Cisco ACI Introduction

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Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) is Cisco's response to the Software Defined Networking (SDN) hype... but fortunately, Cisco took a significantly different approach from the usual "centralized control plane" crowd and created a scalable data center solution.

In this webinar, we'll examine Cisco ACI from multiple viewpoints, covering briefly the path that brought us from Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and vPC to network programmability and adoption of VXLAN as the de-facto data center overly protocol. We'll also explore a range of Cisco ACI architectures, from simple fabrics to multi-site deployments.

After attending the webinar, you'll understand:

• When and why you should adopt an SDN solution for your Data Center (or for your customers) instead of using conventional devices with VXLAN+EVPN technology
• What is Cisco ACI from a practical point of view
• Cisco ACI architecture and its benefits (and drawbacks)
• The role of individual components (Leaf, Spine, APIC)
• How many APIC controllers you might need to get the desired resiliency
• How much initial effort should you expect if you want to master this technology
• What scalability and programmability benefits could you expect to get in a Cisco ACI deployment.
• How optics affect the cost of an ACI fabric
• Scalable Cisco ACI architectures: stretched fabrics, multi-pod, and multi-site deployments
• Selecting the best Cisco ACI architecture to meet your scalability and resilience requirements
• How to integrate multi-pod and multi-site deployments on a common transport backbone

Contents

• Evolution of Data Center Design and SDN philosophy
• Basic Cisco ACI functionality and its architecture
• Devices needed in a Cisco ACI solution
• Comparing Nexus OS and ACI mode of running Cisco Nexus switches
• Cisco ACI architectures beyond a simple fabric: stretched fabrics, multi-pod and multi-site deployments

We will start from scratch and don't expect any previous knowledge... but you could get more out of this webinar if you master the basics of data center networking and leaf-and-spine architectures before attending.

Target Audience

• Network architects responsible for designing, managing and building data center fabrics
• Network engineers with limited exposure to Cisco ACI looking to gain deeper understanding of the overall solution
• Network engineers interested in getting confident about the right use of the tools for implementing and troubleshooting different scenarios on ACI
• Network consultant engineers trying to get familiar with Cisco ACI to be able to propose ACI solutions to their customers
• Anyone interested to move from the classical "one-by-one CLI configuration" method to a data center fabric based on centralized SDN philosophy and REST APIs

The Author

Mario Rosi is currently working as Senior System Engineer in an Austrian CISCO Gold Partner firm in the areas of Data Center and ISP. He's also the author of the eBook "CISCO ACI, how to use it!". Along with years of experience in networking, he developed his know-how in MPLS/VPN environment working as a consultant in international Service Providers; then he focused more on Data Center technologies concerning above all network infrastructure and protocols used inside. He had also an interesting collaboration with the Computer Science University of Padova as a lecturer, taking some seminars on SD-WAN, SD-ACCESS and ACI topics. He loves time by time going back to the roots that bring him to Italy's green heart, Umbria region where he's coming from.

Happy Campers