System Requirements

This chapter lists the tested and supported hardware and software specifications for Cisco Data Center Network Management (DCNM) server and client architecture. The application is in English locales only. This chapter contains the following section:

System Requirements for Cisco DCNM


Note

We recommend that you do not upgrade any underlying third-party software separately. All the necessary software components will be updated during the inline upgrade procedure. Upgrading the components outside of DCNM upgrade will cause performance issues.


This section describes the various system requirements for proper functioning of your Cisco DCNM, Release 11.2(1).

Java Requirements

The Cisco DCNM Server is distributed with JRE 1.8.0_201 into the following directory:

DCNM_root_directory/java/jre1.8

Server Requirements

Cisco DCNM, Release 11.2(1), supports the Cisco DCNM Server on these 64-bit operating systems:

  • SAN Deployments:

    • Microsoft Windows 2016

    • Microsoft Windows 2012 R2

    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Release 7.3, 7.4, and 7.6

  • IP for Media, LAN Fabric, and Classic LAN Deployments:

    • Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) with an integrated CentOS Linux release 7.6

    • ISO Virtual Appliance (ISO) with an integrated CentOS Linux release 7.6

Cisco DCNM Release 11.2(1) supports the following databases:

  • Oracle11g Express (XE), Standard, and Enterprise Editions, and Oracle 11g Real Application Clusters (RAC)

  • Oracle 12c Enterprise Edition (Conventional)—(Nonpluggable installation)


    Note

    Cisco DCNM Release 11.2(1) does not support the Oracle 12c pluggable database version installation.


  • Oracle 12c RAC (nonpluggable installation)

  • PostgreSQL 9.4.5


Note

The ISO/OVA installation only supports the embedded PostgreSQL database.

Note

The Cisco DCNM database size is not limited. The database size increases according to the number of nodes and ports that the DCNM manages, with Performance Manager Collections enabled. You cannot restrict the database size. If you choose an Oracle database, we recommend that you use Oracle SE or Enterprise edition, instead of Oracle XE due to table space limitations.



Note

You are responsible for all the support that is associated with the Oracle databases, including maintenance, troubleshooting, and recovery. We recommend that you take regular backup of the database; either daily or weekly, to ensure that all the data is preserved.

Cisco DCNM Release 11.2(1) supports the ISO installation on a bare-metal server (no hypervisor) on the following server platforms:

Server

Product ID (PID)

Recommended minimum memory, drive capacity, and CPU count

1

Cisco UCS C240M4

UCSC-C240-M4S

32G / 500G 16-vCPU Cores with Cisco hardware RAID Controller [UCSC-MRAID12G-1GB/2 GB] for the RAID operation (small)

Cisco UCS C240M4

UCSC-C240-M4L

32G / 500G 16-vCPU Cores with Cisco hardware RAID Controller [UCSC-MRAID12G- GB/2 GB] for the RAID operation (large)

Cisco UCS C240 M5S

UCSC-C240-M5SX

32G / 500G 16-vCPU Cores with Cisco hardware RAID Controller [UCSC-SAS-M5] for the RAID operation (small)

Cisco UCS C220 M5L

UCSC-C220-M5L

32G / 500G

16-vCPU Cores with Cisco hardware RAID Controller [UCSC-SAS-M5] for the RAID operation (small)

1 Install the Cisco DCNM Compute node with 16vCPUs, 64G RAM, and 500GB hard disk. Ensure that you do not install the Compute node on 32G RAM server.

Note

Cisco DCNM can work on an alternative computing hardware as well, despite Cisco is only testing on Cisco UCS.



Note

Only Warm and Cold VMware snapshot is supported.

vCenter server is mandatory to deploy the Cisco DCNM OVA Installer.


Supported Hypervisors

Cisco DCNM Release 11.2(1) supports the running of the Cisco DCNM Server on the following hypervisors, for DCNM LAN Fabric and DCNM LAN Classic Deployments:

Table 1. Cisco DCNM Redhat KVM Support for DCNM LAN Fabric and DCNM LAN Classic Deployments

Installation Mode

Hypervisor

DCNM LAN Fabric

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 with KVM

DCNM Classic LAN

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4

Table 2. VMware Snapshot Support for DCNM LAN Fabric and DCNM LAN Classic Deployments

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi)

6.0

6.5

6.7

6.7 update 1

VMware vCenter Server

6.0

6.5

6.7

6.7 update 1

Server Resource Requirements

Deployment

Deployment Type

Small (Lab or POC)

Large (Production)

Compute

SAN

Windows, Linux (standalone or VM)

CPU: 8 vCPUs

RAM: 24 GB

DISK: 500 GB

CPU: 16 vCPUs

Note 

Standalone functioning of SAN Insights requires 28 vCPUs.

RAM: 128 GB RAM(with SAN Insights) or 32 GB (without SAN Insights)

DISK: 10 TB Disk (with SAN Insights) or 500 GB (without SAN Insights)

Not Applicable

IP for Media (IPFM)

  • OVA

  • ISO

CPU: 8 vCPUs

RAM: 24 GB

DISK: 500 GB

CPU: 16 vCPUs

RAM: 32 GB

DISK: 500 GB

Not Applicable

LAN Fabric

Classic LAN

  • OVA

  • ISO

CPU: 8 vCPUs

RAM: 24 GB

DISK: 500 GB

CPU: 16 vCPUs

RAM: 32 GB

DISK: 500 GB

CPU: 16 vCPUs

RAM: 64 GB

DISK: 500 GB


Note

  • Cisco DCNM Small deployments does not support SAN Insights feature.

  • You can use the SAN Insights feature on a medium-sized deployment with 2 TB disk space as well.

  • Every Federation node must consists of 3 Large configuration nodes.

  • From Cisco DCNM Release 11.2(1), you must synchronize the Federation nodes from the Primary node only.


Client Requirements

Cisco DCNM SAN desktop client and Cisco Device Manager support Microsoft Windows 10, Microsoft Windows 2012, Microsoft Windows 2016, and Red Hat Linux. The following table lists the minimum hardware requirements for these client systems.

Table 3. Client Hardware Requirements

Hardware

Minimum Requirements

RAM (free)

6 GB or more

CPU speed

3 GHz or faster

Disk space (free)

20 GB

If you install Cisco DCNM on a virtual machine, you must reserve resources equal to the server resource requirements to ensure a baseline with the physical machines.

Some Cisco DCNM features require a license. Before using the licensed features, you must install a Cisco DCNM license for each Nexus-managed or MDS-managed platform. For information about Licensing in DCNM, see https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/sw/11_x/licensing/cisco_dcnm_licensing_guide_11_x.html.

Supported Web Browsers

Cisco DCNM supports the following web browsers:

  • Google Chrome Version 74.0.3729.13

  • Mozilla Firefox Version 66.0.4 (32/64 bit)

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 11.706 update version 11.0.120

Other Supported Software

The following table lists the other software that is supported by Cisco DCNM, Release 11.2(1).

Table 4. Other Supported Software

Component

Features

Security

  • ACS versions 4.0, 5.1, 5.5, and 5.8.

  • Telnet Disabled: SSH Version 1, SSH Version 2, Global Enforce SNMP Privacy Encryption.

  • Web Client and Cisco DCNM-SAN Server Encryption: HTTPS with TLS 1, 1.1 and 1.2

OVA/ISO Installers

CentOS 7.6/Linux Kernel 3.10.x

Also, Cisco DCNM supports call-home events, fabric change events, and events that are forwarded by traps and email.