Add a Cisco Nexus Switch

You can add Cisco Nexus switches as a data source in VMware Aria Operations for Networks.

Note: If you have a Nexus device configured with multiple Virtual Device Contexts (VDC) then you need to individually specify VDC associated IP address as separate data sources.

Prerequisites

You must verify the following information:

• The data source and its version is supported in VMware Aria Operations for Networks. For more information, see Supported Products and Versions.
• The data source follows VMware Ports and Protocols supported in VMware Aria Operations for Networks. For more information, see VMware Ports and Protocols.

You must have the following permissions:

• Read-only user: VMware Aria Operations for Networks requires read-only third-party device credentials (passwords) to access the SSH data. This user needs to have the Network Operator role. These passwords are added when configuring the third-party data provider in VMware Aria Operations for Networks user interface.
• Read-only SNMP user: VMware Aria Operations for Networks uses SNMP to collect metrics information from third-party devices (switches, routers, firewalls, and so on). The third-party devices must have SNMP enabled and be accessible from VMware Aria Operations for Networks.

Procedure

1. From the left navigation pane, go to Settings > Accounts and Data Sources.
2. Click Add Source.
3. Under Routers & Switches, click the Cisco Nexus switch that you want to add.
4. In the Add a new Cisco N5K Account or Source page, provide the following details:

   Option	Action
   Collector VM	Select a collector VM from the drop-down menu.
   IP Address/FQDN	Enter the IP address or the FQDN details.
   Username	Enter the user name.
   Password	Enter the password.

   Note: To know about the supported products and versions, see Supported Products and Versions.
5. Click Validate.
6. To enable a richer data collection, click Use SNMP (recommended for richer data collection) check box, and do the following:
   1. From the SNMP Version drop-down menu, select an SNMP version. Depending on which version of SNMP you have selected, do the following:

      Option	Action
      2c	In the Community String text box, enter a community string.
      3	Enter Username, Context Name. From the Authentication Type drop-down, select an authentication type and enter the Authentication Password. From the Privacy Type drop-down, select a privacy type and enter the Privacy Password.

7. Define the polling interval for the configuration data collection. You can set the polling interval from 10 minutes to 7 days.
   • Preset - Select the interval time from the predefined time set.
   • Custom Interval - Set a value and select Minutes, Hours, and Days.
   • Fixed Schedule - Select the days and set the time to schedule the interval.
8. (Optional) In the Nickname text box, enter a nickname.
9. (Optional) In the Tags (Optional) key-value pair text box, enter a key and a value.
   Key-value pair could be any text. For example, you can use Layer Access as key-value pair where layer is the key and access is the value.
   1. To apply the tag in all the associated entities, click the Apply above tag operations to all associated entities check box. For more details about the associated entities, see Working with Local Tags.
      If you clear the Apply above tag operations to all associated entities check box, the assigned tag is removed from all the associated entities.
10. (Optional) In the Notes text box, add a note if necessary.
11. Click Submit.

What to do next

VMware Aria Operations for Networks supports the following features of the Cisco Nexus Switch:

• Neighbor Discovery (CDP and LLDP)
• Layer 2 Switching
• VLAN
• Layer 3 Routing (IPv4)
• VRF (Virtual routing and forwarding)
• Redundancy (HSRP and VRRP)
• Access Control List (in network assurance and verification)
• Fabric Extender (FEX)
• BGP-EVPN (not supported in network assurance and verification)
• Gateway Load-Balancing protocol (GLBP). This feature is not supported in network assurance and verification.