• Nexus Dashboard
  • USER: admin
  • PASS: cisco.123
  • ND Web interface
  • Switch Login
  • USER: admin
  • PASS: cisco.123
  • staging-spine1: 10.15.7.11
  • staging-leaf1: 10.15.7.12
  • staging-leaf2: 10.15.7.13
  • staging-leaf3: 10.15.7.14
  • staing-ext-rtr: 10.15.7.15
  • prod-spine1: 10.15.7.18
  • prod-leaf1: 10.15.7.19
  • prod-leaf2: 10.15.7.20
  • prod-leaf3: 10.15.7.21
  • prod-ext-rtr: 10.15.7.22
  • GitLab Server
  • USER: user07
  • PASS: cisco.123
  • Gitlab
  • Test VM Login
  • USER: cisco
  • PASS: cisco.123
  • staging-server1: 10.15.7.16
  • staging-server2: 10.15.7.17
  • prod-server1: 10.15.7.22
  • prod-server2: 10.15.7.23
  • Developer VM
  • username: cisco
  • password: cisco.123
  • address: 10.0.208.17
  • VNC Server: 10.0.208.17:5901
Variables
Ansible Setup

Step 1 - Create Ansible Inventory File for NDFC Staging Fabric

The Ansible inventory file defines how Ansible will connect and autenticate with NDFC. 

touch ~/Documents/ndfclab/ansible/hosts.stage.yml
cat << EOF > ~/Documents/ndfclab/ansible/hosts.stage.yml
---
# Connection Information For Staging Fabric
#
# This file defines how Ansible will connect to NDFC
ndfc:
  children:
    stage:
      hosts:
        10.15.0.29:
          ansible_connection: ansible.netcommon.httpapi
          ansible_httpapi_use_ssl: true
          ansible_httpapi_validate_certs: false
          ansible_python_interpreter: auto_silent
          ansible_network_os: cisco.dcnm.dcnm
          ansible_user: admin
          ansible_password: cisco.123
EOF
YAML

The hosts.stage.yml file above defines how Ansible connects and authenticates with NDFC

  • ndfc:children:stage: This specifies the inventory data targeting the staging fabric
  • 10.15.0.29: This is the IP Address of the NDFC Controller
  • ansible_connection: Defines the base Ansible plugin used for connecting to the NDFC REST Interface
  • ansible_httpapi_use_ssl: Indicates you want to use a secure SSL connection to the NDFC controller
  • ansible_network_os: The value cisco.dcnm.dcnm tells Ansible that you want to connect to NDFC/DCNM
  • ansible_user: The username used when connecting to NDFC
  • ansible_password: The password used when connecting to NDFC

Use Ansible-Vault For Passwords

For this lab you are using a clear text password but a best practice is to use Ansible Vault for encrypting passwords!

Reference: Ansible Vault Documentation


Step 2 - Add Variable File fabric.yml under group_vars/stage/

A best practice in Ansible is to organize and store your variables that will be used by various playbooks. This file contains the variable data for the following:

  • Fabric settings settings using NDFC's defaults
  • Fabric device inventory information

This variable data and other variable files you create during this lab will be used in your playbooks throughout the lab.

Group Vars stage

This data file is stored in the group_vars/stage directory as it is specific data configuration for your staging or test fabric. When it comes time to deploy to production you will have a similar file in the group_vars/prod directory. 

touch ~/Documents/ndfclab/ansible/group_vars/stage/fabric.yml
cat << EOF > ~/Documents/ndfclab/ansible/group_vars/stage/fabric.yml
---

# ---------------------------------------------------------------- #
# Fabric Settings                                                  #
# ---------------------------------------------------------------- #
fabric_settings:
  DEPLOY: yes
  FABRIC_NAME: fabric-stage
  FABRIC_TYPE: VXLAN_EVPN
  BGP_AS: 65001
  GRFIELD_DEBUG_FLAG: Enable
  AUTO_SYMMETRIC_VRF_LITE: true
  AAA_REMOTE_IP_ENABLED: false
  DCI_SUBNET_RANGE: 10.31.0.0/16
  VRF_LITE_AUTOCONFIG: Back2Back&ToExternal
  BOOTSTRAP_ENABLE: true
  DHCP_ENABLE: true
  DHCP_IPV6_ENABLE: DHCPv4
  DHCP_START: 10.15.0.100
  DHCP_END: 10.15.0.101
  MGMT_GW: 10.15.0.1
  MGMT_PREFIX: 24
  BOOTSTRAP_MULTISUBNET: "10.15.7.100,10.15.7.101,10.15.7.1,24"

# ---------------------------------------------------------------- #
# Local Fabric Information                                         #
# ---------------------------------------------------------------- #
fabric_inventory:
  - seed_ip: 10.15.7.11
    user_name: admin
    password: cisco.123
    max_hops: 0
    role: spine
    preserve_config: false
  - seed_ip: 10.15.7.12
    user_name: admin
    password: cisco.123
    max_hops: 0
    role: leaf
    preserve_config: false
  - seed_ip: 10.15.7.13
    user_name: admin
    password: cisco.123
    max_hops: 0
    role: leaf
    preserve_config: false





EOF
YAML

let's start building your fabric from the ground up using Ansible.