How to access particular node from Cisco APIC via SSH?

Question

My question is based on the following Cisco APIC screenshot.

Let say APIC's IP Address is 10.1.1.1 while Node-101 is 10.1.5.5.

I can SSH both devices without any issue.

Question is, would it be possible to access Node-101 from the APIC via SSH?

I would like to view Node-101's interface status from the APIC.

Answer 1

That is achievable in two ways. First: you can do SSH from APIC to any node in fabric.

To do this, first you need to know DEVICE NAME or FABRIC INTERNAL DEVICE IP. Both of them you can display by running next command:

XXXX-APIC-1# acidiag fnvread
      ID   Pod ID                 Name    Serial Number         IP Address    Role        State   LastUpdMsgId
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     101        1   XXXX-LEAF-101      ###########   10.255.120.68/32    leaf         active   0
     102        1   XXXX-LEAF-102      ###########   10.255.120.69/32    leaf         active   0
     103        1   XXXX-LEAF-103      ###########   10.255.120.64/32    leaf         active   0
     104        1   XXXX-LEAF-104      ###########   10.255.128.64/32    leaf         active   0
     105        1   XXXX-LEAF-105      ###########   10.255.168.64/32    leaf         active   0
     106        1   XXXX-LEAF-106      ###########   10.255.128.65/32    leaf         active   0
     201        1  XXXX-SPINE-201      ###########   10.255.120.65/32   spine         active   0
     202        1  XXXX-SPINE-202      ###########   10.255.120.66/32   spine         active   0

Total 8 nodes

Look in Name and IP Address columns. After that run ssh command to connect to device:

XXXX-APIC-1# ssh username@XXXX-SPINE-201

Password:
Last login: Wed Nov 27 09:33:29 2019 from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Cisco Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) Software
TAC support: http://www.cisco.com/tac
Copyright (c) 2002-2019, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
The copyrights to certain works contained in this software are
owned by other third parties and used and distributed under
license. Certain components of this software are licensed under
the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.0 or the GNU
Lesser General Public License (LGPL) Version 2.1. A copy of each
such license is available at
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php and
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.php
XXXX-SPINE-201#

---

But second option is even simplier. You can run commands remotely from APIC! As example here I will display interface stats for Leaf 102:

XXXX-APIC-1# fabric 102 show interface eth1/6
----------------------------------------------------------------
 Node 102 (XXXX-LEAF-102)
----------------------------------------------------------------
Ethernet1/6 is up
admin state is up, Dedicated Interface
  Belongs to po1
  Hardware: 100/1000/auto Ethernet, address: 502f.a81b.7102 (bia 502f.a81b.7102)
  MTU 9000 bytes, BW 1000000 Kbit, DLY 1 usec
  reliability 255/255, txload 35/255, rxload 19/255
  Encapsulation ARPA, medium is broadcast
  Port mode is trunk
  full-duplex, 1000 Mb/s
  FEC (forward-error-correction) : disable-fec
  Beacon is turned off
  Auto-Negotiation is turned on
  Input flow-control is off, output flow-control is off
  Auto-mdix is turned off
  Switchport monitor is off
  EtherType is 0x8100
  EEE (efficient-ethernet) : n/a
  Last link flapped 02w06d
  Last clearing of "show interface" counters never
  1 interface resets
  30 seconds input rate 62197192 bits/sec, 9249 packets/sec
  30 seconds output rate 94169848 bits/sec, 20008 packets/sec
  Load-Interval #2: 5 minute (300 seconds)
    input rate 77116072 bps, 11791 pps; output rate 137381984 bps, 24753 pps
  RX
    13706154441 unicast packets  39047 multicast packets  0 broadcast packets
    13706193488 input packets  10570924973940 bytes
    74498 jumbo packets  0 storm suppression bytes
    0 runts  0 giants  0 CRC  0 no buffer
    0 input error  0 short frame  0 overrun   0 underrun  0 ignored
    0 watchdog  0 bad etype drop  0 bad proto drop  0 if down drop
    0 input with dribble  0 input discard 0 input total drop
    0 Rx pause
  TX
    22144295324 unicast packets  26771292 multicast packets  3623 broadcast packets
    22171070239 output packets  12282895752971 bytes
    185875 jumbo packets
    0 output error  0 collision  0 deferred  0 late collision
    0 lost carrier  0 no carrier  0 babble  0 output discard 0 output total drops
    0 Tx pause