Home > Articles > Understanding ACI Hardware and Topologies

Understanding ACI Hardware and Topologies

Contents

  1. “Do I Know This Already?” Quiz
  2. ACI Topologies and Components
  3. APIC Clusters
  4. Spine Hardware
  5. Leaf Hardware
  6. Exam Preparation Tasks
  7. Review All Key Topics
  8. Define Key Terms

Chapter Description

ACI is designed to allow small and large enterprises and service providers to build massively scalable data centers using a relatively small number of very flexible topologies. In this sample chapter from CCNP Data Center Application Centric Infrastructure 300-620 DCACI Official Cert Guide, the author team details the topologies with which an ACI fabric can be built or extended.

From the Book

CCNP Data Center Application Centric Infrastructure 300-620 DCACI Official Cert Guide

CCNP Data Center Application Centric Infrastructure 300-620 DCACI Official Cert Guide

$55.99 (Save 20%)

This chapter covers the following topics:

ACI Topologies and Components: This section describes the key hardware components and acceptable topologies for ACI fabrics.

APIC Clusters: This section covers available APIC hardware models and provides an understanding of APIC cluster sizes and failover implications.

Spine Hardware: This section addresses available spine hardware options.

Leaf Hardware: This section outlines the leaf platforms available for deployment in ACI fabrics.

This chapter covers the following exam topics:

  • 1.1 Describe ACI topology and hardware

  • 6.1 Describe Multi-Pod

  • 6.2 Describe Multi-Site

ACI is designed to allow small and large enterprises and service providers to build massively scalable data centers using a relatively small number of very flexible topologies.

This chapter details the topologies with which an ACI fabric can be built or extended. Understanding supported ACI topologies helps guide decisions on target-state network architecture and hardware selection.

Each hardware component in an ACI fabric performs a specific set of functions. For example, leaf switches enforce security rules, and spine switches track all endpoints within a fabric in a local database.

But not all ACI switches are created equally. Nor are APICs created equally. This chapter therefore aims to provide a high-level understanding of some of the things to consider when selecting hardware.

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz

The “Do I Know This Already?” quiz allows you to assess whether you should read this entire chapter thoroughly or jump to the “Exam Preparation Tasks” section. If you are in doubt about your answers to these questions or your own assessment of your knowledge of the topics, read the entire chapter. Table 2-1 lists the major headings in this chapter and their corresponding “Do I Know This Already?” quiz questions. You can find the answers in Appendix A, “Answers to the ‘Do I Know This Already?’ Questions.”

Table 2-1 “Do I Know This Already?” Section-to-Question Mapping

Foundation Topics Section

Questions

ACI Topologies and Components

1–5

APIC Clusters

6

Spine Hardware

7, 8

Leaf Hardware

9, 10

Caution

The goal of self-assessment is to gauge your mastery of the topics in this chapter. If you do not know the answer to a question or are only partially sure of the answer, you should mark that question as wrong for purposes of the self-assessment. Giving yourself credit for an answer you correctly guess skews your self-assessment results and might provide you with a false sense of security.

  1. An ACI fabric is being extended to a secondary location to replace two top-of-rack switches and integrate a handful of servers into a corporate ACI environment. Which solution should ideally be deployed at the remote location if the deployment of new spines is considered cost-prohibitive and direct fiber links from the main data center cannot be dedicated to this function?

    1. ACI Multi-Site

    2. ACI Remote Leaf

    3. ACI Multi-Tier

    4. ACI Multi-Pod

  2. Which of the following is a requirement for a Multi-Pod IPN that is not needed in an ACI Multi-Site ISN?

    1. Increased MTU support

    2. OSPF support on last-hop routers connecting to ACI spines

    3. End-to-end IP connectivity

    4. Multicast PIM-Bidir

  3. Which of the following connections would ACI definitely block?

    1. APIC-to-leaf cabling

    2. Leaf-to-leaf cabling

    3. Spine-to-leaf cabling

    4. Spine-to-spine cabling

  4. Which of the following are valid reasons for ACI Multi-Site requiring more specialized spine hardware? (Choose all that apply.)

    1. Ingress replication of BUM traffic

    2. IP fragmentation

    3. Namespace normalization

    4. Support for PIM-Bidir for multicast forwarding

  5. Which of the following options best describes border leaf switches?

    1. Border leaf switches provide Layer 2 and 3 connectivity to outside networks.

    2. Border leaf switches connect to Layer 4–7 service appliances, such as firewalls and load balancers.

    3. Border leaf switches are ACI leaf switches that connect to servers.

    4. Border leaf switches serve as the border between server network traffic and FCoE storage traffic.

  6. Which of the following statements is accurate?

    1. A three-node M3 cluster of APICs can scale up to 200 leaf switches.

    2. Sharding is a result of the evolution of what is called horizontal partitioning of databases.

    3. The number of shards distributed among APICs for a given attribute is directly correlated to the number of APICs deployed.

    4. A standby APIC actively synchronizes with active APICs and has a copy of all attributes within the APIC database at all times.

  7. Out of the following switches, which are spine platforms that support ACI Multi-Site? (Choose all that apply.)

    1. Nexus 93180YC-EX

    2. Nexus 9364C

    3. Nexus 9736C-FX line card

    4. Nexus 9396PX

  8. Which of the following is a valid reason for upgrading a pair of Nexus 9336PQ ACI switches to second-generation Nexus 9332C spine hardware? (Choose all that apply.)

    1. Namespace normalization for ACI Multi-Site support

    2. Support for 40 Gbps leaf-to-spine connectivity

    3. Support for CloudSec

    4. Support for ACI Multi-Pod

  9. True or false: The Nexus 93180YC-FX leaf switch supports MACsec.

    1. True

    2. False

  10. Which of the following platforms is a low-cost option for server CIMC and other low-bandwidth functions that rely on RJ-45 connectivity?

    1. Nexus 9336C-FX2

    2. Nexus 93180YC-FX

    3. Nexus 9332C

    4. Nexus 9348GC-FXP

2. ACI Topologies and Components | Next Section

Cisco Press Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Cisco Press and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview

Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Cisco Press products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information

To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@ciscopress.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information

Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security

Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children

This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing

Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information

If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out

Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Cisco Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.ciscopress.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information

Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents

California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure

Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links

This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact

Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020