CCNP ACI Doc link :
DC ACI Training Document Part 01 Link : –
DC ACI Training Document Part 02 Link :-
YouTube Video Link :
What is Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure ACI ?
- It is SDN solution from Cisco for Data Centers, simply ACI is a Network policy based automation model
- The end goal of this solution is about enabling software control of the network and how it operates, so that software can automate and change the network based on current conditions in the network.
- ACI uses a concept of endpoints and policies. The endpoints are the VMs (or even traditional servers with the OS running directly on the hardware). Because several endpoints have the same needs, you group them together into aptly named endpoint groups. Then policies can be defined about which endpoint groups can communicate with whom—for instance, a group of web servers may need to communicate with a group of application servers. The policy also defines other key parameters, like which endpoint groups can access each other (or not), as well as QoS parameters and other services.
- ACI uses a centralized controller called the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC),It is the controller that creates application policies for the data center infrastructure…..this is your SDN controller for Data Center.
- ACI uses a partially centralized control plane, RESTful and native APIs, and OpFlex as an SBI. The NBIs allow software control from outside the controller. The controller communicates with the switches connected to the endpoints, and asks those switches to then create the correct flows to be added to the switches. Interestingly.
- ACI has three main components: Nexus 9000 switches, APIC and ecosystem