Item: Cisco Catalyst Center
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I work with Cisco Catalyst Center as a centric assurance and telemetry pain of glass. It also works with the Catalyst server to manage the access part of the network. We manage the sd-access fabric and manage\gain the access to the endpoints.

Pros and Cons

SWIM
Telemetry
Configuration simplicity

Software upgrade. System upgrade requires a lot of time!
Adding multiple\parallel upgrade flows or sequential flows
Initial setup. Simplify tool initial setup (e.g. ucs kvm wizards can be hard)

Return on Investment

very scalable
easy to configure network devices
all the telemetry data\psirt info\license info\ecc ecc in a single tool

Alternatives Considered

Fortinet Security Fabric

More familiar with cisco products

Key Insights

Do you think Cisco Catalyst Center delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco Catalyst Center's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Catalyst Center live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Cisco Catalyst Center go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco Catalyst Center again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Cisco Meraki MS, Cisco Meraki MR

Likelihood to Recommend

Cisco Catalyst Center is well suited as a Telemetry single pane of glass. It is less appropriate where old hardware (e.g., 2960X) is the majority of the installed switches.

Configuration simplicity

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst Center