ACI FEI - ACI Field Engineer Implementation (ACI-FEI)

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This four-day ILT course is designed to take Field Engineers and System Architects with no ACI experience and prepare them to design and build an ACI fabric. Students will learn what they need to know to take Cisco switches from the loading dock and build an operational, functioning ACI fabric that includes servers, virtual machines, external networks and service devices.

Specific topics addressed in this course are ACI configuration and basic operations, including rack-and-stack initial installation, application profile configuration, ACI under-the-hood, VMware hypervisor integration, external connectivity, layer 4-7 service device integration, operations and troubleshooting. There are detailed labs for each step of the course.

The curriculum is delivered as Just-In-Time learning, designed to provide Engineers just what they need to know, just when they need to know it. Students are not given training that they are not able to apply immediately. With this production-focused training, the student will be ready for the technical requirements of today. With the included library of curated references, the student is also poised to meet the requirements of the future.

The course provides insight from subject matter experts and over 100 production installations. These subject matter experts have insight because they’ve been in the students’ shoes.

Student Testimonials

Instructor did a great job, from experience this subject can be a bit dry to teach but he was able to keep it very engaging and made it much easier to focus. Student
Excellent presentation skills, subject matter knowledge, and command of the environment. Student
Instructor was outstanding. Knowledgeable, presented well, and class timing was perfect. Student

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Prerequisites


Students should have the following knowledge:
  • Cisco Nexus and Data Center Layer 2/3 Concepts
  • Basic Cisco UCS B Series Networking
  • Basic VMware administration and networking
  • Firewall and Load Balancer Principles
  • Basic Management and Security Protocols
  • Basic Linux System administration

Detailed Class Syllabus


Module 1: ACI Overview


SDN/Overlay Networking Primer
Cisco ACI Overview and Terminology
Logical Model Overview
Concrete Model Overview

Module 2: ACI Fabric Switches


Nexus 9000 Overview
Nexus 9000 Models
Hardware Installation

Module 3: APIC Overview


APIC Introduction
APIC Overview
APIC Installation
APIC GUI

Module 4: Initial Fabric Configuration


ACI Initial Configuration Overview
OOB Configuration
Network Time Protocol
Access Policies
External-facing Interface Configuration
ACI Pools
ACI Domains
Attachable Access Entity Profile (AAEP)
VPC Configuration in ACI Fabric
Simplified Interface & Policy Configuration
Troubleshooting Access Policy

Module 5: ACI Connectivity Policies


ACI Logical Model
Tenant
VRF
Bridge Domain
Subnet
End Points Groups (EPG)
Microsegmentation
Application Profiles (AP) and Contracts
ACI Quality of Service

Module 6: Application Modeling and Deployment


Designing an AP
Lab: AP
RESTful API Review
Lab: Using Postman
Learning Network Programmability
ACI Toolkit

Module 7: Fabric Operation and Forwarding


Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) Basics
ACI Fabric Fundamentals
Fabric Forwarding
Endpoint Learning & Lookup
Fabric Innovations

Module 8: Hypervisor Integration


Virtualization Primer
ACI Hypervisor Integration Overview
ACI Hypervisor Integration with VMware ? Integration with VMware VDS
?ACI VMware Configuration
ACI Integration with Microsoft
ACI Integration with OpenStack
OpFlex
Application Virtual Switch
Design Considerations
Virtualization Integration Summary

Module 9: Connecting to Existing L2 Infrastructure


L2 Extension Overview
Option A: Extend EPG
Option B: Extend BD
Design Considerations

Module 10: Connecting to Existing L3 Infrastructure


L3 Integration Overview
L3 Integration & Configuration
Shared L3Out
Multi-Site ACI

Module 11: Integrating L4-7 Services with ACI


Service Graphs
Device Packages
Service Insertion Overview
L4-7 Services Configuration
Unmanaged Mode
Network Services Placement

Module 12: Operating ACI


APIC Management Access
Naming Conventions
Operations Tools
Firmware Upgrades
Backing Up

Module 13: Troubleshooting ACI


APIC Troubleshooting
APIC Troubleshooting Tools ?Health Scores
?Troubleshooting Wizard
?Statistics
?Atomic Counters
?Digital Optical Monitoring
?SNMP
?Switchport Analyzer (SPAN)
?Syslog
?Traceroute
Visore - The APIC Object Store Browser
Troubleshooting via the CLI
Removing Unwanted _ui_ Objects
Fabric Recovery
ACI Backup

Module 14: ACI Integration with Existing DC Networks


DC Architecture Review
ACI Insertion Options
ACI Services Block Strategy