Configuring Cisco Catalyst Center for Monitoring

Download this manual as a PDF file

The following sections describe how to configure and discover devices for monitoring by Skylar One using the "Cisco: Catalyst Center" PowerPack:

Prerequisites for Monitoring Cisco Catalyst Center

Before you can monitor Cisco Catalyst Center network infrastructure components in Skylar One, you must have the following:

  • Skylar One version 12.3.1 or later.
  • The sample universal credential that is already provided with this PowerPack.
  • New collector groups and the alignment of message collectors to these collector groups.
  • All-In-One Appliance or a distributed system that contains a Database Server with one or more message collectors.
  • A device aligned to the same collector group as the message collector.
  • For distributed systems, you must create a new collector unit group and align message collectors on the Collector Groups page (System > Settings > Collector Groups).

Creating a Credential for Cisco Catalyst Center

To configure Skylar One to monitor Cisco Catalyst Center network infrastructure, you must first create a universal credential. This credential allows the Dynamic Applications in the "Cisco: Catalyst Center" PowerPack to communicate with your Cisco DNA Center account.

The PowerPack includes a sample universal credential that you can edit for your own use.

To configure a universal credential:

  1. Go to the Credentials page (Manage > Credentials).
  2. Locate the sample credential "CCC Sandbox Cred", click its Actions icon () and select Duplicate. A copy of the credential appears.
  3. Click the Actions icon () for the "CCC Sandbox Cred copy" credential and select Edit. The Edit Credential page appears:
  4. Enter values in the following fields:
  • Name. Type a new name for the credential.
  • All Organizations. Toggle on (blue) to align the credential to all organizations, or toggle off (gray)
  • Select the organizations the credential belongs to. Select one or more specific organizations to align the credential with those specific organizations.
  • Timeout (ms). Enter the time, in milliseconds, after which Skylar One will stop trying to communicate with the external device or application.
  • URL. Specify the IP of the Cisco Catalyst Center web interface.
  • Authentication type. Enter "CiscoCatalystCenterAuth".
  • Cisco Catalyst Center Username. Enter the username for the Cisco DNA Center account.
  • Cisco Catalyst Center Password. Enter the password for the Cisco DNA Center account.
  1. Click the Save & Close button.

Creating a Cisco Catalyst Center Virtual Device

To discover a Cisco Catalyst Center network infrastructure components, you must create a virtual device that represents the root device. A virtual device is a user-defined container that represents a device or service that cannot be discovered by Skylar One. You can use the virtual device to store information gathered by policies or Dynamic Applications.

If you have multiple Cisco Catalyst Center network infrastructure components you want to monitor, you should create a separate virtual device for each root device. You can also create different organizations for each component.

To create a virtual device that represents your Cisco Catalyst Center network infrastructure component:

  1. Go to the Device Manager page (Devices > Classic Devices, or Registry > Devices > Device Manager in the classic user interface).
  2. Click the Actions button and select Create Virtual Device from the menu. The Create Virtual Device modal page appears.
  3. Enter values in the following fields:
  • Device Name. Enter a name for the device.
  • Organization. Select the organization for this device. The organization you associate with the device limits the users that will be able to view and edit the device. Typically, only members of the organization will be able to view and edit the device.
  • Device Class. Select Cisco | Catalyst Center.
  • Collector. Select CUG.
  1. Click the Add button to create the virtual device.

Once you have created the virtual device, you will need to manually align the following Dynamic Applications to the virtual device using the SOAP/XML credential created above:

  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Devices Producer Performance
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Site Health Producer Performance
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Applications
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Licenses Configuration
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Nodes Configuration
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Release Summary
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Sites Producer Discovery
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Tags Configuration

If you have the proper user permissions, you can manually align a new Dynamic Application to a device or unalign a currently aligned Dynamic Application from a device.

To align a Dynamic Application to a device:

  1. On the Collections tab of the Device Investigator, click Edit and then click Align Dynamic Application. The Align Dynamic Application window appears.
  2. Click Choose Dynamic Application. The Choose Dynamic Application window appears.

You can filter the items on this inventory page by typing filter text or selecting filter options in one or more of the filters found above the columns on the page. For more information, see Filtering Inventory Pages.

You can adjust the size of the rows and the size of the row text on this inventory page. For more information, see the section on Adjusting the Row Density.

  1. Select the Dynamic Application you want to align and click Select. The name of the selected Dynamic Application appears in the Align Dynamic Application window.
  2. If a default credential is listed below the Dynamic Application and you want to use that credential, skip ahead to step 7. Otherwise, uncheck the box next to the credential name.
  3. Click Choose Credential. The Choose Credential window appears.
  4. Select the credential for the Dynamic Application and click the Select button. The name of the selected credential appears in the Align Dynamic Application window.
  5. Click the Align Dynamic App button. When the Dynamic Application is successfully aligned, it is added to the Collections tab, and a confirmation message appears at the bottom of the tab.

To unalign a Dynamic Application from a device, click the Actions button () for that Dynamic Application and select Unalign Dynamic App. However, be advised that when you unalign a Dynamic Application, you also delete the data it has collected.

For more information, see Manually Aligning a Dynamic Application to a Device of the Managing Dynamic Applications manual.

Verifying Dynamic Application Alignment

To verify that Skylar One has aligned the correct Dynamic Applications:

  1. After creating the virtual device and aligning the credential to the template, go to the Devices page and click the virtual device you have previously created. From the Device Investigator page, click the Collections tab.
  2. All applicable Dynamic Applications for the switch are automatically aligned during discovery and will appear in the Collections tab.

You should see the following Dynamic Applications aligned to the virtual device:

  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Applications
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Device Consumer Configuration
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Device Consumer Performance
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Devices Producer Performance
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Licenses Configuration
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Membership Consumer Discovery
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Membership Producer Performance
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Nodes Configuration
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Release Summary
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Site Consumer Configuration
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Site Health Consumer Performance
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Site Health Producer Performance
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Sites Consumer Discovery
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Sites Producer Discovery
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Tags Configuration
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Vlan

Alternatively, you can verify Skylar One has aligned the correct Dynamic Applications to the virtual device on the Device Components page (Devices > Device Components), which displays a DCM tree showing hierarchical configuration structure.

Verifying Dynamic Application Alignment in the Skylar One Classic User Interface

To verify that Skylar One has aligned the correct Dynamic Applications:

  1. After creating the virtual device and aligning the credential to the template, go to the Device Manager page and click the wrench icon () for the Cisco Catalyst virtual device. From the Device Properties page, click the Collections tab. The Dynamic Application Collections page appears.
  2. All applicable Dynamic Applications for the switch are automatically aligned during discovery.

You should see the following Dynamic Applications aligned to the virtual device:

  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Applications
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Device Consumer Configuration
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Device Consumer Performance
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Devices Producer Performance
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Licenses Configuration
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Membership Consumer Discovery
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Membership Producer Performance
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Nodes Configuration
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Release Summary
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Site Consumer Configuration
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Site Health Consumer Performance
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Site Health Producer Performance
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Sites Consumer Discovery
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Sites Producer Discovery
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Tags Configuration
  • Cisco: Catalyst Center Vlan