Cisco DCNM Installation and Licensing Guide, Release 5.x

Database Support

Cisco DCNM-LAN supports the following databases:

• PostgreSQL 8.1
• PostgreSQL 8.2
• PostgreSQL 8.3
• Oracle Database 10g
• Oracle Database 11g

If the Cisco DCNM installer does not find a previous installation of a supported database, it can install PostgreSQL 8.2 for you.

Cisco DCNM-SAN Support

Cisco DCNM supports installing the Cisco DCNM-LAN server on a server system that has an installation of Cisco DCNM-SAN; however, the Cisco DCNM-LAN release number and the Cisco DCNM-SAN release number must be the same.

Note The Cisco DCNM installer is the installer for both DCNM-SAN and DCNM-LAN. The installer also provides support for the initial installation of both DCNM-SAN and DCNM-LAN on a server.

If you install the Cisco DCNM-LAN server on a server system that already has an installation of Cisco DCNM-SAN, the Cisco DCNM installer detects the DCNM-SAN installation, which has the following effects on the installation:

• The installation folder is determined by the installer and cannot be configured.
• The database that the installer configures the Cisco DCNM-LAN server to use is the database that DCNM-SAN is configured to use. You cannot choose a database other than the database used by DCNM-SAN.
• The installer resolves port conflicts between the ports in use by DCNM-SAN and the default ports that the Cisco DCNM-LAN server uses.

Operating Systems

For information about the specific editions of supported server operating systems, see the Cisco DCNM Release Notes, Release 5.x, at the following location:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9369/tsd_products_support_series_home.html

You can install Cisco DCNM-LAN on a supported version of one of the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows Server

If the server system runs the Microsoft Windows operating system, the Cisco DCNM-LAN server software runs as a service. By default, the Cisco DCNM-LAN server starts automatically when you boot up the server system.

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux

VMware Support

Cisco DCNM-LAN supports the installation of Cisco DCNM-LAN servers in VMware virtual machines that have a compatible Windows operating system or Linux operating system supported by Cisco DCNM-LAN. The following requirements apply:

• The VMware server software must be a supported version.
• The virtual machine in which you install a Cisco DCNM-LAN server must meet all server requirements.

For the latest information about supported VMware server software and other server requirements, see the Cisco DCNM Release Notes, Release 5.x, at the following location:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9369/tsd_products_support_series_home.html

Primary and Secondary Servers

The distinction of primary and secondary servers is only for the purposes of installing, upgrading, and licensing Cisco DCNM-LAN server software. Whether a server is a primary or secondary server does not affect the function of the Cisco DCNM-LAN server software.

In a single-server Cisco DCNM-LAN deployment, the server is a primary server.

In a clustered-server Cisco DCNM-LAN deployment, one server is a primary server and the remaining servers are secondary servers.

When you install, upgrade, or license the Cisco DCNM-LAN server software on the primary server, the installer records the configuration choices that you make in properties files. You use these properties files when you install, upgrade, or license each of the secondary servers in a server cluster.

We recommend that you choose one server in the cluster to be the primary server and always use that server as the primary server. This practice helps to avoid confusion during server maintenance and helps you ensure that you meet the server-cluster requirements, as described in the “Clustered-Server Cisco DCNM-LAN Requirements” section.

Master and Member Servers

In a Cisco DCNM-LAN server cluster, one server performs the master server role and the remaining servers are member servers. The server with the oldest start time is the master server; therefore, you can control which server is the master server by starting that server first. For information about how Cisco DCNM-LAN operates in a clustered-server environment, see the Cluster Administration feature in the Cisco DCNM Fundamentals Guide, Release 5.x.

To help simplify the management of your server cluster, we recommend that you use the primary Cisco DCNM server as the master server. To do so, start the primary server before you start any other server in the cluster.

Server Ports

A Cisco DCNM-LAN server must be able to receive the network traffic from Cisco DCNM-LAN clients on a number of ports. Any network gateway device that controls the traffic sent from a Cisco DCNM-LAN client to a Cisco DCNM-LAN server must permit the traffic sent to the ports that the Cisco DCNM-LAN server is configured to use.

Table 1-1 lists the default ports that services on a Cisco DCNM-LAN server listen to for client communications. One port is not configurable. You can configure the other ports. The server installer can resolve port conflicts automatically.

In a clustered-server deployment, the Cisco DCNM-LAN servers in the cluster listen for UDP messages that are multicast to the cluster partition name. The supported topologies for clustered-server deployments do not allow gateway devices between servers in the cluster; however, for reference purposes, Table 1-2 lists the default ports that a Cisco DCNM-LAN server listens to for server cluster communications. Some ports are not configurable. You can configure the other ports during the server installation. The installer software creates a default value for the three ports.

Prerequisites for Deploying a Clustered-Server Cisco DCNM-LAN Environment

Before you begin to deploy a clustered-server Cisco DCNM-LAN environment, you must ensure that the server systems in the cluster meet the following requirements:

• The following items must be identical for all server systems in the cluster:

– Operating system

– Number of CPUs

– CPU speed

– Memory

• If you plan to install Cisco DCNM-LAN servers in VMware virtual machines, the following additional requirements must be met:

– All servers in the cluster must be installed in a virtual machine. You cannot deploy a server cluster with a mix of virtual and physical server systems.

• All servers in the cluster must be in the same Ethernet network segment. If the Cisco DCNM-LAN database is remote to Cisco DCNM-LAN servers, the database server must be in the same Ethernet network segment as all Cisco DCNM-LAN servers. You can interconnect the servers with a switch or hub. There can be no routing device between servers in a Cisco DCNM-LAN deployment.
• If you plan to use RADIUS or TACACS+ authentication of Cisco DCNM-LAN users, you must ensure that the authentication servers are configured to accept authentication requests from all the Cisco DCNM-LAN servers in the cluster.
• You must enable the Network Time Protocol (NTP) on all servers in the cluster.

Clustered-Server Configuration Requirements

During the deployment of a clustered-server Cisco DCNM-LAN environment, you must ensure that the following requirements are met:

• All servers in the cluster must run an identical release of Cisco DCNM-LAN, such as Cisco DCNM Release 5.0(2).
• You must specify the following information identically on all servers:

– Cluster partition name

– Multicast addresses and ports

– Cisco DCNM-LAN database path and credentials

– Authentication settings

This requirement is met by the secondary server installation process. For more information, see the “Secondary Server Installation” section.

• The archive directory specified during the installation of each server must refer to the same directory. The path to the directory can be different for each server. This shared directory must be an external shared directory and accessible by all DCNM-LAN servers with read/write privilege. For example, two Cisco DCNM-LAN servers installed on Microsoft Windows could use different paths, such as X:\DCNM\data and F:\data, but the two paths must refer to the same directory.
• If you acquire licenses for Cisco DCNM-LAN, all servers in the cluster must have the same Cisco DCNM-LAN license files installed.

This requirement is met by the secondary server license installation process. For more information, see the “Secondary Server Licensing Installation” section.

• You must enable or disable secured client communications on all servers in the cluster.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

The server system that will run the Cisco DCNM-LAN server must meet the system requirements for the Cisco DCNM-LAN server. For details about system requirements, see the Cisco DCNM Release Notes, Release 5.x.

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1 Ensure that the server system that you want to install the Cisco DCNM-LAN server on meets all the server system requirements.

For more information, see the “Prerequisites for Installing a Cisco DCNM-LAN Server” section.

Step 2 Download the Cisco DCNM-LAN server software.

For more information, see the “Downloading the Cisco DCNM-LAN Server Software” section.

Step 3 If your deployment will use a previously installed database, make sure that you have prepared the database:

• PostgreSQL—If the PostgreSQL server system will be remote to the single Cisco DCNM-LAN server, you must configure the PostgreSQL server to allow connections from the Cisco DCNM-LAN server. For more information, see the “Preparing a PostgreSQL Database” section.

If you intend to install the Cisco DCNM-LAN server on the same server system as the PostgreSQL software, no further database preparation is required.

• Oracle—Cisco DCNM-LAN requires that several Oracle database configuration settings exceed their default settings. For more information, see the “Preparing an Oracle Database” section.

Step 4 Install the Cisco DCNM-LAN server software on the server system.

For more information, see the “Installing a Primary Cisco DCNM-LAN Server” section.

Step 5 (Optional) If you want to encrypt client-server communication, enable the Cisco DCNM-LAN server to use TLS with client-server communications.

For more information, see the “Enabling Encrypted Client-Server Communications” section.

Step 6 (Optional) If you want to allow the use of the Cisco DCNM-LAN client outside a firewall or other gateway device that the Cisco DCNM-LAN server is behind, do the following:

a. Configure the Cisco DCNM-LAN server with a specific secondary server bind port.

For more information, see the “Specifying a Secondary Server Bind Port” section.

b. Configure the firewall or gateway device to permit connections from the Cisco DCNM-LAN client to the ports used by the Cisco DCNM-LAN server, including the secondary server bind port that you specified.

For more information about the ports used by the Cisco DCNM-LAN server, see the “Server Ports” section.

Step 7 (Optional) If you did not start the Cisco DCNM-LAN server when you installed it, start the Cisco DCNM-LAN server now. For more information, see the Cisco DCNM Fundamentals Guide, Release 5.x.

Step 8 (Optional) If you want to use licensed Cisco DCNM-LAN features, follow these steps:

a. Acquire Cisco DCNM-LAN licenses. For more information, see the “Implementing Cisco DCNM-LAN Licenses” section.

Note If you did not record the Cisco DCNM-LAN instance ID number when you installed the Cisco DCNM-LAN server software, install the Cisco DCNM-LAN client before performing this step.

b. On the primary Cisco DCNM-LAN server system, install the license. For more information, see the “Installing Licenses on a Primary Cisco DCNM-LAN Server” section.

Step 9 Install the Cisco DCNM-LAN client. For more information, see the Cisco DCNM Fundamentals Guide, Release 5.x.

Step 10 Perform device discovery for one or more devices. For more information, see the Cisco DCNM Fundamentals Guide, Release 5.x.

Step 11 (Optional) If you installed a license, enable Cisco DCNM-LAN to use licensed features on specific devices by adding managed devices to the license. For more information, see the Cisco DCNM Fundamentals Guide, Release 5.x.

Step 12 Begin using Cisco DCNM-LAN to configure and monitor the managed devices. For more information about using Cisco DCNM-LAN, see the Cisco DCNM-LAN configuration guides, available at the following location:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9369/tsd_products_support_series_home.html

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Every server system that will run the Cisco DCNM-LAN server software must meet the system requirements for the Cisco DCNM-LAN server. For details about system requirements, see the Cisco DCNM Release Notes, Release 5.x.

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1 Ensure that each server system that will be part of the Cisco DCNM-LAN server cluster meets all the server system requirements.

For more information, see the “Prerequisites for Installing a Cisco DCNM-LAN Server” section.

Step 2 Ensure that each server system meets the additional server requirements for a clustered-server deployment.

For more information, see the “Prerequisites for Deploying a Clustered-Server Cisco DCNM-LAN Environment” section.

Step 3 Download the Cisco DCNM-LAN server software.

For more information, see the “Downloading the Cisco DCNM-LAN Server Software” section.

Step 4 If your deployment will use a previously installed database, make sure that you have prepared the database as follows:

• PostgreSQL—You must configure the PostgreSQL server to allow connections from each remote server in the cluster. For more information, see the “Preparing a PostgreSQL Database” section.

If you intend to install one of the Cisco DCNM-LAN servers on the same server system as the PostgreSQL software, you do not need to configure the PostgreSQL server to accept connections from the locally installed Cisco DCNM-LAN server.

Note Cisco DCNM-LAN server installations using a remote PostgreSQL server will fail if the PostgreSQL server is not configured to accept remote connections from the Cisco DCNM-LAN server system.

• Oracle—Cisco DCNM-LAN requires that several Oracle database configuration settings exceed their default settings. For more information, see the “Preparing an Oracle Database” section.

Step 5 Set up a shared directory that all Cisco DCNM-LAN servers in the cluster can use to archive common data and files. The path to the directory can be different for each server. The DCNM-LAN shared directory must be an external shared directory and accessible by all DCNM-LAN servers with read/write privilege. For example, two Cisco DCNM-LAN servers installed on Microsoft Windows could use different paths, such as X:\DCNM\data and F:\data, but the two paths must refer to the same directory.

Step 6 On the primary server system, install the Cisco DCNM-LAN server software.

For more information, see the “Installing a Primary Cisco DCNM-LAN Server” section.

Step 7 If you installed the PostgreSQL server during the primary Cisco DCNM-LAN server, you must configure the PostgreSQL server to allow connections from each secondary Cisco DCNM-LAN server in the cluster, because these connections are remote to the PostgreSQL server system. For more information, see the “Preparing a PostgreSQL Database” section.

Note Cisco DCNM-LAN server installations using a remote PostgreSQL server will fail if the PostgreSQL server is not configured to accept remote connections from the Cisco DCNM-LAN server system.

Step 8 On each secondary server system, install the Cisco DCNM-LAN server software.

For more information, see the “Installing a Secondary Cisco DCNM-LAN Server” section.

Step 9 (Optional) If you want to use secure client communication, enable every Cisco DCNM-LAN server in the cluster to use TLS to encrypt client-server communications.

For more information, see the “Enabling Encrypted Client-Server Communications” section.

Step 10 (Optional) If you want to allow the use of the Cisco DCNM-LAN client outside a firewall or other gateway device that the Cisco DCNM-LAN server cluster is behind, do the following:

a. Configure each Cisco DCNM-LAN server in the cluster with the same, specific secondary server bind port.

For more information, see the “Specifying a Secondary Server Bind Port” section.

b. Configure the firewall or gateway device to permit connections from the Cisco DCNM-LAN client to the ports used by each Cisco DCNM-LAN server in the cluster, including the secondary server bind port that you specified.

For more information about the ports used by the Cisco DCNM-LAN server, see the “Server Ports” section.

Step 11 (Optional) If you have not started all the Cisco DCNM-LAN servers in the cluster, start each server system in the server cluster now. For more information about starting a Cisco DCNM-LAN server cluster, see the Cisco DCNM Fundamentals Guide, Release 5.x.

Step 12 (Optional) If you want to use licensed Cisco DCNM-LAN features, follow these steps:

a. Acquire Cisco DCNM-LAN licenses. For more information, see the “Implementing Cisco DCNM-LAN Licenses” section.

Note If you did not record the Cisco DCNM-LAN instance ID number when you installed the primary server, install the Cisco DCNM-LAN client before performing this step.

b. On the primary Cisco DCNM-LAN server system, install the license. For more information, see the “Installing Licenses on a Primary Cisco DCNM-LAN Server” section.

c. On each secondary server system, install the licenses. For more information, see the “Installing Licenses on a Secondary Cisco DCNM-LAN Server” section.

Step 13 Install the Cisco DCNM-LAN client. For more information, see the Cisco DCNM Fundamentals Guide, Release 5.x.

Step 14 Perform device discovery for one or more devices. For more information, see the Cisco DCNM Fundamentals Guide, Release 5.x.

Step 15 (Optional) If you installed a license, enable Cisco DCNM-LAN to use licensed features on specific devices by adding managed devices to the license. For more information, see the Cisco DCNM Fundamentals Guide, Release 5.x.

Step 16 Begin using Cisco DCNM-LAN to configure and monitor the managed devices. For more information about using Cisco DCNM-LAN, see the Cisco DCNM-LAN configuration guides, available at the following location:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9369/tsd_products_support_series_home.html

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Downloading the Cisco DCNM-LAN server software requires a Cisco.com user account. If you do not have a Cisco.com user account, go to http://www.cisco.com/ and create one before you attempt to download the software.

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1 Open a web browser and go to the following website:

http://www.cisco.com/

The Cisco web page opens.

Step 2 From the Support menu, choose Download Software.

The Download Software page appears.

Step 3 Under Select a Software Product Category, choose Network Management.

Step 4 If the Log In page appears now, enter your Cisco.com username and password, and then click Log In.

The Tools & Resources Download Software web page displays a tree of Cisco devices.

Step 5 From the tree, choose Data Center Management > Cisco Data Center Network Manager.

Step 6 If the Log In page appears now, enter your Cisco.com username and password, and then click Log In.

A tree of Cisco DCNM releases appears.

Step 7 From the tree, choose the Cisco DCNM release that you need.

To the right of the tree, the Download Now button appears beside the filename and information for the Cisco DCNM release that you chose.

Step 8 Click Download Now.

The Download Cart web page lists the Cisco DCNM release that you chose.

Step 9 Click Proceed with Download.

The browser lists a link to the software license agreement and the software download rules.

Step 10 Read the software license agreement and the rules, and then click Agree.

Step 11 Click Non Java Download Option.

A download list appears in a new browser window.

Step 12 Click the Download link that appears to the right of the Cisco DCNM release that you chose.

The download begins.

Step 13 After the download completes, extract the files from the downloaded TAR file by doing one of the following:

• For Microsoft Windows, use a file archive utility, such as WinZip, to extract the contents of the TAR file.
• For RHEL, use the following command to extract the contents of the TAR file:

DETAILED STEPS

Step 1 Uninstall the Cisco DCNM-LAN server that you want to downgrade from.

Step 2 Install and deploy the earlier release of the Cisco DCNM-LAN server that you want to downgrade to. For more information, see the applicable section, as follows:

• Deploying a Single-Server Cisco DCNM-LAN Environment
• Deploying a Clustered-Server Cisco DCNM-LAN Environment.