2.7 DNA Center Design¶
2.7.1 DNAC Cluster Architecture¶
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ DNA CENTER CLUSTER DESIGN │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ PRIMARY CLUSTER (New Jersey Data Center): │
│ ────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ DNAC 3-NODE HA CLUSTER │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ NODE 1 │ │ NODE 2 │ │ NODE 3 │ │ │
│ │ │ DN2-HW-APL │ │ DN2-HW-APL │ │ DN2-HW-APL │ │ │
│ │ │ -XL │ │ -XL │ │ -XL │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ IP: .11 │ │ IP: .12 │ │ IP: .13 │ │ │
│ │ └──────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └──────────────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ └──────────────┼──────────────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ Cluster VIP: 10.252.1.10 │ │
│ │ FQDN: dnac.company.local │ │
│ │ │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ DISASTER RECOVERY (London Data Center): │
│ ───────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ DNAC DR CLUSTER (Standby) │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ NODE 1 │ │ NODE 2 │ │ NODE 3 │ │ │
│ │ │ DN2-HW-APL │ │ DN2-HW-APL │ │ DN2-HW-APL │ │ │
│ │ │ -XL │ │ -XL │ │ -XL │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ IP: .21 │ │ IP: .22 │ │ IP: .23 │ │ │
│ │ └──────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └──────────────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ Cluster VIP: 10.252.2.10 │ │
│ │ FQDN: dnac-dr.company.local │ │
│ │ │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ REPLICATION: │
│ ──────────── │
│ • Active/Passive configuration │
│ • Configuration backup: Daily to DR │
│ • RTO: 4 hours | RPO: 24 hours │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Global Management Topology
At a glance, a single centralised DNA Center cluster in New Jersey manages the entire global fabric, with a standby DR cluster in London. All regions — including India — are managed centrally; regional resilience for identity services is provided by ISE PSNs in Mumbai and Chennai. (Click the diagram to open full size.)
flowchart TB
subgraph PRIMARY["New Jersey Data Center - Primary"]
DNAC["DNA Center<br/>3-node HA cluster<br/>VIP 10.252.1.10"]
end
subgraph DR["London Data Center - Disaster Recovery"]
DNACDR["DNA Center DR<br/>3-node standby cluster<br/>VIP 10.252.2.10"]
end
DNAC -.daily config backup<br/>RTO 4h - RPO 24h.-> DNACDR
subgraph REGIONS["Managed Fabric Regions"]
direction LR
IN["India<br/>Mumbai - Chennai<br/>+ regional sites"]
EMEA["EMEA<br/>London - Frankfurt"]
AMER["Americas<br/>New Jersey - Dallas"]
end
subgraph ISE["Regional ISE PSNs"]
direction LR
PSN1["Mumbai PSN"]
PSN2["Chennai PSN"]
end
DNAC --> REGIONS
IN -.identity services.-> ISE
classDef existing fill:#eef2f7,stroke:#7a8ba0,color:#1a2b3c;
classDef newc fill:#d7ebf8,stroke:#1B6CA0,color:#0d3c5c,font-weight:bold;
class DNACDR,IN,EMEA,AMER,PSN1,PSN2 existing;
class DNAC newc;2.7.2 DNAC Appliance Specifications¶
| Specification | DN2-HW-APL-XL (Selected) |
|---|---|
| Network Devices | Up to 8,000 |
| Endpoints | Up to 200,000 |
| Access Points | Up to 16,000 |
| Cores | 56 cores |
| Memory | 512 GB RAM |
| Storage | 12 TB SSD (RAID) |
| Network Interfaces | 4 × 10 GbE, 2 × 1 GbE |
| High Availability | 3-node cluster |
2.7.3 DNAC Network Requirements¶
| Interface | Purpose | VLAN | IP Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | Device management, southbound | 100 | 10.252.1.0/24 |
| Management | GUI access, northbound | 101 | 10.252.2.0/24 |
| Cluster | Inter-node communication | 102 | 10.252.3.0/24 |
| Services | ISE, AAA, NTP, DNS | 100 | Same as Enterprise |