Deploying NIOS-X Servers for Universal DDI

You can deploy Universal DDI across thousands of sites and reduce the total cost of ownership by leveraging low-cost hardware, virtual servers, license pooling, and license portability. You can access the DDI services by deploying the services on NIOS-X servers.

For remote office deployments, you can deploy hosts on Infoblox appliances, bare-metal devices, and VM infrastructures. The communications between Universal DDI and the NIOS-X servers are encrypted and client visibility is maintained collectively through the Infoblox Portal.

NIOS-X Physical Servers

When you purchase a NIOS-X physical server from Infoblox, the serial number of your server is associated with your user account and automatically uploaded to the Infoblox Platform, and your server is visible through the Infoblox Portal. This eliminates the need to manually create a NIOS-X server and copy the API key from the Infoblox Portal before setting up your server.

When you log in to the Infoblox Portal, you can view your NIOS-X physical servers on the Configure > Servers page of the Infoblox Portal. If you have not physically connected or turned on the server, it is in the Pending state. Shortly after you connect your server, Universal DDI automatically detects the connection and the server state changes to Awaiting Approval. When a NIOS-X server is in the Awaiting Approval state, it is waiting for you to either approve or deny the certificate-based authentication before the server connection is established or denied. When you approve the server connection, Universal DDI establishes a connection to the server and the server state changes to Active (if the server and all the services running on it are functioning properly), and it becomes a fully manageable device through the Infoblox Portal. If you deny the server connection, the server state changes to Denied, and you must reboot the server in order to start a new connection. After you reboot the server, the server status changes to Pending again.

The following diagram illustrates the ZTP process for your NIOS-X physical server:

NIOS-X Virtual Servers

Before you configure a virtual machine as a NIOS-X virtual server, you must first create a join token and use it to authenticate the server, so Universal DDI can establish a connection to the server. For information about join tokens and how to manage them, see Configuring Join Tokens. Once you set up the virtual server using a valid join token, a connection to Universal DDI is established, and the server status changes to Active (if the server and all the services running on it are functioning properly). The server is now a fully manageable device, and you can manage it through the Infoblox Portal.

The following diagram illustrates the provisioning process for servers deployed on virtual machines:

You can view all connected and disconnected NIOS-X servers on the Configure > Servers page of Infoblox Portal, which allows you to manage all your devices. The portal gives you a collective view of all of your NIOS-X servers in the network, including the device's current status.