Unifying Data Center Management: A Look at Cisco Nexus Dashboard 4.1
In this blog
Introduction
The Cisco Nexus Dashboard 4.1 release marks a significant step forward with its new unified platform. Moving beyond the previous model of separate applications, this release integrates all features and functions into a single platform, streamlining operations and saving network teams time and money. These enhancements can generally be broken down into two categories: infrastructure management and Day 2 operations.
Expanded management features
One of the most notable advancements in Nexus Dashboard 4.1 is the substantial boost in scalability. Oftentimes, customer scale would require the deployment of multiple clusters, each running a single Nexus Dashboard service, such as Fabric Controller for management or Insights for Day 2 operations.
With these services all now co-hosted, the new highly efficient unified software, and the introduction of Cisco UCS M8-based appliances, the platform allows for a significant reduction in physical server footprint while simultaneously increasing scale per cluster. This consolidation means fewer separate clusters are needed, thus simplifying deployment and management.
The "One Manage" feature has seen significant enrichment. Previously offering basic cross-cluster login capabilities, it now provides the ability to build multi-site topologies between fabrics managed by separate clusters. This enhancement effectively removes geography and single-cluster scale as impediments to modern architectures.
Nexus Dashboard 4.1 introduces simple workflows for building and implementing segmentation policies in the data center by leveraging VXLAN GPO, or Group Policy Option. These policies can be built to support both macro and micro-segmentation use cases. By utilizing network layer segmentation, unwanted traffic can be kept off the network right from the ingress switch, taking the operational burden off of firewalls and security teams.
Switch and router operating system upgrades are often a source of concern among network operations teams. Building on its existing capabilities for NX-OS and IOS upgrades, the new unified Nexus Dashboard platform adds intelligent device grouping, scheduling of upgrades and both pre- and post-validation checks as part of the workflow. Users can also view live logs and checks during the process, hopefully alleviating some of the stress that can come with large-scale maintenance windows.
Finally, the two-way integration with APIC/ACI is a key development. While Nexus Dashboard has long monitored ACI fabrics managed by APIC, this new integration facilitates easier navigation from Nexus Dashboard to APIC, further unifying the management platforms across varying Cisco data center architectures.
More robust day 2 operations
Traffic Analytics in version 4.1 brings a new level of intelligence to traffic visibility by proactively alerting users to potential network issues such as congestion, latency, or routing issues. Nexus Dashboard 4.1 now allows for the creation of custom application profiles, where users can define their own applications by TCP and UDP ports. Doing so provides personalized insights into users' application utilization and network impact.
Connectivity Analysis, a critical tool for troubleshooting, is significantly expanded in 4.1. It now offers the ability to perform testing across multi-site topologies, not just individual data center fabrics.
While Nexus Dashboard has consistently done well when it comes to RBAC and role-capabilities, users' overall experiences were quite homogeneous. The new custom dashboard feature allows users to quickly build personalized views that display the information most relevant to them, catering to various roles such as NOC teams, engineers, security groups and leadership.
How WWT can help
The enhancements in Cisco Nexus Dashboard 4.1 showcase the product teams' commitment to providing a more efficient, scalable and user-friendly platform for data center operations. By cultivating close relationships with these teams and providing consistent and constructive product feedback, we have helped shape the direction of this deeply impactful data center solution.
World Wide Technology (WWT) is the premier resource for helping customers design and build their modern data centers. With decades of experience in data center networking and modern security initiatives, WWT has a unique combination of expertise, OEM relationships and hands-on learning opportunities.
The Labs and Learning Paths on our digital platform can help you gain tangible experience with these technologies, while WWT Research can further provide real-world use cases and roadmaps that our clients use to help them on their IT transformation journeys.
If you are interested in a more customized, purpose-built lab environment, our technology proving ground, the Advanced Technology Center, is the place to do it.
Reach out to your WWT Account Team or contact us to learn more about how WWT can support your organization with your infrastructure modernization journey.