I try to do this whether the switches are for internal use or for a customer.
Let the new switches run for a few days just so you know you don’t have any DOA devices to RMA.
You should spend some time running the hardware, recording serial numbers and meeting with your team or with the customer. When deploying Cisco Nexus switches, you’ll need some specific information about the network already in place, and you’ll need to make some configuration decisions ahead of time. Really, the key is to gather the information you need early on so you can configure and deploy the equipment correctly, efficiently, and professionally. Set up a spreadsheet, set something up in Google Docs, start an Evernote account, or just use a checklist with blanks to fill out.
The goal is to use whatever awesome new gear you’re installing to meet some technical and business need, so getting it right the first time is paramount. I’ll be using the 5500 series as my example and covering the basics without getting into features such as fibre channel, VSANs and that sort of thing.īut before hacking away at the CLI, the first step should be to gather all the relevant information needed for a successful deployment. This week’s post will cover basic information gathering and configuration of Cisco Nexus switches.