Network Management

NPM 12.3 and NCM 7.8 feature: Network Insight for Cisco Nexus devices

Network Insight for Cisco® Nexus provides the insight into the health of your Nexus devices and visibility into your virtual Port Channels (vPCs).

First published date

10/25/2018 2:25 AM

Last published date

3/2/2022 1:24 AM

Overview

Network Insight for Cisco^® Nexus provides insight into the health of your Nexus devices and visibility into your virtual Port Channels (vPCs). It also automates the management of your Nexus infrastructure to help ensure service availability.

Product section

Network Performance Monitor

Resolution

Additional widgets

Use the following widgets to track the health of your Nexus devices, view configurations for virtual device contexts, and to view node and vPC details.

Node Details - Summary subview

On the Summary subview for Node Details views, you can find the following new widgets:

Health Summary (NPM)

Starting with NPM 12.3, review the Health Summary widget on the Node Details view to see the health of interfaces on the node.

Virtual Device Context (NPM and NCM)

If the selected node is a virtual device context (VDC) on a Cisco Nexus device, the Virtual Device Context widget lists all VDCs configured on the same physical device. The widget displays status information for each VDC that is monitored by NCM or NPM. If a VDC is not being monitored, you can click Monitor Node to add the VDC.

Node Details - Interfaces subview (NPM)

Click the interface icon in the subviews menu to see monitored interfaces on the device, together with their in and out utilization, or errors in the last hour.

Use the filter and search options to quickly find more details about any interface on the node.

You can also access the view from the Health Summary widget on the Summary subview. Click a status group number. The Interfaces subview is filtered according to the status you selected.

Interface Details (NCM)

When you select an interface on a Cisco device, the Interface Details widget displays the interface's config snippet. NCM displays this widget only if the device's config file has been downloaded to NCM.

Node Details - vPC subview (NPM)

Starting with NPM 12.3 and NCM 7.8, Node Details views for Cisco Nexus devices have the vPCs subview. This page lists virtual port channels connected to the monitored Nexus device, including the interface, and the peer vPC details.

To display this subview, you need to enable CLI monitoring and provide credentials for accessing the device . The steps are similar to the process for Network Insight for Cisco ASA firewalls.

vPC Configuration Details (NCM)

If the configs have been downloaded to NCM, click View configs from the vPC subview to display configs for the vPC and its member interfaces.

Support for multiple VDCs (NCM)

Cisco Nexus series switches provide support for virtual device contexts (VDCs). Each VDC runs as a separate logical entity within the switch.

To add a Cisco Nexus device with multiple VDCs, first add the admin VDC using its IP address. All other VDCs will be automatically discovered, and you can add each VDC as a separate node. You can then configure NCM to back up and restore configurations for all VDCs accessible via SSH or Telnet from the NCM server.

Access control list management (NCM)

Network Insight provides tools to help you manage the access control lists (ACLs) on your Cisco Nexus devices.

Compare ACLs

Compare different versions of the same ACL to quickly determine what changed, or compare different ACLs. The rules from each ACL are displayed beside each other, and lines with differences are highlighted.

Search and filter rules

Use the search and filter features in the ACL browser to find a specific rule quickly. Or use filters to find rules that meet certain criteria. Filter by rule type, source, destination, protocol, object, or object type.

Identify rules that have not been applied

On the right side of each line, the ACL browser displays the hit count for each rule. The hit count indicates the number of times the rule was applied. Sort the rules by hit count to identify rules that have not been applied.

Detect shadowed or redundant rules

Shadowed and redundant rules are ACL rules that will not be executed or will be only partially executed because some or all of the affected traffic has already been processed by a previous rule. NCM detects and reports these rules. Eliminating shadowed and redundant rules reduces the size of the rule set, making it easier to manage. It also helps you ensure that the rules achieve the intended results.

NCM detects four types of rules:

Fully Shadowed
Partially Shadowed
Fully Redundant
Partially Redundant

For more information about each type of rule, see Overlapping ACL rules .

Cisco Nexus firmware upgrades (NCM)

NCM 7.8 includes three out-of-the-box templates for Nexus devices:

Cisco Nexus 5548: Performs an in-service software upgrade (ISSU) and then reboots the device. Rebooting the device ensures that the firmware upgrade is completed successfully.
Cisco Nexus C7004 - ISSU: Performs an ISSU and then reboots the device. Rebooting the device ensures that the firmware upgrade is completed successfully.
Cisco Nexus C7004 - Traditional: Performs a traditional upgrade or downgrade. Use this template when ISSU is not supported.

You can also create custom firmware upgrade templates for Cisco Nexus devices, because NCM device templates now allow you to specify multiple firmware images to upgrade (for example, the system and kickstarter images).

Config change templates (NCM)

NCM provides the following config change template for Cisco Nexus devices.

CONFIG CHANGE TEMPLATE	DESCRIPTION
Configure Virtual PortChannel on Cisco Nexus	Configures a virtual PortChannel (vPC) domain that contains two Cisco Nexus peer devices.

Device inventory reports (NCM)

Use the following inventory reports to access information about your Cisco Nexus devices:

REPORT	DESCRIPTION
Cisco Bootload Images	Displays information related to bootload images within each device.
Cisco Fan Tray Status	Lists the operational status information for a device's fans or fan trays.
Cisco FRU Power Status	Lists the power-related administrative status and operational status of the manageable components in the system.
Cisco FRU Power Supply Groups in the system	Displays the redundancy mode and the operational status of the power supply groups in the system.

Alerts

Network Insight for Nexus includes the following alert:

vPC on Nexus node is not up

Learn more...

View the Installation and Upgrade Guide
Download the SolarWinds Orion Installer in from the SolarWinds Customer Portal.
Open the administrator guide: NPM, NCM
Read the release notes:
- NPM 12.3 release notes
- NCM 7.8 release notes

Disclaimer: Please note, any content posted herein is provided as a suggestion or recommendation to you for your internal use. This is not part of the SolarWinds software or documentation that you purchased from SolarWinds, and the information set forth herein may come from third parties. Your organization should internally review and assess to what extent, if any, such custom scripts or recommendations will be incorporated into your environment. You elect to use third-party content at your own risk, and you will be solely responsible for the incorporation of the same if any.