--- title: "Cisco Catalyst Center Assurance: Network and Client Health" description: "Cisco Catalyst Center Assurance explained: network and client health scores, guided remediation and the Network Time Machine for faster troubleshooting." image: https://blog.iptel.com.au/hubfs/Blogs/Catalyst%20Center/cisco-catalyst-center-assurance-square-feature.jpg --- [![IPTellogo-byline-2020-dark-v2-pnd-optimised-500 (1)](https://blog.iptel.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/IPTellogo-byline-2020-dark-v2-pnd-optimised-500%20(1).png?width=200&height=59&name=IPTellogo-byline-2020-dark-v2-pnd-optimised-500%20(1).png "IPTellogo-byline-2020-dark-v2-pnd-optimised-500 (1)")](https://iptel.com.au) - [Home](https://iptel.com.au/) - [Solutions](https://iptel.com.au/solutions) Technologies - [Cisco Access Manager](https://iptel.com.au/technologies/cisco-access-manager) - [Cisco Catalyst Center](https://iptel.com.au/technologies/cisco-catalyst-center) - [Cisco Meraki](https://iptel.com.au/technologies/cisco-meraki) - [Cisco SDA Fabric](https://iptel.com.au/technologies/cisco-sda-fabric) - 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[Request a Quote](https://iptel.com.au/request-a-quote) - [Managed Services](https://iptel.com.au/managed-services-enquiry) Case Studies - [DP World Video](https://blog.iptel.com.au/hubfs/Case%20Studies/DP%20World_Case_Study.mp4) - [DP World](https://blog.iptel.com.au/dp-world-case-study) - [Backup Assure](https://blog.iptel.com.au/backup-assure-a-disaster-recovery-case-study) [Contact Us](https://iptel.com.au/contact-us) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. ## Cisco Catalyst Center Assurance Sept 5, 2025 Cisco Catalyst Center is Cisco’s answer to the SDN (Software Defined Networking) question. The next generation of network management is about a much more dynamic approach to network management with automatic insights and health scores on the network. How do you provide intent based networking, providing simplicity of management and control, while providing advanced fault finding? ## ![Cisco Catalyst Center Assurance](https://blog.iptel.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/Blogs/Cisco%20Catalyst%20Center%20Assurance/cisco-catalyst-center-assurance-hero.jpg?width=1680&height=945&name=cisco-catalyst-center-assurance-hero.jpg) --- ## Assurance vs Automation Catalyst Center deployments typically roll out in two broad phases: Assurance and Automation. The initial focus for most Catalyst Center deployments is Assurance: providing automated monitoring and the new feature of advanced insights. These will provide network support staff with a health score on the overall network, allowing effort to be focused on the areas that really affect user experience and not just chasing up / down style alarms. If you're new to the concept of Catalyst Center, we've got a good blog on [Cisco Catalyst Center Enablement.](https://blog.iptel.com.au/cisco-catalyst-center-enablement) Related reading - [Cisco Catalyst Center Beginners Guide](https://blog.iptel.com.au/cisco-catalyst-center-beginners-guide) - [Cisco Catalyst Center](https://iptel.com.au/technologies/cisco-catalyst-center) - [5 Ways Catalyst Center Solves your Challenges](https://info.iptel.com.au/cisco-dna) --- ## What about Cisco Catalyst Center Automation? While Cisco Catalyst Center is fully capable of controlling and configuring a network, in the initial deployments it should be used in the monitoring (assurance) mode. Automation mode provides the full suite of Intent Based Networking options, and these features typically come into play once Assurance is bedded down.  Related reading - [ThousandEyes vs Catalyst Center](https://blog.iptel.com.au/thousandeyes-vs-catalyst-center) - [Wi-Fi Design: Business Requirements](https://blog.iptel.com.au/wi-fi-design-business-requirements) - [Wi-Fi Design: Technical Requirements](https://blog.iptel.com.au/wi-fi-design-technical-requirements) --- ## What is Cisco Catalyst Center Assurance? Assurance mode in Cisco Catalyst Center is a completely different concept from a simple SNMP manager – or even the more agile management offered by Prime. Catalyst opens up the concept of network telemetry. Think of biomedical patient monitors – they send constant, live telemetry back on status. This concept is now being rolled out to networking equipment, so for example, you’ll have access points providing a constant stream of data, which can be later examined and used for fault finding purposes. A standard SNMP monitor either polls devices on a standard poll interval, or sends a trap on a particular threshold being breached. You see an alarm and then perhaps have to turn on a debug and repeat the issue that’s just occurred to figure out what’s happening; telemetry on Cisco Catalyst Center means you’ll already have that information and can immediately start to fault find. Related reading - [Cisco AI Analytics in operation](https://blog.iptel.com.au/cisco-ai-analytics-in-operation) - [Cisco Machine Learning and AI](https://blog.iptel.com.au/cisco-machine-learning-and-ai) --- ## Cisco Catalyst Center Guided Remediation Cisco Catalyst Center [uses AI to use live streaming telemetry](https://blog.iptel.com.au/cisco-ai-analytics-in-operation) data from the network and then process this to provide simple useable insights, along with guided remediations to help network admins quickly identify and resolve issues. The graphic below is from Cisco, and explains the way in which the guided remediation works: - **Network Telemetry:** Taking data from the network (the 'network as a sensor' concept), Catalyst streams data from various network devices (switches, APs, etc) - **Event Processing:** These events are processed in Catalyst Center to filter out the key issues - **Insights:** Once filtered, Catalyst Center can present key insights. Time-of-day network baseline, which takes into account normal network activity, is an example - **Remediation:** Guided fault finding that then offers some suggested remediations to the issues identified [![Cisco DNA - Assurance](https://blog.iptel.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Cisco_DNA_-_Assuranc.png?width=3000&height=977&name=Cisco_DNA_-_Assuranc.png)](https://blogs.cisco.com/networking/top-5-new-features-in-cisco-dna-center-1-3-3-x) Related reading - [Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) Introduction](https://blog.iptel.com.au/zero-trust-architecture) --- ## So what exactly is Catalyst Center Assurance? The key features of Cisco Catalyst Center in Assurance mode are: - **Insights and Visibility**: Telemetry from managed devices gives deep insight to what is happening on the network. - **Proactive Troubleshooting:** Analytics and anomalies can be spotted, by using the insights provided by Catalyst Center. Not simply spotting up / down or threshold based alerts, but actually proactively looking for issues to resolve before they become a major outage - **Guided Remediation:** This allows network administrators to follow a guided process to resolve issues – they don’t have to write their own procedures and checklists – these are built into Catalyst Center. Catalyst Center also takes advantage of opportunities to record more meaningful diagnostic data, such as with the new Apple extensions. There are now additional fault finding codes reported from Apple devices, which helps in the fault finding of device issues. Related reading - [Cisco Catalyst Center Enablement](https://blog.iptel.com.au/cisco-catalyst-center-enablement) - [Introduction to Cisco Catalyst Center](https://blog.iptel.com.au/cisco-catalyst-center-beginners-guide) - [Catalyst Center: Top 5 Use Cases](https://info.iptel.com.au/cisco-dna) --- ## Network Time Machine One great example of the type of features that Catalyst brings, is the Network Time Machine. This is (in essence) really just a capture of diagnostic data, which you can then play back, meaning that you have a lot of the data you need to diagnose a fault, after the event. This historic data allows for fault finding in a way not previously possible – this has been dubbed as a “network time machine” and allows you to use historic data to fault find issues. [![Cisco DNA Center 5 Ways Banner](https://blog.iptel.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/Campaigns/Cisco%20DNA%20Center/Cisco%20DNA%20Center%205%20Ways%20Banner.jpeg?width=1199&height=628&name=Cisco%20DNA%20Center%205%20Ways%20Banner.jpeg)](https://info.iptel.com.au/cisco-dna) --- ## Cisco Catalyst Center Assurance: FAQs ### What Is Cisco Catalyst Center Assurance? Assurance is the monitoring and analytics side of Cisco Catalyst Center. It collects telemetry from switches, wireless and routers, scores network and client health, and highlights issues with suggested fixes. ### What Is the Network Time Machine? It lets you go back to a point in time and see the health of a device, client or application as it was then, which is very useful when a user reports a problem that has already cleared. ### How Is Assurance Different From Automation? Automation configures and provisions the network, such as onboarding devices and pushing templates. Assurance watches how the network is performing and helps you find and fix problems. ### Does Assurance Need SD-Access? No. Assurance works on traditional Cisco campus networks as well as SD-Access fabrics, as long as the devices are supported and managed by Catalyst Center. --- ## Cisco Catalyst Center Assurance: Summary ![DNAC Enablement 1](https://blog.iptel.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/Campaigns/Cisco%20DNA%20Center%20Enablement/DNAC%20Enablement%201.gif?width=214&height=214&name=DNAC%20Enablement%201.gif) In summary, Catalyst Assurance is the process of using Cisco Catalyst Center in Assurance mode. In this mode, Catalyst Center will monitor and report on network issues. Catalyst Center can be operated in a number of modes, from Assurance through to Automation and then full SDA Fabric. The starting point for many businesses is Assurance (or monitoring) mode. With the concept of a health score, Catalyst is able to determine issues that actually affect the network and can alert on these - essentially it's the answer to 'alarm fatigue' where you end up with a thousand alarms and not sure on which are actually important. With Catalyst, it's able to determine which actually affect the user experience and alert on these.   Related reading - [Catalyst Center Enablement](https://blog.iptel.com.au/cisco-catalyst-center-enablement) - [5 ways Catalyst Center solves your challenges](https://info.iptel.com.au/cisco-dna) - [Cisco Spaces Introduction](https://blog.iptel.com.au/cisco-spaces-introduction) - [Zero Trust Architecture](https://blog.iptel.com.au/zero-trust-architecture) - [Deploying Zero Trust Architecture](https://blog.iptel.com.au/zero-trust-deployment)   ### Need Help With Catalyst Center Assurance? IPTel deploys and tunes [Cisco Catalyst Center](https://iptel.com.au/technologies/cisco-catalyst-center) so Assurance shows real problems, not noise. If that would be useful, [get in touch with the IPTel team](https://iptel.com.au/contact-us) or email [sales@iptel.com.au](mailto:sales@iptel.com.au). #### Related Articles ###### [ThousandEyes Agents](https://blog.iptel.com.au/thousandeyes-agents) Sept 4, 2025 ###### [Cisco AI Analytics in Operation](https://blog.iptel.com.au/cisco-ai-analytics-in-operation) Sept 4, 2026 ###### [Troubleshooting with Cisco Catalyst Center](https://blog.iptel.com.au/troubleshooting-with-cisco-catalyst-center) Sept 11, 2025 ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Mark McSherry", "url" : "https://blog.iptel.com.au/author/mark-mcsherry" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-03T07:46:42.400Z", "datePublished" : "2025-09-05T04:36:10.000Z", "headline" : "Cisco Catalyst Center Assurance: Network and Client Health", "image" : [ "https://blog.iptel.com.au/hubfs/Blogs/Catalyst%20Center/cisco-catalyst-center-assurance-square-feature.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.iptel.com.au/blog/cisco-catalyst-center-assurance", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.iptel.com.au/hubfs/IPTel_Solutions_February2020%20-%20Header%20SiteMap/Images/IPTellogo-byline-2020-dark-v2.png" }, "name" : "IPTel Solutions Pty Ltd" } } ```