NexusSwitch Intersight Device Connector

This chapter contains the following sections:

NexusSwitch Intersight Device Connector Overview

Devices are connected to the Intersight portal through a NexusSwitch Intersight Device Connector (NXDC) that is embedded in the Cisco NX-OS image of each system.

Beginning with Cisco NX-OS Release 10.2(3)F, the Device Connector on NX-OS feature is supported which provides a secure way for the connected devices to send information and receive control instructions from the Cisco Intersight portal, using a secure Internet connection.

The Cisco Nexus switch must properly resolve svc.intersight.com and allow outbound initiated HTTPS connections on port 443. To resolve svc.intersight.com, you must configure DNS on the Cisco Nexus devices. If a proxy is required for an HTTPS connection to svc.intersight.com, the proxy can be configured in the NXDC user interface. For proxy configuration, refer to Configuring NXDC.

The NXDC is enabled by default on all Cisco Nexus series switches and it starts at boot by default, and attempts to connect to the cloud service. Once a secure connection has been established and the device connector is registered with the Intersight service, the device connector collects detailed inventory, health status and sends the adoption telemetry data to the Intersight database. Inventory is refreshed once in a day.

The NXDC supports the AutoUpdate feature where it gets automatically updated to the latest version through a refresh by the Intersight service when you connect to Intersight.

The NXDC also supports the connected TAC feature to collect tech-support data from device.

The NXDC feature integration was done to resolve the unmanaged switches with the following capabilities:

It provides fast and quick solution to gather basic data from unmanaged switches.
It stores private and organized data of all devices in a single location.
It manages the data securely in the cloud.
It is flexible for future extensions and upgradability.

Configuring NXDC

To configure NXDC, follow the below steps:

Note

By default the NXDC feature is enabled.

SUMMARY STEPS

no feature intersight
install deactivate <intersight rpm>
intersight proxy <proxy-name> port <proxy-port>
intersight use-vrf <vrf-name>
intersight connection <name>
intersight trustpoint <trustpoint-label> [host-name]

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

no feature intersight

Example:

switch(config)# no feature intersight

Disables the intersight process and removes all NXDC configuration and logs store.

Step 2

install deactivate <intersight rpm>

Example:

switch(config)# show install active | i intersight 
intersight_64-1.0.0.0-10.2.3.lib32_64_n9000
switch(config)# install deactivate intersight_64-1.0.0.0-10.2.3.lib32_64_n9000

Disables intersight to not run automatically on bootup.

Step 3

intersight proxy <proxy-name> port <proxy-port>

Example:

switch(config)# intersight proxy proxy.esl.cisco.com port 8080

Configures the proxy server for intersight connection.

proxy-name: IPv4 or IPv6 address or DNS name of proxy server.
proxy-port: Proxy port number. The range is 1-65535. The default value is 8080.

Note

If Proxy is enabled with the smart license configuration on Cisco Nexus switches, the NXDC inherits this configuration and attempts to connect with Cisco Intersight Cloud.

Step 4

intersight use-vrf <vrf-name>

Example:

switch(config)# intersight use-vrf blue

Modifies the vrf of NXDC, if connectivity is via specified vrf.

Note

By default intersight is started in management vrf/namespace.

Step 5

intersight connection <name>

Example:

switch(config)# intersight connection qaconnect.starshipcloud.com

Sets the DNS name for intersight connection. It can be used to change from intersight to NDSaaS.

name: Name value is string. The maximum size is 128.

Step 6

intersight trustpoint <trustpoint-label> [host-name]

Example:

switch(config)# intersight trustpoint test test

Configures certificates for intersight connection.

trustpoint-label: Crypto ca truspoint label. For more information refer to Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS Security Configuration Guide.

Verifying NXDC

To verify the NXDC configuration, use the following Bash commands:

Note

The feature Bash must be enabled.

Command

Purpose

run bash exec ip netns exec <vrf-name> curl http://localhost:8889/Systems

Displays the device connector system info.

run bash exec ip netns exec <vrf-name> curl http://localhost:8889/DeviceConfigurations

Displays the device configuration.

run bash ip netns exec <vrf-name> curl http://localhost:8889/DeviceConnections

Displays the device connections.

run bash ip netns exec <vrf-name> curl http://localhost:8889/DeviceIdentifiers

Displays the device ID.

Note

You can obtain device ID using the following show command:

show inventory chassis

run bash ip netns exec <vrf-name> curl http://localhost:8889/SecurityTokens

Displays the security tokens.

run bash ip netns exec <vrf-name> curl http://localhost:8889/HttpProxies

Displays the HTTP proxy info.

The show commands can be run using NX-API, if Payload type is set to bash.

Example:

payload={
  "ins_api": {
    "version": "1.0",
    "type": "bash",
    "chunk": "0",
    "sid": "sid",
    "input": "ip netns exec management curl http://localhost:8889/HttpProxies",
    "output_format": "json"
  }
}

Result:

{
  "ins_api": {
    "version": "1.0",
    "sid": "eoc",
    "type": "bash",
    "outputs": {
      "output": {
        "body": "[\n  {\n    \"ProxyHost\": \"\",\n    \"ProxyPort\": 0,\n    \"Preference\": 0,\n    \"ProxyType\": \"Disabled\"\n  }\n]",
        "code": "200",
        "msg": "Success"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cisco Nexus 9000 NX-OS Fundamentals Configuration Guide, Release 10.2(x)

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Book Title

Cisco Nexus 9000 NX-OS Fundamentals Configuration Guide, Release 10.2(x)

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