Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure Design Guide

Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure Design Guide

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  • Create Date September 27, 2024
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When setting up Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI), there are several key design considerations to keep in mind:

1. Physical Topology
• Leaf and Spine Architecture: Ensure a robust and scalable leaf-spine topology. Leaf switches connect to endpoints, while spine switches handle inter-leaf traffic.
• Cabling: Proper cabling is crucial for optimal performance and redundancy.

2. Hardware Selection
Switch Types: Choose appropriate Cisco Nexus 9000 series switches for leaf and spine roles.
• Compatibility: Ensure hardware compatibility, especially when mixing different models or software versions.

3. Fabric Infrastructure
• Underlay Network: Design a reliable underlay network with appropriate IP addressing and routing protocols.
• TEP Address Pools: Configure Tunnel Endpoint (TEP) address pools for VXLAN encapsulation.

4. Policy and Security
• Application Network Profiles: Define application network profiles to manage policies and configurations.
• Security Policies: Implement robust security policies, including micro-segmentation and access control lists (ACLs).

5. Management and Monitoring
• Cisco APIC: Use the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) for centralized management.
• Telemetry and Analytics: Enable telemetry and analytics for real-time monitoring and troubleshooting.

6. Integration with Existing Infrastructure
Virtualization: Integrate with virtual environments, such as VMware or Hyper-V.
• Legacy Systems: Plan for integration with existing legacy systems and networks.

7. Scalability and Redundancy
• Scalability: Design for future growth, ensuring the fabric can scale as needed.
• Redundancy: Implement redundancy at various levels to ensure high availability and fault tolerance.

8. Multi-Tenancy
• Tenant Configuration: Configure tenants, VRFs, and bridge domains to support multi-tenancy.
• Resource Allocation: Allocate resources efficiently to avoid contention between tenants.

9. External Connectivity
• L3Out Configuration: Configure Layer 3 Out (L3Out) connections for external network access.
• Border Leaf Switches: Use border leaf switches for connecting to external networks and services.

10. Compliance and Best Practices
• Adhere to Standards: Follow industry standards and best practices for network design and security.
• Documentation: Maintain thorough documentation of the design and configuration for future reference and troubleshooting.

These considerations will help ensure a robust, scalable, and secure ACI deployment. If you need more detailed guidance on any specific aspect, feel free to ask in our IP Experts forum!

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