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Cisco Virtual Topology System (VTS) 2.3 User Guide

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The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For the purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on RFP documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product. Learn more about how Cisco is using Inclusive Language.

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Book Title

Cisco Virtual Topology System (VTS) 2.3 User Guide

Chapter Title

Getting Started with Cisco Virtual Topology System

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Updated:
October 4, 2016

Chapter: Getting Started with Cisco Virtual Topology System

Getting Started with Cisco Virtual Topology System

This chapter provides an overview of Cisco Virtual Topology System (VTS). It also provides a high level workflow of the tasks that you need to perform after you install Cisco VTS.

Logging in

To log in to the Cisco VTS GUI:

    Step 1   Open a supported browser, and enter the URL of the server. For example: http://<IP Address>.

    Cisco VTS supports Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers. Cisco VTS has been tested on Google Chrome version 49.0.2623.112 m and Mozilla Firefox version 45.0.1.

    Step 2   Enter the username and passphrase, and click Login. The default username and passphrase is admin/admin.

    The Change Password window appears.

    You will be required to change the passphrase for the admin account the first time you are logging in. Click the Passphrase guidelines link for details about the passphrase guidelines.

    Step 3   Enter the New Passphrase, and reenter the new passphrase in the Confirm New Passphrase field.
    Step 4   Click Change Passphrase.
    Note   

    • To change your passphrase subsequently, click Change Passphrase on the top right settings button.

    The Cisco VTS welcome screen is displayed. The screen provides two options for you to continue with the set up tasks:

    • Guide me to set up—This option takes you to the Cisco VTS Setup Wizard. This wizard guides you through the initial configuration tasks to get your system ready for further operations.

    • I will set up myself—This option takes you to the Quick Guide, which displays the tasks you need to complete in order to get started with the system.

      If you are familiar with the Cisco VTS setup tasks, you may opt to close the Quick Guide and proceed with the tasks. You can access the Quick Guide anytime from the Settings menu on the top right corner of the Cisco VTS GUI.

    Using the Setup Wizard

    The Cisco VTS Setup wizard guides you through a series of steps that helps you set up the system and get started. We recommend that you use the Setup wizard if you are not familiar with the VTS UI and the sequence of the initial configuration tasks.


    Note

    Not all steps in the wizard are mandatory. Green check mark indicates that the task is not mandatory. These tasks can be done outside of the wizard flow or have default values.

    The following sections provide information about the series of screens that are part of the wizard.

    System Settings

    This is the initial screen in the Setup wizard. This helps you to set up the following system parameters:

    • Domain ID

    • DHCP Server IP

    • AnyCast Gateway Mac

    Enter the values, and click Next.

    The Virtual Machine Manager screen is displayed.


    Virtual Machine Manager

    The Virtual Machine Manager screen in the Setup wizard helps you to register the VMM.

      Step 1   Click the Add (+) button.

      The Add Virtual Machine Manager popup is displayed.

      Step 2   Enter the following details:

      • VMM Type—Specify the VMM type. Choose vcenter or openstack from the drop-down list.

      • Version Name—Specify the version details. See Note below for details.

      • Description—Enter a description for the VMM.

      • IP Address-Port—If you choose vcenter, enter the IP address and the port. The default port is 443. If you choose openstack, enter the IP address.

      • User Name—Enter the VMM username.

      • Passphrase—Enter the VMM passphrase.

      Note   
        1. If VMM Type is openstack and Version Name is openstack-liberty-centos, a new field VTF Deployment Mode appears in the Add VMM popup.

        2. VTF Deployment Mode field had two modes: vtf-vhost andvtf-as-vm.

        3. openstack-liberty-rhel, openstack-icehouse, openstack-juno, and openstack-kilo support only VM mode.

        4. Openstack-liberty-centos supports both vhost and VM modes.

        5. In vHost mode VTF installation has to be done manually.

        6. VTF deployment mode can be selected at the time of VMM registration and this cannot be changed later.

        7. All the computes in a data center should be either in vhost mode (VTF running as a process) or in vNode mode (VTF running as a VM). Currently VTS does not support mixed mode.

      Step 3   Click Add

      The VMM you added is listed in the Virtual Machine Manager screen.

      You can check the status of VMM registration in the Status column.
      Step 4   Click Next if the VMM registration is successful. The Authorization Group screen is displayed.

      Authorization Group

      The Authorization Group screen in the Setup wizard helps you to create authorization groups. The authorization group will have credentials for logging into your devices. You can create as many authorization groups as necessary.

      Click Add (+) icon. The Add Group popup window appears.

      Enter the following details, and click Add:

      • Group Name—The authorization group name.

      • Controller User Name—This is the VTC administrative user name.

      • Device User Name—This is the login user name for the device.

      • Passphrase—This is the login passphrase for the device.

      The authorization group gets added to the authorization group table.

      To edit an authorization group, select the Auth Group Name check box and click the Edit icon.

      To delete an authorization group, select the Auth Group Name check box and click the delete (X) icon.


      Discovery

      The Discovery screen helps you to discover the devices in your network, and add them to the inventory. You can perform auto discovery, or import devices manually using a .CSV file. Before you perform this step, ensure that:

      • Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) has to be enabled on leafs, spine, DCI, and computes. See documentation for the respective devices for details about how to enable LLDP on these devices.

      • A seed device has to be identified, and the IP should be provided. The seed IP is that of one of the leaf or spine devices.

      • All devices must have the same set of credentials. These credentials will be used during the discovery process. See Managing Inventory for more information. The credentials must be of the appropriate privilege level on the devices.

      To perform discovery:

        Step 1   Click Discovery.
        Step 2   Enter the Seed Device IP.
        Step 3   Enter the Seed Device User Name.
        Step 4   Enter the Seed Device Passphrase.
        Step 5   Click Start Discovery.
        Note   

        After the discovery is complete, you may edit the editable fields in the table to modify the device details, before you add the details into the Cisco VTS inventory.

        To import device details into inventory via CSV file, manually, click the Import CSV, then select the CSV file and import it.

        If you want to edit details for more than one devices, you may select the devices, and then click Bulk Edit option. Click Apply after you make the changes.

        Step 6   To add the devices to Cisco VTS inventory, select the devices and click Add to Inventory button.
        Note    When you add the devices to inventory using the Add to Inventory button, all the devices in the table are added to the inventory.
        Step 7   Click Next.

        The Inventory screen is displayed.

        Inventory

        The Inventory screen of the Setup wizard displays view inventory details: It has three tabs:

        • Network Inventory—Details about the switches in the inventory. It shows the following details.

          • Device Name

          • Admin State

          • IP Address

          • Auth Group

          • Device Platform

          • Device Role

          • Group Tag

          • bgp-asn

          • Loopback Interface Number

          • Loopback Interface IP


          Note

          You need to discover the devices and add them to the inventory before you bring up the IoS XRv. If you do these tasks simultaneously, you might encounter errors.

        • Fabric Inventory—Details about the fabric connection between the switches. It shows the following details:

          • Device Name

          • Device Type

          • Device Interface

          • Device IP Address

          • Device Port Name

          • Connection ID

        • Host Inventory—Details about the servers connected to the switches It shows the following details:

          • Host Name

          • Host Type

          • Host Interface

          • Host IP Address

          • Device Port Name

          • Connection ID

          • Capability—The host capability - Physical or Virtual.

          • Status—Shows the installation status.

          The Host Inventory has the Install Capabilities button. You can select the host from the list, and click Install Capabilities. If the host is connected to a physical VTEP (ToR), it installs the host agent in case of an OpenStack environment. If the capability is Virtual, clicking Install Capabilities installs the VTF VM on that host. See Installing OpenStack Host Agent and VTF using GUI.

          Click on the info icon adjacent to the Host Name. Host Summary table popup appears.

          If Virtual Capability is 'virtual-switch', both Additional Host Details and VTF Details can be viewed in the Host Summary table.

          If Virtual Capability is 'no-virtual-switch' only Additional Host Details can be viewed in the Host Summary table.

        Click Finish to exit the Setup wizard.

        Using the Expert Mode—Quick Guide

        On logging in for the first time, if you choose the I will set up myself option, the Quick Guide appears.


        Note

        You may opt to close the Quick Guide and proceed to the set up tasks on your own, via the Cisco VTS GUI. To get a list of tasks that need to be performed to set up and get started with Cisco VTS, see Initial Configuration Tasks section. At any time, you can access the Quick Guide from the settings menu on the top right corner of the Cisco VTS GUI.

        The Quick Guide has the following tasks listed:

        Task

        Subtasks

        Doc Section

        Administration

        • System Settings

        • Virtual Machine Manager

        Set up Inventory

        • Discover Devices

        Admin Domains

        Create Admin Domains

        Creating an Admin Domain

        Set up Tenants

        Add Tenants

        Adding Tenants

        Set up Overlay

        • Add Network

        • Define Baremetal

        • Add Virtual Machines

        • Add Routers

        Provisioning Overlay Networks

        Initial Configuration Tasks

        After bringing up the Virtual Topology Controller (VTC) Virtual Machine (VM), do the following:


        Note
        Before you perform the tasks below, ensure that installation is complete, day zero configuration on leafs is done, and all underlay configurations are working.

        Sequence

        Task

        Navigation in VTS GUI / User Guide Section

        Additional Notes

        1

        Create an Authorization Group

        Inventory > Authorization Group

        For more information about creating authorization group, see Managing Users and Groups

        This will have credentials for logging into your devices. You can create as many auth groups as necessary.

        2

        Discover the Topology of all the leafs, spine, border-leafs, and DCI

        Discovery > Topology Discovery

        For more information about adding devices and host information, see Performing Auto Discovery

        VTFs and IOS XRv are not detected in topology discovery.

        3

        Import the devices after adding the auth group

        Inventory > Import Inventory

        For more information about adding devices and host information, see Importing Inventory using CSV File

        4

        Add the Domain ID, DHCP Server IP, and Anycast Gateway MAC

        Administration > System Settings

        For more information about adding devices and host information, see Administering Cisco VTS.

        5

        Perform IOS XRv and VTF Registration.
        Note   

        This step is required only if you have a VTF-based deployment.

        See the Installing the Virtual Topology Forwarder section in the Cisco VTS Installation Guide.

        IOS XRv takes a few minutes to boot. Register the VTF only after you see the VFG group on the GUI.

        To verify that the VFG group is created, go to Inventory > Virtual Forwarding Groups.

        6

        Login into the IOS XRv and verify that the network-controller config is pushed
        Note   

        This step is required only if you have a VTF-based deployment.

        7

        Update the BGP ASN information for the devices

        Inventory > Network Inventory

        For more information, see Viewing Network Inventory.

        Create resource pools

        • Resource Pools > Global VNI Pool

        • Resource Pools > Device Specific VLAN Pools

        • Resource Pools > Multicast IP Pool

        For more information about creating an admin domain, see Managing Resource Pools

        8

        Create an Admin Domain

        Admin Domains > Domains

        For more information about creating an admin domain, see Creating an Admin Domain

        Properties for the L2/L3 Gateway Group are as follows:

        • Control Protocol: BGP-EVPN

        • Replication Modes : Multicast and Ingress

        • Distribution Mode: Decentralized

        9

        Add the devices to the Gateway Group

        Admin Domains > Domains

        For more information about creating an admin domain, see Creating an Admin Domain

        		See the Supported Platforms section in the Cisco VTS Installation Guide for details about devices support for different roles.

        10

        Add the ToR and IOS XRv to the L2 and L3 Gateway Group

        Admin Domains > Domains

        For more information about creating an admin domain, see Creating an Admin Domain

        11

        Save the Admin Domain you created

        Admin Domains > Domains

        For more information about creating an admin domain, see Creating an Admin Domain

        Important Notes Regarding VMware vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS)

        The following points need to be taken care of while you create a VDS.


        Note

        • All the ToRs in the inventory should be part of the VDSs.

        • One VDS can represent one or more ToRs.

        • All the hosts that are connected to a particular ToR should be part of the same VDS.

        For Non-VPC Specific Configuration

        If you are not using VPC on the leaves:

        • Associate one or more leafs per VDS.

        • Attach the hosts' data interface to the VDS uplinks.

          Note

          See VMware documentation for the detailed procedure.

        For VPC Specific Configuration

        If you are using VPC on the leaves:

          Step 1   Create one VDS switch for one or more VPC pairs.
          Step 2   Enable enhanced LACP.

          See VMware documentation for the detailed procedure.

          Step 3   Create a Link Aggregation Group for each VDS.

          See VMware documentation for the detailed procedure.

          Step 4   You may remove the default port group that gets created as it will not be used .

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