- In this video we want to take
look at a way to manage our network
using a graphical and a programing interface.
Its called Cisco DNA Center
and Cisco DNA Center is an appliance
that we can install on our network
or there is an option for having
DNA in the cloud. But this is going to give us
a graphical interface and a programing interface
to design our network, to add devices,
configure devices on the network, monitor,
trouble shoot our network.
And I know Cisco in the past has had
other graphical front ends
to router configuration such as,
Cisco Configuration Proffetional.
But this is just way beyond that
in the scope of what it can do.
Lets take a look specifically
at some of the main areas that
Cisco DNA Center focuses on.
First up there's design.
With design we can take a map of the world
and we can add an area,
and we can say within that area
we got this building
or there's another area within an area.
We can put a floor on the building.
We can import a floor plan
and we can drag and drop devices
onto that floor plan.
We can say what our IP address alligation is.
This is a way for us to design
our network through this graphical interface.
In addition to that, Cisco DNA Center
can apply policy.
We can assign policy to an entire group
maybe a allowing or denying
them access to something.
We can do IP based access control
and one of my favorites is quality of surface.
We can set up a Queuing Profile
to say what bandwidth amounts
are given to different applications.
We can also do provisioning
with Cisco DNA Center.
Here we ca essentially do
plug and play for our devices.
We can have a new network device
sent to whatever location where its
going to be installed.
And have somebody there to plug it in
and when the device boosts up
it is going to go out and get some
IP address information from DHCP.
Including some DNS server information
and its going to resolve the IP address
of a DNA Center server and its
going to go up to that server
and based on it serial number
its going to be able to download a configuration file.
So we pretty much had zero touch on
getting that thing installed.
We just set up the profile of that device
within the DNA Center.
Had somebody plug it in and then installed itself.
Another big part of Cisco DNA Center is assurance.
And this is where we can monitor
the health of the network.
This is going to help us with trouble shooting.
If there are existing faults,
we can see what those are and
based on experience of Cisco tech.
Cisco DNA Center is going to give us feedback
about what we should do to try to to resolve this issue.
And its got a path trace tool in it
so if we're not getting form
point A in the network to point B in the network
we can say what if I tried to do a ping
or what if I tried to do a
telet session between these two devices.
What would happen?
Lets say there a axis controller
in the way that might be blocking that traffic.
Well its going to give us a graphical
representation of the net work and
show us exactly where that acyl lives
that blocking our traffic.
We can also do something that's called
network time travel.
So if there were some sort of an issue
that came up at 2:00 a.m. last night
we could go back in time and see
what was going on in the network at that time.
And one of the most powerful things
about Cisco DNA Center is its ability
to act as a programing platform.
We have a large collection of API's,
application programming interfaces.
That will allow us to do via a program
what we could do graphically.
If we want to prevision or set a policy
or gather troubleshooting information.
We could do that with a Python script, for example,
using some of these API's.
And obviously Cisco DNA Center
is a very, very robust and there are
weeks worth of training you can take just
on DNA Center, but just to give you a
sense for what's possible lets
go up to live interface and look through
some of the menus.
Oh, by the way as a comparison you may have
heard about ACI, application center infrastructure.
That Cisco's management platform for data centers.
Well think of DNA Center as Cisco's platform for
managing enterprise networks.
Again think ACI for the data center
and think DNA center for the enterprise.
Now lets take a look at DNA center.
We'll go ahead and get logged in.
And here we see those things we were
talking about a moment ago,
design, policy, provision,
assurance, platform, and those are and those are our
menu options at the to as well.
For example, I could go under design
and we could pick an area of the world
maybe under U.S. for example.
I could go in and I could add an area.
Perhaps I'll add an area for
Kentucky where I'm located.
We'll add that.
Then I can add an area under Kentucky,
and we can say that's Richmond.
And within Richmond,
I can say I want to add a building
so we'll say we got the headquarters
of Kevin Wallace Training, KWT.
And it wants me to put it in a specific
longitude and latitude here.
So I'll just guess at what that is.
And I can import a floor plan
and I could also set up policy.
I could set up IP based access control
for my access control list.
One of my favorite things though,
is under application
I can do a Queuing Profile.
I could say that I want to add a profile
and for different applications
I could say, "How much bandwidth do
I want to give those different applications?"
Under provisioning I could go in
and set up a device to be installed
to the network using that plug in/ plug out
operation like we talked about earlier.
I could say I want to add a device under assurance.
This is where we can do our troubleshooting.
This is where we can monitor
the health of the network
and if there are outstanding issues
we could see those issues and get some
suggestions for what we should
do to fix those issues.
And we could go back in time using that network
Time Travel to see what was happening in the past.
And under platform this is where
we can do some of our development.
If you go to the developer tool kit
check out all these API's that we have.
Lets say under Know Your Network
we could have an API to go out
and get a list of devices on the network.
Under Sight Management we could set up plug and play.
Under operational tools we could
do the path trace that we were talking about.
And obviously this is a super
high level, 30,000 foot view of Cisco DNA Center.
But the purpose of this video
was just to help you understand
what DNA Center is.
Its Cisco's management solution for the enterprise.
And to understand some of the things it can do,
and those things fall under these
categories, design, policy, prevision,
assurance, and platform.