DAY 1
· Module 1 ACI Introduction
o Evolution of the Data Center
o Overview ofthe ACI policy model
o Review Tenants, Application Network Profiles (ANPs), End Point Groups (EPGs), Contracts, Route Leaking, L2/L3 Out
o VLAN security mapping to EPGs
o Network Centric vs Application Centric Deployments
· Module 2 Fabric Switches
o The different models of spine and leaf switches
o Overview of ASIC and capabilities
· Module 3 Application Policy Infrastructure Controller
o Discuss the purpose of the APIC
o How it is configured and the features it provide to ACI
· Lab 1 ACI Fabric Discovery
o Setup the APIC from the setup script
o Then proceed to discover and add the leafs and spines to the fabric
o Learn to navigate the GUI
· Module 4 Fabric Physical Policies
o Setup Interface and Switch policies
o Understand VLAN pool dynamic and static modes and blocks
o Domains and AEP
o LLDP/CDP vs Pre-provisioning for VMM integration
· Lab 2 Fabric Access Policy Configuration
o Initial setup of the fabric
o Fabric Access Polices
o Setup VLAN pools, AEP, Interface and Switch Policies
· Module 5 Tenant Logical Overlay Policies
o Understand the logical configuration of ACI
o We’ll cover subnet advertisement
o Contract scope, reachability and how it affects route leaking between VRFs
o Common tenant vs tenant to tenant communication and forwarding
o VLAN/subnet management in ACI and existing Data Center Fabric
DAY 2
· Module 6 Fabric Operations and Forwarding
o How the fabric works
o Where does VXLAN come into play
· Module 7 VMM Integration
o How to integrate Hypervisors into ACI
o Discuss the major Hypervisors
o How the port-groups are used to place VMs into EPGs
· Lab 3 VMM integration
o In this lab, we will configure ACI integration with VMware ESXi hosts and provide EPG configuration as port groups in the vCenter environment
· Lab 4 Communications Using Contracts
o In this activity, we will use contracts to establish connectivity between EPGs in the same tenant
· Module 8
o Describing how to connect a layer 3 network outside the ACI fabric to be integrated with ACI
· Lab 5 Establishing Layer 3 External Connectivity
o Configure Layer 3 to existing Data Center
DAY 3
· Lab 6 Advanced Communication Using Contracts
o In this lab, the student will create specific Protocol filters
o Create contacts
o Configure communication between external Users and EPG VMs
· Module 9 Layer 2
o Setup Layer 2 to existing/legacy Data Center
o When to use L2 external and when to use L2 EPG methodology
o L2 Domains vs Physical Domain
o Legacy VLANs
o Static L2 VLAN mapping inside the leaf
· Lab 7 Layer 2 External Connectivity
o Configure Layer 2 to existing Data Center
o Properly setup network scope and flooding
o Contract scope and communication
o Bonus setup ERSPAN session
· Module 10 Integrating L4-7 with ACI
o Understanding how to integrate layer 4 – 7 services like firewall and load balancers
o Discussions of supported vendors and implementation of the services to the EPGs
· Lab 8 Service Insertion
o Configure ASAv Service Insertion using various methods
· Module 11
o Integrating ACI into existing Environments
o DCI using traditional IP connectivity
o ACI methods for Multi-Pod and Mulit-Site (Fabric)
