Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) has lengthy been thought-about the gold customary of SAN administration due to its stability, wealthy options, and vast adoption. DCNM has been round and serving prospects very nicely for over 20 years. It was initially featured together with the launch of the MDS 9000 switches. Back then, it was known as Fabric Manager and this identify is utilized in conversations even to today. That was the time when functions used a monolithic design. However, instances have modified, and over the past decade, software program improvement has undergone a complete makeover. Instead of a giant monolith, as of late an software is split into a number of microservices. Then, every of those providers runs in its devoted containers. This microservices-based design results in many advantages, reminiscent of greater scale, improved safety, greater availability, and sooner improvement.
DCNM’s monolithic design, regardless of serving nicely for 20 years, is unable to unleash the total potential of movement visibility, real-time analytics, and better scale. Instead of making an attempt to retrofit these advantages into DCNM, we rewrote the complete software from scratch utilizing the microservices structure. During this contemporary improvement, we additionally gave it a brand new identify known as Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC).
Note: The focus of this publish is on NDFC SAN Controller.
Benefits of Upgrading from DCNM to NDFC SAN Controller
In January 2023, we launched the third main launch (12.1.2) of NDFC SAN Controller. This makes the right time to improve from DCNM to NDFC not simply because three is a magic quantity, but additionally due to ten causes that I’m sharing on this publish.
1. Upgrading from DCNM to NDFC is Free
We designed NDFC to honor the present DCNM licenses. This funding safety turns into much more rewarding with the distinctive longevity of Cisco switches due to in-place upgrades to the upper speeds. For instance, prospects who purchased MDS 9710 with DCNM license in 2013 can improve to NDFC in 2023 utilizing the identical license. Just to be clear, any newly bought Nexus and MDS switches nonetheless require new NDFC licenses. But NDFC will be capable of handle any present switches you have got already bought DCNM licenses for. Essentially, it’s free to improve from DCNM to NDFC.
2. Active-Active Clustering for High-Availability
The internet hosting platform of NDFC, known as Nexus Dashboard (ND), gives native active-active clustering. You can deploy 3 nodes of Nexus Dashboard in a cluster after which set up a single occasion of NDFC on it. The person expertise for SAN Management stays unchanged no matter 1-node ND or a 3-node ND cluster. However, with 3-node cluster, ND mechanically distributes microservices on a number of nodes. If one node fails, the present two nodes proceed to run NDFC. This achieves an unprecedented reliability for SAN Management and Insights.
Active-Active clustering doesn’t exist in DCNM. It has a unique implementation for attaining excessive availability, known as Federation. But due to the dependency on an exterior Oracle RAC database, DCNM Federation will increase the full price of possession. In distinction, Nexus Dashboard natively integrates distributed database providers for attaining active-active clustering. This design makes excessive availability of NDFC rather more inexpensive.
To today NDFC is the one SAN administration software program to supply a real extremely accessible structure to drastically enhance up-time and availability for SAN operations. In a time when down-time is just unacceptable, this structure delivers piece of thoughts even on the community administration facet of the enterprise.
3. NDFC One View – Single-pane-of-glass Across Multiple NDFC Servers
NDFC One View gives centralized administration and visualization of a number of SAN environments which are managed by completely different NDFC servers. Using an executive-level dashboard of One View, you may seamlessly navigate to a taking part NDFC server utilizing Single Sign-On (SSO). This results in sooner troubleshooting and simplified Day 2 operations.
There isn’t any further license for NDFC One View. If you have already got DCNM/NDFC license for managing the switches, you can begin utilizing NDFC One View right now with no further price.
DCNM doesn’t supply an identical function. If you have got a number of DCNM servers managing completely different SAN environments, getting a unified view throughout all these DCNM servers is feasible solely after upgrading to NDFC.
4. Higher Scale
Starting 12.1.2 launch, NDFC can handle as much as 40K ports (earlier 20K ports) and as much as 160 switches (earlier 80 switches). This elevated scale helps to consolidate a number of DCNM servers in fewer NDFC servers, and therefore saves time, effort, and cash.
Besides the material scale, SAN Insights can now monitor as much as 1 million I/O flows per NDFC server. When SAN Insights was first added to DCNM 11 in 2018, it may monitor 20K flows. Later, DCNM 11.5 elevated this scale to 60K flows. In 2021, the primary launch of NDFC 12.0.0 elevated the variety of monitored flows to 250K, which was additional elevated to 500K with 12.1.1 launch. Now, NDFC 12.1.2 can monitor 1 million flows delivering 50x improve over the past 5 years.
This elevated scale gives two key advantages. First, it permits monitoring each movement, which is required as a result of customers have no idea when and the place an issue might floor. SAN Insights repeatedly screens efficiency of I/O flows proactively and their historical past is accessible when an anomaly is detected (extra on anomaly detection shortly). The second motive is that even a material with only some switches can have a whole lot of 1000’s of flows. For instance, one buyer has 180K flows in a material of simply 4 switches. When accounting for twin materials, the movement rely of their setting is roughly 380K. NDFC can monitor these environments in an always-on trend and might scale occasion additional.
5. SAN Insights Anomaly Detection
Not simply monitoring, NDFC can mechanically detect anomalies in any of the million flows. You can set the insurance policies of your alternative or just activate the ready-made insurance policies in NDFC. For instance, NDFC can create an anomaly coverage to inform the admins when learn or write I/O operations to a LUN (for SCSI site visitors) or Namespace (for NVMe site visitors) takes longer than 500 microseconds. Anomaly detection helps in detecting storage efficiency points a lot sooner than software is affected.
This function of anomaly detection doesn’t exist in DCNM. Monitoring and the power to detect anomalies in one million flows is feasible solely due to the microservices-based structure of NDFC.
6. Existing DCNM Features
It will not be straightforward, however we are attempting exhausting to exceed the excessive bar set by DCNM. In the final two years, now we have added (and redesigned) most DCNM options to NDFC, reminiscent of zoning, efficiency monitoring, gadget alias administration, interactive topologies, programmable experiences, SAN Insights, VM integration, UCS site visitors visualization, config backup and restore, change picture administration, and a lengthy checklist of options. For the long-time customers of DCNM, particularly those that nonetheless use its Java GUI (referred to as thick shopper), the expertise of utilizing NDFC is completely different. I like to recommend beginning this transition ahead of later. While making this transition, we’re open to your concepts for including new options and enhancing present options.
7. New Features and Management of Newer Switches solely in NDFC
Not simply including present options from DCNM, however we’re additionally creating new options in NDFC. The key factors it that these new options are solely stepping into NDFC. For instance, the brand new Configuration Monitor function mechanically detects any drift from a golden NX-OS config and generates alarms (Figure 1). This detects any unintentional adjustments and helps in stopping injury to your setting.
Besides new options, the newer 64GFC MDS switches (MDS 9124V, MDS 9148V, and later) can solely be managed by NDFC.
We nonetheless assist DCNM and haven’t but introduced its finish of life. But we’re not including new options and assist for newer switches in DCNM. All the innovation goes solely to NDFC.
8. Run NDFC as a Physical Appliance
Physical equipment (known as pND) is a brand new deployment mannequin for NDFC. Like Cisco Nexus and MDS switches the place the {hardware} and software program (NX-OS) is absolutely supported by Cisco, the pND {hardware} and software program are additionally absolutely supported by Cisco. This reduces the dependency on different groups for deploying and sustaining NDFC.
NDFC SAN Controller will also be deployed on RHEL (known as rND) or as an OVA on ESXi (known as vND). We supply this flexibility so as to select the best choice on your setting. If you see worth in utilizing the bodily equipment (pND), that is one more reason for upgrading from DCNM to NDFC.
9. VM Traffic Visibility
NDFC stitches end-to-end flows between VM and LUN (for SCSI site visitors). This makes VM-Initiator-Target-LUN (VM-ITL) movement in SAN Insights. For NVMe site visitors, an identical movement is known as VM-ITN movement the place N represents a Namespace.
DCNM gives I/O flows at a granularity of ITL or ITN. Stitching these flows to a VM requires handbook correlation in vCenter. NDFC simplifies this step by mechanically correlating ITL and ITN flows with the VMs.
This VM-ITL and VM-ITN movement visibility in NDFC results in a lot sooner decision of gradual efficiency points.
10. Prevent SAN Congestion and Slow-Drain utilizing DIRL
Congestion Analysis function in NDFC (successor of DCNM Slow Drain Analysis) gives a topology visualization of the supply, trigger, and time of congestion. Another new function, known as Event Analytics, mechanically receives congestion alerts from the Port-Monitor function on the MDS switches. These new options in NDFC permit correlation and investigation of congestion points utilizing intuitive charts and developments.
Besides detecting congestion, NDFC additionally permits configuring Dynamic Ingress Rate Limiting (DIRL), which is a novel innovation on MDS switches for stopping congestion. NDFC additionally visualizes the outcomes of DIRL that additional permit optimizing congestion thresholds.
These new enhancements for detecting and stopping congestion are solely accessible in NDFC. You can proceed to make use of Slow-Drain Analysis in DCNM however the full good thing about Congestion Analysis and talent to configure and visualize DIRL is feasible solely after upgrading to NDFC.
How to Upgrade from DCNM to NDFC SAN?
We present a software to simplify the improve from DCNM to NDFC SAN Controller. This software takes the backup of the found material, alarm insurance policies, server setting, and even the efficiency monitoring knowledge from DCNM and restores these to NDFC.
My private suggestion is to run DCNM and NDFC in parallel for some time. Then decommission DCNM solely after you might be comfy working NDFC. If your automation infrastructure depends on DCNM, this method offers sufficient time to replace and confirm NDFC RESTful APIs.
Refer to the white paper for a step-by-step steerage for upgrading from DCNM to NDFC.
Conclusion
We proceed to assist DCNM and haven’t but introduced its finish of life. But new improvements and assist for newer switches is accessible solely inside NDFC. With the third main launch, scale of one million I/O flows, stability, and newer options, now could be the right time for upgrading from DCNM to NDFC SAN Controller. Starting this transition sooner offers sufficient time for a sleek improve, get acquainted with the Nexus Dashboard platform, and confirm automation.
If you wish to see any new options in NDFC, please attain out to us through your account workforce or depart a remark beneath.
To be taught extra about NDFC, seek advice from the next sources.
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