For participation in a configuration management framework, switches must enable configuration management capabilities. Due to differences in configuration management tool methodologies, Open NX-OS supports a variety of access mechanisms, including:

• Secure Shell (SSH)
• Guest agents (installed via RPM)
• NX-API CLI and REST APIs

Secure Shell (SSH)

Configuration management tools that utilize an embedded/direct payload use Secure Shell (SSH). The following command will confirm that SSH is enabled on a switch:

  n9k-sw-1# show feature | inc ssh  
  sshServer              1          enabled 

Guest Agent Installation using Bash/RPM

Open NX-OS allows installation and configuration of management agents through the bash or guest shell. To learn about the differences between bash and guest shells, and recommended implementations of each, see Third Party Application Integration.

NX-API CLI and REST APIs

For configuration management tools and other architectures such as cloud management platforms, the NX-API may be utilized for device configuration, gathering device data, and performance monitoring.

For more information, see https://developer.cisco.com/nx-os.