Get started on your Cisco Catalyst Center journey

[Katie King]

Have you been looking for a smarter, simpler way to manage your network? Cisco Catalyst Center is a powerful management system that leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI) to connect, secure, and automate network operations. It delivers enterprise-scale, secure, seamless, and reliable connectivity among users, applications, and things. 

Watch our short video for more details on how Catalyst Center can revolutionize your network management, then read on for guidance on how to kick off the onboarding process. 

 

Prepare for your onboarding journey 

To get started with your Catalyst Center onboarding journey, you first need to determine which Catalyst Center form factor is best suited for your business – the physical appliance or the virtual appliance (AWS or ESXi). Be sure to take into account the scale of the deployment you’re planning when determining which platform to utilize.  

Once you choose which form factor you want to install, review either the installation guide or deployment guide for that form factor to review installation prerequisites, onboarding steps, and details on what to do next once the installation is complete.  

Onboarding the Catalyst Center physical appliance 

For those interested in installing the physical appliance, you must perform the following planning and information-gathering tasks before attempting to install, configure, and set up your Catalyst Center appliance. After you complete these tasks, you can continue by physically installing your appliance in the data center. Visit the Cisco Catalyst Center Third-Generation Appliance Installation Guide, Release 2.3.7.x for additional details. 

1. First, review the recommended cabling and switching requirements for standalone and cluster installations.   
2. Then, gather the IP addressing, subnetting, and other IP traffic information that you will apply during appliance configuration.  
3. Ensure that you can provide secure access to a specific list of URLs and Fully Qualified Domain Names (FDQNs) as well as the internet. These URLs and FQDNs are listed in the Catalyst Center Installation Guide.  
4. Reconfigure your firewalls and security policies for Catalyst Center traffic.  
5. Gather the additional information used during appliance configuration and first-time setup, like usernames, passwords, Cisco Smart Account credentials, etc.  

Once these steps have been completed, unpack and inspect the appliance, review the installation warnings and guidelines, and then connect and power on the appliance.  

Onboarding Catalyst Center for AWS 

For customers interested in deploying Catalyst Center for AWS, first consider your network requirements and if you will need to implement supported Catalyst Center on AWS integrations. Also consider how you will access Catalyst Center on AWS. Visit the Cisco Catalyst Center on AWS Deployment Guide for additional details. 

Once you’ve reviewed those considerations, you can choose one of three ways to deploy Catalyst Center on AWS:   

1. Automated Deployment: Cisco Global Launchpad configures Catalyst Center on AWS. It helps you create the services and components that are required for the cloud infrastructure. Cisco provides two methods for you to use Cisco Global Launchpad. You can download and install it on a local machine, or you can access it from a server hosted by Cisco. Regardless of the method, Cisco Global Launchpad provides the tools you need to install and manage your Catalyst Center Virtual Appliance (VA).   
2. Manual Deployment Using AWS CloudFormation: You manually deploy the Catalyst Center AMI on AWS. Instead of using the Cisco Global Launchpad deployment tool, you use AWS CloudFormation, which is a deployment tool within AWS. Then you manually configure Catalyst Center by creating the AWS infrastructure, establishing a VPN tunnel, and deploying your Catalyst Center VA.  
3. Manual Deployment Using AWS Marketplace: You manually deploy the Catalyst Center AMI on AWS. Instead of using the Cisco Global Launchpad deployment tool, you use AWS Marketplace, which is an online software store within AWS. You launch the software through the Amazon EC2 console, and then you manually deploy Catalyst Center by creating the AWS infrastructure, establishing a VPN tunnel, and configuring your Catalyst Center VA. Note that for this deployment method, only Launch through EC2 is supported.   

Onboarding Catalyst Center for ESXi 

For customers interested in deploying Catalyst Center on ESXi virtual appliance, you'll first need to complete the following tasks. Visit the Cisco Catalyst Center 2.3.7.x on ESXi Deployment Guide for additional details.  

1. Install VMware vSphere.   
2. Reserve Enterprise Interface.  
3. Import the IdenTrust Certificate Chain.  
4. Prepare the DNS, NTP, and Proxy Servers.  
5. Enable Access to Required Internet URLs and Fully Qualified Domain Names.  
6. Enable Storage Input/Output Control.  
7. Check HA Admission Control Setting.  
8. Prepare for the Quick Start Workflow.  

Once the deployment prerequisites have been completed, you can then deploy the virtual appliance by completing the following: 

1. Create a virtual machine.   
2. Configure the virtual appliance.  
3. Complete the Quick Start workflow.  

Next Steps 

Congratulations on installing Catalyst Center! To continue your adoption journey, be sure to check out our Campus Network Guided Resources for step-by-step guidance, curated adoption resources, and more.