DNAC Physical Setup and Key Notes Version 2 (3 node deployment with HA)

1. Start with planning the IPs that will be used in deployment, an example is shown below

DNAC Network (Master)	IP Address	Default Gateway	VIP
Cluster Port #1(enp10s0)	10.0.P.A/24	10.0.P.1	10.0.P.D
DNAC GUI #2(enp1s0f0)	10.0.Q.A/24	10.0.Q.1	10.0.Q.D
Enterprise Port #4 (enp9s0)	10.0.R.A/24	10.0.R.1	10.0.R.D
CIMC	10.0.S.A/24	10.0.S.1	NA
Services Subnet	172.16.0.0/16
Cluster Services Subnet	172.17.0.0/16

DNAC Network (Node2)	IP Address	Default Gateway	VIP
Cluster Port #1(enp10s0)	10.0.P.B/24	10.0.P.1	10.0.P.D
DNAC GUI #2(enp1s0f0)	10.0.Q.B/24	10.0.Q.1	10.0.Q.D
Enterprise Port #4 (enp9s0)	10.0.R.B/24	10.0.R.1	10.0.R.D
CIMC	10.0.S.B/24	10.0.S.1	NA

DNAC Network (Node3)	IP Address	Default Gateway	VIP
Cluster Port #1(enp10s0)	10.0.P.C/24	10.0.P.1	10.0.P.D
DNAC GUI #2(enp1s0f0)	10.0.Q.C/24	10.0.Q.1	10.0.Q.D
Enterprise Port #4 (enp9s0)	10.0.R.C/24	10.0.R.1	10.0.R.D
CIMC	10.0.S.C/24	10.0.S.1	NA

2. Next start with a clean network topology and a Switch configuration, in my example I am not using a dedicated port for cloud connectivity, I will use the enterprise link instead for upgrade purposes.

3. Next configure the switch ports.

interface GigabitEthernet1/0/1

 description DNAC-1 CIMC

 switchport access vlan S

!

interface GigabitEthernet1/0/2

 description DNAC-2 CIMC

 switchport access vlan S

!

interface GigabitEthernet2/0/1

 description DNAC-3 CIMC

 switchport access vlan S

!

interface GigabitEthernet1/0/3

 description DNAC-1 GUI

 switchport access vlan Q

!

interface GigabitEthernet1/0/4

 description DNAC-2 GUI

 switchport access vlan Q

!

interface GigabitEthernet2/0/4

 description DNAC-3 GUI

 switchport access vlan Q

!

interface TenGigabitEthernet1/1/1

 description DNAC1-CLUSTER

 switchport trunk allowed vlan P

 switchport mode trunk

!

interface TenGigabitEthernet1/1/2

 description DNAC2-CLUSTER

 switchport trunk allowed vlan P

 switchport mode trunk

!

interface TenGigabitEthernet2/1/1

 description DNAC3-CLUSTER

 switchport trunk allowed vlan P

 switchport mode trunk

!

interface TenGigabitEthernet1/1/3

 description DNAC1-Enterprise

 switchport trunk allowed vlan R

 switchport mode trunk

!

interface TenGigabitEthernet1/1/4

 description DNAC2-Enterprise

 switchport trunk allowed vlan R

 switchport mode trunk

!

interface TenGigabitEthernet2/1/3

 description DNAC3-Enterprise

 switchport trunk allowed vlan R

 switchport mode trunk

4. connect KVM console and power on the first DNA Center (Master), when prompted press F8 and configure CIMC.

Perform this step for other 2 DNA Centers as well.

5. login to CIMC for each DNAC and setup the DNAC interfaces.

6. Start setting up DNAC Master, would take around 3-4 hours for the master to be configured.

if you are not able to enter more than 1 VIP, that means your DNAC is shipped with older code. you can move on with single VIP of cluster interface.

before starting the configuration on other nodes check the package status on master and ensure following packages are deployed.

After install password change in mandatory, but you can change the password back to original under settings.

you can do this step now or later, this is to download updated on DNAC, provided all firewall ports are open, refer to Cisco deployment guide for list of Firewall ports on table 7.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/cloud-systems-management/network-automation-and-management/dna-center/1-2-8/install/b_dnac_install_128_M4/b_dnac_install_128M4_chapter_01.html?bookSearch=true#reference_lz1_n23_sfb

My DNAC was shipped with 1.1.7, too bad.

7. start with Node 2, do not do Node 2 and Node 3 together, each node will take an hour for installation and joining the cluster.

8. start with Node 3 together.

At this point all 3 nodes are in cluster, for even service load balancing you can also enable high availability, it is still a beta feature, read more about it here, enabling HA takes around 3 hours for the services to load balance, you can check the status while HA is being deployed, be patient the HA status will not say “ON” and GUI would not indicate the process is going on, but you can always check through CLI using maglev service nodescale progress on master. During this process DNAC goes into maintenance mode.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/cloud-systems-management/network-automation-and-management/dna-center/1-2/admin/b_dnac_admin_guide_1_2/b_dnac_admin_guide_1_2_chapter_0110.html

I will write a separate blog on HA.

 

I hope, this will be helpful you with expected steps during a 3 node cluster install.

hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.