Create Offbox Agent

Before installing offbox agents, make sure that you've:

• Added login credentials for the devices.

• Configured management IP connectivity between devices and the Apstra server. You must do this before installing agents so it’s out-of-band (OOB). Configuring management connectivity in-band (through the fabric) is not supported and could cause connectivity issues when changes are made to the blueprint.

• Uploaded required packages.

• If you're using Juniper offbox agents, increase the application memory usage.

• On Juniper devices, add Junos license configuration. (This is not the preferred method for adding license configuration. For more information, see Juniper Device Agent.)

Before creating/installing offbox device agents on Juniper Junos, Cisco NX-OS and Arista EOS, configure the following minimum configuration on them as shown below.

Juniper Junos Offbox Agent Minimum Configuration

system {
    login {
        user aosadmin {
            uid 2000;
            class super-user;
            authentication {
                encrypted-password "xxxxx";
            }
        }
    }
    services {
        ssh;
        netconf {
            ssh;
        }
    }
    management-instance;
}
interfaces {
    em0 {
        unit 0 {
            family inet {
                address <address>/<cidr>;
            }
        }
    }
}
routing-instances {
    mgmt_junos {
        routing-options {
            static {
                route 0.0.0.0/0 next-hop <management-default-gateway>;
            }
        }
    }
}

For more information, see Juniper Device Agent.

Cisco NX-OS Offbox Agent Minimum Configuration

!
feature nxapi
feature bash-shell
feature scp-server
feature evmed
copp profile strict
nxapi http port 80
!
username admin password <admin-password> role network-admin
!
vrf context management
  ip route 0.0.0.0/0 <management-default-gateway>
!
nxapi http port 80
!
interface mgmt0
  ip address <address>/<cidr>
!

Arista EOS Offbox Agent Minimum Configuration

!
service routing protocols model multi-agent
!
aaa authorization exec default local
!
username admin privilege 15 role network-admin secret <admin-password>
!
vrf definition management
   rd 100:100
!
interface Management1
   vrf forwarding management
   ip address <address>/<cidr>
!
ip route vrf management 0.0.0.0/0 <management-default-gateway>
!
management api http-commands
   protocol http
   no shutdown
   !
   vrf management
      no shutdown
!

Make sure the following configuration is not on the device:

• VLANs other than VLAN 1
• VRFs other than "management"
• Interface IP addresses other than "management"
• Loopback interfaces
• VLAN interfaces
• VXLAN interfaces
• AS-Path access-lists
• IP prefix-lists
• Route maps or policies
• BGP configuration

During the agent install process, device configuration is validated, and if the device contains configuration that could prevent the deployment of service configuration, the agent install process raises an error (as of Apstra 4.0.1).

In this case, manually remove conflicting configuration and start the agent installation process again.

If you must complete the agent installation with configuration validation errors, you can disable pristine configuration validation. To do this, from Devices > Managed Devices, click Advanced Settings (top-right), select Skip Pristine Configuration Validation, then click Update.

For information about retaining pre-existing configuration when bringing devices under Apstra management, see Device Configuration Lifecycle.