One of the most frequent topics that comes up when I am discussing ACI with customers, is, “How can we better operationalize ACI?”. In other words, how can we take what we have with ACI, and make it simpler to consume for not only ourselves, but for our Ops staff? For those new to ACI … More Operationalizing ACI: Enhanced Endpoint Tracker
The top question all new ACI customers have (or should have), is what are the configurations that should be enabled on my fabric from the beginning? With that in mind, we’re going use this post as a living document with configurations that are considered “Best Practice” to have enabled. We will keep this document updated … More ACI Best Practice Configurations
MisCabling Protocol (or MCP) detects loops from external sources (i.e., misbehaving servers, external networking equipment running STP) and will err-disable the interface on which ACI receives its own packet. Enabling this feature is a best practice and it should be enabled globally and on all interfaces, regardless of the end device. MCP limits the blast … More Using MCP (MisCabling Protocol) for ACI
This statement is especially true when it comes to naming objects inside of ACI. Naming your ACI objects in a meaningful and thoughtful way will increase the supportability of your fabric and even help the fabric to become “self-documenting”. Having naming conventions that are haphazard, will have an equally negative impact. To complicate matters, … More ACI Naming Convention Best Practices
The CIMC is Cisco’s answer to lights-out management for UCS servers, including the UCS servers that house the APICs. For troubleshooting the APIC, most engineers assume you must have direct console (i.e., physical access) or use the Java (or later HTTP)-based KVM Console to get true OOB access to your APIC, however, this is not … More Using Serial-over-Lan (SOL) on the CIMC to access the APIC (instead of KVM console)
When fully configured and integrated with your business processes, ACI can deliver a fantastic number of features, from automation to granular security and the list goes on… Commentary – So many times, I’ve seen ACI customers who have been “sold a bill of goods” that promises all the wonderful benefits, but due to lack of … More The ACI Journey
ACI fundamentally handles endpoint learning in a different manner than traditional network devices. This difference gives ACI the unique advantage of being able to limit flooding of ARP, Unknown Unicast, and other traffic types. As ACI has evolved, the best way to configure ACI, in an optimal way, has evolved as well. Below is a … More ACI Endpoint Learning Best Practices