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Cisco ACI Multi-Site vs. Multi-Pod
Understanding these two powerful yet distinct architectures is paramount to deriving maximum value from your data center network powered by ACI.
Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 1
This lab is the Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 1, and after completion, the student can launch Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 2 to complete the entire lab. The lab uses the ACI virtual simulator based on ACI Version 6, emulating an APIC, 2 leafs, and a spine. Part 2 uses a shared physical ACI fabric to complete the policy and verify data plane connectivity.
The ACI Virtual Simulator was needed to demo the building of the ACI fabric from scratch, bootstrapping the APIC, adding the spine and leafs, fabric discovery, and completing VMM integration. Since the Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab, Part 2 is a shared on-demand environment, to decouple the APIC build process from the APIC policy creation. Due to limitations, the virtual ACI fabric is a control plane-only simulator, and no data plane testing (Ping, SSH) can get done for validation. Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 2 uses a Tenant inside of a physical ACI, and data plane functionality can get tested ( Ping, SSH)
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI is a policy-driven CLOS or Spine/Leaf based switching fabric utilizing layer 3 ECMP routing in the underlay and VXLAN encapsulation in the overlay to transport layer two and layer three traffic East/West across the fabric and North/South in and out of the fabric. ACI consists of the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC), a centralized controller that manages all aspects of the ACI fabric. The leaf switches are ToR switches that provide connectivity between servers and external networks, and the spine switches are Layer 3 switches that provide ECMP high-bandwidth connectivity between leaf switches. An ACI fabric can be expanded East/West by adding leafs, cabling to the spines, and registering them. ACI was designed to operate as "One Big Switch" (like a chassis-based NEXUS 7K) with the controllers acting like the Supervisors, the spines as fabric modules, and leafs acting as blades. We can decouple these elements from the chassis and place them anywhere in the data center by taking this approach. The leafs (blades) can be placed anywhere in the data center, so you are not limited to a chassis.
Understanding the Cisco NEXUS Dashboard Platform
Here's what you should know about the new Cisco NEXUS Dashboard platform and how to think about day 2 operations moving forward.
Cisco ACI Multisite Lab 1 - Dual site APIC Setup, Best Practices Lab and Tutorial
Cisco's ACI Anywhere vision is to allow a single security and connectivity policy with a single pane of glass to manage all multicloud environments. The key to ACI Anywhere is the ACI Multi-Site Orchestrator (MSO), which allows the administrator to create consistent security and connectivity policies across multiple physical, virtual, and cloud-based sites.
Please note that these four ACI Multisite lab modules are 301 level and our 101 and 201 ACI training labs should be completed before attempting these labs. Basic ACI concepts, labs, and tutorials are explained in detail in our ACI 101 and 202 level training labs. In addition, we also recommend reading our articles on ACI and multi-pod and multisite fundamentals before doing the labs for a thorough learning experience. Please go to the resources to see our recommended ACI syllabus to become an ACI expert.
What's new
WWT Cisco ACI Self-Service Lab now on Version 6
The WWT Cisco ACI lab has been upgraded from version 5 to 6. Check out what's changed below.
How to Determine If ACI Multi-Site is the Right Data Center Solution
Is ACI and ACI Multi-Site the correct solution for your data center refresh? By leveraging the ACI Multi-Site on-demand labs, you can determine if the ACI Multi-Site spine/leaf fabric architecture fits your business and technical requirements for brownfield or greenfield data center refreshes.
Boeing
Welcome to the Boeing partner page. This page provides information on WWT's core business capabilities and how we can partner to pursue business and technology initiatives.
Please reach out to the Account Manager Chris Twardzik for more info.
Cisco ACI Multi-Site vs. Multi-Pod
Understanding these two powerful yet distinct architectures is paramount to deriving maximum value from your data center network powered by ACI.
The Vision and Reality of ACI Anywhere
A look at where Cisco ACI Anywhere got its start, where it is today and where WWT sees it going in the future through the lens of four business use cases.
Network Assurance Engine (NAE) With ACI Simulator Lab
The Network Assurance Engine is one of the best integrated day two operations suites providing unparalleled visibility into a data center network. Look for this type of visibility across the multiple domains of WAN, LAN, DC and cloud as Cisco rolls this fabric analytic and flow engines to manage and report on misconfigurations, bugs and traffic drops from a single platform, the Network Assurance Engine.
NEXUS Dashboard, NEXUS Insights and AppDynamics Lab
Over the years, Cisco has developed various ACI tools (now for DCNM and NX-OS and eventually public cloud visibility) known as the day 2 operations suite. The tools are Network Assurance Engine (NAE) and NEXUS Insights (NI is now the combination of Network Insights Resources (NIR) and Network insights Advisor (NIA)). Cisco has embarked on combining NAE and NI into a single pane of glass view and providing sharable data lakes for all apps, allowing for correlating application performance and fabric events.
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI is a policy-driven CLOS or Spine/Leaf based switching fabric utilizing layer 3 ECMP routing in the underlay and VXLAN encapsulation in the overlay to transport layer two and layer three traffic East/West across the fabric and North/South in and out of the fabric. ACI consists of the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC), a centralized controller that manages all aspects of the ACI fabric. The leaf switches are ToR switches that provide connectivity between servers and external networks, and the spine switches are Layer 3 switches that provide ECMP high-bandwidth connectivity between leaf switches. An ACI fabric can be expanded East/West by adding leafs, cabling to the spines, and registering them. ACI was designed to operate as "One Big Switch" (like a chassis-based NEXUS 7K) with the controllers acting like the Supervisors, the spines as fabric modules, and leafs acting as blades. We can decouple these elements from the chassis and place them anywhere in the data center by taking this approach. The leafs (blades) can be placed anywhere in the data center, so you are not limited to a chassis.
Segmenting Complex Environments Using Cisco ACI
ACI is a powerful technology offering rich features for SDN to include application-centric security segmentation, automation and orchestration in the data center.
Cisco ACI Design Workshop
For customers who have chosen the Cisco ACI platform and are working to progress through the steps of modernization within the data center, they find that the journey provides an opportunity to explore and learn new features and capabilities that can affect their unique outcomes. This workshop will explore the various aspects of the Cisco Intent Based (Data Center) Network and focus on key aspects of the closed loop assurance solution. Our goal is to help customer achieve a secure, reliable and stable data center network delivering consistent repeatable results that can be quantified and measured.
Cisco ACI Segmentation Migration Lab
Over the past few years many customers deploying ACI have opted for using the "Network-Centric" approach for implementing their ACI installations. Customers who no want to migrate to a Application-Centric approach often find their workloads are spread across multiple subnets, and grouping them by application is difficult. This lab provides a technique on how to make this migration simpler
ASAv integration in Cisco ACI using PBR Service Graph redirection Lab
The goal of this lab is to show how policy-based redirection to a L4-7 device can be used with a single bridge domain needed for Cisco ACI fabrics. The use of a single bridge domain and single PBR redirection is known as "one-armed mode."
Cisco vFTD integration in ACI using PBR Service Graph redirection Lab
The goal of this lab is to show how policy-based redirection to a L4-7 device can be used with a single bridge domain needed for Application Centric (ACI) fabrics. The use of a single bridge domain and single PBR redirection is known as "one -armed mode."
Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 1
This lab is the Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 1, and after completion, the student can launch Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 2 to complete the entire lab. The lab uses the ACI virtual simulator based on ACI Version 6, emulating an APIC, 2 leafs, and a spine. Part 2 uses a shared physical ACI fabric to complete the policy and verify data plane connectivity.
The ACI Virtual Simulator was needed to demo the building of the ACI fabric from scratch, bootstrapping the APIC, adding the spine and leafs, fabric discovery, and completing VMM integration. Since the Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab, Part 2 is a shared on-demand environment, to decouple the APIC build process from the APIC policy creation. Due to limitations, the virtual ACI fabric is a control plane-only simulator, and no data plane testing (Ping, SSH) can get done for validation. Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 2 uses a Tenant inside of a physical ACI, and data plane functionality can get tested ( Ping, SSH)
Understanding the Cisco NEXUS Dashboard Platform
Here's what you should know about the new Cisco NEXUS Dashboard platform and how to think about day 2 operations moving forward.
The Risk of End of Support (EoS) Infrastructure in Your Data Center
This article examines what End of Support/End of Life means, how it can affect your business and steps to making a plan to refresh your data center.
Cisco ACI Segmentation Migration Video
Implementing an application-centric mode to specifically meet a segmentation strategy and zone architecture requires a different approach — one referred to as the hybrid model.
NSX on ACI Lab
This is an On-Demand Lab for VMware NSX-T running on top of Cisco ACI. With this lab, you will be able to access a live lab with NSX-T configured to utilize ACI with both a single and double overlay implementation. The lab will step you through viewing the configuration for both ACI and NSX-T.
Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Walkthrough: Part 2
This playlist is recommended to be used in conjunction with part 2 of our ACI Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab using a physical ACI fabric. These videos will show the students how to perform the labs in detail and answer any other questions not covered in the lab guide itself. The videos will cover: ACI 101 policy basics, the configuration of an APP Profile under the Tenant, EPGs, Bridge domains, contracts, and filters inside their tenant. The student will integrate their EPGs with Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) Networking which creates port groups on the DVS, and then place VMs in their respective port groups and verify data path connectivity. The students will then create layer 2 and layer 3 connectivity outside the fabric and verify the data path connectivity. Finally, students will learn micro-segmentation techniques to segment the traffic inside an EPG.
Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Walkthrough: Part 1
This playlist is recommended to be used in conjunction with part 1 of our Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab using the Cisco ACI APIC simulator. These videos will show the students how to perform the labs in detail and answer any other questions not covered in the lab itself. The videos will cover: a tutorial on VXLAN 101 and ACI 101 basics, initial configuration of the APIC 5.0 controller via APIC console using the APIC simulator, APIC 5.0 switch Fabric Discovery via the registration process, APIC 5.0 GUI discovery, and Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) Networking. The Cisco ACI Part 2 Lab and playlist completes the learning by covering how to use a physical ACI fabric with a data plane for testing connectivity.