Cisco Cisco Data Center Network Manager 4.0 Getting Started Guide
At-A-Glance
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Overview
Cisco Prime™ Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) software provides ready-to-use,
large-scale, standards-based, extensible management capabilities for Cisco® Dynamic
Fabric Automation (DFA). Cisco Prime DCNM 7.0 includes the infrastructure necessary
to operate and automate a Cisco DFA network fabric. Cisco Prime DCNM 7.0 policy-
based deployment helps reduce labor and operating expenses (OpEx). Cisco Prime
DCNM 7.0 integrates with external hypervisor solutions and third-party applications
using a Representational State Transfer (REST) API.
large-scale, standards-based, extensible management capabilities for Cisco® Dynamic
Fabric Automation (DFA). Cisco Prime DCNM 7.0 includes the infrastructure necessary
to operate and automate a Cisco DFA network fabric. Cisco Prime DCNM 7.0 policy-
based deployment helps reduce labor and operating expenses (OpEx). Cisco Prime
DCNM 7.0 integrates with external hypervisor solutions and third-party applications
using a Representational State Transfer (REST) API.
Problems That Cisco Prime DCNM 7.0 Helps Solve
Rapid deployment, consistent configuration of devices, and the capability to view
a large data center fabric are significant network management system (NMS) and
operations support system (OSS) challenges. In addition, synchronization of physical
network devices with multitenant cloud orchestration operations is difficult and
may require significant investment in custom management solutions or operations.
Cisco Prime DCNM 7.0 addresses these challenges with efficient Power-On Auto-
Provisioning (POAP) support, tenant-oriented autoconfiguration, an enhanced
visualization dashboard, and REST APIs.
a large data center fabric are significant network management system (NMS) and
operations support system (OSS) challenges. In addition, synchronization of physical
network devices with multitenant cloud orchestration operations is difficult and
may require significant investment in custom management solutions or operations.
Cisco Prime DCNM 7.0 addresses these challenges with efficient Power-On Auto-
Provisioning (POAP) support, tenant-oriented autoconfiguration, an enhanced
visualization dashboard, and REST APIs.
Features
• With POAP, you preconfigure a role mapping for a new switch to a template — for
example, a Leaf template or a Spine template — and when the switch launches, it
will automatically be configured with the correct software image. Templates have
smart decision logic and are easily customizable.
will automatically be configured with the correct software image. Templates have
smart decision logic and are easily customizable.
• Smart templates for POAP let you import a list of devices and parameter ranges
into the template instance so that you avoid repetitive data entry for each device
(Figure 1). Decision logic, pop-up comments, and the capability to save parameters
for reuse reduce the effort of installing devices and extending the fabric.
(Figure 1). Decision logic, pop-up comments, and the capability to save parameters
for reuse reduce the effort of installing devices and extending the fabric.
Figure 1. Cisco Prime DCNM Smart Template
• Autoconfiguration lets the orchestrator push information to Cisco Prime DCNM so
that switch ports are automatically provisioned for new or moved workloads. Cisco
Prime DCNM stores organization and tenant, partition, and network data used by the
switch’s autoconfiguration mechanism.
Prime DCNM stores organization and tenant, partition, and network data used by the
switch’s autoconfiguration mechanism.
• Cable-plan management functions help manage physical device connections and
ensure that devices are installed correctly, as the operator intended. Cisco Prime
DCNM generates and keeps track of cable plans for efficient operations awareness.
The user can import an existing cable plan for a predesigned configuration or
automatically create a new cable plan from the POAP configuration or an existing,
discovered fabric.
DCNM generates and keeps track of cable plans for efficient operations awareness.
The user can import an existing cable plan for a predesigned configuration or
automatically create a new cable plan from the POAP configuration or an existing,
discovered fabric.