DNAC Assurance and Cisco UCS Compatibility

[Arne Bier]

Hello DNA fans

I see in the DNA Center Compatibility Matrix that some UCS servers are supported. I assume this means the CIMC can be polled via SNMP?

Can I also send SNMP traps to DNAC and have it do something useful with it? Cisco tells our customers that DNAC is the all signing and dancing machine, but I wonder how far this can go - it's not a SIEM. What about CIMC Syslog events?

I have a Gen 1 appliance. So I tried that, and DNAC is timing out on the SNMP polling. When I tested the SNMP agent of CIMC with snmpwalk tool, it works fine. The v2 Community string is fine. The DNAC Compatibility Matrix says I need version 3.10 of UCS. What does that mean?  My DNAC CIMC has never been touched (C220M4.3.0.4a.) - and I saw another recent thread talking about updating CIMC of the DNAC and all the intricacies etc.

What is the latest safe CIMC version for a Gen1 DNAC Appliance? Do I need to update the CIMC to allow DNAC to discover this box?

[Arne Bier]

Update: I applied the Host Update Utility for 4.1.2b on my DNAC appliance and told it to update everything. It took ages (+- 2 hours) but I can report 100% success. And DNAC still boots! Phew!

DNAC is finally able to run a discovery against the CIMC (using its own CIMC as a test). The discovery says 100% success for Status, ICMP, SNMP, CLI - but now what?

Where do I see CIMC "devices" in DNAC?

As for Assurance, I pulled a power supply on the UCS to cause an alarm and I don't see those in DNAC. 

What should I be expecting?

I have enabled CIMC SYSLOGs to be send to DNAC. But I have not enabled SNMP traps. I would think SYSLOGs are more informative? Do I need both?

[scvvuuren]

Hi @Arne Bier 

Did you ever get the UCS to monitor properly in DNAC?

I tried to add a UCS-M5 appliance now to test with but it shows unsupported.

I checked the compatibility matrix and it does show that it is supported though so not sure.

[Arne Bier]

No success. I can add CIMC manually and it shows up in inventory but DNAC then says the device is not supported due to SNMP issue. There is no snmp issue because I tested with snmpwalk. If I discover CIMC the DNAC shows me all green ticks as a success but no device in inventory. 
Compatibility Matrix is not much use. And I also get different opinions from Cisco people. One guy told me that the UCS entry in compatibility matrix means that DNAC will support things like CSR1000v if amd only if the VM runs on a UCS. I completely disagree with that absurd claim. 
If and when DNAC 2.1 finally makes an appearance we can perhaps try our luck there. 

[apanesar]

Hey, is there any update on DNA Assurance being able to manage UCS hardware? M5 discovers ok with snmpv3 but then DNA inventory lists as unsupported.

[Arne Bier]

Hello @apanesar - short answer is: I don't know. I have not tried this since I first posted the question. DANC software is updating at a rapid pace. Maybe it's working now

[apanesar]

Hi, I am on current recommended DNAC 2.2.3.6 and unfortunately still states 'Unsupported Cisco Device' in the inventory. The compatibility matrix does not show any UCS hardware even on the latest offering of 2.3.3.4. Thanks