Cisco ACI Integration Setup¶
This guide will walk you through steps to set up Cisco ACI integration with the nautobot_ssot
app.
Prerequisites¶
Before configuring the integration, please ensure, that nautobot-ssot
app was installed with the ACI integration extra dependencies.
Configuration¶
Note
Legacy configuration settings defined in nautobot_config.py
for aci_apics
is now deprecated. All information related to communicating to an APIC has been updated to use the Controller and its related ExternalIntegration objects.
Integration behavior can be controlled with the following settings:
Setting Name (* required) |
Type | Description |
---|---|---|
aci_tag* | String | Tag which is created and applied to all synchronized objects. |
aci_tag_color* | String | Hex color code used for the tag. |
aci_tag_up* | String | Tag indicating the state applied to synchronized interfaces. |
aci_tag_up_color* | String | Tag color applied to the "UP" tag on interface status. |
aci_tag_down* | String | Tag indicating the state applied to synchronized interfaces. |
aci_tag_down_color* | String | Tag color applied to the "DOWN" tag on interface status. |
aci_manufacturer_name* | String | Manufacturer name. Specifically existing, or a new one with this name will be created. |
aci_ignore_tenants* | List[String] | List of ACI Tenants that should not be synchronized from APIC. |
aci_comments* | String | Comment added to synchronized objects. |
Below is an example snippet from nautobot_config.py
that demonstrates how to enable and configure Cisco ACI integration:
PLUGINS_CONFIG = {
"nautobot_ssot": {
"enable_aci": True,
# Tag which will be created and applied to all synchronized objects.
"aci_tag": "ACI",
"aci_tag_color": "0047AB",
# Tags indicating state applied to synchronized interfaces.
"aci_tag_up": "UP",
"aci_tag_up_color": "008000",
"aci_tag_down": "DOWN",
"aci_tag_down_color": "FF3333",
# Manufacturer name. Specify existing, or a new one with this name will be created.
"aci_manufacturer_name": "Cisco",
# Exclude any tenants you would not like to bring over from ACI.
"aci_ignore_tenants": ["common", "mgmt", "infra"],
# The below value will appear in the Comments field on objects created in Nautobot
"aci_comments": "Created by ACI SSoT Integration",
}
}
Per-APIC settings¶
All APIC specific settings have been updated to use the Controller and related ExternalIntegration objects. The ExternalIntegration object that is assigned to the Controller will define the APIC base URL, user credentials, and SSL verification. It will also have a tenant_prefix
key in the extra_config
section of the ExternalIntegration to define the Tenant prefix.
The aci_apics
setting from the nautobot_config.py
file is no longer used. Any configuration found for the APICs that were defined in aci_apics
will need to be manually input into the Nautobot UI to create the required ExternalIntegration and Controller objects.
Nautobot Objects Affected by Settings¶
The Job form has been updated to allow specifying a Location for the imported objects. If that is left unspecified then the Location associated to the specified Controller will be used.
Tenants imported from ACI will be prefixed with the unique name specified by the corresponding tenant_prefix
key in the Controller's associated ExternalIntegration extra_config
. This uniquely identifies tenants which might have the same name, but belong to two different APIC clusters.
Configuring Device Templates¶
To create a new Nautobot Device Type mapping to a specific ACI leaf or spine switch model you need to provide YAML file describing that model. This model definition includes interface template with the ports and transceiver types (ex. 10GE SFP+) specification.
The YAML files need to be placed in the nautobot_ssot/integrations/aci/diffsync/device-types
directory. Their names need to match the model name as it appears in the ACI Fabric Membership area of the APIC dashboard.
For example, given a Model name of N9K-C9396PX
as shown below, the YAML file should be named N9K-C9396PX.yaml
.
There are example YAML files for a few common switch models in nautobot_ssot/integrations/aci/diffsync/device-types
, and additional ones can be downloaded here.
Upgrading from nautobot-plugin-ssot-aci
App¶
Warning
When upgrading from nautobot-plugin-ssot-aci
app, it's necessary to avoid conflicts.
-
Uninstall the old app:
-
Upgrade the app with required extras:
-
Fix
nautobot_config.py
by removingnautobot_ssot_aci
fromPLUGINS
and merging app configuration intonautobot_ssot
:PLUGINS = [ "nautobot_ssot", # "nautobot_ssot_aci" # REMOVE THIS LINE ] PLUGINS_CONFIG = { # "nautobot_ssot_aci": { REMOVE THIS APP CONFIGURATION # MOVE CONFIGURATION TO `nautobot_ssot` SECTION # "tag": "ACI", # ... # } "nautobot_ssot": { # Enable Cisco ACI integration "enable_aci": True, # Following lines are moved from `nautobot_ssot_aci` and prefixed with `aci_` "aci_tag": "ACI", ... } }
Note
Configuration keys are prefixed with aci_
.
Note
Other environment variables for this integration are prefixed with NAUTOBOT_SSOT_ACI_
.