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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