👉 Overview
👀 What ?
Cisco vManage is a part of Cisco's Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) solution that offers a centralized network management dashboard, enabling easy configuration, management, and monitoring of a wide area network.
🧐 Why ?
Cisco vManage is important because it simplifies the complexity of managing a wide area network. It is designed to address the challenges of scaling, managing, and securing a WAN, providing a single pane of glass for network visibility and control. This makes it a vital tool for network administrators and IT professionals managing a large network infrastructure.
⛏️ How ?
To utilize Cisco vManage, users need to first set up their SD-WAN network, including vSmart controllers and vEdge routers. Once these are in place, users can log into the vManage dashboard to manage and monitor their network. This includes configuring network policies, managing security settings, and monitoring network performance and health.
⏳ When ?
Cisco vManage became a part of Cisco's SD-WAN solution after the acquisition of Viptela by Cisco in 2017. Since then, it has been widely adopted by organizations looking to simplify their network management.
⚙️ Technical Explanations
Cisco vManage is a comprehensive software solution and a significant part of Cisco's SD-WAN offering. It provides a centralized platform for managing all aspects of a software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN).
At the core of vManage is a unified control plane, which serves as the central hub for network management. Through this control plane, vManage communicates with other components of the SD-WAN architecture, specifically the vSmart controllers and vEdge routers. It pushes network policies to the vSmart controllers, which then distribute these policies across the network. Simultaneously, vManage collects and aggregates network data from vEdge routers, offering a comprehensive view of the network's current state.
One of the key benefits of vManage is its intuitive and user-friendly dashboard. This dashboard visualizes the collected network data, providing network administrators with valuable insights into network performance, traffic patterns, and security. With this information readily available, administrators can more effectively monitor their network and quickly identify any potential issues.
Apart from monitoring, vManage also plays a crucial role in policy management. It allows network administrators to define and manage network policies, which dictate the behavior of the network. Through vManage, administrators can ensure that the network operates in line with their business objectives, thereby maximizing network efficiency and performance.
Since Cisco's acquisition of Viptela in 2017, vManage has been an integral part of Cisco's SD-WAN solution. Its combination of centralized management, comprehensive network visibility, and flexible policy control makes it an indispensable tool for organizations looking to simplify and enhance their network management.
For example, consider a company that wants to change the Quality of Service (QoS) policy for their wide area network (WAN) using Cisco vManage.
- Login to vManage Dashboard: The network administrator would first log into the vManage dashboard. This can be accessed via a web browser by entering the IP address of the vManage server.
- Navigate to Policies: Once logged in, they would navigate to the 'Policies' section of the dashboard. This section is where all network policies, including QoS policies, are managed.
- Create New QoS Policy: From here, the administrator can create a new QoS policy. This involves specifying details such as the policy name, description, and the specific QoS settings they wish to implement. For example, they might want to prioritize voice traffic over other types of traffic to ensure high-quality VoIP calls. This could be done by setting the DSCP value for voice traffic to a higher value than other traffic types.
Command:
policy qos VOICE_TRAFFIC
match ip dscp ef
set qos-group 1
In this command, 'VOICE_TRAFFIC' is the policy name, 'ef' is the DSCP value for voice traffic, and '1' is the qos-group value.
- Apply QoS Policy: After creating the new QoS policy, the administrator would then apply this policy to the desired parts of the network. This could be done by selecting the specific vSmart controllers and vEdge routers that the policy should be applied to.
Command:
policy-list VOICE_TRAFFIC
sequence 10
match qos-group 1
set local-preference 100
In this command, 'VOICE_TRAFFIC' is the policy name, '10' is the sequence number, '1' is the qos-group value, and '100' is the local-preference value.
- Confirm Changes: Finally, the administrator would confirm these changes and the new QoS policy would be pushed to the selected network components. The vManage dashboard would then display the updated network state, allowing the administrator to monitor the effects of the new QoS policy.
This example demonstrates how Cisco vManage can be used to manage network policies effectively, providing administrators with the tools they need to optimize their network's performance.