.3.1

ISIS Redistribution Metric for Multi-Pod/Multi-Site

This checks ISIS redistribution metrics for multi-pod and multi-site.

6.3.1

L3Out MTU Size

This validation checks the MTU size configured on all Layer 3 Outs in the Fabric.

If the MTU size on ACI L3Out sides and connected devices does not match, route-exchange after an upgrade may fail even if everything used to work prior to the upgrade.

6.3.1

Different Infra VLAN via LLDP

This validation checks if there are any faults. If you have interfaces connected back-to-back between two different ACI fabrics, you must disable LLDP on those interfaces prior to upgrades.

This is because when the switch comes back up after the upgrade, it may receive and process LLDP packets from the other fabric that may be using a different infra VLAN. If that happens, the switch incorrectly tries to be discovered through the infra VLAN of the other fabric and will not be discoverable in the correct fabric.

6.3.1

Offline VMM Domain

This validation checks if any VMM Domains have controllers which are offline.

6.3.1

VMM Domain LLDP/CDP Adjacency

This validation checks if there are any faults warning when APIC cannot find LLDP/CDP information of vSwitch through vCenter for VMM DVS integration.

The LLDP/CDP information is used to detect which interfaces of ACI switches to deploy VLANs dynamically.

6.3.1

CIMC compatibility

This validation checks if the target firmware version is compatible with current running CIMC versions.

6.3.1

Version compatibility

This validation checks if the target firmware version is compatible with the current running version.

6.3.1

Remote leaf compatibility

This validation checks if remote leaf feature is supported in the target firmware version if the fabric is using remote leaf feature. This check is mainly for downgrade scenario.

6.3.1

Multi-Tier compatibility

This validation check if Multi-Tier topology is supported in the target firmware version if the fabric has Tier-2 leaf nodes. This check is mainly for downgrade scenario.

6.3.1

Switch upgrade maintenance group check

This validation checks if APICs have Maintenance and Firmware groups exists before upgrade from pre-4.0 to 4.0 or later releases.

6.3.1

Infra VLAN ID check

This validation checks if APICs in the cluster have same infra VLAN IDs.

6.3.1

SNMPv3 auth compatibility

This validation checks if configured SNMPv3 user authorization and/or privacy types are supported in the target APIC firmware version.

6.3.1