Nexus Simulations
Nexus Simulations
Introduction
You do not have to actually experience a device failure to confirm that the Indeni alerts are working! This demonstration guide provides detailed instructions for easily simulating issues at the Nexus Series switches and review how Indeni reacts to these alerts.
The tests can be performed on all the Nexus Series Switches models and NX-OS versions. Besides, the tests can be triggered safely without any risk for your Network. However, it is common practice to perform tests in a lab environment.
Simulation Scenarios
Scenario -1 Testing that the latest configuration changes have been saved
Login to a Nexus switch and check that the configuration changes have been saved with the NX-OS command provided below.
N5k-DOWN# sh running-config diff N5k-DOWN#
It is not received any output from this command, so all the configuration changes have been successfully saved to the Nexus switch.
Then, it is checked the actual-configuration from the Indeni Server by selecting the relevant device (right click) and selecting the following Menu:
Device Configuration -> Actual Configuration
The actual configuration window is displayed and it is noticed that the “Configuration Unsaved” tab is highlighted as “NO” meaning that all the configuration changes have been saved.
We proceed with a minor configuration change to the Nexus switches by adding a description to an unused interface. We don’t want to save the configuration, so the NX-OS command “copy running-config startup-config” is not executed.
N5k-DOWN(config)# conf t N5k-DOWN(config)# interface ethernet 1/4 N5k-DOWN(config-if)# description *** test *** N5k-DOWN(config-if)# N5k-DOWN# sh run interface ethernet 1/4
We execute the next command to confirm that the configuration has unsaved changes.
N5k-DOWN# sh running-config diff *** Startup-config --- Running-config *************** *** 189,198 **** --- 188,198 ---- channel-group 23 mode active interface Ethernet1/3 interface Ethernet1/4 + description *** test *** shutdown interface Ethernet1/5 interface Ethernet1/7
We are checking the live configuration tab from the Indeni Server. This time we are getting this info from the next menu Tools->live configuration.
The “Configuration Unsaved” has been changed to “YES”!
An alert is raised to the Alert window due to the unsaved configuration and pending changes.
Having a closer look this alarm we notice that a Description and useful Remediation steps are provided.
Scenario -2 Testing that the same connected interfaces are configured between the vPC peer switches
Create a test loopback interface to one of the vPC peer switches
interface loopback23 description test ip address 10.10.23.23/32
NOTE: The IP address configured to the test loopback should not conflict to any of the already configured subnets of the Network.
An alert is successfully triggered to the Indeni Alert window for “Connected Networks Mismatch” between the vPC peer switches due to this Loopback interface configured to one of the vPC switches.
Scenario -3 Testing that the same static routes are configured between the vPC peer switches
Create a test static route to one of the vPC peer switches. This static route should be able to get installed at the routing table.
ip route 8.8.8.1/32 10.23.23.1 N5k-DOWN# sh ip route static IP Route Table for VRF "default" '*' denotes best ucast next-hop '**' denotes best mcast next-hop '[x/y]' denotes [preference/metric] '%<string>' in via output denotes VRF <string> 8.8.8.1/32, ubest/mbest: 1/0, pending *via 10.23.23.1, [1/0], 00:53:03, static
An alert is successfully triggered to the Indeni Alert window for “Static routing table Mismatch” between the vPC peer switches since this static route is configured to one of the vPC switches.
More and more tests can be easily simulated without any service impact to the network like removing the banner, enable temporarily http server feature, and set as half duplex an active interface. Indeni will always be there to watch your configuration triggering alerts