Frequently Asked Questions

Can customers contact dCloud Support?

Yes.

Cisco dCloud Support facilitates dCloud requests and issues from all dCloud users. However, Account Teams are responsible for supporting customers using their shared sessions and Cisco products.

If you do not have sufficient dCloud access, please contact your Cisco representative to gain more access, so you can schedule more demos.

Can customers request session extensions?

No.

Customers are limited to running a session a maximum of 5 consecutive days. Account teams have the ability to request extensions for sessions that they share with customers.

Can customers run sessions on their own?

Yes.

Customers logged in to dCloud can schedule and run sessions of any dCloud content that they can access. For more information, see Schedule a Session.

If you do not have sufficient dCloud access, please contact your Cisco representative to gain more access for scheduling more demos.

Can my customers access dCloud today?

Yes.

To access dCloud, register for a Cisco.com account.

If your customer registers as a Customer, their initial account defines them as an L2 user.

L2 access provides:

• access to dCloud content enabled for L2 access.
• access to any dCloud session shared by a Cisco employee or partner.

If your customer does not have sufficient dCloud access, please contact your Cisco representative to get the ability to experience more demos.

If your customer has not registered for a cisco.com account, their access defaults to Level 1.

L1 access provides:

• Full access to any dCloud session shared by a Cisco employee or partner.

Do my customers need a Cisco account to use dCloud?

Yes.

Cisco dCloud access is based on cisco.com account privileges. Also see the FAQ above this one.

To access dCloud, register for a cisco.com account and then use that account to log in. If you registers as a Customer, your initial account defines you as an Level 2 user.

L2 access provides:

• access to dCloud content enabled for L2 access.
• access to any dCloud session shared with you by a Cisco employee or partner.

If a customer registers as a Guest, their initial account defines them as an Level 1 (L1) user.

• L1 users can access any dCloud session shared with them by a Cisco employee or partner.

If you do not have sufficient dCloud access, please contact your Cisco representative to gain more access for scheduling more demos.

Do my customers need to log in to dCloud before I share a session with them?

No.

The dCloud sharing feature now enables you to search for any Cisco.com user and share a session with them.

Because Cisco dCloud access is based on cisco.com account privileges, your customer will need to register for a Cisco.com account and then use that account to log in.

How can I see the content available to customers?

To see the content available to customers, filter the Access Level in the dCloud Catalog by L2.

How do my customers know I shared something with them?

When you share a session, customers receive email with instructions to access the session in dCloud.

They can also see the shared session in their Dashboard > My Sessions list in dCloud.

What can I share with my customers?

You can share any content, including demonstrations, labs, and training, that you can access in dCloud.

Your ability to share a session is limited by your level of access, rather than the customer's access level.

Account teams are responsible to ensure that appropriate documentation is in place when sharing content that includes pre-release software.

What will my customers see when they log in to dCloud?

Customers have the same Cisco dCloud experience as Cisco employees and Partners.

If you do not have sufficient dCloud access, please contact your Cisco representative to gain more access for scheduling more demos.

Will dCloud make all content available directly to customers?

dCloud collaborates with stakeholders to define access levels for content. Customers have direct access to a subset of the dCloud content catalog that is based on their level of access.

Account teams have direct access to additional dCloud content and can share any content available to them with customers, regardless of the customer access level.

If you do not have sufficient dCloud access, please contact your Cisco representative to gain more access and schedule more demos.

For policies for session scheduling, see Schedule a Session.

How do I request a higher level of access?

Your access can vary depending on your registered Cisco.com account. 

If you do not have sufficient dCloud access, please contact your Cisco representative to gain more access for scheduling more demos.

For additional information on registered Cisco.com accounts, go to: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/applicat/content/cdcrgstr/applications_overview.html.

For additional information on upgrading a registered Cisco.com account, go to: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/help/registration-benefits-help/general-registration.html.

Can I customize dCloud content?

Yes. You can also save and share customized content with other dCloud users.

For general information on customizing, sharing, and restoring dCloud content, review our Build Your Own Content help page.

Can I share a router in dCloud?

Yes. Refer to the Share a Router help page for details.  

How do I schedule a dCloud session?

Refer to the Schedule a Session help page for details.

I am a Cisco Virtual Office (CVO) user. What port should I use on my CVO router for dCloud?

Cisco Virtual office users should use the public Ethernet ports on their CVO router.

What ports need to be open to allow access to dCloud content from behind a firewall?

For details, see Firewall Ports to Open for Session Access.

For more information from a development perspective, see Meraki Upstream Firewall Rules for Cloud Connectivity and related product documentation and guided resources.

In dCloud, which ports should I use on the endpoint routers?

The ports you use on your router depends on the router model that you have. Meraki routers and endpoints are the preferred, recommended solution and easiest to configure and use. Some Legacy routers are operable; however, many are being retired.

Only supported Meraki MX models are allowed to be added used with Cisco dCloud. See more about Meraki in How Routers Work with Cisco dCloud.

Discover more in Meraki LearningLabs and Documentation,, as well as Cisco Developer resources.

Review Supported Routers and Endpoints for details.

Who can schedule dCloud sessions, and for how long?

As a dCloud Guest, Customer, Partner, or Cisco User with scheduling permissions, you can schedule a session to start immediately if resources are available or at a later time.

Best Practices

Please schedule your session for only the amount of days you require. Generally, you will need one or two days. Keep in mind that resources are shared with others who are also scheduling sessions.

It is possible to extend an existing session, as long as the total duration is no more than five (5) days.

• Book the session for the number of days you need. If you think you'll need a session for a couple of days, book it for two days.
• If needed, you can book a session for up to 5 days.
• Sessions scheduled for less than 5 days can be extended to a total of 5 days.
• Session renewals are subject to dCloud resource availablity.

It is not possible to extend a session which has ended.

Examples

Example A: For example, let’s say you originally booked your session for 3 days and the session has not yet started. You realize you need the session for a total of 5 days. You can extend the session by 2 days for a total of 5 days:

1. Go to My Hub.
2. Click Edit under the demo for which you'd like to extend the schedule for your session.
3. Click the grey icon to the right of End Date and select the new date (Friday).
4. Click the grey icon to the right of End Time and select the new time (5:00 pm).
5. Click Update.

Example B: You have a session booked for 3 days, and 2 days into the session you realize you need an additional 3 days but you only have 1 day left. You can extend the session by 2 days (for a total of 5 days).

Example C: Your session has expired and you realize you still need to run the demo. Because you cannot extend a session which has expired, you need to schedule a new session:

1. Select the demo and then click Schedule.
2. Click the grey icon to the right of Start Date and select the new date for the session to re-begin (today, tomorrow, or a another date in the future). 
3. Click the grey icon to the right of End Date and select the new date for the session to end (up to five days). Schedule only the days you require (up to 5 days total).
4. Click the grey icon to the right of End Time and select the time for your new (renewed) session to end.
5. Click Next.

For more information, see Schedule a Session.

Can I schedule dCloud events on behalf of someone else?

Yes. To schedule an event for another Cisco employee or a partner, complete the Event Details form entering that person’s name in the 'Assigned To' field as seen on Schedule Event Sessions.

Can I use a different Cisco dCloud data center if the one I requested does not have capacity?

You can share the sessions with anyone who has Cisco.com credentials. Users with no Cisco.com credentials can register for an account, activate the account, and immediately use the account user ID and password to log in to Cisco dCloud.

Can I use a different Cisco dCloud data center if the one I requested does not have capacity?

You can use any one or more of the Cisco dCloud data centers for your sessions.

If capacity is not available to run all sessions in one data center at the requested time, Cisco dCloud Support will schedule the total number of sessions at the requested time but spread across multiple data centers.

How do I plan for and manage dCloud sessions for an event?

Read Hosting dCloud Events to plan, prepare for, and manage sessions for an event. The article includes best practices, limitations, and restrictions for managing the event sessions.

Schedule Event Sessions provides steps for submitting your request for sessions for an event. 

Manage Event Sessions provides steps for managing the details of an event after it is scheduled.

How do I schedule dCloud sessions for an event?

Schedule Event Sessions provides steps for scheduling an event comprised of multiple dCloud sessions.

How many days in advance should I request dCloud sessions for an event?

Cisco dCloud Support recommends submitting an event request at least 30 days before you want the sessions to start. Support will review and respond to the request within 48 hours.

Is Event Scheduling available to all Cisco dCloud users?

Due to limited system capacity, Event Scheduling is currently only available for Cisco employees (L4) and partners (L3).

Other users with business requirements for a set of multiple sessions can ask their Cisco Account Team to submit an Event Scheduling request on their behalf.

Why can’t I schedule more than 5 dCloud sessions on my own?

Cisco dCloud is a global shared service. To fairly distribute capacity, individual use is limited to 5 sessions.

To help avoid further limits, you are asked to terminate unused sessions whenever possible.

What is dCloud Event Scheduling?

Event scheduling in Cisco dCloud is the scheduling of 2 to 75 sessions to run at the same time for use during an event such as a training class or a trade show or road show.

Cisco employees and partners are allowed to submit a request for event sessions for themselves, another employee, or another partner. Cisco dCloud Support manages the requests and schedules sessions based on data center capacity and business justification.

Can saved or customized dCloud content be accessed from any data center?

No. Saved or customized content is only available at the data center where it was created.

Can you provide more details as to why this is happening in dCloud?

If your session requires a specific piece of hardware, PSTN resources, external IP addresses, compute capacity or some other finite resource, we have likely exhausted the available pool for the time slot and data center you selected.

Cisco dCloud is incredibly popular and gaining users faster than we could have ever anticipated. This is great news, but sometimes this means that demand outstrips supply.

Do you have any recommendations of what I can do if I encounter this issue in dCloud?

If you are unable to schedule a session at your preferred dCloud data center and time slot, please:

• Try a different time slot. Look for a different time slot at your preferred dCloud data center.
• Try another dCloud data center. dCloud has five data centers available. Check for availability at our other data centers:
  • APJ: https://dcloud2-sng.cisco.com/
  • EMEA: https://dcloud2-lon.cisco.com/
  • Greater China: https://dcloud2-chi.cisco.com/
  • US East: https://dcloud2-rtp.cisco.com/
  • US West: https://dcloud2-sjc.cisco.com/

Do you have any recommendations on what I can do to try to avoid this issue in dCloud?

We recommend scheduling your session well in advance of when you will need it to ensure a reservation at your preferred dCloud data center.

An advanced registration/scheduling provides you the best chance to secure the content and time slot you want at your preferred data center.

What are you doing to resolve the scheduling issues in dCloud?

We monitor resource availability closely and are constantly adding new content equipment, along with more compute, storage, networking and bandwidth. We also add new features on a regular basis to meet the evolving needs of our content developers.

Increased Capacity

• We have done a lot of work optimizing some back-end functionality along with the content to make it less impactful to the platform. This allows us to do more with the existing infrastructure.
• We have increased capacity in the US West data center to 600 sessions. Infrastructure is being closely monitored and we expect to be able to increase this again soon.
• We plan to add additional storage and compute in the US East data center soon.

Why can't I schedule a dCloud session for a specific data center and time slot?

Typically, there are two underlying reasons why you cannot schedule a session at your preferred data center and time slot.

• No devices available. The content you want to schedule uses a pool of devices that are all in use or scheduled for use by other users.
• Capacity constraints. The maximum number of sessions (capacity) that the platform can handle while also meeting performance demands has been reached

We monitor the platform closely and constantly add additional pools of equipment and underlying capacity to ensure that our users encounter this problem as infrequently as possible.

What if I run out of time and need to extend my session?

Please schedule your session for only the amount of days you require. Generally, you will need one or two days. Keep in mind that resources are shared with others who are also scheduling sessions.

It is possible to extend an existing session, as long as the total duration is no more than five (5) days.  

• Book the session for the number of days you need. If you think you'll need a session for a couple of days, book it for two days.
• If needed, you can book a session for up to 5 days.
• Sessions scheduled for less than 5 days can be extended to a total of 5 days.
• Session renewals are subject to dCloud resource availablity.

It is not possible to extend a session which has ended.

Examples

Example A: For example, let’s say you originally booked your session for 3 days and the session has not yet started. You realize you need the session for a total of 5 days. You can extend the session by 2 days for a total of 5 days:

1. Go to My Hub.
2. Click Edit under the demo for which you'd like to extend the schedule for your session.
3. Click the grey icon to the right of End Date and select the new date (Friday).
4. Click the grey icon to the right of End Time and select the new time (5:00 pm).
5. Click Update.

Example B: You have a session booked for 3 days, and 2 days into the session you realize you need an additional 3 days but you only have 1 day left. You can extend the session by 2 days (for a total of 5 days).

Example C: Your session has expired and you realize you still need to run the demo. Because you cannot extend a session which has expired, you need to schedule a new session:

1. Select the demo and then click Schedule.
2. Click the grey icon to the right of Start Date and select the new date for the session to re-begin (today, tomorrow, or a another date in the future). 
3. Click the grey icon to the right of End Date and select the new date for the session to end (up to five days). Schedule only the days you require (up to 5 days total).
4. Click the grey icon to the right of End Time and select the time for your new (renewed) session to end.
5. Click Next.

Please also see Schedule a Session.

In dCloud, how can I access the virtual machines (VMs) (for example, the session workstation) in my active session?

Cisco dCloud offers three possible options to access session VMs:

1. Using RDP
2. Using a configured, registered Cisco dCloud router
3. Using Cisco AnyConnect

The information above is for general guidance, however, the recommended method you should use will vary based on the content you are using. Refer to the content documentation for specifics.

Also see Schedule a Session.