Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch Fabric Manager Software Configuration Guide, NX-OS 4.0 (OL-16598-01, June 2008)

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4-3
Nexus 5000 Series Switch Fabric Manager Software Configuration Guide
OL-16598-01
Chapter 4 Authentication in Fabric Manager
Discovering a Fabric
Discovering a Fabric
Fabric Manager Server monitors multiple physical fabrics under the same user interface. This facilitates
managing redundant fabrics. A licensed Fabric Manager Server maintains up-to-date discovery
information on all configured fabrics so that device status and interconnections are immediately
available when you launch Fabric Manager Client.
Caution If the Fabric Manager Server’s CPU usage exceeds 50 percent, it is recommended that you switch to a
higher CPU-class system. For more information on recommended hardware, see the “Before You Install”
section on page 2-5.
We recommend that you use the steps described in the following sections for discovering your network
and setting up Performance Manager. This procedure ensures that Fabric Manager Server has a complete
view of the fabric. Subsequent Fabric Manager Client sessions can filter this complete view based on the
privileges of the client logging in. For example, if you have multiple VSANs in your fabric and you
create users that are limited to a subset of these VSANs, you want to initiate a fabric discovery through
Fabric Manager Server using a network administrator or network operator role so that Fabric Manager
Server has a view of all the VSANs in the fabric. When a VSAN-limited user launches Fabric Manager
Client, that user sees only the VSANs they are allowed to manage.
Note Fabric Manager Server should always monitor fabrics using a local switch account. Do not use a AAA
(RADIUS or TACACS+) server. You can use a AAA user account to log into the clients to provision
fabric services. For more information on Fabric Manager Server fabric monitoring, see the “Managing
a Fabric Manager Server Fabric” section on page 3-3.
Setting Up Discovery for a Fabric
To ensure that Fabric Manager Server discovers your complete fabric, perform this task:
Step 1 Create a special Fabric Manager administrative user name in each switch on your fabric with network
administrator or network operator roles.
You can alternatively create a special Fabric Manager administrative user name in your AAA server and
set every switch in your fabric to use this AAA server for authentication.
Step 2 Verify that the roles used by this Fabric Manager administrative user name are the same on all switches
in the fabric and that this role has access to all VSANs.
Step 3 Launch Fabric Manager Client using the Fabric Manager administrative user.
This step ensures that your fabric discovery includes all VSANs.
Step 4 Set Fabric Manager Server to continuously monitor the fabric.
See the “Managing a Fabric Manager Server Fabric” section on page 3-3.
Step 5 Repeat Step 4 for each fabric that you want to manage through Fabric Manager Server.
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