Configure the Content Pack for Cisco Data Center

This guide provides steps to configure the Content Pack for Cisco Data Center, including importing, publishing, and enabling services.

Complete the following high-level steps to configure the Content Pack for Cisco:

  1. Import Cisco Nexus Dashboard services.

  2. Publish Cisco Nexus Dashboard services.

  3. Enable Cisco Nexus Dashboard services.

  4. Enable the Cisco Nexus Dashboard entity discovery search.

  5. Ingest Cisco Nexus Dashboard alerts into ITSI.

  6. Configure KPI thresholds.

  7. Configure KPI alerting.

1. Import Cisco Nexus Dashboard services

After you install the content pack, the Installation Completed window displays. Complete the following steps to import services.

  1. Select Configure services.

  2. The Service import modules tab is selected by default. Select Cisco Nexus Dashboard.

  3. Follow the on-screen instructions to import services. At the end of the module, select View sandbox.

If you aren't in the installation workflow, complete the following steps to import services.

  1. From the ITSI main menu, select Configuration > Data Integrations.

  2. Select the Content library tab.

  3. Select Cisco Data Center.

  4. Under What's included, select the Service import modules tab.

  5. Select Cisco Nexus Dashboard.

  6. Follow the on-screen instructions to import services. At the end of the module, select View sandbox.

2. Publish Cisco Nexus Dashboard services

Complete the following steps to publish Cisco Nexus Dashboard services from the sandbox.

  1. (Optional) By default, services that are published from the service sandbox are disabled. To enable services from the sandbox:

    1. Select a service from the service tree.

    2. Select Settings.

    3. Select the Service status toggle to switch it to Enabled.

  2. After you finish creating your services and adding dependencies, select Publish.

    1. A pre-check job will run in order to validate that there are no issues or conflicts between your service sand other ITSI knowledge objects. You can navigate away from the page while the pre-check runs and return to the page later in order to view the status.

    2. Any issues identified will be displayed in a list, and critical issues will need to be resolved before you can publish your services.

3. Enable Cisco Nexus Dashboard services

If you enabled Cisco Nexus Dashboard services in the sandbox before you published them, skip this step.

Complete the following steps to enable Cisco Nexus Dashboard services from the Service and KPI Management page.

  1. From the ITSI main menu, select Configuration > Service Monitoring > Service and KPI Management.

  2. Select the Created by drop-down menu.

  3. Select the name of the sandbox you created for the Content Pack for Cisco Data Center.

  4. To enable services, use one of the following methods:

    1. To individually enable services, select the toggle in the Status column to switch the status to Enabled.

    2. To bulk enable multiple services, check the boxes for the services you want to enable. Select Bulk Action > Enable.

4. Enable the Cisco Nexus Dashboard entity discovery search

If you enabled the entity discovery search when you installed the content pack, skip this step.

Complete the following steps to enable the entity discovery search.

  1. From the ITSI main menu, select Configuration > Entity Management.

  2. Select Entity Discovery Searches.

  3. In the App drop-down menu, select Cisco Data Center (DA-ITSI-CP-cisco-data-center).

  4. Select the ITSI Import Objects - Nexus Dashboard entity discovery search.

  5. For Search active?, toggle the selection to Yes.

  6. Select Save.

5. Ingest Cisco Nexus Dashboard alerts into ITSI

The Cisco DC Networking App does not normalize alerts data. To ingest, normalize, and monitor alerts from Cisco Nexus Dashboard in ITSI, you can use an alerts data integration.

ITSI 4.21.x and higher supports configuring alerts using the Cisco Nexus Dashboard alerts data integration. You can activate the default connections that are prefilled with the required data fields to normalize alerts, or create a new connection using the included templates to map the data fields to normalize alerts. For more information on activating the default connections or creating new connections, see Configure Cisco Nexus Dashboard alerts for ITSI 4.21.x and higher.

ITSI 4.20.x and higher supports configuring alerts using the generic alerts data integration, which requires manually mapping data fields to normalize alerts. For more information, see Configure Cisco Nexus Dashboard alerts for ITSI 4.20.x and higher.

6. Configure KPI thresholds

Some KPIs in this content pack have predetermined aggregate and per-entity thresholds configured. Review the KPIs in each service and configure the aggregate and per-entity threshold values to reasonable defaults based on your use case. For steps to configure KPI thresholds, see Configure KPI thresholds in ITSI.

To view the full list of the KPIs in this content pack, see KPI reference for the Content Pack for Cisco Data Center.

7. Configure KPI alerting

Because acceptable application performance varies widely per use case, KPI alerting isn't enabled by default in this content pack. To receive alerts for KPIs when aggregate KPI threshold values change, see Receive alerts when KPI severity changes in ITSI. ITSI generates notable events on the Episode Review page based on the alerting rules you configure.

Next steps

After you configure the content pack, you can begin monitoring your Cisco Nexus Dashboard services, entities, and alerts: