Preface

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This preface describes the audience, organization, and conventions of the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series CLI Management Best Practices Guide. It also provides information on how to obtain related documentation.

This chapter includes the following sections:

•Audience

•Document Organization

•Document Conventions

•Related Documentation

•Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

Audience

This publication is for experienced network administrators who configure and maintain Cisco NX-OS devices.

Document Organization

This document is organized into the following chapters:

Chapter	Description
Chapter 1, Overview	Describes the purpose of this guide.
Chapter 2, Initial Configuration	Describes the Cisco NX-OS best practices that are typically configured when a Cisco Nexus 7000 Series switch is powered up for the first time.
Chapter 3, Connecting to the Management Network and Securing Access	Describes the Cisco NX-OS recommended best practices for connecting a Cisco Nexus 7000 Series switch to the management network(s) and securing access to the CLI.
Chapter 4, Protecting the CPU	Describes the recommended best practices for protecting the CPU against Denial of Service (DoS) attacks.
Chapter 5, Integrated Intrusion Detection Security	Describes two types of Intrusion Detection System packet checks that are enabled in Cisco NX-OS software.
Chapter 6, Cisco NX-OS Software Upgrade or Downgrade	Describes the Cisco NX-OS best practices for upgrading or downgrading Cisco NX-OS system software.
Chapter 7, EPLD Software Upgrade or Downgrade	Describes the recommended procedure for upgrading or downgrading an electronic programmable logic device (EPLD).
Chapter 8, Enabling and Disabling Features	Describes the process for enabling and disabling software features.
Chapter 9, IP Management	Describes the Cisco NX-OS best practices that are recommended when configuring IP management protocols.
Chapter 10, Management Tools for Usability	Describes Cisco NX-OS features that are recommended for managing a device.
Chapter 11, Verifying Hardware Diagnostics and Logging	Describes the Cisco NX-OS recommended features and procedures for managing and troubleshooting potential hardware faults.
Chapter 12,Managing Hardware Resource Utilization	Describes Cisco NX-OS procedures that are recommended for managing hardware resources such as the CPU, memory, and I/O module TCAM table utilization.
Chapter 13, Collecting Data for the Cisco TAC	Describes the recommended procedures for collecting troubleshooting information that should be attached to a TAC case.

Document Conventions

Command descriptions use these conventions:

Convention	Description
boldface font	Commands and keywords are in boldface.
italic font	Arguments for which you supply values are in italics.
{ }	Elements in curly brackets are required.
[ ]	Elements in square brackets are optional.
[ x | y | z ]	Optional alternative keywords are grouped in brackets and separated by vertical bars.
string	A nonquoted set of characters. Do not use quotation marks around the string or the string will include the quotation marks.

Screen examples use these conventions:

screen font	Terminal sessions and information that the switch displays are in screen font.
boldface screen font	Information that you must enter is in boldface screen font.
italic screen font	Arguments for which you supply values are in italic screen font.
< >	Nonprinting characters, such as passwords, are in angle brackets.
[ ]	Default responses to system prompts are in square brackets.
!, #	An exclamation point (!) or a pound sign (#) at the beginning of a line of code indicates a comment line.

This document uses the following conventions:

Note Means reader take note. Notes contain helpful suggestions or references to material not covered in the manual.

Caution Means reader be careful. In this situation, you might do something that could result in equipment damage or loss of data.

Related Documentation

Cisco NX-OS includes the following documents:

Release Notes

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Release Notes, Release 4.1

NX-OS Configuration Guides

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Getting Started with Virtual Device Contexts, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series OTV Quick Start Guide

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Fundamentals Configuration Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Quality of Service Configuration Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Unicast Routing Configuration Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Multicast Routing Configuration Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS MPLS Configuration Guide, Release 5.x

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Security Configuration Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS OTV Configuration Guide

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Virtual Device Context Configuration Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS FabricPath Configuration Guide

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Software Upgrade and Downgrade Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Licensing Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS High Availability and Redundancy Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS System Management Configuration Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco NX-OS FCoE Configuration Guide

Configuring the Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS XML Management Interface User Guide, Release 4.1

Cisco MDS 9000 Family and Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS System Messages Reference, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS MIB Quick Reference

NX-OS Command References

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Command Reference Master Index, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Fundamentals Command Reference, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Interfaces Command Reference, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Layer 2 Switching Command Reference, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Quality of Service Command Reference, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Unicast Routing Command Reference, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Multicast Routing Command Reference, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS MPLS Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Security Command Reference, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS OTV Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Virtual Device Context Command Reference, Release 4.1

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS FabricPath Command Reference

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS System Management Command Reference, Release 4.1

Cisco NX-OS FCoE Command Reference

Other Software Document

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Troubleshooting Guide, Release 4.x

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

For information on obtaining documentation, submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see the monthly What's New in Cisco Product Documentation, which also lists all new and revised Cisco technical documentation, at:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html

Subscribe to the What's New in Cisco Product Documentation as a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed and set content to be delivered directly to your desktop using a reader application. The RSS feeds are a free service and Cisco currently supports RSS version 2.0.