HashiCorp Terraform and Nexus Dashboard better together: A turnkey automation platform for IT infrastructure

The Cisco Nexus Dashboard serves as the anchor of the Cisco Nexus 9000 portfolio, offering a rich suite of platform services for visibility and orchestration, open REST APIs, and Kafka subscription services for third-party developers to build custom integrations. Leveraging these APIs, we are announcing today a unique value proposition through our integration with Terraform Cloud for Business. Together with our strategic technology partner, HashiCorp, we are extending Nexus Dashboard to include a secure and compliant automation platform, complete with CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) capabilities. By leveraging existing investments in Nexus Dashboard combined with turnkey automation from HashiCorp, Network Operations teams can dramatically reduce time-to-value as they introduce a culture of programmability. From transactional automation to a true IaC practice, Nexus Dashboard and Terraform Cloud for Business serve as the foundation for a modern IT organization, while also avoiding the cost and complexities of building an automation platform in-house.

The Nexus Dashboard Connector for HashiCorp Terraform

We are excited to announce the availability of new automation tools for Cisco Nexus Dashboard: The Nexus Dashboard Connector for HashiCorp Terraform. The Nexus Dashboard Connector for HashiCorp Terraform bundles the Terraform Cloud Agent and is available as a free download for Nexus Dashboard customers using theCisco DC App Center. In addition, the Nexus Dashboard Connector for HashiCorp Terraform provides the following features: 

• Secure connectivity for on-premises resources to fetch automation routines from the Terraform Cloud for Business portal
• Terraform Cloud Agent availability information including Status, Agent Name, Pool, & Organization 
• Statistics on Terraform Cloud Agents including number of automation runs, active workspaces, and administrative users. 

Accelerate automation use-cases with Terraform across entire Cisco portfolio

Using the Terraform Cloud for Business in combination with the Nexus Dashboard Connector for HashiCorp Terraform, customers can enable custom workflows across all Cisco Networking products supporting Terraform: 

• Cisco ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure)
• Cisco Nexus Dashboard Orchestrator
• Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller
• Cisco ASA Firewalls 
• Cisco Intersight 
• Cisco DNA Center

 Business outcomes associated with the Nexus Dashboard Connector for HashiCorp Terraform

• Together with Terraform Cloud for Business, the Nexus Dashboard Connector for HashiCorp Terraform provides aturnkey automation platform complete with CI/CD and IaC.
• Use Nexus Dashboard as ahosting platform for the Terraform Cloud Agent. No need to worry about Terraform Cloud Agent placement within the IT enterprise. 
• The Nexus Dashboard Connector for HashiCorp Terraform can used forlife-cycle management of the Terraform Cloud Agentfor all Terraform Cloud for Business installations. 

Solution Architecture 

Future 

This is still the beginning of our journey. We will be adding newer capabilities to the HashiCorp Terraform solution that we announced today and will be expanding the Nexus Dashboard ecosystem across other categories such as Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs), alerting tools, IaC, and security management. 

If you would like to learn more about Cisco-HashiCorp joint solution capabilities, please reach out to your Cisco or HashiCorp account teams. 

Related Links: 

Nexus Dashboard At a Glance

Cisco -HashiCorp Terraform Solution Overview