Preinstallation Checklist for Cisco HX Data Platform

Preinstallation Checklist for Cisco HX Data Platform 2

HyperFlex Edge Deployments 2
Cisco HyperFlex Systems Documentation Roadmap 2
Checklist Instructions 2
Contact Information 2
Software Requirements for VMware ESXi 3
Physical Requirements 5
Network Requirements 6
Port Requirements 7
HyperFlex External Connections 13
Deployment Information 14
Contacting Cisco TAC 18
Revised: March 18, 2019

Preinstallation Checklist for Cisco HX Data Platform

HyperFlex Edge Deployments

For HyperFlex Edge deployments, please see the preinstallation information in Chapter 2 of the Cisco HyperFlex Edge Deployment
Guide.

Cisco HyperFlex Systems Documentation Roadmap

For a complete list of all Cisco HyperFlex Systems documentation, see Cisco HyperFlex Systems Documentation Roadmap.

Checklist Instructions
This is a preengagement checklist for Cisco HyperFlex Systems sales, services, and partners to send to customers. Cisco uses this
form to create a configuration file for the initial setup of your system enabling a timely and accurate installation.

Important You CANNOT fill in the checklist using the HTML page.

Checklist Download Location

Download the editable checklist PDF from the following location:
Cisco_HX_Data_Platform_Preinstallation_Checklist_form.pdf
After you completely fill in the form, return it to your Cisco account team.

Contact Information
Customer Account Team and Contact Information

Name Title E-mail Phone

Equipment Shipping Address

Company Name

Attention Name/Dept

Street Address #1

2
Street Address #2

City, State, and Zip

Data Center Floor and Room #

Office Address (if different than shipping address)

Company Name

Attention Name/Dept

Street Address #1

Street Address #2

City, State, and Zip

Software Requirements for VMware ESXi

The software requirements include verification that you are using compatible versions of Cisco HyperFlex Systems (HX) components
and VMware vSphere components.

HyperFlex Software Versions

The HX components—Cisco HX Data Platform Installer, Cisco HX Data Platform, and Cisco UCS firmware—are installed on
different servers. Verify that each component on each server used with and within an HX Storage Cluster are compatible.
• Verify that the preconfigured HX servers have the same version of Cisco UCS server firmware installed. If the Cisco UCS Fabric
Interconnects (FI) firmware versions are different, see the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Upgrade Guide for steps to align the firmware
versions.
• M4: For NEW hybrid or All Flash (Cisco HyperFlex HX240c M4 or HX220c M4) deployments, verify that Cisco UCS
Manager 3.1(3k), 3.2(3i), or 4.0(2b) is installed.
• M5: For NEW hybrid or All Flash (Cisco HyperFlex HX240c M5 or HX220c M5) deployments, verify that Cisco UCS
Manager 4.0(2b) is installed.

•
Important For SED-based HyperFlex systems, ensure that the A (Infrastructure), B( Blade server) and C (Rack server) bundles
are at Cisco UCS Manager version 4.0(2b) for all SED M4/M5 systems. Ensure that all bundles are at Cisco UCS
Manager version 4.0(2b) for M5 SED systems. For more details, see CSCvh04307

• To reinstall an HX server, download supported and compatible versions of the software. See the Cisco HyperFlex Systems
Installation Guide for VMware ESXi for the requirements and steps.

HyperFlex Licensing
As of version 2.6(1a), HyperFlex supports VMware PAC licensing. Existing VMware embedded licenses will continue to be supported.

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As of version 2.5(1a), HyperFlex uses a smart licensing mechanism to apply your licenses. See the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Installation
Guide for VMware ESXi for details and steps.

Supported VMware vSphere Versions and Editions

Each HyperFlex release is compatible with specific versions of vSphere, VMware vCenter, and VMware ESXi.
• Verify that all HX servers have a compatible version of vSphere preinstalled.
• Verify that the vCenter version is the same or later than the ESXi version.
• Verify that the vCenter and ESXi versions are compatible by consulting the VMware Product Interoperability Matrix. Newer
vCenter versions may be used with older ESXi versions, so long as both ESXi and vCenter are supported in the table below.
• Verify that you have a vCenter administrator account with root-level privileges and the associated password.

VMware vSphere Licensing Requirements

How you purchase your vSphere license determines how your license applies to your HyperFlex system.
• If you purchased your vSphere license with HyperFlex
Each HyperFlex server either has the Enterprise or Enterprise Plus edition preinstalled at the factory.

Note • HX Nodes have OEM licenses preinstalled. If you delete or overwrite the content of the boot drives after
receiving the HX servers, you also delete the factory-installed licenses.
• OEM license keys is a new VMware vCenter 6.0 U1b feature. Earlier versions do not support OEM licenses.
• All factory-installed HX nodes share the same OEM license key. With vSphere OEM keys, the Usage count
can exceed the Capacity value.
• When you add an HX host to vCenter through the Add Host wizard, in the Assign license section, select the
OEM license.
We obfuscate the actual vSphere OEM license key; for example, 0N085-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-10LHH.
• Standard, Essentials Plus, and ROBO editions are not available preinstalled on HX servers.

• If you did NOT purchase your vSphere license with HyperFlex

The HX nodes have a vSphere Foundation license preinstalled. After initial setup, the license can be applied to a supported
version of vSphere.
• If you purchased a vSphere PAC license
Follow the instructions in your PAC license letter from VMware to add the license to your MY VMware account, then follow
the instructions to add your HX host to vCenter and assign the PAC license.

HX Data Platform Software Versions for HyperFlex Witness Node

HyperFlex Release Witness Node Version

3.5(2b) 1.0.3

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HyperFlex Release Witness Node Version

3.5(2a)** 1.0.3

3.5(1a)* 1.0.2

3.0(1x) 1.0.1

* Upgrade to 3.5(1a) can still use 1.0.1 version of the witness VM

**Upgrade to 3.5(2a) can still use 1.0.1 or 1.0.2 version of the witness VM

Physical Requirements
Physical Server Requirements
• For a HX220c/HXAF220c Cluster:
• Two rack units (RU) for the UCS 6248UP, 6332UP, 6332-16UP Fabric Interconnects (FI) or four RU for the UCS 6296UP
FI
• HX220c Nodes are one RU each; for example, for a three-node cluster, three RU are required; for a four-node cluster, 4
RU are required
• If a Top-of-Rack switch is included in the install, add at least two additional RU of space for the switch.

• For a HX240c/HXAF240c Cluster:

• Two rack units (RU) for the UCS 6248UP, 6332UP, 6332-16UP Fabric Interconnects (FI) or four RU for the UCS 6296UP
FI
• HX240c Nodes are two RU each; for example, for a three-node cluster, six RU are required; for a four-node cluster, eight
RU are required
• If a Top-of-Rack switch is included in the install, add at least two additional RU of space for the switch.

Although there is no requirement for contiguous rack space, it makes installation easier.
• The system requires two C13/C14 power cords connected to a 15-amp circuit per device in the cluster. At a minimum, there are
three HX nodes and two FI, and it can scale to eight HX nodes, two FI, and blade chassis.
• Up to 2 - 4x uplink connections for UCS Fabric Interconnects.
• Per best practice, each FI requires either 2x10 Gb optical connections in an existing network, or 2x10 Gb Twinax cables. Each
HX node requires two Twinax cables for connectivity (10 Gb optics can be used). For deployment with 6300 series FI, use
2x40GbE uplinks per FI and connect each HX node with dual native 40GbE.
• Use single VIC only for Converged nodes or Compute–only nodes. Additional VICs or PCIe NICs are not supported.

Note Single FI HX deployment is not supported.

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Network Requirements
Verify that your environment adheres to the following best practices:
• Use a separate subnet and VLANs for each network.
• Verify that each host directly attaches to a UCS Fabric Interconnect using a 10-Gbps cable.
• Do not use VLAN 1, the default VLAN, because it can cause networking issues, especially if Disjoint Layer 2 configuration is
used. Use a different VLAN.
• Configure the upstream switches to accommodate non-native VLANs. Cisco HX Data Platform Installer sets the VLANs as
non-native by default.

Each VMware ESXi host needs the following separate networks:

• Management traffic network—From the VMware vCenter, handles hypervisor (ESXi server) management and storage cluster
management.
• Data traffic network—Handles the hypervisor and storage data traffic.
• vMotion network
• VM network

There are four vSwitches, each one carrying a different network:

• vswitch-hx-inband-mgmt—Used for ESXi management and storage controller management.
• vswitch-hx-storage-data—Used for ESXi storage data and HX Data Platform replication.
The vswitch-hx-inband-mgmt and vswitch-hx-storage-data vSwitches further divide into two port groups with assigned static
IP addresses to handle traffic between the storage cluster and ESXi host.
• vswitch-hx-vmotion—Used for VM and storage VMware vMotion.
This vSwitch has one port group for management, defined through VMware vSphere, which connects to all of the hosts in the
vCenter cluster.
• vswitch-hx-vm-network—Used for VM data traffic.
You can add or remove VLANs on the corresponding vNIC templates in Cisco UCS Manager, and create port groups on the
vSwitch.

Note • HX Data Platform Installer creates the vSwitches automatically.

• Ensure that you enable the following services in vSphere after you create the HX Storage Cluster:
• DRS (vSphere Enterprise Plus only)
• vMotion
• High Availability

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Port Requirements
If your network is behind a firewall, in addition to the standard port requirements, VMware recommends ports for VMware ESXi
and VMware vCenter.
• CIP-M is for the cluster management IP.
• SCVM is the management IP for the controller VM.
• ESXi is the management IP for the hypervisor.

Verify that the following firewall ports are open:

Time Server

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

123 NTP/UDP Each ESXi Node Time Server Bidirectional

Each SCVM Node
UCSM
HX Data Platform
Installer

HX Data Platform Installer

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

22 SSH/TCP HX Data Platform Each ESXi Node Management addresses

Installer
Each SCVM Node Management addresses

CIP-M Cluster management

UCSM UCSM management

addresses

80 HTTP/TCP HX Data Platform Each ESXi Node Management addresses

Installer
Each SCVM Node Management addresses

CIP-M Cluster management

UCSM UCSM management

addresses

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Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

443 HTTPS/TCP HX Data Platform Each ESXi Node Management addresses

Installer
Each SCVM Node Management addresses

CIP-M Cluster management

UCSM UCSM management

addresses

SSO Server

8089 vSphere SDK/TCP HX Data Platform Each ESXi Node Management addresses
Installer

9333 vSphere SDK/TCP HX Data Platform Each ESXi Node Cluster data network
Installer

902 Heartbeat/UDP/TCP HX Data Platform vCenter

Installer

7444 ICMP HX Data Platform ESXi IPs Management addresses

Installer
CVM IPs

9333 UDP/TCP HX Data Platform CIP-M Cluster management

Installer

Mail Server
Optional for email subscription to cluster events.

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

25 SMTP/TCP Each SCVM Node Mail Server Optional

CIP-M
UCSM

Monitoring
Optional for monitoring UCS infrastructure.

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

161 SNMP Poll/UDP Monitoring Server UCSM Optional

162 SNMP Trap/UDP UCSM Monitoring Server Optional

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DNS Server

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

53 (external lookups) DNS/TCP/UDP Each ESXi Node DNS Management addresses

Each SCVM Node DNS Management addresses

CIP-M DNS Cluster management

UCSM DNS

vCenter

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

80 HTTP/TCP vCenter Each SCVM Node Bidirectional

CIP-M

443 HTTPS (Plug-in)/TCP vCenter Each ESXi Node Bidirectional

Each SCVM Node
CIP-M

7444 HTTPS (VC SSO)/TCP vCenter Each ESXi Node Bidirectional

Each SCVM Node
CIP-M

9443 HTTPS (Plug-in)/TCP vCenter Each ESXi Node Bidirectional

Each SCVM Node
CIP-M

5989 CIM Server/TCP vCenter Each ESXi Node

9080 CIM Server/TCP vCenter Each ESXi Node Introduced in ESXi

Release 6.5

902 Heartbeat/TCP/UDP vCenter HX Data Platform This port must be

Installer accessible from each
host. Installation results
ESXi servers
in errors if the port is not
open from the HX
Installer to the ESXi
hosts.

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User

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

22 SSH/TCP User Each ESXi Node Management addresses

Each SCVM Node Management addresses

CIP-M Cluster management

HX Data Platform
Installer

UCSM UCSM management

addresses

vCenter

SSO Server

80 HTTP/TCP User Each SCVM Node Management addresses

CIP-M Cluster management

UCSM

HX Data Platform
Installer

vCenter

443 HTTPS/TCP User Each SCVM Node

CIP-M

UCSM UCSM management

addresses

HX Data Platform
Installer

vCenter

7444 HTTPS (SSO)/TCP User vCenter

SSO Server

9443 HTTPS (Plug-in)/TCP User vCenter

2068 virtual keyboard/Video/ User UCSM UCSM management

Mouse (vKVM)/TCP addresses

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SSO Server

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

7444 HTTPS (SSO)/TCP SSO Server Each ESXi Node Bidirectional

Each SCVM Node
CIP-M

Stretch Witness
Required only when deploying HyperFlex Stretched Cluster.

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

2181 Witness Node/TCP Witness Each CVM Node Bidirectional,

management addresses
2888
3888

8180 Witness Node/TCP Witness Each CVM Node Bidirectional,

management addresses

80 HTTP/TCP Witness Each CVM Node Potential future

requirement

443 HTTPS/TCP Witness Each CVM Node Potential future

requirement

Replication
Required only when configuring native HX asynchronous cluster to cluster replication.

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

9338 Data Services Manager Each CVM Node Each CVM Node Bidirectional, include
Peer/TCP cluster management IP
addresses

9339 Data Services Each CVM Node Each CVM Node Bidirectional, include
Manager/TCP cluster management IP
addresses

3049 Replication for Each CVM Node Each CVM Node Bidirectional, include
CVM/TCP cluster management IP
addresses

4049 Cluster Map/TCP Each CVM Node Each CVM Node Bidirectional, include
cluster management IP
addresses

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Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

4059 NR NFS/TCP Each CVM Node Each CVM Node Bidirectional, include
cluster management IP
addresses

9098 Replication Service Each CVM Node Each CVM Node Bidirectional, include
cluster management IP
addresses

8889 NR Master for Each CVM Node Each CVM Node Bidirectional, include
Coordination/TCP cluster management IP
addresses

9350 Hypervisor Service/TCP Each CVM Node Each CVM Node Bidirectional, include
cluster management IP
addresses

443 HTTPS/TCP Each CVM Node Each CVM Node Bidirectional, include
cluster management IP
addresses

SED Cluster

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

443 HTTPS Each SCVM UCSM (Fabric A, Fabric Policy Configuration

Management IP B, VIP)
(including cluster
management IP)

5696 TLS CIMC KVM Server Key Exchange

UCSM

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

443 Encryption etc./TCP Each CVM Node CIMC OOB Bidirectional for each
UCS node

81 KVM/HTTP User UCSM OOB KVM

743 KVM/HTTP User UCSM OOB KVM encrypted

Miscellenous

Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

9350 Hypervisor Service/TCP Each CVM Node Each CVM Node Bidirectional, include
cluster management IP
addresses

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Port Number Service/Protocol Source Port Destinations Essential Information

9097 CIP-M Failover/TCP Each CVM Node Each CVM Node Bidirectional for each
CVM to other CVMs

8125 UDP Each SCVM node Each SCVM node Graphite

427 UDP Each SCVM node Each SCVM node Service Location
Protocol

32768 to 65535 UDP Each SCVM node Each SCVM node SCVM outbound
communication

Tip If you do not have standard configurations and need different port settings, refer to Table C-5 Port Literal Values for customizing
your environment.

HyperFlex External Connections

External Connection Description IP Address/ FQDN/ Essential Information
Ports/Version

Intersight Device Connector
Supported HX systems are
connected to Cisco Intersight
through a device connector that
is embedded in the management
controller of each system.
HTTPS Port Number: 443
1.0.5-2084 or later
(Auto-upgraded by Cisco
Intersight)
All device connectors must
properly resolve
svc.ucs-connect.com and
allow outbound-initiated HTTPS
connections on port 443. The
current HX Installer supports
the use of an HTTP proxy.

Auto Support Auto Support (ASUP) is the
alert notification service
provided through HX Data
Platform.
SMTP Port Number: 25
Enabling Auto Support is
strongly recommended because
it provides historical hardware
counters that are valuable in
diagnosing future hardware
issues, such as a drive failure for
a node.

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External Connection Description IP Address/ FQDN/ Essential Information
Ports/Version

Post Installation Script
To complete the post installation HTTP Port Number: 80 The post install script requires
tasks, you can run a post name resolution to
installation script on the http://cs.co/hx-scripts via port
Installer VM. The script pings 80 (HTTP).
across all network interfaces
(management, vMotion, and
storage network) to ensure full
fabric availability. The script
also validates the correct
tagging of VLANs and jumbo
frame configurations on the
northbound switch.

Deployment Information
Before deploying Cisco HX Data Platform and creating a cluster, collect the following information about your system.

Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects (FI) Information

UCS cluster name

FI cluster IP address

UCS FI-A IP address

UCS FI-B IP address

Pool for KVM IP addresses

(one per HX node is required)

Subnet mask IP address

Default gateway IP address

MAC pool prefix 00:25:B5:

(provide two hex characters)

UCS Manager username admin

Password

VLAN Information
Tag the VLAN IDs to the Fabric Interconnects.

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 Note HX Data Platform, release 1.7—Document and configure all customer VLANs as native on the FI prior to installation.
HX Data Platform, release 1.8 and later—Default configuration of all customer VLANs is non-native.

Network VLAN ID VLAN Name Description

Use separate subnet and VLANs for each of the following networks:

VLAN for VMware ESXi and Hypervisor Management Network Used for management traffic among
Cisco HyperFlex (HX) ESXi, HX, and VMware vCenter;
Storage controller management
management must be routable.
network

VLAN for HX storage traffic Hypervisor Data Network Used for storage traffic and requires
L2.
Storage controller data network

VLAN for VM VMware vMotion vswitch-hx-vmotion Used for vMotion VLAN, if

applicable.

VLAN for VM network vswitch-hx-vm-network Used for VM/application network.

Customer Deployment Information

Deploy the HX Data Platform using an OVF installer appliance. A separate ESXi server, which is not a member of the vCenter HX
Cluster, is required to host the installer appliance. The installer requires one IP address on the management network.
The installer appliance IP address must be reachable from the management subnet used by the hypervisor and the storage controller
VMs. The installer appliance must run on the ESXi host or on a VM Player/VMware workstation that is not a part of the cluster
installation. In addition, the HX Data Platform Installer VM IP address must be reachable by Cisco UCS Manager, ESXi, and vCenter
IP addresses where HyperFlex hosts are added.

Installer appliance IP address

Network IP Addresses

Note • Data network IPs in the range of 169.254.X.X in a network larger than /24 is not supported and should not be used.
• Data network IPs in the range of 169.254.254.0/24 must not be used.

Management Network IP Addresses Data Network IP Addresses

(must be routable) (does not have to be routable)

Important Ensure that the Data and Management Networks are on different subnets for a successful installation.

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Management Network IP Addresses Data Network IP Addresses
(must be routable) (does not have to be routable)

ESXi Hostname* Hypervisor Management Storage Controller Hypervisor Data Storage Controller
Network Management Network Network (Not Required Data Network (Not
for Cisco Intersight)1 Required for Cisco
Intersight)2

Server 1:

Server 2:

Server 3:

Server 4:

Server 5:

Storage Cluster Storage Cluster Data IP

Management IP address address

Subnet mask IP address Subnet mask IP address

Default gateway IP Default gateway IP

address address
1
Data network IPs are automatically assigned to the 169.254.X.0/24 subnet based on MAC address prefix.
2
Data network IPs are automatically assigned to the 169.254.X.0/24 subnet based on MAC address prefix.
* Verify DNS forward and reverse records are created for each host. If no DNS records exist, hosts are added to vCenter by IP address
instead of FQDN.

VMware vMotion Network IP Addresses

vMotion Network IP Addresses (not configured by software)

Hypervisor Credentials

root username root

root password

VMware vCenter Configuration

Note HyperFlex communicates with vCenter through standard ports. Port 80 is used for reverse HTTP proxy. Port 443 is used for
secure communication to the vCenter SDK and may not be changed.

vCenter FQDN or IP address

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vCenter admin username
username@domain

vCenter admin password

vCenter data center name

VMware vSphere compute cluster and storage

cluster name

Single Sign-On (SSO)

SSO Server URL*

• This information is required only if the SSO
URL is not reachable.
• This is automatic for ESXi version 6.0 and
later.

* SSO Server URL can be found in vCenter at vCenter Server > Manage > Advanced Settings, key config.vpxd.sso.sts.uri.

Network Services

Note • DNS and NTP servers should reside outside of the HX storage cluster.
• Use an internally-hosted NTP server to provide a reliable source for the time.

DNS Servers
<Primary DNS Server IP address,
Secondary DNS Server IP address, …>

NTP servers
<Primary NTP Server IP address,
Secondary NTP Server IP address, …>

Time zone
Example: US/Eastern, US/Pacific

Connected Services

Enable Connected Services

(Recommended)
Yes or No required

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Email for service request notifications
Example: name@company.com

Contacting Cisco TAC

You can open a Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) support case to reduce time addressing issues, and get efficient support
directly with Cisco Prime Collaboration application.
For all customers, partners, resellers, and distributors with valid Cisco service contracts, Cisco Technical Support provides
around-the-clock, award-winning technical support services. The Cisco Technical Support website provides online documents and
tools for troubleshooting and resolving technical issues with Cisco products and technologies:
http://www.cisco.com/techsupport
Using the TAC Support Case Manager online tool is the fastest way to open S3 and S4 support cases. (S3 and S4 support cases consist
of minimal network impairment issues and product information requests.) After you describe your situation, the TAC Support Case
Manager automatically provides recommended solutions. If your issue is not resolved by using the recommended resources, TAC
Support Case Manager assigns your support case to a Cisco TAC engineer. You can access the TAC Support Case Manager from
this location:
https://mycase.cloudapps.cisco.com/case
For S1 or S2 support cases or if you do not have Internet access, contact the Cisco TAC by telephone. (S1 or S2 support cases consist
of production network issues, such as a severe degradation or outage.) S1 and S2 support cases have Cisco TAC engineers assigned
immediately to ensure your business operations continue to run smoothly.
To open a support case by telephone, use one of the following numbers:
• Asia-Pacific: +61 2 8446 7411
• Australia: 1 800 805 227
• EMEA: +32 2 704 5555
• USA: 1 800 553 2447

For a complete list of Cisco TAC contacts for Enterprise and Service Provider products, see http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/
web/tsd-cisco-worldwide-contacts.html.
For a complete list of Cisco Small Business Support Center (SBSC) contacts, see http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/web/
tsd-cisco-small-business-support-center-contacts.html.

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