Deploying Multi-Site Orchestrator

Deployment Overview

Beginning with Release 3.2(1), you must deploy the Cisco Multi-Site Orchestrator (MSO) as an application in Cisco Nexus Dashboard.

Cisco Nexus Dashboard is a central management console for multiple data center sites and a common platform for hosting Cisco data center applications. Nexus Dashboard provides a common platform and modern technology stack for these micro-services-based applications, simplifying the life cycle management of the different modern applications and reducing the operational overhead to run and maintain those applications. Cisco Nexus Dashboard supports the Cisco Day-2 Operations apps, which provide real time analytics, visibility, and assurance for policy and infrastructure, and the Cisco Multi-Site Orchestrator app, which provides a single pane of glass view into managing multiple Cisco ACI and Cisco DCNM fabrics.

Each Nexus Dashboard cluster consists of 3 master nodes. In addition, you can add up to 4 additional worker nodes to enable horizontal scaling and up to 2 standby nodes for easy cluster recovery in case of a master node failure.

For detailed information about Nexus Dashboard cluster initial deployment and configuration, see Cisco Nexus Dashboard Deployment Guide.

For more information about using Nexus Dashboard, such as adding sites and users, see the Cisco Nexus Dashboard User Guide.

This document describes initial installation requirements and procedures for the Multi-Site Orchestrator application. Detailed configuration and use case information is available from the Cisco Multi-Site Configuration Guide for Cisco ACI or Cisco Multi-Site Configuration Guide for Cisco DCNM, depending on the type of fabrics you plan to manage.

Prerequisites and Guidelines

Nexus Dashboard

You must have Cisco Nexus Dashboard deployed and fabric connectivity configured, as described in Cisco Nexus Dashboard Deployment Guide.

This release of Cisco Multi-Site Orchestrator is supported on Nexus Dashboard physical appliance clusters only. The following table summarizes the Nexus Dashboard requirements for Cisco Multi-Site Orchestrator.

Orchestrator Version Requirements

Release 3.2(1) and later

Cisco Nexus Dashboard, Release 2.0.1

The Nexus Dashboard cluster must be deployed as a physical appliance.

Nexus Dashboard Networks

When first configuring Nexus Dashboard, you will need to provide two IP addresses for the two Nexus Dashboard interfaces—one connected to the Data Network and the other to the Management Network. The data network is used for the nodes' clustering and Cisco fabrics traffic. The management network is used to connect to the Cisco Nexus Dashboard GUI, CLI, or API.

The two interfaces can be in the same or different subnets. In addition, each network's interfaces across different nodes in the cluster can also be in different subnets.

Connectivity between the nodes is required on both networks with the round trip time (RTT) not exceeding 150ms for Multi-Site Orchestrator. Other application running in the same Nexus Dashboard cluster may have lower RTT requirements, so we recommend consulting the Nexus Dashboard User Guide or the specific application's documentation.

When Multi-Site Orchestrator app is deployed in Nexus Dashboard, it uses each of the two networks for different purposes as shown in the following table:

MSO Traffic Type

Nexus Dashboard Network

Any traffic to and from:

  • Cisco APIC

  • Cisco DCNM

  • Any other remote devices or controllers

Data network

Intra-cluster communication

Data network

Audit log streaming (Splunk/syslog)

Management network

Remote backup

Management network

Nexus Dashboard Cluster Sizing

Nexus Dashboard supports co-hosting of applications. Depending on the type and number of applications you choose to run, you may be required to deploy additional worker nodes in your cluster. For cluster sizing information and recommended number of nodes based on specific use cases, see the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Capacity Planning tool.

If you plan to host other applications in addition to the Multi-Site Orchestrator, ensure that you deploy and configure additional Nexus Dashboard nodes based on the cluster sizing tool recommendation, as described in the Cisco Nexus Dashboard User Guide, which is also available directly from the Nexus Dashboard GUI.

Network Time Protocol (NTP)

Multi-Site Orchestrator uses NTP for clock synchronization, so you must have an NTP server configured in your environment.

Installing Multi-Site Orchestrator Application Using App Store

This section describes how to install Cisco Multi-Site Orchestrator application in an existing Cisco Nexus Dashboard cluster.

Before you begin

  • Ensure that you meet the requirements and guidelines described in Prerequisites and Guidelines.

  • The Cisco DC App Center must be reachable from the Nexus Dashboard via the Management Network directly or using a proxy configuration. Nexus Dashboard proxy configuration is described in the Nexus Dashboard User Guide.

    If you are unable to establish the connection to the DC App Center, skip this section and follow the steps described in Installing Multi-Site Orchestrator Application Manually.

  • The App Store allows you to install the latest version of the application only.

    If you want to install an earlier version, you will need to download the application image and manually upload it to the Nexus Dashboard, as described in Installing Multi-Site Orchestrator Application Manually.


    Note

    Nexus Dashboard supports MSO Release 3.2(1) or later only. If you want to install a version prior to Release 3.2(1), see the Multi-Site Orchestrator Installation Guide specific to that release for the available deployment options and procedures.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to the Nexus Dashboard GUI
Step 2

Navigate to the App Store and choose Multi-Site Orchestrator app.

  1. From the left navigation menu, select Service Catalog.

  2. Select the App Store tab.

  3. In the Multi-Site Orchestrator tile, click Install.

Step 3

In the License Agreement window that opens, click Agree and Download.

Step 4

Wait for the application to be downloaded to the Nexus Dashboard and deployed.

It may take up to 30 minutes for the application to replicate to all nodes and all services to fully deploy.
Step 5

Enable the app.

After installation is complete, the application will remain in the Disabled state by default and you must enable it.

To enable the app, click the ... menu on the app and select Enable.

Step 6

Launch the app.

To launch the app, simply click Open on the application tile in the Nexus Dashboard's Service Catalog page.

The single sign-on (SSO) feature allows you to log in to the application using the same credentials as you used for the Nexus Dashboard.

Installing Multi-Site Orchestrator Application Manually

This section describes how to manually upload and install Cisco Multi-Site Orchestrator application in an existing Cisco Nexus Dashboard cluster.

Before you begin

Procedure

Step 1

Download the Cisco Multi-Site Orchestrator application.

  1. Browse to the Multi-Site Orchestrator page on DC App Center:

    https://dcappcenter.cisco.com/nexus-dashboard-orchestrator.html

  2. From the Version drop-down, choose the version you want to install and click Download.

  3. Click Agree and download to accept the license agreement and download the image.

Step 2

Log in to your Cisco Nexus Dashboard dashboard.

When deploying an app, you need to install it in only one of the Nexus Dashboard nodes, the application will be replicated to the other nodes in the cluster automatically. So you can log in to any one of your Nexus Dashboard nodes using its management IP address.

Step 3

Upload the app image.

  1. In the left navigation bar, click Service Catalog.

  2. Select the Installed Services tab.

  3. In the top right of the main pane, select Actions > Upload App.

Step 4

Upload the image file to the Nexus Dashboard cluster.

  1. Choose the location of the image.

    If you downloaded the application image to your system, choose Local.

    If you are hosting the image on a server, choose Remote.

  2. Choose the file.

    If you chose Local in the previous substep, click Select File and select the app image you downloaded.

    If you chose Remote, provide the full URL to the image file, for example http://<ip-address>:<port>/<full-path>/cisco-mso-<version>.aci.

  3. Click Upload to add the app to the cluster.

Step 5

Wait for the application to be downloaded to the Nexus Dashboard and deployed.

It may take up to 30 minutes for the application to replicate to all nodes and all services to fully deploy.
Step 6

Enable the app.

After installation is complete, the application will remain in the Disabled state by default and you must enable it.

To enable the app, click the ... menu on the app and select Enable.

Step 7

Launch the app.

To launch the app, simply click Open on the application tile in the Nexus Dashboard's Service Catalog page.

The single sign-on (SSO) feature allows you to log in to the application using the same credentials as you used for the Nexus Dashboard.