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Adopt Juniper Apstra Edge

Apstra Edge Overview

Apstra Edge is a hardware-agnostic virtual device that runs within a container in the data center. Apstra Edge functions as a proxy device in a data center managed by Apstra Data Center Director. It receives event and anomaly information from Apstra Data Center Director, Apstra Flow Server, and vCenter server, and forwards that data to Juniper Data Center Assurance.

Apstra Edge is a required component for enabling DC Assurance and its supported features, like Application Awareness, Impact Analysis, and Service Level Expectations.

To enable Apstra Edge to send event information and flow data to Juniper Data Center Assurance, you need to register Apstra Edge in Juniper Data Center Assurance by adopting it.

Adopt Apstra Edge in Juniper Data Center Assurance

Once Apstra Edge is successfully registered, a registration ID is generated for the edge by Juniper Data Center Assurance. This ID must be configured in Apstra Edge in the data center managed by Apstra Data Center Director. To set up the edge in Apstra, you need to initialize the docker container and then configure the registration ID that Juniper Data Center Assurance generated for the edge.

If you are using Apstra Data Center Director 5.1.0 or later, you can set up the Edge from within the Apstra GUI. For more information, see Launch Juniper Data Center Assurance Edge Docker Containers in Apstra. If you are using Apstra Data Center Director 5.0.0 and earlier, you must follow the steps in Deploy the Docker Edge Container to set up and launch the Edge.

During the registration process, the edge retrieves the organization ID, secret, and the device ID. Once registration is completed, the edge can communicate with Juniper Data Center Assurance and Juniper Data Center Assurance starts receiving information from Apstra Edge.

CAUTION:

Apstra Edge uses the edge registration ID to retrieve unique organization ID, secret, and device ID during edge installation. These IDs must be stored securely as they cannot be retrieved after the initial setup is completed.

The docker container on which the edge runs can be installed anywhere in the data center - either on the same virtual machine (VM) on which Apstra is running or on a different VM. If edge is installed on the same VM as Apstra is installed, you need to take care during upgrades to ensure that the edge installation is not removed.

After the edge is initialized and configured, the status of the edge will be displayed in Juniper Data Center Assurance as Registered. The Cloud Connectivity status indicates that the edge is connected with the cloud and Apstra Connectivity status indicates that the edge is connected with Apstra Controller. That is, you can monitor the status of connectivity between Juniper Data Center Assurance and Apstra Edge, and between Apstra Edge and Apstra from Juniper Data Center Assurance UI without having to access Apstra.

To adopt Apstra Edge:

  1. Log in to Juniper Data Center Assurance.
  2. Navigate to the DC Edges page.
  3. Click Adopt Apstra Edge.

    The Adopt Apstra Edge dialog box opens.

    Figure 1: Adopt Apstra Edge Adopt Apstra Edge dialog box with fields for Edge details, Flow Server details, and vCenter details.
  4. Enter information about the Apstra Edge device.
    Table 1: Apstra Edge Device Details

    Field

    Description

    Edge Name

    Unique name to identify Apstra Edge configured in the data center.

    Management URL

    URL to connect to the Apstra instance. For example, https://10.28.52.3

    Username

    Username to log into the Apstra instance.

    Password

    Password to log into the Apstra instance.
  5. Enable the Flow Server Details toggle button and enter the Flow Server information.

    Enabling this option allows DC Assurance to collect flow data from the Apstra instance. After the details for Flow Server Details are configured, you can view information about the data center network topology, hosts and endpoints, services, and anomalies, if any, on the App Aware and the Impact Analysis pages.

    Note:

    If you have multiple Apstra Flow servers that collect flow data from their respective sites configured to a single Apstra Edge device, you can add each flow server to the Apstra Edge device and receive the site flow data on Juniper Data Center Assurance.

    After the Apstra Edge device is registered and connected, select the Edge device, click More on the top right corner, and select Modify Edge. Click on the "+" icon under the Flow Server section and enter details for the additional flow servers. You can configure as many flow servers as required.
    Table 2: Flow Server Configuration

    Field

    Description

    Flow Server Name

    Name of the Apstra Flow server.

    Management URL

    OpenSearch REST API URL to connect to the Apstra Flow server. The URL must be in the format https://ip-address:port-number. For example, https://10.28.52.4:9200.

    Username

    Username to log into Apstra Flow server.

    Password

    Password to log into Apstra Flow server.
    Note:

    The Apstra Flow information collected from the Apstra instance is stored in Juniper Data Center Assurance database for 30 days.
  6. Enable the vCenter Details toggle button and enter the vCenter information.

    Enabling this option allows DC Assurance to collect information from the vCenter about the virtualized environments and the alarms detected on VMs. After the details for vCenter are configured, you can view information about the VM layer on the App Aware, the Impact Analysis, and the Dashboard Topology pages. You can configure parameters for multiple vCenters.

    Table 3: vCenter Configuration

    Field

    Description

    vCenter Name

    A unique, user-defined name of the vCenter.

    Management URL

    REST API URL to connect to the vCenter server. The URL must be in the format https://ip-address:port-number.

    Username

    Username to log into vCenter server.

    Password

    Password to log into vCenter server.
    Note:

    The Apstra Edge Download Location field displays the location for downloading Apstra Edge software. Visit https://support.juniper.net/support/downloads/?p=apstra to download Apstra Edge software.
  7. Click Adopt.
    The newly added edge is listed on the Inventory page with the status Unregistered and Disconnected.
  8. Install and set up Apstra Edge as described in Juniper Apstra Edge Setup Guide.

    The status of Apstra Edge will be displayed as Registered and Connected, indicating that the edge is registered and connected. A site corresponding to the blueprint deployed in the data center is created on the Sites page.

    Note:

    Deleting the adopted edge from Juniper Data Center Assurance also removes the connectivity with edge. Once the edge is deleted, Juniper Data Center Assurance will not be able to receive event information from Apstra. To continue receiving events, you need to perform the registration process again.