Switch management considerations

Before managing a switch, review the following important considerations.

For information about port requirements, see Port availability.

RackSwitch devices can be managed using either a management port or one of the data ports. Rackswitch devices running CNOS can be managed only on interfaces that belong to either management or default VRF.

Note: Managing RackSwitch devices using IPv6 link local through a data port or management port is not supported.

XClarity events and SNMP trap configuration

When a RackSwitch device running ENOS (any version) is managed, the SNMP trap source is set to the interface that has the IP address that is used for management.

When a RackSwitch device running CNOS v10.8.1 or later is managed, the SNMP trap source VRF is checked and changed to match the port that is used for management.

For RackSwitch devices running CNOS earlier than v10.8.1, XClarity Administrator requires the SNMP trap source to be the VRF that is connected to the port that is used for management. The default value all allows either management or data ports to be used. If the switch configuration does not use the default value, it must be changed to match the port that is used for management.
  • If the management port is used for management, set the SNMP trap source VRF to all or management.

  • If one of the data ports is used for management, set the SNMP trap source VRF to all or default.

RackSwitch switches running CNOS

HTTPS must be enabled for management, and SLP must be enabled for discovery.

Note: HTTPS is enabled by default on CNOS. If you changed the default configuration of restApi (using the feature restApi http command), you can change it back to HTTPS using the feature restApi command.

To check the current status, use the display restApi server command. The output reflects the current status. If the port number is followed by (HTTP), it means HTTPS is disabled. Otherwise, the port should be 443.

When a RackSwitch device is unmanaged, XClarity Administrator might not restore the prefer option to the value that it was before the device was managed depending on the CNOS firmware version.

RackSwitch switches running ENOS