Cisco Catalyst Center Platform Overview

Cisco Catalyst Center simplifies campus networking by providing automated device deployment and configuration, policy-based management, real-time network insights and monitoring, and advanced analytics. Catalyst Center enables network administrators to efficiently manage and optimize their network infrastructure, ensuring consistent policies and compliance, while using the UI or APIs and Integrations.

Catalyst Center platform offers opportunities to leverage APIs for custom integrations and automations, allowing you to tailor network operations to meet specific business needs. By integrating with existing Cisco tools and third-party applications, you can extend the functionality of Catalyst Center and create innovative solutions that enhance network capabilities.

Note: Cisco DNA Center is now Catalyst Center. During this transition, you might encounter both names in different materials, but they refer to the same product.

Intent API (Northbound)

The Intent API is a Northbound REST API that exposes specific capabilities of the Catalyst Center platform. The Intent API provides policy-based abstraction of business intent, allowing focus on an outcome rather than struggling with individual mechanisms steps. The RESTful Catalyst Center Intent API uses HTTPS verbs (GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE) with JSON structures to discover and control the network. For more information, see Intent API. The Intent API organizes hierarchically into functional 'domains' and 'subdomains' of service. These categories are:

Authentication Domain

The Catalyst Center platform REST methods require caller Authentication.

  • Authentication method obtains a security token that identifies the privileges of an authenticated REST caller. Catalyst Center authorizes each requested operation according to the access privileges associated with the security token that accompanies the request.

Know Your Network Domain

Use the Know Your Network REST methods to GET information about clients, sites, topology, devices, and issues; Create (POST) and manage (PUT, DELETE) sites, devices, IP Pools, edge and border devices, and authentication profiles. The Know Your Network methods fall into the following subdomains:

  • Sites

    Create and manage sites, assign devices to sites, obtain site information, site count, and site membership. Sites are hierarchical collections of other sites and buildings.

  • Topology

    Retrieve network health information, and site and network physical, Layer 2, Layer 3, and VLAN information.

  • Devices

    Create, manage, and retrieve detailed device information using attributes like timestamp, MAC address, UUID, name, nwDeviceName, capabilities, interfaces, config, certificate status, specific field values, modules, and VLAN data.

  • Clients

    Obtain (GET) detailed client and client health information.

  • Users

    Obtain (GET) detailed information about a 'User' given an identifying network user-id or MAC address.

  • Issues

    Obtain (GET) detailed information and recommended mitigation for an 'Issue' given an identifying issue-id or MAC address.

Site Management

  • Site Design

    These include methods to create and obtain information about provisioned NFV devices.

  • Network Settings

    Includes methods to GET device credentials, global pool information, and service provider details. It also supports deletion of device credentials, service provider profiles, and global IP pools.

  • Software Image Management (SWIM)

    Software Image Management (SWIM) manages the software image and update repository for network devices. Store software images on the Catalyst Center or import them from a designated URL. These methods support phases of Software Image Management including the ability to import software images, and distribute and activate images to and on devices.

  • Device Onboarding (PnP)

    This set of methods support management of device onboarding projects, settings, workflows, virtual accounts, and PnP-managed devices. They provide means of zero-touch deployment of Cisco Enterprise Network routers, switches and wireless controllers, and wireless access points.

  • Configuration Templates

    Configuration Templates with the Template Programmer/Editor serve as a centralized CLI-management tool, simplifying the design and provisioning of workflows in Catalyst Center. These templates, also known as configuration templates, allow for efficient management. CLI templates can be organized into projects. Use this API to create, view, edit, delete, and version both templates and projects.

Connectivity

Connectivity methods provide the means for configuring and managing Fabric Wired and Non-Fabric Wireless networks.

  • Fabric Wired

    Includes methods to manage fabric wired devices, including creation, update, and deletion of edge, border, user devices, and authentication profiles.

  • Non-Fabric Wireless

    Includes methods to manage and provision non-fabric wireless devices, including Enterprise SSIDs, wireless profiles, RF profiles, and access points.

Operational Tasks

Operational Tools enable access to CLI keywords, discover network devices, trace paths through the network, identify, and discover network components using SNMP and other discovery protocols.

  • Command Runner

    These methods support retrieval of CLI keywords and enable execution of Read-only commands on a target network device.

  • Network Discovery

    Discovery is the process of scanning a target network to add existing devices to the device Inventory. Discovery service methods using SNMP and other protocols to create, update, delete, and manage discovery tasks and associated credentials.

  • Path Trace

    These methods enable flow-analysis between two network endpoints. Initiate new path-trace analyses, read previous path-traces, and summarize multiple past path-traces.

  • File

    File services to list file namespaces, files in a namespace, and to download a specific file.

  • Task

    Tasks are Catalyst Center activities methods that are initiated for asynchronous execution via an API request. These GET methods include status information about a single task, indicating completion or if, in-progress. Task methods can also return a count of tasks, and lists of tasks by 'tree', task-id, OperationId.

  • Tags

    A 'tag' represents a named set of attributes linked to 'members'. Tag services allow you to create, discover, update membership, and remove tags.

Policy

The Catalyst Center platform lets you create application policies that reflect your organization's business intent. It translates this intent into network and device-specific configurations, accommodating various types, makes, models, operating systems, roles, and resource constraints of your network devices. Application Policy methods support the creation, update, and management of applications and application sets.

Event Management

The Catalyst Center platform enables you to receive custom notifications when specific events, like Cisco Catalyst Assurance and Automation (SWIM) events, occur. This mechanism enables external systems to act in response to an event.

For example, a custom application could execute a software upgrade action in response to notification of network devices that are out of compliance. Event subscriptions allow association of a notification method with a Catalyst Center event. These methods provide the means to create, read, update, and delete event subscriptions.

Events and Notifications (Eastbound)

The Catalyst Center platform provides the ability to establish a notification handler when specific events are triggered, such as Assurance and Automation (SWIM) events. This mechanism enables external systems to act in response to an event. For example, a custom application could execute a software upgrade action in response to notification of network devices that are out of compliance. Internal Catalyst Center events can also trigger notifications. For example, customize Assurance events for IT Service Management incidents.

Integration API (Westbound)

Integration capabilities are part of Westbound interfaces. To meet the need to scale and accelerate operations in modern data centers, IT operators require intelligent, end-to-end work flows built with open APIs. The Catalyst Center platform provides mechanisms for integrating Assurance workflows and data with the third-party IT Service Management (ITSM) solutions.

IT Service Management (ITSM) minimizes handoffs, reduces duplication of issues, and optimizes processes by integrating the Catalyst Center platform into incident-management, change-management, and problem-management systems. It also integrates the Catalyst Center platform into approval and pre-approval chains, and it links the Catalyst Center platform with formal change and maintenance window schedules.

The platform also integrates with Reporting and Analytics capabilities for capacity planning, asset management, compliance control, and auditing. The Catalyst Center platform boosts IT efficiency and automation by integrating seamlessly with other IT systems through RESTful APIs.

The Catalyst Center platform supports the IT4IT™ Reference Architecture, including the standards for events, incidents, problems, and request for changes. If you are using an ITSM system that supports this reference architecture, then the Catalyst Center platform can integrate with your system.