Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller, Release 1.0(4o), Release Notes
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Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller, Release 1.0(4o), Release Notes
This document describes the features, caveats, and limitations for the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) software. For more information on specific hardware features, see the Cisco NX-OS Release 11.0(4o) Release Notes for Cisco Nexus 9000 Series ACI-Mode Switches. Additional product documentation is listed in the “Related Documentation” section.
Release notes are sometimes updated with new information about restrictions and caveats. See the following website for the most recent version of this document:
Table 1 shows the online change history for this document.
Table 1. Online History Change
| Date |
Description |
| June 25, 2015 |
Created the release notes for Release 1.0(4o) |
| June 30, 2015 |
Updated AVS version |
| July 9, 2015 |
Updated the egg file name. |
| August 26, 2015 |
In the Downgrade Instructions section, indicated that a downgrade to 1.0(4h) is stateless. |
| August 28, 2015 |
Rewrote the procedure in the Downgrading the APIC Controller section to provide more information about stateless downgrades. |
| December 9, 2015 |
Fixed incorrect URLs to the documentation on cisco.com. |
| February 29, 2016 |
In the Compatibility Information section, added a link to the AVS Release Notes. |
| February 28, 2017 |
In the Usage Guidelines section, added: If the communication between the APIC and vCenter is impaired, some functionality is adversely affected. The APIC relies on the pulling of inventory information, updating vDS configuration, and receiving event notifications from the vCenter for performing certain operations. |
Contents
This document includes the following sections:
■ Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller
■ Caveats
Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller
The Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) enables applications to directly connect with a secure, shared, high-performance resource pool that includes networking and Layer 4 through 7 services.
The key features of the APIC include the following:
■ Application centric network policies
■ Data model-based declarative provisioning
■ Application, topology monitoring, and troubleshooting
■ Third-party integration (Layer 4 through 7 services, vCenter, vShield)
■ Image management (spine and leaf)
■ Cisco ACI inventory and configuration
■ Implementation on a distributed framework across a cluster of appliances
■ Health scores for key managed objects (tenants, application profiles, switches, etc)
■ Fault, event and performance management
■ Cisco Application Virtual Switch (AVS) that can be used as a virtual leaf for the Cisco APIC
Installation Notes
■ For installation instructions, see the Cisco ACI Fabric Hardware Installation Guide.
■ For instructions on how to access the APIC for the first time, see the Cisco APIC Getting Started Guide.
■ For the Cisco APIC Python SDK documentation, including installation instructions, see the Cisco APIC Python SDK Documentation.
Two installation egg files are needed for installation. You can download these files from a running APIC at the following URLs:
— http[s]://<APIC address>/cobra/_downloads/acimodel-1.0_4o-py2.7.egg
This is the SDK file.
— http[s]://<APIC address>/cobra/_downloads/acicobra-1.0_4o-py2.7.egg
This file includes the Python packages that model the Cisco ACI Management Information Tree.
Both files are required.
Note: Installation of the SDK with SSL support on Unix/Linux and Mac OS X requires a compiler. For a Windows installation, you can install the compiled shared objects for the SDK dependencies using wheel packages.
Note: The model package depends on the SDK package; be sure to install the SDK package first.
Upgrade Instructions
Follow this procedure when upgrading from a 1.0(2x) or 1.0(3x) release to the 1.0(4o) release:
1. Upgrade the APIC controller software image.
2. After all APICs in the cluster are successfully upgraded, upgrade all the switches in the fabric.
Downgrade Instructions
Downgrading from this release to 1.0(3x) or 1.0(2x) is supported. However, this release does not support a stateful downgrade to 1.0(4h) or earlier releases. If you wish to downgrade from this release to 1.0(4h) or earlier, you must perform a stateless downgrade, as shown in the following procedure.
Note: You must plan for a Fabric outage, as this procedure rebuilds the Fabric.
1 Export the Fabric configuration.
2 Run the “eraseconfig” command on the APIC controllers. This will reboot the controllers. Ensure that the controllers have been rebooted before moving on to step 3.
3 Run the “setup-clean-config.sh” script on the switch nodes and reload all of the switches. Steps 2 and 3 clear the configuration on the Fabric, making this is a stateless downgrade.
4 Rediscover the Fabric.
5 Downgrade the Fabric to the desired release.
6 Run the “eraseconfig setup” command on the APIC controllers. This step is required so that the script can run additional commands that might be required for the version that is being used. The “eraseconfig setup” command will reload the APICs.
7 Run the “setup-clean-config.sh” script on the switch nodes and reload them.
8 Complete the initial setup script on the APIC controllers.
9 Import the Fabric configuration using the import “merge” mode.
Note: Switch models N9K-C9372PX, N9K-C9332PQ, and N9K-C9372TX are not supported for downgrading in the APIC 1.0(2x) or the Cisco Nexus 9000 11.0(2x) releases. If your fabric has these models, do not downgrade.
Compatibility Information
■ Cisco APIC Release 1.0(4o) supports the hardware and software listed on the ACI Ecosystem Compatibility List and the software listed as follows:
— Cisco NX-OS Release 11.0(4o)
— Cisco AVS, Release 5.2(1)Sv3(1.3c)
For more information about the supported AVS releases, see the AVS software compatibility information in the Cisco Application Virtual Switch Release Notes at the following URL:
— Cisco UCS Manager software Release 2.2(1c) or later is required for the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect and other components, including the BIOS, CIMC, and the adapter
■ The breakout of 40G ports to 4x10G on the N9332PQ switch is not supported in ACI-Mode.
■ To connect the APIC (the controller cluster) to the ACI fabric, it is required to have a 10G interface on the ACI leaf. You cannot connect the APIC directly to the N9332PQ ACI Leaf.
■ Cisco APIC Release 1.0(4o) supports the following firmware:
— 1.5(4e) CIMC HUU iso
— 2.0(3i) CIMC HUU iso (recommended)
Usage Guidelines
This section lists usage guidelines for the APIC software.
■ The APIC GUI supports the following browsers:
— Chrome version 35 (at minimum) on Mac and Windows
— Firefox version 26 (at minimum) on Mac, Linux, and Windows
— Internet Explorer version 11 (at minimum)
— Safari 7.0.3 (at minimum)
Note: Restart your browser after upgrading to release 1.0(4o).
Caution: A known issue exists with the Safari browser and unsigned certificates. Read the information presented here before accepting an unsigned certificate for use with WebSockets.
When you access the HTTPS site, the following message appears:
“Safari can’t verify the identity of the website APIC. The certificate for this website is invalid. You might be connecting to a website that is pretending to be an APIC, which could put your confidential information at risk. Would you like to connect to the website anyway?”
To ensure that WebSockets can connect, you must do the following:
1. Click Show Certificate.
2. Select Always Trust in the three drop-down lists that appear.
If you do not follow these steps above, WebSockets will not be able to connect.
■ The APIC GUI includes an online version of the Quick Start tab that includes video demonstrations and documented content.
■ The infrastructure IP address range must not overlap with other IP addresses used in the fabric for inband and out-of-band networks.
■ The APIC does not provide an IPAM solution, so ensure that IP addresses are unique within a private network/ context.
■ Press the Escape key twice (<Esc> <Esc>) to display APIC CLI command options.
■ In some of the 5-minute statistics data, the count of ten-second samples is 29 instead of 30.
■ For the following services, use a DNS-based host name with out-of-band management connectivity. IP addresses can be used with both inband and out-of-band management connectivity.
— Syslog server
— Call Home SMTP server
— Tech support export server
— Configuration export server
— Statistics export server
■ Inband management connectivity to the spine switches is possible from any host that is connected to the leaf switches of the fabric, and leaf switches can be managed from any host that has IP connectivity to the fabric.
■ When configuring an AC (atomic counter) policy between two endpoints, and an IP is learned on one of the two endpoints, it is recommended that you use an IP-based policy, and not a client endpoint based policy.
■ If the communication between the APIC and vCenter is impaired, some functionality is adversely affected. The APIC relies on the pulling of inventory information, updating vDS configuration, and receiving event notifications from the vCenter for performing certain operations.
Verified Scalability Limits
Table 2 contains the maximum verified scale limits for a subset of ACI parameters for the Cisco ACI Release 1.0(4o) and Cisco Nexus 9000 Series ACI-Mode Switches, Release 11.0(4o). These values are based on a profile where each feature was scaled to the numbers specified in the table. The numbers in this table do not represent the theoretically possible ACI fabric scale.
Please contact your Cisco account representative to discuss your use-case or other ACI scale parameters that are not listed here.
Table 2. Verified Scalability Limits
| Feature |
Maximum Limits for Fabric |
Maximum Limits per for Leaf Switches |
Maximum Limits for Spine Switches |
| Leaf switches |
50 |
- |
- |
| Spine switches |
6 |
- |
- |
| Layer 3 contexts (VRF contexts or private networks) |
100 |
100 |
|
| Contracts/Filters |
1,000 contracts, 10,000 filters |
4,000 TCAM entries (specific to N9K-M12PQ) 16,000 tested TCAM entries (specified to N9K-M6PQ) Note: TCAM entries are used for filters. A filter consisting of more than 1 port (for example, a range of ports) may consume more than 1 entry.
|
- |
| End points |
100,000 |
12,000 IPv4 hosts |
- |
| Bridge domains |
-- |
EPG=BD is 3,500 and Multicast Groups < 5,000 Or EPG+BD <= 3,500 and Multicast Groups < 6,750 |
-- |
| External EPGs per Layer 3 Out |
2 per layer 3 outside policy |
- |
- |
| Dynamic route peering sessions |
- |
32 |
- |
| Layer 3 outside policies |
1 per VRF |
- |
- |
| Number or routes (longest prefix matches [LPMs]) on border leaf switches |
8,000 |
4,000 |
- |
| Tenant SPAN sessions Note: A uni-directional SPAN session counts as one, and a bi-directional SPAN session counts as two. |
- |
4 |
- |
| Fabric SPAN sessions Note: A uni-directional SPAN session counts as one, and a bi-directional SPAN session counts as two. |
- |
4 |
8 per line card |
| Number of parallel user sessions |
100 |
- |
- |
| vCenters |
5 |
- |
- |
| Multicast Groups |
8,000 |
8,000 |
- |
New and Changed Information
This section lists the new and changed features in Release 1.0(4o).
■ New Hardware Features in Cisco Release 1.0(4o)
■ New Software Features in Cisco Release 1.0(4o)
New Hardware Features in Cisco Release 1.0(4o)
Cisco Release 1.0(4o) supports no new hardware features.
New Software Features in Cisco Release 1.0(4o)
Cisco Release 1.0(4o) supports no new software features.
Caveats
This section contains lists of open and resolved caveats and known behaviors.
Open Caveats
Table 3 lists the open caveats in the Cisco APIC Release 1.0(4o). Click the bug ID to access the Bug Search tool and see additional information about the bug.
Table 3. Open Caveats in Cisco Release 1.0(4o)
| Bug ID |
Description |
| The switch disappears for several minutes from topology, firmware, and maintenance policies while being upgraded. |
|
| When attempting to log into an LDAP provider configured in Strict SSL mode, and if the system is not configured with the CA certificate for that LDAP SSL server, the nginx daemon will gracefully restart itself to attempt to work around an openldap library SSL certificate caching bug. |
|
| During a policy upgrade of the APIC controller, some APICs fail to reboot after the upgrade process has completed. |
|
| On large scale setups, some login requests take more than 30 seconds to complete. |
|
| When a Layer 2 or Layer 3 external instance profile is specified as a provider to a contract, and a collection of endpoint groups within a context is specified as the consumer, the provider will be skipped, which could result in the graph not getting deployed. |
|
| Fault F0467 raised due to Invalid VLAN Configuration (rule: fv-nw-issues-config-failed). |
|
| The APIC Controller Fan stats collection does not display the speed/PWM data regardless of the interval chosen. |
|
| Interface policies are not applied to all ports if the interface policy group is associated with a policy before the policy is created. |
|
| Under high scale circumstances, a new leaf may not get all contracts downloaded. |
|
| Traffic between application endpoint groups and external Layer 3 networks on different leafs is dropped if multiple external Layer 3 networks are configured in the same context. |
|
| The endpoint attachment notification: ■ Does not always result in an attachment notification ■ Is only sent to a subset of deployed service graph instances ■ Is sent to the incorrect service graph instance |
|
| The zoning-rule is missing after deleting or adding 0/0 and/or a particular subnet present in a Layer 3 external network. |
|
| The GUI wizard for a Layer 3 external network used as a consumer does not support the Two Nodes - Firewall in Routed and ADC in Two-Arm mode template. |
|
| When a Layer 3 external network is configured with DSCP marking, it is not copied to a filter rule on the node. |
|
| When DSCP marking is configured on an external endpoint group, it is not copied to the filter rule on the node. |
|
| WebServer uses ciphers that use SHA1. Web browsers, such as chrome, report a warning indicating that SHA1 is obsolete and a stronger hashing algorithm should be used. (as shown in the attached enclosure) |
|
| The tunnel interface for an AVS host (using OpFlex) is not created if the vPC interface is deleted and added back again within 5 minutes. This can impact forwarding for VMs on that host. |
|
| The tunnel interface for a non-OpFlex vmknic to the AVS host is missing on the leaf switch. |
Resolved Caveats
Table 4 lists the resolved caveats in the Cisco APIC Release 1.0(4o). Click the bug ID to access the Bug Search Tool and see additional information about the bug.
Table 4. Resolved Caveats in Cisco Release 1.0(4o)
| Bug ID |
Description |
| An NGINX web server may dump core files and restart if stats that are not supported in a downgraded image are queried after a downgrade to that image. |
|
| Some device packages only support the GoThrough function. However, when a user creates a service graph using those package devices, the mode of those devices becomes GoTo. |
|
| For a router ID, the UI erroneously does not allow an IP with 255 as the last Octet. |
|
| In the 1.0(4h) release, support for filtering techsupport information for a specified time-window and category was added to generate a techsupport file with a reduced size. If the time-window and/or category filters are set in the GUI for an on-demand techsupport policy named tsod-ts_exp_pol, and then if techsupport collection is triggered through the CLI, the filters still get applied although no filters are specified in the CLI command. |
|
| Subnet scope has 3 options: Private, Public and Shared. Two of these options are mutually exclusive: Private and Public. If a user selects both Private and Public, the backend will report an error. |
|
| Tech support filtering based on category could miss some files when triggered from the GUI. |
|
| The PolicyElement process on the leaf is consuming 100% CPU for an extended period of time after doing minor configuration changes under a Layer 3 external network deployed on that leaf. |
|
| The cluster management port cannot be saved. |
|
| The APIC GUI fails to download firmware with the following error: Failed to download the firmware image from source:<Firmware_File>, reason:unknown failure, details: Operation too slow. Less than 1000000 bytes/sec transferred the last 30 seconds |
|
| The inter-tenant contract is missing rules to allow return traffic in the provider context/scope if both endpoint groups are shared. |
|
| The FEX does not come up when the fabric MTU is set below 1500. |
|
| All replicas of a specific shard think their commit log is corrupted and try to resync the database from other replicas. This makes the shard unavailable. |
|
| Users can submit the template even if the top folder has a name that ends with -default and is red. |
|
| The leaf node does not join the fabric when the fabric MTU size is less than 1500 and when the leaf is reloaded after setting the MTU size to less than 1500.The Infra VLAN on that leaf node ends up using the fabric MTU. |
|
| The memory usage of the scripthandler keeps increasing. This should happen only when L4-L7 device packages are used in the APIC. The issue specifically happens when a device package is removed and installed again. |
|
| Telnet to APIC(s) out-of-band management stops working after downgrading to 1.0(4i). |
|
| A vNIC placed in a vCenter port group on AVS will be blocked for traffic |
|
| Duplicate tunnels will cause a crash to occur in the endpoint manager on the leaf switch. |
|
| OpFlex elements restarts on the leaf switch. |
|
| Some endpoints are not reported under the endpoint group. |
|
| Traffic loss as the Tunnels for multi vmk host configured for VXLAN Load balancing go missing on the leaf switches while performing an upgrade of the system. |
|
| When deleting a tenant in the UI, the APIC will sometimes prompt the user to delete another tenant. If the user accepts, it will delete the wrong tenant; one that is not highlighted in the UI. |
Known Behaviors
Table 5 lists the known behaviors in the Cisco APIC Release 1.0(4o). Click the Bug ID to access the Bug Search Tool and see additional information about the bug.
Table 5. Known Behaviors in Cisco Release 1.0(4o)
| Bug ID |
Description |
| Following a FEX or switch reload, configured interface tags are no longer configured correctly. |
|
| Switches could get downgraded to a 1.0(1x) version if the imported configuration consists of a firmware policy with a desired version set to 1.0(1x). |
|
| Nodes are not joining the fabric after being decommissioned. |
|
| Some reported client endpoints are not present on the APIC during an upgrade. |
■ During the upgrade from a 1.0(2x)/1.0(3x) release, endpoints reporting will be delayed until all APICs are upgraded to 1.0(4x).
Related Documentation
This section lists the product documentation for the Cisco APIC. Links to the documentation are available in the Cisco ACI Fabric Documentation Roadmap that is published here:
The Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) website is here:
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Any Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and phone numbers used in this document are not intended to be actual addresses and phone numbers. Any examples, command display output, network topology diagrams, and other figures included in the document are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any use of actual IP addresses or phone numbers in illustrative content is unintentional and coincidental.
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