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


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 11.3(1).

Java Requirements

The Cisco DCNM Server is distributed with JRE 11.0.2 into the following directory:

DCNM_root_directory/java/jdk11

Server Requirements

Cisco DCNM, Release 11.3(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, 7.6, and 7.7

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

    • ISO Virtual Appliance (ISO) with an integrated CentOS Linux release 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 11.3(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 11.3(1) doesn’t support the Oracle 12c pluggable database version installation.


  • Oracle 12c RAC (nonpluggable installation)

  • PostgreSQL 9.4.5


Note


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.

Note


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

From Release 11.2(1), Cisco DCNM 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 vCPUs

Cisco UCS C240M4

UCSC-C240-M4L

32G / 500G 16 vCPUs

Cisco UCS C240 M5S

UCSC-C240-M5SX

32G / 500G 16 vCPUs

Cisco UCS C220 M5L

UCSC-C220-M5L

32G / 500G 16 vCPUs

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.

If you are deploying Network Insights applications on the Cisco DCNM Compute cluster, refer to the app-specific Release Notes for additional CPU/memory requirements for the Computes.


Note


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


Supported Hypervisors

From Release 11.3(1), Cisco DCNM supports the running of the Cisco DCNM Server on the following hypervisors., for DCNM LAN Fabric and DCNM LAN Classic Deployments:

Hypervisor supported

Data Center Manager server application

Supported deployments

ESXi 6.7 P01

vCenter 6.7 P01

All

ESXi 6.5

vCenter 6.5

All

ESXi 6.0

vCenter 6.0

All

RedHat 7.6 KVM

Virtual Machine Manager (comes with RHEL 7.6)

  • LAN Fabric

  • Classic LAN

Hyper-V on Windows Server 2019

Hyper-V Manager (comes with Windows Server 2019)

  • LAN Fabric2

  • Classic LAN

2 This is supported with Native HA mode, and not in Cluster mode.

VMware Snapshot Support for Cisco DCNM

Snapshots capture the entire state of the virtual machine at the time you take the snapshot. You can take a snapshot when a virtual machine is powered on, powered off.


Note


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


To take a snapshot on the VM, perform the following steps:

  1. Right-click the virtual machine the inventory and select Snapshots > Take Snapshot.

  2. In the Take Snapshot dialog box, enter a Name and description for the snapshot.

  3. Click OK to save the snapshot.

The following snapshots are available for VMs.

  • When VM is powered off.

  • When VM is powered on, and active.


Note


Cisco DCNM supports snapshots when VM is either powered on or powered off. DCNM doesn’t support snapshots when the Virtual Machine memory option is selected.


Note that the Snapshot the Virtual Machine's memory check box must not be selected, as shown in the following figure. However, it is grayed out when the VM is powered off.

You can restore VM to the state in a Snapshot.

Right-click on the Virtual Machine and select Manage Snapshot. Select the snapshot to restore, and click Done.

Table 1. Snapshot Support for Classic LAN, LAN Fabric, Media Controller, and SAN OVA Deployments

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi)

6.0

6.5

6.7

6.7 P01

VMware vCenter Server

6.0

6.5

6.7

6.7 P01

Server Resource Requirements

Deployment Deployment Type Small (Lab or POC) Large (Production) Huge (Production) Compute
SAN

Windows

CPU: 8 vCPUs

RAM: 24 GB

DISK: 500 GB

CPU: 16 vCPUs

RAM: 32 GB

DISK: 500 GB

Not Applicable Not Applicable
Linux (standalone or VM)

CPU: 8 vCPUs

RAM: 24 GB

DISK: 500 GB

CPU: 16 vCPUs

RAM: 32 GB

Disk: 500 GB

With SAN Insights:

  • CPU: 32 vCPUs

  • RAM: 128 GB

  • DISK: 2 TB

Not Applicable
  • OVA standalone

  • ISO standalone

CPU: 8 vCPUs

RAM: 24 GB

DISK: 500 GB

CPU: 16 vCPUs

RAM: 32 GB

DISK: 500 GB

CPU: 32vCPUs

RAM: 128 GB

DISK: 2 TB (with 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

CPU: 32vCPUs

RAM: 128 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: 32vCPUs

RAM: 128 GB

DISK: 500 GB

CPU: 16 vCPUs

RAM: 64 GB

DISK: 500 GB


Note


For Huge and Compute deployments, you can add extra disk. The size of the disk can range from a minimum of 32GB to a maximum of 1.5TB.


Ensure that there is enough disk space to the root partition or mount another disk where the /tmp directory can be mounted during the installation or upgrade.

You can add additional disk space to your DCNM set up. Logon to DCNM server using SSH. Extend the disk file system using appmgr system scan-disks-and-extend-fs command.


Note


  • From Release 11.3(1), Cisco DCNM Windows deployments does not support the SAN Insights feature.

  • Cisco SAN Insights feature is only supported with the Huge deployment.

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

  • Every federation deployment consists of three large configuration nodes.

  • From Cisco DCNM Release 11.2(1), 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 2. 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 79.0.3945.79

  • Mozilla Firefox Version 71.0 (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 11.3(1).

Table 3. Other Supported Software

Component

Features

Security

  • ACS versions 4.0, 5.1, 5.5, and 5.8

  • ISE version 2.6

  • 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

  • TLS 1.3

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.

Qualified Security Certifications

Security Certifications Date run on DCNM 11.4(1)
Nessus 6/29/2020
Appscan 6/29/2020
Qualsys 6/29/2020