Cisco Data Virtualization Best Practices Authored by Advanced Services January 2017

Introduction You are familiar with the Data Virtualization Customer Advisory Community Did you know: the DVBU Advanced Services team publishes many best practices, whitepapers, etc.? Some may be familiar, others may be new, and many may be updated since your last reading Let's examine some of the most useful best practice assets

1. Caching Did you know: caching is one of the most improperly used portions of the Cisco Data Virualization Platform? What we produce: a whitepaper providing a detailed overview of the good, bad, and ugly, use cases related to caching What is it called: "CIS Caching Use Case Study: Caching Best Practices" Overview of key caching system components Common use cases for caching Poor use cases for caching

1. Caching Who contributed: many members of the Advanced Services team, including several clients through war stories Why do I care: If your organization uses caching, in any capacity, this whitepaper will help you gauge whether your organization is making appropriate use of caching through a series of discussion topics and case studies Where is it: on the CAC portal

2. Layered Development Did you know: you can improve performance and maintainability of your Cisco DV solution using a layered approach to resource development? What we produce: a whitepaper, presentation, and CAR file of procedures, to assist in aligning resource development into a DV- specific approach What is it called: "Cisco Data Abstraction Best Practices" Reasons for developing in layers Definition and structure of layers Resources available for automatic generation of resources

2. Layered Development Who contributed: Advanced Services Solution Architects Why do I care: to increase performance of developed resources, and reduce the maintenance load, your organization should take advantage of a layered approach that aligns data transformations with the optimizer. This asset provides those details Where is it: on GitHub (full package) and the CAC portal (whitepaper only)

3. Kerberos Did you know: the Cisco Information Server can integrate with Kerberos for single sign on through Studio, or to physical data sources What we produce: a whitepaper with a detailed overview of enabling Kerberos single sign on for Studio, client protocols, or physical data sources What is it called: "CIS Integration with Kerberos" Overview of Kerberos, and it's usage in the Cisco Information Server Configuring Kerberos on Windows and Linux Using Kerberos for Studio, published data sources, and physical data sources

3. Kerberos Who contributed: Advanced Services team members Why do I care: as security is tightened at many organizations, Kerberos for single sign on is becoming a more frequent requirement. Once your organization is ready with the "why" of SSO, this whitepaper can assist with the "how” Where is it: on the CAC portal

4. Configuration Did you know: the Cisco Data Virtualization Platform has hundreds of configuration parameters, affecting every feature of the platform What we produce: a whitepaper and tracking spreadsheet to assist in setting, tracking, and mainitaining those configuration parameter values specific to your organization's needs What is it called: "Configuring the Cisco Information Server" Overview of configuration parameters Recommended initial configuration parameter values

4. Configuration Who contributed: Advanced Services team members Why do I care: given the volume of parameters that can be manipulated, it is important to understand the effects different parameters will have on your installation, and track those values from environment to environment Where is it: on the CAC portal

5. Performance Tuning Did you know: there are many aspects to performance tuning? What we produce: a whitepaper discussing the basics of execution plans and performance analysis, and many performance tuning techniques What is it called: "Performance Tuning" Introduction to execution plans Influencing the cost- and rule-based optimizers Use of join algorithms, caching, and virtual metadata Accommodation of differences in CS / ITS settings

5. Performance Tuning Who contributed: Advanced Services team members Why do I care: performance tuning is a very important part of the development lifecycle. Also, as more users and tools onboard to your DV platform, queries may impact one another if not properly tuned Where is it: on the CAC portal

6. Monitoring and Alerting Did you know: many organizations forget about the operational aspects of DV, including monitoring and alerting of issues What we produce: a whitepaper and tracking spreadsheet providing an overview of recommended events for monitoring, and steps for alerting What is it called: "Configuring Events and Logging" Overview of events and SNMP Recommendations for events to be monitored, and steps to take, to recover

6. Monitoring and Alerting Who contributed: Advanced Services team members Why do I care: monitoring and alerting are very important parts of any software platform, and the Cisco Data Virtualization Platform is no different. See how to configure the events and logging subsystem, and why we feel it's important Where is it: on the CAC portal

7. Disaster Recovery Did you know: when many organizations begin their DV journey, the platform is not termed "critical" to the business, but quickly becomes so What we produce: a whitepaper detailing strategies for including DV into your organization's disaster recovery environment, policies and procedures What is it called: "DR Strategy White Paper" Overview of disaster recovery scenarios Recommendations for enabling both active and passive disaster recovery techniques

7. Disaster Recovery Who contributed: Advanced Services team members Why do I care: today's businesses focus on ensuring continuity in the unlikely event of a disaster. As data virtualization becomes more and more important to your organization, a full disaster recovery plan will be required Where is it: on the CAC portal

8. Security Did you know: the Cisco Data Virtualization Platform is capable of enforcing security at the container, resource, column, and row, level? What we produce: several whitepapers, presentations, and utilities, to assist in tracking and applying various types of security What it contains: Recommended security frameworks for resource and container access Discussions of row and column security Resources to automatically apply rights and privileges to resources based on a tracking spreadsheet

8. Security Who contributed: Advanced Services, Sales Engineering, and Support team members Why do I care: security is paramount to controlling data access. This is a multi-faceted topic, and each organization has unique needs in this area. Review our available assets to understand how to implement a robust security model for your organization Where is it: on the CAC portal

9. Load Balancing Did you know: as big data systems become more prevalent, so does the desire to integrate these systems with "traditional" data What we produce: a whitepaper discussing the criteria to consider when configuring load balancing for your CIS Active Cluster What it contains: Load Balancer Requirements Strategies for setting up load balancer Health Probes Best practices for handling scheduled maintenance windows

9. Load Balancing Who contributed: Advanced Services and Engineering team members Why do I care: load balancing is critical to maximizing the benefit of a CIS Active Cluster. It is essential to set up load balancing infrastructure that meets your organization’s needs. Where is it: on the CAC portal

10. Testing Did you know: many organizations fail to setup proper testing protocols for Cisco DV assets What we produce: a whitepaper, and test plans for JMeter automated testing What it contains: Overview of testing approaches Test case tracking CSV files JMeter test plans

10. Testing Who contributed: Advanced Services team members Why do I care: improper testing can result in re-work, or impact the "correctness" of data, costing time and money. Building a robust testing protocol reduces risk and cost Where is it: on the CAC portal

Conclusion Cisco is your partner We distill our collective field knowledge into whitepapers and assets on a number of topics of interest to our clients Freely access and use this field knowledge by leveraging our whitepapers and assets Check the CAC portal for all of our assets Attend followup sessions that are of interest and importance to your organization Look out for more assets in the coming months!