Cisco Catalyst Center Deployment Tips

Sept 10, 2025

This blog post covers some tips to consider in any Cisco Catalyst Center project.

Catalyst Center is a highly capable management platform - to get the most from it though, you need to deploy it correctly. Here are our top tips to look out for when deploying Catalyst Center!

There are many considerations when deploying Catalyst Center. This blog offers some insight from engineers who have extensive experience in Catalyst Center deployments.

These considerations will apply no matter what usage path you are going down - Assurance, some basic element management and automation or full-blown Software-Defined Access (SDA).

Let's get into it - top tips for Catalyst Center Deployments.

Need help with your Catalyst Center install? Check out our blog on Cisco Catalyst Center Enablement.

Cisco Catalyst Center Features

First things first - what are the key features you intend to leverage in Cisco Catalyst Center?

Hopefully, these features are informed by the key business outcomes from the platform (effective requirements discovery for this paradigm-shifting platform is worthy of its own blog post).

This will influence installation requirements.

There is a long list of ways in which Cisco Catalyst Center accesses managed devices and vice versa, varying by function.

It is best to deploy Cisco Catalyst Center in its "final location" where it can and will be used for lab, pilot and production use.

Moving Cisco Catalyst Center is no small feat and best avoided.

Catalyst Center: Goals and Objectives

When looking at how Cisco Catalyst Center features can be used to meet objectives, it pays to have an open mind. It's possible that Cisco Catalyst Center can achieve the technical goals you have, albeit not in the way you expect or have used previously.

Try taking a step back from the feature requirement to understand, at the end of whatever is used, what needs to be the outcome.

With those outcome requirements in hand, you can assess Cisco Catalyst Center features for suitability. From there you need to know what the feature can do, what it cannot do and what is supported.

Of course there will likely be some effort in repurposing or retraining operators in the new way of doing things, but the effort of doing this can only be quantified if you establish the delta between core technical goals and Cisco Catalyst Center's offerings.

Catalyst Center Test Lab

Having a test environment to test features on is incredibly valuable. It is best if this environment is entirely lab designated with no production usage.

It goes without saying that as an automation-capable controller, improper usage of Cisco Catalyst Center on production equipment can have significant service impact.

Better to iron any wrinkles out in a test environment!

The more this testing environment resembles your production environment, the better. Key things to mimic include device families, software versions used, configuration and topology.

How transferable the learnings from this testing environment are depends on how closely the environment mimics production.

Catalyst Center Versions

There are also subtle changes that can occur from version to version of Cisco Catalyst Center which slip between the cracks if you are not diligent about reading the documentation for each new version of Cisco Catalyst Center you upgrade to.

The way these enhancements interact with bespoke configuration is often unforeseen and not recommended to see first-hand in production! Cisco Catalyst Center is a controller platform over large swathes of the network, so it's not the kind of thing you want to get wrong.

While on that topic, it is worth mentioning that features can usually be used independently of each other, and they differ in how invasive they are on configuration.

For example, leveraging Assurance doesn't require turning on SDA. On top of that, the amount of configuration "required" by both features is very different - basically on opposite ends of the spectrum as far as Cisco Catalyst Center automation goes.

At the end of the day, a thorough understanding of the feature enables the user to understand whether the feature can be used as-is on top of the network currently, or requires changes to enable use.

Catalyst Center Deployment: FAQs

How Should a Catalyst Center Project Start?

With clear goals — such as assurance, automation or SD-Access — so the deployment focuses on the features that deliver value.

Why Use a Test Lab?

A lab lets you test software versions, templates and workflows before they touch production.

How Do I Choose a Catalyst Center Version?

Check Cisco's recommended releases and compatibility with your switches, controllers and ISE before upgrading.

Can Catalyst Center Manage an Existing Network?

Yes. Existing devices can be discovered and managed for assurance and automation without moving to SD-Access.

Cisco Catalyst Center Deployment: Summary

This blog post is non-exhaustive in terms of considerations to make to achieve proper installation and enablement of popular use cases (e.g. Assurance).

To provide purpose-built, specific help on getting customers to a point where they understand how to use certain features and expand the usage (and value) of that feature across their network, we have packages such as the Cisco Catalyst Center Assurance Enablement package.

This package can take a lot of the heavy-lifting out of enabling Cisco Catalyst Center and ensure you're on the path to realising Cisco Catalyst Center value. For more information, don't hesitate to reach out to your IPTel representative!

Hopefully these few tips are of use in getting you started on your Catalyst Center journey. There's a lot to consider when deploying such an all encompassing management platform as Catalyst Center, so taking an initial step back and planning your install will save a lot of time down the track.

Need Help With Catalyst Center?

IPTel deploys, migrates and supports Cisco Catalyst Center for Australian organisations. If that would be useful, get in touch with the IPTel team or email sales@iptel.com.au.