DNA Failure Mode

[Arashai]

Hi All!

We have a few projects that are looking to take advantage of the free DNA Appliance offer.  These networks have yet to be implemented and there has been some concern about what will happen if the network connection between the switch and the appliance goes down.

How will the switch behave if it can't reach the appliance?  Will it continue to operate in a sort of standalone mode using it's most recent configuration?  Will one still be able to log into the switch with a console cable (say to troubleshoot)?

Any insight y'all can provide would be appreciated, thank you!

[jedolphi · Accepted solution]

Hello Arashai,

If you have Cisco SD-Access implemented and DNA Centre becomes unreachable then the wired and wireless network will continue to forward packets as usual. There will be no impact to network performance or behavior. Yes you will be able to SSH / telnet / console into switches and wireless network infra as usual. For the period DNA Centre is unreachable, Assurance data will be lost, and you will not be able to make configuration changes to the Cisco SD-Access network. There is a 3x DNA Centre cluster is possible also, which will give HA to SD-Access GUI (so you can continue to make network configuration changes if a single DNA Centre appliance fails), and in future it will enable HA for Assurance too.

Jerome