Cisco Catalyst Centre - PnP/LAN Automation without SD-Access

[joshhunter]

Hello,

Could anyone please give me a rough idea of what is possible with Cisco Catalyst Centre regarding the Day 0 Install of 9200L Switches that will be stacked? What benefits can Catalyst Centre bring to the immediate install of the switches such as Device Provisioning, Image management, Device and or Policy Push? 

We are not using SD-Access, therefore, we are unsure exactly how much automation we can utilise inside of Catalyst Centre.

Most of our sites will use 9200L stack, we find that the installation tasks such as installing the stack modules and creation of the stack (Master/Active/Standby/Priorties/Numbering), can take quite of bit of time especially if the software needs to match on each switch (there may be differences between the new switches). I understand that Catalyst Centre can help with image management in the long term, how about the short term i.e. installation and provisioning?

Thanks! 

[balaji.bandi]

How big this  project how many switch stack you considering here.

DNAC solution is not that cheap as expected, its like good cost of amount involved.

I suggest to look the DNAC features  on the DNAC deployment, is this deployment SD-Access, just access site remote connectivity.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/cloud-systems-management/dna-center/nb-06-dna-center-so-cte-en.html

You can build ZTP (zero touch provisioning with our DNAC)

https://developer.cisco.com/docs/ios-xe/zero-touch-provisioning/#ztp-with-tftp-server-running-on-ubuntu-vm

https://developer.cisco.com/site/open-plug-n-play/learn/learn-open-pnp-protocol/

But when you ordering Cat 9200L DNAC Essential Must to order

[joshhunter]

Hello @balaji.bandi  Thank you for suggesting an alternative to CatC, however, the DNAC server is already in place with appropriate licensing. 
At a minimum, it could be 100 or more sites using stacked switches, this number could increase. 
Thanks!

[balaji.bandi]

If you have DNAC in place there you can do easily Day0 and Day n

[joshhunter]

Sure, but I meant without SD-Access/Fabric and how it dealt with switches that were out of the box being stacked. Thank you for your reply @balaji.bandi 

[balaji.bandi]

You can use DNAC for Provisioning/ SWIM and assurance data.

check the documents provided and cisco site.

[Preston Chilcote]

Cat Center does support onboarding of stacks and I think it's a very popular feature.  See figure 1 for the wiring requirements: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/cloud-systems-management/network-automation-and-management/dna-center/2-3-3/user_guide/b_cisco_dna_center_ug_2_3_3/m_onboard-and-provision-devices-with-plug-and-play.html#id_90738

This will let you number your stack, and then PnP will put the right version on and a base config.  

In terms of stacking different software versions, there are some limitations: 
"If the stack master detects that the software on a new switch does not match, it upgrades (or downgrades) the new switch with the active image that is running on the switch stack by using the automatic upgrade (auto-upgrade) and the automatic advise (auto-advise) features.

Switches with the same major version number but a different minor version number are considered partially compatible. When you connect a partially compatible switch to a stack, the new switch might enter version-mismatch mode and not join the stack as a functional member" (https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/troubleshooting/switch_stacks.html)

[joshhunter]

Thank you @Preston Chilcote I guess if CatC supports stacks and numbering of stacks the main requirement here is to make sure the stack cabling is correct with the modules installed correctly.

It would work so long as the switches were similar major version and not too far different, so they could stack in the first place, otherwise you may enter mismatch mode and therefore require manual intervention which CatC could not help with until this was resolved manually. 
Thanks!

[DJW487]

We use CatC/DNAC for onboarding and provisioning of all our switches (9300's with advantage for collapsed cores and standard 9200's with essentials for access switches). We don't use SD-Access/Fabric.

Nearly all of them are stacked. In some instances when stacking switches with mismatches IOS, you have to run the command on the master switch 'software auto-upgrade enable' to force the secondary switch onto the same version to join the stack. Once done, and you find this broke the PnP onboarding process, then you can reinitiate the onboarding process on the switch by running the command 'pnpa service reset'.

I find CatC saves me a lot of time in getting a switch up and running. It will do the base code of things like snmp, ntp, logging, username/passwords, aaa settings and source interface for all things set for that site and of course hostname.

Then you build templates that can assign any extended code like ACL's, QoS, etc that you need.

For us, we just make sure we turn on the switch we want to be the master first, wait 15 seconds then turn on the secondary. CatC will recognise type A or B stack wiring config but it doesn't seem to make much difference which way you stack them.

[joshhunter]

Thank you @DJW487 these tips will be useful,  I will give this a go!

[joshhunter]

Hello @DJW487  I have one final question.

Say I wanted to proceed with Day0 install for all of my sites, however for the first few sites, if I configure those site’s switch stacks by hand/manually i.e. paste in the CLI configuration by hand with no involvement from CatC. 

How do I bring these sites into DNAC then, would I then need to consider wiping the switches to bring them under the templated design? I wanted to understand if I need to setup Day0 Automation from Day 1 i.e. from the first sites roll out or can I start this Day0 onboarding/provisioning after a few sites (and bring these sites in later on without issue or hassle). Are there any repercussions by not having it in place from Day 1? 

[Preston Chilcote]

@joshhunter You don't HAVE to use PnP to bring devices under CatC management.  You can simply use the Discovery Tool for brownfield devices.