Cisco ACI: Zero to Hero: A Comprehensive Guide to Cisco ACI Design, Implementation, Operation, and Troubleshooting

It doesn’t matter if you are completely new to Cisco ACI or you already have some experience with the technology, this book will guide you through the whole implementation lifecycle and provide you with a comprehensive toolset to become confident in any ACI-related task.

In the beginning, it’s very important to build strong fundamental knowledge about Cisco ACI components. We'll go through underlay networking based on Nexus 9000 switches and describe the APIC controller cluster acting as the management plane of ACI. By building Access Policies, you'll see how to optimally connect servers, storage, routers, switches, or L4-L7 service devices to ACI. Then we'll properly design and implement Logical Application Policies. You will understand all the fabric forwarding behavior when using different ACI settings and architectures while getting a toolset on how to verify and troubleshoot eventual problems.

This book also covers external L2 and L3 connectivity in ACI, more advanced features like integration with virtualization hypervisors and Kubernetes, service chaining of L4-L7 devices using Service Graphs, or practical approach to using REST API automation based on Python and Ansible/Terraform.

Cisco ACI: Zero to Hero can additionally be used as a valuable source of theoretical and practical knowledge for all candidates preparing for CCIE DC v3.0 Written or Lab exams.

What You'll Learn

• Understand network evolution and Cisco ACI components
• Underlay ACI networking based on Nexus 9000 switches, APIC controllers, and Application Policy Model
• Integrate ACI with virtualization hypervisors and Kubernetes
• Dynamically and seamlessly include L4-L7 service devices in communication between ACI endpoints
• Build ACI Anywhere: ACI Multi-Tier, Stretched Fabric, Multi-POD, Multi-Site, and Remote Leaf
• Utilize ACI REST API with Python, related Cobra SDK, Ansible or Terraform, to develop automation and scripts on top of the ACI platform

Who This Book Is For

Network engineers, architects, network developers, administrators or NOC technicians.

About the Author

Jan Janovic, 2x CCIE No. 55858 (R&S|DC) and Cisco Certified Instructor (CCSI #35493), is an IT enthusiast with 10+ years of experience with network design, implementation and support for customers from a wide variety of industry sectors. During the last years, he has focused on data center networking, mainly, but not limited to solutions based on Cisco Nexus platforms – traditional vPC architectures, VXLAN BGP EVPN network fabrics and Cisco ACI Software-Defined Networking. All with an emphasis on mutual technology integration, automation and analytic tools. Another significant part of his job is the delivery of professional training for customers all around Europe.

During his university studies, he led a group of students to the successful development of the world's first Open-Source EIGRP implementation for the Quagga Linux package (currently under the name FRRouting). He also contributed to OSPF features there.

His technical focus additionally expands to public cloud topics connected with the design and deployment of AWS and Azure solutions.