System Requirements

System Requirements

This chapter lists the tested and supported hardware and software specifications for Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller architecture. The application is in English locales only.

The following sections describes the various system requirements for the proper functioning of your Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller, Release 12.1.2e.


Note

We recommend that you do not upgrade any underlying third-party software separately. All the necessary software components will be updated during the inline upgrade procedure. Upgrading the components outside of Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller upgrade causes functionality issues.

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Version Compatibility

You must have Cisco Nexus Dashboard cluster deployed and its fabric connectivity configured, as described in Cisco Nexus Dashboard Deployment Guide before proceeding with any additional requirements and the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller service installation described here.

Nexus Dashboard Server Resource (CPU/Memory) Requirements

The following table provides information about Server Resource (CPU/Memory) Requirements to run NDFC on top of Nexus Dashboard. Refer to Nexus Dashboard Capacity Planning to determine the number of switches supported for each deployment.

Cisco Nexus Dashboard can be deployed using number of different form factors. NDFC can be deployed on the following form factors:

  • pND - Physical Nexus Dashboard

  • vND - Virtual Nexus Dashboard

  • rND - RHEL Nexus Dashboard

Table 1. Server Resource (CPU/Memory) Requirements to run NDFC on top of Nexus Dashboard
Deployment Type Node Type CPUs Memory Storage (Throughput: 40-50 MB/s)
Fabric Discovery Virtual Node (vND) – app OVA

16 vCPUs

64 GB

 550 GB SSD

Physical Node (pND)

(PID: SE-NODE-G2 and ND-NODE-L4)

2 x 10-core 2.2G Intel Xeon Silver CPU

256 GB of RAM

4 x 2.4 TB HDDs

400 GB SSD

1.2 TB NVME drive
Fabric Controller Virtual Node (vND) – app OVA 16 vCPUs 64 GB 550 GB SSD

Physical Node (pND)

(PID: SE-NODE-G2 and ND-NODE-L4)

2 x 10-core 2.2G Intel Xeon Silver CPU

256 GB of RAM

4 x 2.4 TB HDDs

400 GB SSD

1.6 TB NVME drive
SAN Controller

Virtual Node (vND) – app OVA

(without SAN Insights)

16 vCPUs

(with physical reservation)

64 GB

(with physical reservation)

 550 GB SSD

App Node (rND)

(without SAN Insights)

16 vCPUs

(with physical reservation)

64 GB

(with physical reservation)

 550 GB SSD

Data Node (vND) – Data OVA

(with SAN Insights)

32 vCPUs

(with physical reservation)

128GB

(with physical reservation)

3 TB SSD

Data Node (rND)

(with SAN Insights)

32 vCPUs

(with physical reservation)

128 GB

(with physical reservation)

3 TB SSD

Physical Node (pND)

(PID: SE-NODE-G2 and ND-NODE-L4)

2 x 10-core 2.2G Intel Xeon Silver CPU

256 GB of RAM

4 x 2.4 TB HDDs

400 GB SSD

1.6 TB NVME drive

Nexus Dashboard Networks

When first configuring Nexus Dashboard, on every node, you must provide two IP addresses for the two Nexus Dashboard interfaces—one connected to the Data Network and the other to the Management Network. The data network is typically used for the nodes' clustering and north-south connectivity to the physical network. The management network typically connects to the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Web UI, CLI, or API.

For enabling the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller, the Management and Data Interfaces on a Nexus Dashboard node must be in different subnets. Different nodes that belong to the same Nexus Dashboard cluster can either be Layer-2 adjacent or Layer-3 adjacent. Refer to Layer 3 Reachability Between Cluster Nodes for more information.

Connectivity between the Nexus Dashboard nodes is required on both networks with the round trip time (RTT) not exceeding 50ms. Other applications running on the same Nexus Dashboard cluster may have lower RTT requirements and you must always use the lowest RTT requirement when deploying multiple applications in the same Nexus Dashboard cluster. Refer to Cisco Nexus Dashboard Deployment Guide for more information.

Management Interface

Data Interface

Persistent IPs

Layer 2 adjacent

Layer 2 adjacent

One of the following for LAN:

  • If using default LAN Device Management Connectivity (set to Management):

    • 2 IPs in management network for SNMP/Syslog and SCP services

    • Plus one IP per fabric for EPL (if enabled) in data network

    • Plus one IP for Telemetry receiver in management network if IP Fabric for Media is enabled

  • If LAN Device Management Connectivity is set to Data:

    • 2 IPs in data network for SNMP/Syslog and SCP services

    • Plus one IP per fabric for EPL (if enabled) in data network

    • Plus one IP for Telemetry receiver in data network if IP Fabric for Media is enabled

For SAN:

  • 2 IPs in data network for SNMP/Syslog and SCP services

  • Plus one IP per Nexus Dashboard node in data network if SAN Insights receivers is enabled

Layer 3 adjacent

Layer 3 adjacent

For LAN:

  • LAN Device Management Connectivity on NDFC must be set to Data

  • 2 IPs for SNMP/Syslog and SCP/POAP services

  • Plus one IP per fabric for EPL

These IPs must be part of a subnet that is different from Nexus Dashboard management and Nexus Dashboard data subnets associated with any of Nexus Dashboard nodes. These IPs must belong to the Layer-3 External Persistent Service Pool.

Note

 

SAN Controller and IP Fabric for Media modes are not supported in this deployment.

Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Ports

In addition to the ports required by the Nexus Dashboard (ND) cluster nodes, the following ports are required by the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC) service.


Note

The following ports apply to the Nexus Dashboard management network and/or data network interfaces depending on which interface provides IP reachability from the NDFC service to the switches.

Table 2. Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Ports

Service

Port

Protocol

Direction

In—towards the cluster

Out—from the cluster towards the fabric or outside world

Connection

(Applies to both LAN and SAN deployments, unless stated otherwise)

SSH

22

TCP

Out

SSH is a basic mechanism for accessing devices.

SCP

22

TCP

Out

SCP clients archiving NDFC backup files to remote server.

SMTP

25

TCP

Out

SMTP port is configurable through NDFC's Server Settings menu.

This is an optional feature.

DHCP

67

UDP

In

If NDFC local DHCP server is configured for Bootstrap/POAP purposes.

This applies to LAN deployments only.

Note

 

When using NDFC as a local DHCP server for POAP purposes, all ND master node IPs must be configured as DHCP relays. Whether the ND nodes' management or data IPs are bound to the DHCP server is determined by the LAN Device Management Connectivity in the NDFC Server Settings.

DHCP

68

UDP

Out

SNMP

161

TCP/UDP

Out

SNMP traffic from NDFC to devices.

HTTPS/HTTP (NX-API)

443/80

TCP

Out

NX-API HTTPS/HTTP client connects to device NX-API server on port 443/80, which is also configurable. NX-API is an optional feature, used by limited set of NDFC functions.

This applies to LAN deployments only.

HTTPS (vCenter, Kubernetes, OpenStack, Discovery)

443

TCP

Out

NDFC provides an integrated host and physical network topology view by correlating the information obtained from registered VMM domains, such as VMware vCenter or OpenStack, as well as container orchestrators, such as Kubernetes.

This is an optional feature

Note

The following ports apply to the External Service IPs, also known as persistent IPs, used by some of the NDFC services. These External Service IPs may come from certain subnet pools, depending on the type of deployment:

  • For LAN deployments, these External Service IPs may come from the Nexus Dashboard management subnet pool or the data subnet pool, depending on the configured settings.

  • For SAN deployments, these External Service IPs come from the Nexus Dashboard data subnet pool.
Table 3. Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Persistent IP Ports

Service

Port

Protocol

Direction

In—towards the cluster

Out—from the cluster towards the fabric or outside world

Connection

(Applies to both LAN and SAN deployments, unless stated otherwise)

SCP

22

TCP

In

SCP is used by various features to transfer files between devices and the NDFC service. The NDFC SCP service serves as the SCP server for both downloads and uploads. SCP is also used by the POAP client on the devices to download POAP-related files.

The SCP-POAP service in NDFC has a persistent IP that is associated with either the management or data subnet. This is controlled by the LAN Device Management Connectivity setting in the NDFC Server Settings.

TFTP (POAP)

69

TCP

In

Only used for device zero-touch provisioning via POAP, where devices can send (limited jailed write-only access to NDFC) basic inventory information to NDFC to start secure POAP communication. NDFC Bootstrap or POAP can be configured for TFTP or HTTP/HTTPS.

The SCP-POAP service in NDFC has a persistent IP that is associated with either the management or data subnet. This is controlled by the LAN Device Management Connectivity setting in the NDFC Server Settings.

This applies to LAN deployments only.

HTTP (POAP)

80

TCP

In

Only used for device zero-touch provisioning via POAP, where devices can send (limited jailed write-only access to NDFC) basic inventory information to NDFC to start secure POAP communication. NDFC Bootstrap or POAP can be configured for TFTP or HTTP/HTTPS.

The SCP-POAP service in NDFC has a persistent IP that is associated with either the management or data subnet. This is controlled by the LAN Device Management Connectivity setting in the NDFC Server Settings.

This applies to LAN deployments only.

BGP

179

TCP

In/Out

For Endpoint Locator, per fabric where it is enabled, an EPL service is spawned with its own persistent IP. This service is always associated with the Nexus Dashboard data interface. NDFC EPL service peers with the appropriate BGP entity (typically BGP Route-Reflectors) on the fabric to get BGP updates needed to track endpoint information.

This feature is only applicable for VXLAN BGP EVPN fabric deployments.

This applies to LAN deployments only.

HTTPS (POAP)

443

TCP

In

Secure POAP is accomplished via the NDFC HTTPS Server on port 443. The HTTPS server is bound to the SCP-POAP service and uses the same persistent IP assigned to that pod.

The SCP-POAP service in NDFC has a persistent IP that is associated with either the management or data subnet. This is controlled by the LAN Device Management Connectivity setting in the NDFC Server Settings.

This applies to LAN deployments only.

Syslog

514

UDP

In

When NDFC is configured as a Syslog server, Syslogs from the devices are sent out toward the persistent IP associated with the SNMP-Trap/Syslog service pod

The SNMP-Trap-Syslog service in NDFC has a persistent IP that is associated with either the management or data subnet. This is controlled by the LAN Device Management Connectivity setting in the NDFC Server Settings

SCP

2022

TCP

Out

Transport tech-support file from persistent IP of NDFC POAP-SCP pod to a separate ND cluster running Nexus Dashboard Insights.

The SCP-POAP service in NDFC has a persistent IP that is associated with either the management or data subnet. This is controlled by the LAN Device Management Connectivity setting in the NDFC Server Settings

SNMP Trap

2162

UDP

In

SNMP traps from devices to NDFC are sent out toward the persistent IP associated with the SNMP-Trap/Syslog service pod.

The SNMP-Trap-Syslog service in NDFC has a persistent IP that is associated with either the management or data subnet. This is controlled by the LAN Device Management Connectivity setting in the NDFC Server Settings

GRPC (Telemetry)

33000

TCP

In

SAN Insights Telemetry Server which receives SAN data (such as storage, hosts, flows, and so on) over GRPC transport tied to NDFC Persistent IP.

This is enabled on SAN deployments only.

GRPC (Telemetry)

50051

TCP

In

Information related to multicast flows for IP Fabric for Media deployments as well as PTP for general LAN deployments is streamed out via software telemetry to a persistent IP associated with a NDFC GRPC receiver service pod.

This is enabled on LAN and Media deployments only.

Supported Latency

As Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller is deployed atop Cisco Nexus Dashboard, the latency factor is dependent on Cisco Nexus Dashboard. Refer to Cisco Nexus Dashboard Deployment Guide for information about latency.

Supported Web Browsers

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller is supported on the following web browsers:

  • Google Chrome version 101.0.4951.64

  • Microsoft Edge version 101.0.1210.47 (64-bit)

  • Mozilla Firefox version 100.0.1 (64-bit)

Other Supported Software

The following table lists the other software that is supported by Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Release 12.1.2e.

Component Features
Security

  • ACS versions 4.0, 5.1, 5.5, and 5.8

  • ISE version 2.6

  • ISE version 3.0

  • Telnet Disabled: SSH Version 1, SSH Version 2, Global Enforce SNMP Privacy Encryption.

  • Web Client: HTTPS with TLS 1, 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3