Cisco NDFC Features

By using Cisco NDFC$,$ customers benefit from a rich set of features.

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Cisco NDFC Feature Manager

Cisco NDFC has a run$-$time feature installer, which helps you choose a mode at installation for LAN, SAN, or IPFM.

This feature$-$management capability allows you to selectively enable or disable different features, including Fabric Controller $($LAN$),$ SAN, IPFM, and Fabric Discovery. It allows you to dynamically choose the role of the Cisco NDFC cluster to activate additional functionalities on the Cisco NDFC role. You don$$t need to re$-$deploy the cluster to safely change these roles.

Cisco NDFC Modes

In Cisco NDFC$,$ features start with functional modalities. Depending on the mode that you choose, you can see the related features and manage them.

The available modes include:

Fabric Discovery: Discover, monitor, and visualize LAN deployments.

Fabric Controller: LAN Controller for Classic Ethernet $($vPC$),$ Routed, VXLAN, and IPFM deployments.

SAN Controller: SAN Controller for Cisco MDS and Cisco Nexus switches. Enhanced SAN analytics with streaming telemetry.

Fabric Discovery Mode

Cisco NDFC includes a base capability selection for Fabric Discovery. Fabric Discovery is a lightweight version of Cisco NDFC and, when enabled, supports inventory discovery and monitoring only.

This solution provides discovery, inventory, and topology for LAN deployments. It also enables Day $2$ operations capabilities without deploying the Fabric Controller. This option lets users who are using Cisco NDFC for monitoring or Day$-2$ Operations minimize resource utilization and further customize Cisco NDFC for their specific needs.

Configuration and provisioning are not supported when this option is chosen.

This mode also provides an install base for other Cisco Nexus Dashboard applications, such as Cisco NDI.

Fabric Controller Mode

With Fabric Controller Mode, your organization gains comprehensive management, control, monitoring, troubleshooting, and maintenance capabilities for LAN with automated multi$-$cloud connectivity and IPFM. This mode supports various network fabrics including VXLAN networks, Layer$-3-$routed networks, three$-$tier vPC designs, and IP$-$based broadcast media fabrics.

Cisco NDFC in Fabric Controller mode offers full Cisco NDFC features excluding SAN, adding provisioning capabilities to the discovery.

Compliance management ensures that the network is in sync with intended deployments and allows users to deploy any corrections.

Once the devices are discovered, deploying a fabric becomes a quick and easy task. Templates follow Cisco$-$supported and best$-$practice configurations. Administrators can change some parameters. Administrators can define overlay VRFs$,$ networks, and external connections under the Fabric settings and then attach them to the devices that require them, assign networks to the interfaces, and define customized policies and templates for maximum flexibility.

SAN Controller Mode

SAN Controller provides a single pane of glass to manage and monitor storage networks built with Cisco MDS multilayer SAN switches and Cisco Nexus switches. It also enables SAN insights to collect and visualize Cisco MDS SAN analytics data and capabilities.

It provides a web$-$based zoning interface to drastically reduce the cycle time for common administration tasks. It provides an IVR zoning function as well, all on the same page.

Compliance management ensures that the network is in sync with intended deployments and allows users to deploy any corrections.

With this mode, you benefit from an easy transition to a web$-$based configuration method.

IP Fabric for Media

Cisco IP Fabric for Media $($IPFM$)$ enables content providers and broadcasters to migrate from legacy SDI to a flexible and scalable IP$-$based infrastructure to meet the evolving demand for more content and rich media experiences, including more camera feeds, higher resolutions with $4$K and $8$K video, and virtual reality capabilities.

The IPFM fabric topology is specific to the operations performed by the Cisco NDFC IPFM and applicable for both the IPFM $($Non$-$Blocking Multicast $[$NBM$])$ and Generic Multicast modes.

IPFM features include flow control, Visualization and Health, Provisioning, and Automation.

To ease your IPFM network provisioning, Cisco NDFC will now start supporting the availability of preconfigured policy templates that were created keeping best practices in mind $$ to build your IPFM underlay in minutes.

Bear in mind that IPFM and Fabric Builder are mutually exclusive in the Fabric Controller Mode.

Topology

The Topology window displays color$-$encoded nodes and links that correspond to various network elements, including switches, links, fabric extenders, port$-$channel configurations, virtual port$-$channels, and more.

The Topology Operation pane gives a quick overview