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.

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

    The Change Password window appears.

    You are required to change the passphrase for the admin account the first time you are logging in. Click the Passphrase guidelines link in the Cisco VTS GUI 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. To change your passphrase subsequently, click Change Passphrase on the top right settings button. See the Changing Password for Cisco VTS from VTS GUI in the Cisco VTS Installation Guide, for details.

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

    • You may use 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 Quick Guide

    On logging in for the first time, 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 Local 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 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 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 VTSR and VTF Registration. First bring up VTSR and let it register with VTC. Then bring up VTFs.
    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.

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

    6

    Update the BGP ASN information for the devices

    Inventory > Network Inventory

    For more information, see Viewing Network Inventory.

    7

    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 Resources

    8

    Set the Route Reflector

    Administration > Route Reflector

    For more information about setting global route reflector, see Setting Global Route Reflector.

    9

    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

    10

    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.

    11

    Add the ToR and VTSR to the L2 and L3 Gateway Group

    Admin Domains > Domains

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

    12

    Save the Admin Domain you created

    Admin Domains > Domains

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

    Notes Regarding VMware vSphere Distributed Switch

    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 vDS.

    • 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.