Add Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch

You can add Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch entities using the Add Entity UI or using the cloud agent command line interface (omcli) with the appropriate JSON files.

Step 1: Prepare Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch for monitoring.

Prerequisites

SNMPv1/v2 or SNMPv3 credentials are needed for monitoring.

If SNMPv1/v2 is used, you must provide the SNMP community string (which was entered during Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch configuration) along with IP address of agent that will be used for Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch monitoring.

If SNMPv3 is used, you must provide the SNMPv3 user, plus the authentication method (SHA or MD5) and authentication password if authentication is used,. In addition, the privilege method (only DES supported) and privilege password must be supplied if privilege is used. Everything needs to be manually configured up front in the Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch.

Read only access is enough for the Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch monitoring.

Step 2: Decide how you want to add the Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch.

You can add Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch entities using one of two ways:

  • Add them from UI
  • Use the agent's omcli add_entity command with the appropriate JSON files

Adding Entities from the UI

  1. From the Management Cloud main menu, select Administration, Discovery, and then Add Entity. The Add Entity page displays.
  2. Select the Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch Entity Type.
  3. Enter the following UI properties.
    Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch UI Fields
    • Entity Name: Name of your Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch in Oracle Management Cloud.
    • Dispatch URL: snmp://<Fully qualified host name or IP address of Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch>
    • SNMP Port: Port where Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch listens for SNMP requests - 161 by default (optional)
    • SNMP Timeout: Timeout for SNMP requests in seconds - 30 secs by default (optional)
    • Cloud Agent: Cloud agent monitoring the host where Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch is installed.

    Monitoring Credentials

    SNMP V1/V2

    • Community String: SNMPv2c community string

    SNMP V3

    • Username: SNMPv3 username
    • Authorization Password: Password used for authentication
    • Authorization Protocol: Protocol used for authentication - supply either MD5 or SHA
    • Privacy Password: Password used for encryption.

See Add Entities from the Console for detailed instructions on using the Add Entity UI.

Using omcli and the Appropriate JSON Files

  1. Download and extract the required JSON file(s) from the master JSON zip file. See the table below for the specific JSON files you'll need.
  2. Edit the file(s) and specify the requisite properties shown below.
    Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch JSON Files and Properties

    Definition File: omc_cisco_nexus_eth_switch_sample.json

    • name: Your Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch entity name.
    • displayName: Your Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch entity display name.
    • timezoneRegion: Time zone of your entity. It is recommended that you use the long values IANA-maintained TZ database time zones. For example: America/New_York
    • omc_dispatch_url: Under “value”, following the string snmp://, provide the fully qualified hostname or IP address of the Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch.
    • omc_snmp_port: Under “value”, provide the port where the Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch listens for SNMP requests, 161 by default.
    • omc_snmp_timeout: Under “value”, provide the timeout for SNMP requests in seconds, 10 by default.
    • omc_snmp_version: Under “value”, provide the SNMP version used to monitor the Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch.

      Note:

      This is an optional property which is used only with SNMPV1Creds and allowed values are "1" or "2c". The default value is "2c".

    Credential Files

    omc_cisco_nexus_eth_switch_snmpv2_sample_creds.json

    • COMMUNITY: Use this credential file if you have configured your switch with SNMPv1/v2.

    omc_cisco_nexus_eth_switch_snmpv3_sample_creds.json

    Under “value”, within the square brackets, provide the SNMPv3 user name.

    • authPwd: Under “value”, within the square brackets, provide the auth password or empty out the field.
    • authProtocol: Under “value”, within the square brackets, provide the auth-method (SHA or MD5).
    • privPwd: Under “value”, within the square brackets, provide the priv method password, if priv is used. Only the DES priv method is supported.

    Do not remove the square brackets.

  3. Add the entity using omcli.
    omcli add_entity agent DEFINITION_FILE [-credential_file CREDENTIAL_FILE [-encryption_method_gpg]] 
  4. Verify the status of the newly added entity.
    omcli status_entity agent DEFINITION_FILE

See step 4. Adding Entities to Your Service of Add Entities Using JSON Files for more information.

Step 3: (Optional but recommended) Set up alerts.

To enable lights-out monitoring, you can set up alert rules to generate alerts and send notifications if your entities have performance issues.

See Set Up Alert Rules and Set Up Alert Thresholds and Notifications.

Troubleshooting

If you run into any issues regarding discovery or monitoring of Cisco Nexus Ethernet Switch, see the following: