data center design

Open Networking

by Publications

Open Networking

In today's digital age, where connectivity is the lifeline of businesses and individuals alike, open networking has emerged as a transformative approach. This blogpost delves into the concept of open networking, its benefits, and its potential to revolutionize the way we connect and communicate.

Open networking refers to a networking model that promotes interoperability, flexibility, and innovation. Unlike traditional closed networks that rely on proprietary systems, open networking embraces open standards, open source software, and open APIs. This approach enables organizations to break free from vendor lock-in, customize their network infrastructure, and foster collaborative development.

Enhanced Agility and Scalability: Open networking empowers businesses to adapt swiftly to changing requirements. By decoupling hardware and software layers, organizations gain the flexibility to scale their networks seamlessly and introduce new services efficiently. This agility is crucial in today's dynamic business landscape.

Cost-Effectiveness: With open networking, businesses can leverage commodity hardware and software-defined solutions, reducing capital expenditures. Moreover, the use of open source software eliminates costly licensing fees, making it an economically viable option for organizations of all sizes.

Interoperability and Vendor Neutrality: Open networking promotes interoperability between different vendors' products, fostering a vendor-neutral environment. This not only frees organizations from vendor lock-in but also encourages healthy competition, driving innovation and ensuring the best solutions for their specific needs.

Data Centers and Cloud Networks: Open networking has found significant applications in data centers and cloud networks. By embracing open standards and software-defined architectures, organizations can create agile and scalable infrastructure, enabling efficient management of virtual resources and enhancing overall performance.

Campus Networks and Enterprise Connectivity: In the realm of campus networks, open networking allows organizations to tailor their network infrastructure to meet specific demands. Through open APIs and programmability, businesses can integrate various systems and applications, enhancing connectivity, security, and productivity.

Telecommunications and Service Providers: Telecommunications and service providers can leverage open networking to deliver innovative services and improve customer experiences. By adopting open source solutions and virtualization, they can enhance network efficiency, reduce costs, and introduce new revenue streams with ease.

Open networking presents a transformative paradigm shift, empowering organizations to unleash the full potential of connectivity. By embracing open standards, flexibility, and collaboration, businesses can achieve enhanced agility, cost-effectiveness, and interoperability. Whether in data centers, campus networks, or telecommunications, open networking opens doors to innovation and empowers organizations to shape their network infrastructure according to their unique needs.

Matt Conran

Highlights: Open Networking

**Fostering Innovation**

a) Open Networking refers to a network where networking hardware devices are separated from software code. Enterprises can flexibly choose equipment, software, and networking operating systems (OS) by using open standards and bare-metal hardware. An open network provides flexibility, agility, and programmability.

b) Additionally, open networking effectively separates hardware from software. This approach enhances component compatibility, interoperability, and expandability. In this way, enterprises gain greater flexibility, which facilitates their development.

c) Open networking relies on open standards, which allow for seamless integration between different hardware and software components, regardless of the vendor. This approach not only reduces dependency on single-source suppliers but also encourages a competitive market, fostering innovation and driving down costs.

d) Furthermore, open networking solutions are often built on open-source software, which benefits from the collective expertise of a global community of developers and engineers.

At present, Open Networking is enabled by: 

  • A. Open Source Software 
  • B. Open Network Devices 
  • C. Open Compute Hardware 
  • D. Software Defined Networks 
  • E. Network Function Virtualisation 
  • F. Cloud Computing 
  • G. Automation 
  • H. Agile Methods & Processes 

Defining Open Networking

Open Networking is much broader than other definitions, but it’s the only definition that doesn’t create more solution silos or bend the solution outcome to a buzzword or competing technology.  There is a need for a holistic definition of open networking that is inclusive and holistic and produces the best results. 

As a result of these technologies, hardware-based, specific-function, and proprietary components are being replaced by more generic and more straightforward hardware, and software is being migrated to perform more critical functions.

Open Networking in Practice:

Open Networking is already making its mark across various industries. Cloud service providers, for example, rely heavily on Open Networking principles to build scalable and flexible data center networks. Telecom operators also embrace Open Networking to deploy virtualized network functions, enabling them to offer services more efficiently and adapt to changing customer demands.

**Role of SDN and NFV**

Moreover, adopting software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) further accelerates the realization of the benefits of open networking. SDN separates the control plane from the data plane, providing centralized network management and programmability. NFV virtualizes network functions, allowing for dynamic provisioning and scalability. 

A. Use Cases and Real-World Examples: 

Data Centers and Cloud Computing: Open networking has gained significant traction in data centers and cloud computing environments. By leveraging open networking principles, organizations can build scalable and flexible data center networks that seamlessly integrate with cloud platforms, enabling efficient data management and resource allocation.

**Separate Control from Data Plane**

Software-Defined Networking (SDN): SDN is an example of open networking principles. By separating the control plane from the data plane, SDN enables centralized network management, automation, and programmability. This approach empowers network administrators to dynamically configure and optimize network resources, improving performance and reducing operational overhead.

B. Key Open Networking Projects:

Open Network Operating System (ONOS): ONOS is a collaborative project that focuses on creating an open-source, carrier-grade SDN (Software-Defined Networking) operating system. It provides a scalable platform for building network applications and services, facilitating innovation and interoperability.

OpenDaylight (ODL): ODL is a modular, extensible, open-source SDN controller platform. It aims to accelerate SDN adoption by providing developers and network operators with a common platform to build and deploy network applications.

FRRouting (FRR): FRR is an open-source IP routing protocol suite that supports various routing protocols, including OSPF, BGP, and IS-IS. It offers a flexible and scalable routing solution, enabling network operators to optimize their routing infrastructure.

The Role of Transformation

Infrastructure: Embrace Transformation:

To undertake an effective SDN data center transformation strategy, we must accept that demands on data center networks come from internal end-users, external customers, and considerable changes in the application architecture. All of these factors put pressure on traditional data center architecture.

Dealing effectively with these demands requires the network domain to become more dynamic, potentially introducing Open Networking and Open Networking solutions. For this to occur, we must embrace digital transformation and the changes it will bring to our infrastructure. Unfortunately, keeping current methods is holding back this transition.

Modern Network Infrastructure:

In modern network infrastructures, as has been the case on the server side for many years, customers demand supply chain diversification regarding hardware and silicon vendors. This diversification reduces the Total Cost of Ownership because businesses can drive better cost savings. In addition, replacing the hardware underneath can be seamless because the software above is standard across both vendors.

Leaf and Spine Architecture:

Further, as architectures streamline and spine leaf architecture increases from the data center to the backbone and the Edge, a typical software architecture across all these environments brings operational simplicity. This perfectly aligns with the broader trend of IT/OT convergence.  

Working with Open Source Software

Linux Networking

One remarkable aspect of Linux networking is the abundance of powerful tools available for network configuration. From the traditional ifconfig and route commands to the more recent ip command, this section will introduce various tools and their functionalities.

Virtual Switching: Open vSwitch

What is Open vSwitch?

Open vSwitch is a multilayer virtual switch that enables network automation and management in virtualized environments. It bridges virtual machines (VMs) and the physical network, allowing seamless communication and control over network traffic. With its extensible architecture and robust feature set, Open vSwitch offers a flexible and scalable networking solution.

Open vSwitch offers many features, making it a popular choice among network administrators and developers. Some of its key capabilities include:

1. Virtual Network Switching: Open vSwitch can create and manage virtual switches, ports, and bridges, creating complex network topologies within virtualized environments.

2. Flow Control: With Open vSwitch, you can define and control network traffic flow using flow rules. This enables advanced traffic management, filtering, and QoS (Quality of Service) capabilities.

3. Integration with SDN Controllers: Open vSwitch seamlessly integrates with various Software-Defined Networking (SDN) controllers, providing centralized management and control of network resources.

Containers & Docker Networking

Docker networking revolves around containers, networks, and endpoints. Containers are isolated environments that run applications, while networks act as virtual channels for communication. Endpoints, on the other hand, are unique identifiers attached to containers within a network. Understanding these fundamental concepts is crucial for grasping Docker network connectivity.

Docker Networking Fundamentals

Docker networking operates on a virtual network that allows containers to communicate securely. Docker creates a bridge network called “docker0” by default and assigns each container a unique IP address. This isolation ensures that containers can run independently without interfering with each other.

The default bridge network in Docker is an internal network that connects containers running on the same host. Containers within this network can communicate with each other using IP addresses. However, containers on different hosts cannot directly communicate over the bridge network.

Orchestrator: Understanding Docker Swarm

Docker Swarm, a native clustering and orchestration tool for Docker, allows the management of a cluster of Docker nodes as a single virtual system. It provides high availability, scalability, and ease of use for deploying and managing containerized applications. With its intuitive user interface and powerful command-line interface, Docker Swarm simplifies managing container clusters.

Related: For pre-information, you may find the following posts helpful:

  1. OpenFlow Protocol
  2. Software-defined Perimeter Solutions
  3. Network Configuration Automation
  4. SASE Definition
  5. Network Overlays
  6. Overlay Virtual Networking

Open Networking Solutions

Open Networking: The Solutions

Now, let’s look at the evolution of data centers to see how we can achieve this modern infrastructure. To evolve and keep up with current times, you should use technology and your infrastructure as practical tools. You will be able to drive the entire organization to become digital. Of course, the network components will play a key role. Still, the digital transformation process is an enterprise-wide initiative focusing on fabric-wide automation and software-defined networking.

A. Lacking fabric-wide automation:

One central pain point I have seen throughout networking is the necessity to dispense with manual work lacking fabric-wide automation. In addition, it’s common to deploy applications by combining multiple services that run on a distributed set of resources. As a result, configuration and maintenance are much more complex than in the past. You have two options to implement all of this.

Undertaking Manual or Automated Approach

First, you can connect these services by manually spinning up the servers, installing the necessary packages, and SSHing to each one. Alternatively, you can go toward open network solutions with automation, particularly Ansible automation with Ansible Engine or Ansible Tower with automation mesh. As automation best practice, use Ansible variables for flexible playbook creation that can be easily shared and used amongst different environments.  

B. Fabric-wide automation and SDN:

However, deploying a VRF or any technology, such as an anycast gateway, is a dynamic global command in a software-defined environment. We now have fabric-wide automation and can deploy with one touch instead of numerous box-by-box configurations. 

We are moving from a box-by-box configuration to the atomic programming of a single entity’s distributing fabric. This allows us to carry out deployments with one configuration point quickly and without human error.

C. Configuration management:

Manipulating configuration files by hand is tedious, error-prone, and time-consuming. Equally, performing pattern matching to make changes to existing files is risky. The manual approach will result in configuration drift, where some servers will drift from the desired state. 

Configuration Drift: Configuration drift is caused by inconsistent configuration items across devices, usually due to manual changes and updates and not following the automation path. Ansible architecture can maintain the desired state across various managed assets.

Storing Managed Assets: Managed assets, which can range from distributed firewalls to Linux hosts, are stored in an inventory file, which can be static or dynamic. Dynamic inventories are best suited for a cloud environment where you want to gather host information dynamically. Ansible is all about maintaining the desired state for your domain.

Challenge: The issue of Silos

To date, the networking industry has been controlled by a few vendors. We have dealt with proprietary silos in the data center, campus/enterprise, and service provider environments. The major vendors will continue to provide a vertically integrated lock-in solution for most customers. They will not allow independent, 3rd party network operating system software to run on their silicon.

Required: Modular & Open

Typically, these silos were able to solve the problems of the time. The modern infrastructure needs to be modular, open, and straightforward. Vendors need to allow independent, 3rd party network operating systems to run on their silicon to break from being a vertically integrated lock-in solution. Cisco has started this for the broader industry regarding open networking solutions with the announcement of the Cisco Silicon ONE. 

The Rise of Open Networking Solutions

New data center requirements have emerged; therefore, the network infrastructure must break the silos and transform to meet these trending requirements. One can view the network transformation as moving from a static and conservative mindset that results in cost overrun and inefficiencies to a dynamic routed environment that is simple, scalable, secure, and can reach the far edge. For effective network transformation, we need several stages. 

**Routed Data Center Design**

Firstly, transition to a routed data center design with a streamlined leaf-spine architecture and a standard operating system across cloud, Edge, and 5G networks. A viable approach would be to do all this with open standards, without proprietary mechanisms. Then, we need good visibility.

**Networking and Visibility**

As part of the transformation, the network is no longer considered a black box that needs to be available and provide connectivity to services. Instead, the network is a source of deep visibility that can aid a large set of use cases: network performance, monitoring, security, and capacity planning, to name a few. However, visibility is often overlooked with an over-focus on connectivity and not looking at the network as a valuable source of information.

**Monitoring at a Flow level**

For efficient network management, we must provide deep visibility for the application at a flow level on any port and device type. You would deploy a redundant monitoring network if you want something comparable today. Such a network would consist of probes, packet brokers, and tools to process the packet for metadata.

**Packet Brokers: Traditional Tooling**

Traditional network monitoring tools like packet brokers require life cycle management. A more viable solution would integrate network visibility into the fabric and would not need many components. This would enable us to do more with the data and aid in agility for ongoing network operations.

Note: Observability: Detecting the unknown

There will always be some requirement for application optimization or a security breach, where visibility can help you quickly resolve these issues. Monitoring is used to detect known problems and is only valid with pre-defined dashboards that show a problem you have seen before, such as capacity reaching its limit.

On the other hand, we have the practices of Observability that can detect unknown situations and are used to aid those in getting to the root cause of any problem, known or unknown: 

Example Visibility Technology: sFlow

What is sFlow?

sFlow is a network monitoring technology that allows for real-time, granular network traffic analysis. By sampling packets at high speeds, sFlow provides a comprehensive view of network behavior, capturing key data such as source and destination addresses, port numbers, and traffic volumes. This invaluable information serves as the foundation for network optimization and security.

Evolution of the Data Center

**Several Important Design Phases**

We are transitioning, and the data center has undergone several design phases. Initially, we started with layer 2 silos, suitable for the north-to-south traffic flows. However, layer 2 designs hindered east-west communication traffic flows of modern applications and restricted agility, which led to a push to break network boundaries.

**Layer 3 Routing & Overlay Networking**

Hence, routing at the top of the rack (ToR) with overlays between ToR is moved to drive inter-application communication. This is the most efficient approach, which can be accomplished in several ways. 

The demand for leaf and spine “clos” started in the data center and spread to other environments. A closed network is a type of non-blocking, multistage switching architecture.

This network design extends from the central/backend data center to the micro data centers at the EdgeEdge. Various parts of the edge network, PoPs, central offices, and packet core have all been transformed into leaf and spine “clos” designs. 

The network overlay

When increasing agility, building a complete network overlay is common to all software-defined technologies. An overlay is a solution abstracted from the underlying physical infrastructure. This means separating and disaggregating the customer applications or services from the network infrastructure. Think of it as a sandbox or private network for each application on an existing network.

Example: Overlay Networking with VXLAN

The network overlay is more often created with VXLAN. The Cisco ACI uses an ACI network of VXLAN for the overlay, and the underlay is a combination of BGP and IS-IS. The overlay abstracts a lot of complexity, and Layer 2 and 3 traffic separation is done with a VXLAN network identifier (VNI).

The VXLAN overlay

VXLAN uses a 24-bit network segment ID, called a VXLAN network identifier (VNI), for identification. This is much larger than the 12 bits used for traditional VLAN identification. The VNI is just a fancy name for a VLAN ID, but it now supports up to 16 Million VXLAN segments. 

Challenge: Traditional VLANs

This is considerably more than the traditional 4094-supported endpoints with VLANs. Not only does this provide more hosts, but it also enables better network isolation capabilities, with many little VXLAN segments instead of one large VLAN domain.

Required: Better Isolation and Scalability

The VXLAN network has become the de facto overlay protocol and brings many advantages to network architecture regarding flexibility, isolation, and scalability. VXLAN effectively implements an Ethernet segment that virtualizes a thick Ethernet cable.

Use Case: – **VXLAN Flood and Learn**

Flood and learn is a crucial mechanism within VXLAN that enables the dynamic discovery of VXLAN tunnels and associated endpoints. When a VXLAN packet reaches a switch, and the destination MAC address is unknown, the switch utilizes flood and learns to broadcast the packet to all its VXLAN tunnels. The receiving tunnel endpoints then examine the packet, learn the source MAC address, and update their forwarding tables accordingly.

Traditional policy deployment

Traditionally, deploying an application to the network involves propagating the policy to work through the entire infrastructure. Why? Because the network acts as an underlay, segmentation rules configured on the underlay are needed to separate different applications and services.

This creates a rigid architecture that cannot react quickly and adapt to changes, therefore lacking agility. The applications and the physical network are tightly coupled. Now, we can have a policy in the overlay network with proper segmentation per customer.

1. Virtual Networking & ToR switches

Virtual networks and those built with VXLAN are built from servers or ToR switches. Either way, the underlying network transports the traffic and doesn’t need to be configured to accommodate the customer application. Everything, including the policy, is done in the overlay network, which is most efficient when done in a fully distributed manner.

2. Flexibility of Overlay Networking

Now, application and service deployment occurs without touching the physical infrastructure. For example, if you need to have Layer 2 or Layer 3 paths across the data center network, you don’t need to tweak a VLAN or change routing protocols.  Instead, you add a VXLAN overlay network. This approach removes the tight coupling between the application and network, creating increased agility and simplicity in deploying applications and services.

**Key Point: Extending from the data center**

Edge computing creates a fundamental disruption among the business infrastructure teams. We no longer have the framework where IT only looks at the backend software, such as Office365, and OT looks at the routing and switching product-centric elements. There is convergence.

Therefore, you need many open APIs. The edge computing paradigm brings processing closer to the end devices, reducing latency and improving the end-user experience. It would help if you had a network that could work with this model to support this. Having different siloed solutions does not work. 

3. Required: Common software architecture

So the data center design went from the layer 2 silo to the leaf and spine architecture with routing to the ToR. However, there is another missing piece. We need a standard operating software architecture across all the domains and location types for switching and routing to reduce operating costs. The problem remains that even on one site, there can be several different operating systems.

I have experienced the operational challenge of having many Cisco operating systems on one site through recent consultancy engagements. For example, I had an IOS XR for service provider product lines, IOS XE for enterprise, and NS OX for the data center, all on a single site.

4. Challenge: The traditional integrated vendor

Traditionally, networking products were a combination of hardware and software that had to be purchased as an integrated solution. Conversely, open networking disaggregates hardware from software, allowing IT to mix and match at will.

With Open Networking, we are not reinventing how packets are forwarded or routers communicate. With Open Networking solutions, you are never alone and never the only vendor. The value of software-defined networking and Open Networking is doing as much as possible in software so you don’t depend on delivering new features from a new generation of hardware. If you want a new part, it’s quickly implemented in software without swapping the hardware or upgrading line cards.

5. Required: Move intelligence to software.

You want to move as much intelligence as possible into software, thus removing the intelligence from the physical layer. You don’t want to build in hardware features; you want to use the software to provide the new features. This is a critical philosophy and is the essence of Open Networking. Software becomes the central point of intelligence, not the hardware; this intelligence is delivered fabric-wide.

As we have seen with the rise of SASE, customers gain more agility as they can move from generation to generation of services without hardware dependency and without the operational costs of constantly swapping out the hardware.

**SDN Network Design Options**

We have both controller and controllerless options. With a controllerless solution, setup is faster, agility increases, and robustness in single-point-of-failure is provided, particularly for out-of-band management, i.e., connecting all the controllers.

SDN Controllerless & Controller architecture:

A controllerless architecture is more self-healing; anything in the overlay network is also part of the control plane resilience. An SDN controller or controller cluster may add complexity and impede resiliency. Since the network depends on them for operation, they become a single point of failure and can impact network performance. The intelligence kept in a controller can be a point of attack.

So, there are workarounds where the data plane can continue forward without an SDN controller but always avoid a single point of failure or complex ways to have a quorum in a control-based architecture.

We have two main types of automation to consider: day 0 and days 1-2. First and foremost, day 0 automation simplifies and reduces human error when building the infrastructure. Days 1-2 touch the customer more. This may include installing services quickly, e.g., VRF configuration and building Automation into the fabric. 

A. Day 0 automation

As I said, day 0 automation builds basic infrastructures, such as routing protocols and connection information. These stages need to be carried out before installing VLANs or services. Typical tools that software-defined networking uses are Ansible or your internal applications to orchestrate the building of the network.

Fabric Automation Tools

These are known as fabric automation tools. Once the tools discover the switches, the devices are connected in a particular way, and the fabric network is built without human intervention. It simplifies traditional automation, which is helpful in day 0 automation environments.

  • Configuration Management: Ansible is a configuration management tool that can help alleviate manual challenges. Ansible replaces the need for an operator to tune configuration files manually and does an excellent job in application deployment and orchestrating multi-deployment scenarios.  
  • Pre-deployed infrastructure: Ansible does not deploy the infrastructure; you could use other solutions like Terraform that are best suited for this. Terraform is infrastructure as a code tool. Ansible is often described as a configuration management tool and is typically mentioned along the same lines as Puppet, Chef, and Salt. However, there is a considerable difference in how they operate.

Most notably, the installation of agents. Ansible automation is relatively easy to install as it is agentless. The Ansible architecture can be used in large environments with Ansible Tower using the execution environment and automation mesh. I have recently encountered an automation mesh, a powerful overlay feature that enables automation closer to the network’s edge.

Ansible ensures that the managed asset’s current state meets the desired state. It is all about state management. It does this with Ansible Playbooks, more specifically, YAML playbooks. A playbook is a term Ansible uses for a configuration management script that ensures the desired state is met. Essentially, playbooks are Ansible’s configuration management scripts. 

B. Day 1-2 automation

With day 1-2 automation, SDN does two things.

Firstly, installing or provisioning services automatically across the fabric is possible. With one command, human error is eliminated. The fabric synchronizes the policies across the entire network. It automates and disperses the provisioning operations across all devices. This level of automation is not classical, as this strategy is built into the SDN infrastructure. 

Secondly, it integrates network operations and services with virtualization infrastructure managers such as OpenStack, VCenter, OpenDaylight, or, at an advanced level, OpenShift networking SDN. How does the network adapt to the instantiation of new workloads via the systems? The network admin should not even be in the loop if, for example, a new virtual machine (VM) is created. 

A signal that a VM with specific configurations should be created should be propagated to all fabric elements. When the virtualization infrastructure managers provide a new service, you shouldn’t need to touch the network. This represents the ultimate agility as you remove the network components. 

Summary: Open Networking

Networking is vital in bringing people and ideas together in today’s interconnected world. Traditional closed networks have their limitations, but with the emergence of open networking, a new era of connectivity and collaboration has dawned. This blog post explored the concept of open networking, its benefits, and its impact on various industries and communities.

What is Open Networking?

Open networking uses open standards, open-source software, and open APIs to build and manage networks. Unlike closed networks that rely on proprietary systems and protocols, open networking promotes interoperability, flexibility, and innovation. It allows organizations to customize and optimize their networks based on their unique requirements.

Benefits of Open Networking

Enhanced Scalability and Agility: Open networking enables organizations to scale their networks more efficiently and adapt to changing needs. Decoupling hardware and software makes adding or removing network components easier, making the network more agile and responsive.

Cost Savings: With open networking, organizations can choose hardware and software components from multiple vendors, promoting competition and reducing costs. This eliminates vendor lock-in and allows organizations to use cost-effective solutions without compromising performance or reliability.

Innovation and Collaboration: Open networking fosters innovation by encouraging collaboration among vendors, developers, and users. Developers can create new applications and services that leverage the network infrastructure with open APIs and open-source software. This leads to a vibrant ecosystem of solutions that continually push the boundaries of what networks can achieve.

Open Networking in Various Industries

Telecommunications: Open networking has revolutionized the telecommunications industry. Telecom operators can now build and manage their networks using standard hardware and open-source software, reducing costs and enabling faster service deployments. It has also paved the way for the adoption of virtualization technologies like Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN).

Data Centers: Open networking has gained significant traction in the world of data centers. Data center operators can achieve greater agility and scalability using open standards and software-defined networking. Open networking also allows for better integration with cloud platforms and the ability to automate network provisioning and management.

Enterprise Networks: Enterprises are increasingly embracing open networking to gain more control over their networks and reduce costs. Open networking solutions offer greater flexibility regarding hardware and software choices, enabling enterprises to tailor their networks to meet specific business needs. It also facilitates seamless integration with cloud services and enhances network security.

Open networking has emerged as a powerful force in today’s digital landscape. Its ability to promote interoperability, scalability, and innovation makes it a game-changer in various industries. Whether revolutionizing telecommunications, transforming data centers, or empowering enterprises, open networking connects the world in ways we never thought possible.

Cisco ACI

ACI Cisco

by Publications

Cisco ACI Components

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, organizations are constantly seeking innovative solutions to streamline their network infrastructure. Enter Cisco ACI Networks, a game-changing technology that promises to redefine networking as we know it. In this blog post, we will explore the key features and benefits of Cisco ACI Networks, shedding light on how it is transforming the way businesses design, deploy, and manage their network infrastructure.

Cisco ACI, short for Application Centric Infrastructure, is an advanced networking solution that brings together physical and virtual environments under a single, unified policy framework. By providing a holistic approach to network provisioning, automation, and orchestration, Cisco ACI Networks enable organizations to achieve unprecedented levels of agility, efficiency, and scalability.

Simplified Network Management: Cisco ACI Networks simplify network management by abstracting the underlying complexity of the infrastructure. With a centralized policy model, administrators can define and enforce network policies consistently across the entire network fabric, regardless of the underlying hardware or hypervisor.

Enhanced Security: Security is a top concern for any organization, and Cisco ACI Networks address this challenge head-on. By leveraging microsegmentation and integration with leading security platforms, ACI Networks provide granular control and visibility into network traffic, helping organizations mitigate potential threats and adhere to compliance requirements.

Scalability and Flexibility: The dynamic nature of modern business demands a network infrastructure that can scale effortlessly and adapt to changing requirements. Cisco ACI Networks offer unparalleled scalability and flexibility, allowing businesses to seamlessly expand their network footprint, add new services, and deploy applications with ease.

Data Center Virtualization: Cisco ACI Networks have revolutionized data center virtualization by providing a unified fabric that spans physical and virtual environments. This enables organizations to achieve greater operational efficiency, optimize resource utilization, and simplify the deployment of virtualized workloads.

Multi-Cloud Connectivity: In the era of hybrid and multi-cloud environments, connecting and managing disparate cloud services can be a daunting task. Cisco ACI Networks facilitate seamless connectivity between on-premises data centers and various public and private clouds, ensuring consistent network policies and secure communication across the entire infrastructure.

Cisco ACI Networks offer a paradigm shift in network infrastructure, empowering organizations to build agile, secure, and scalable networks tailored to their specific needs. With its comprehensive feature set, simplified management, and seamless integration with virtual and cloud environments, Cisco ACI Networks are poised to shape the future of networking. Embrace this transformative technology, and unlock a world of possibilities for your organization.

Matt Conran

Highlights: Cisco ACI Components

The ACI Fabric

Cisco ACI is a software-defined networking (SDN) solution that integrates with software and hardware. With the ACI, we can create software policies and use hardware for forwarding, an efficient and highly scalable approach offering better performance. The hardware for ACI is based on the Cisco Nexus 9000 platform product line. The APIC centralized policy controller drives the software, which stores all configuration and statistical data.

–The Cisco Nexus Family–

To build the ACI underlay, you must exclusively use the Nexus 9000 family of switches. You can choose from modular Nexus 9500 switches or fixed 1U to 2U Nexus 9300 models. Specific models and line cards are dedicated to the spine function in ACI fabric; others can be used as leaves, and some can be used for both purposes. You can combine various leaf switches inside one fabric without any limitations.

a) Cisco ACI Fabric: Cisco ACI’s foundation lies in its fabric, which forms the backbone of the entire infrastructure. The ACI fabric comprises leaf switches, spine switches, and the application policy infrastructure controller (APIC). Each component ensures a scalable, agile, and resilient network.

b) Leaf Switches: Leaf switches serve as the access points for endpoints within the ACI fabric. They provide connectivity to servers, storage devices, and other network devices. With their high port density and advanced features, such as virtual port channels (vPCs) and fabric extenders (FEX), leaf switches enable efficient and flexible network designs.

c) Spine Switches: Spine switches serve as the core of the ACI fabric, providing high-bandwidth connectivity between the leaf switches. They use a non-blocking, multipath forwarding mechanism to ensure optimal traffic flow and eliminate bottlenecks. With their modular design and support for advanced protocols like Ethernet VPN (EVPN), spine switches offer scalability and resiliency.

d) Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC): At the heart of Cisco ACI is the APIC, a centralized management and policy control plane. The APIC acts as a single control point, simplifying network operations and enabling policy-based automation. It provides a comprehensive view of the entire fabric, allowing administrators to define and enforce policies across the network.

e) Integration with Virtualization and Cloud Environments: Cisco ACI seamlessly integrates with virtualization platforms such as VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V and cloud environments like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. This integration enables consistent policy enforcement and visibility across physical, virtual, and cloud infrastructures, enhancing agility and simplifying operations.

–ACI Architecture: Spine and Leaf–

To be used as ACI spines or leaves, Nexus 9000 switches must be equipped with powerful Cisco CloudScale ASICs manufactured using 16-nm technology. The following figure shows the Cisco ACI based on the Nexus 9000 series. Cisco Nexus 9300 and 9500 platform switches support Cisco ACI. As a result, organizations can use them as spines or leaves to utilize an automated, policy-based systems management approach fully. 

Cisco ACI Components
Diagram: Cisco ACI Components. Source is Cisco

**Hardware-based Underlay**

Server virtualization helped by decoupling workloads from the hardware, making the compute platform more scalable and agile. However, the server is not the main interconnection point for network traffic. So, we need to look at how we could virtualize the network infrastructure similarly to the agility gained from server virtualization.

**Mapping Network Endpoints**

This is carried out with software-defined networking and overlays that could map network endpoints and be spun up and down as needed without human intervention. In addition, the SDN architecture includes an SDN controller and an SDN network that enables an entirely new data center topology.

**Specialized Forwarding Chips**

In ACI, hardware-based underlay switching offers a significant advantage over software-only solutions due to specialized forwarding chips. Furthermore, thanks to Cisco’s ASIC development, ACI brings many advanced features, including security policy enforcement, microsegmentation, dynamic policy-based redirect (inserting external L4-L7 service devices into the data path), or detailed flow analytics—besides the vast performance and flexibility.

Related: For pre-information, you may find the following helpful:

  1. Data Center Security 
  2. VMware NSX

Cisco ACI Components

 Introduction to Leaf and Spine

The Cisco SDN ACI works with a Clos architecture, a fully meshed ACI network. Based on a spine leaf architecture. As a result, every Leaf is physically connected to every Spine, enabling traffic forwarding through non-blocking links. Physically, a leaf switch set creates a leaf layer attached to the spines in a full BIPARTITE graph. This means that each Leaf is connected to each Spine, and each Spine is connected to each Leaf. 

The ACI uses a horizontally elongated Leaf and Spine architecture with one hop to every host in an entirely messed ACI fabric, offering good throughput and convergence needed for today’s applications.

The ACI fabric: Does Not Aggregate Traffic

A key point in the spine-and-leaf design is the fabric concept, like a stretch network. One of the core ideas around a fabric is that it does not aggregate traffic. This does increase data center performance along with a non-blocking architecture. With the spine-leaf topology, we are spreading a fabric across multiple devices.

Required: Increased Bandwidth Available

The result of the fabric is that each edge device has the total bandwidth of the fabric available to every other edge device. This is one big difference from traditional data center designs; we aggregate the traffic by either stacking multiple streams onto a single link or carrying the streams serially.

Challenge: Oversubscription

With the traditional 3-tier design, we aggregate everything at the core, leading to oversubscription ratios that degrade performance. With the ACI Leaf and Spine design, we spread the load across all devices with equidistant endpoints, allowing us to carry the streams parallel.

Required: Routed Multipathing

Then, we have horizontal scaling load balancing.  Load balancing with this topology uses multipathing to achieve the desired bandwidth between the nodes. Even though this forwarding paradigm can be based on Layer 2 forwarding ( bridging) or Layer 3 forwarding ( routing), the ACI leverages a routed approach to the Leaf and Spine design, and we have Equal Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) for both Layer 2 and Layer 3 traffic. 

**Overlay and Underlay Design**

Mapping Traffic:

So you may be asking how we can have Layer 3 routed core and pass Layer 2 traffic. This is done using the overlay, which can map different traffic types to other overlays. So, we can have Layer 2 traffic mapped to an overlay over a routed core.

L3 active-active links: ACI links between the Leaf and the Spine switches are L3 active-active links. Therefore, we can intelligently load balance and traffic steer to avoid issues. We don’t need to rely on STP to block links or involve STP in fixing the topology.

Challenge: IP – Identity & Location

When networks were first developed, there was no such thing as an application moving from one place to another while it was in use. So, the original architects of IP, the communication protocol used between computers, used the IP address to indicate both the identity of a device connected to the network and its location on the network. Today, in the modern data center, we need to be able to communicate with an application or application tier, no matter where it is.

Required: Overlay Encapsulation

One day, it may be in location A and the next in location B, but its identity, which we communicate with, is the same on both days. An overlay is when we encapsulate an application’s original message with the location to which it needs to be delivered before sending it through the network. Once it arrives at its final destination, we unwrap it and deliver the original message as desired.

The identities of the devices (applications) communicating are in the original message, and the locations are in the encapsulation, thus separating the place from the identity. This wrapping and unwrapping is done on a per-packet basis and, therefore, must be done quickly and efficiently.

**Overlay and Underlay Components**

The Cisco SDN ACI has an overlay and underlay concept, which forms a virtual overlay solution. The role of the underlay is to glue together devices so the overlay can work and be built on top. So, the overlay, which is VXLAN, runs on top of the underlay, which is IS-IS. In the ACI, the IS-IS protocol provides the routing for the overlay, which is why we can provide ECMP from the Leaf to the Spine nodes. The routed underlay provides an ECMP network where all leaves can access Spine and have the same cost links. 

ACI overlay
Diagram: Overlay. Source Cisco

Underlay & Overlay Interaction

Example: 

Let’s take a simple example to illustrate how this is done. Imagine that application App-A wants to send a packet to App-B. App-A is located on a server attached to switch S1, and App-B is initially on switch S2. When App-A creates the message, it will put App-B as the destination and send it to the network; when the message is received at the edge of the network, whether a virtual edge in a hypervisor or a physical edge in a switch, the network will look up the location of App-B in a “mapping” database and see that it is attached to switch S2.

It will then put the address of S2 outside of the original message. So, we now have a new message addressed to switch S2. The network will forward this new message to S2 using traditional networking mechanisms. Note that the location of S2 is very static, i.e., it does not move, so using traditional mechanisms works just fine.

Upon receiving the new message, S2 will remove the outer address and thus recover the original message. Since App-B is directly connected to S2, it can easily forward the message to App-B. App-A never had to know where App-B was located, nor did the network’s core. Only the edge of the network, specifically the mapping database, had to know the location of App-B. The rest of the network only had to see the location of switch S2, which does not change.

Let’s now assume App-B moves to a new location switch S3. Now, when App-A sends a message to App-B, it does the same thing it did before, i.e., it addresses the message to App-B and gives the packet to the network. The network then looks up the location of App-B and finds that it is now attached to switch S3. So, it puts S3’s address on the message and forwards it accordingly. At S3, the message is received, the outer address is removed, and the original message is delivered as desired.

App-A did not track App-B’s movement at all. App-B’s address identified It, while the switch’s address, S2 or S3, identified its location. App-A can communicate freely with App-B no matter where It is located, allowing the system administrator to place App-B in any area and move it as desired, thus achieving the flexibility needed in the data center.

Multicast Distribution Tree (MDT)

We have a Multicast Distribution Tree MDT tree on top that is used to forward multi-destination traffic without having loops. The Multicast distribution tree is dynamically built to send flood traffic for specific protocols. Again, it does this without creating loops in the overlay network. The tunnels created for the endpoints to communicate will have tunnel endpoints. The tunnel endpoints are known as the VTEP. The VTEP addresses are assigned to each Leaf switch from a pool that you specify in the ACI startup and discovery process.

Normalize the transports

VXLAN tunnels in the ACI fabric normalize the transports in the ACI network. Therefore, traffic between endpoints can be delivered using the VXLAN tunnel, resulting in any transport network regardless of the device connecting to the fabric. 

So, using VXLAN in the overlay enables any network, and you don’t need to configure anything special on the endpoints for this to happen. The endpoints that connect to the ACI fabric do not need special software or hardware. The endpoints send regular packets to the leaf nodes they are connected to directly or indirectly. As endpoints come online, they send traffic to reach a destination.

Bridge Domains and VRF

Therefore, the Cisco SDN ACI under the hood will automatically start to build the VXLAN overlay network for you. The VXLAN network is based on the Bridge Domain (BD), or VRF ACI constructs deployed to the leaf switches. The Bridge Domain is for Layer 2, and the VRF is for Layer 3. So, as devices come online and send traffic to each other, the overlay will grow in reachability in the Bridge Domain or the VRF. 

Direct host routing for endoints

Routing within each tenant, VRF is based on host routing for endpoints directly connected to the Cisco ACI fabric. For IPv4, the host routing is based on the /32, giving the ACI a very accurate picture of the endpoints. Therefore, we have exact routing in the ACI.  In conjunction, we have a COOP database that runs on the Spines and offers remarkably optimized fabric to know where all the endpoints are located.

To facilitate this, every node in the fabric has a TEP address, and we have different types of TEPs depending on the device’s role. The Spine and the Leaf will have TEP addresses but will differ from each other.

COOP database
Diagram: COOP database

The VTEP and PTEP

The Leaf’s nodes are the Virtual Tunnel Endpoints (VTEP), which are also known as the physical tunnel endpoints (PTEP) in ACI. These PTEP addresses represent the “WHERE” in the ACI fabric where an endpoint lives. Cisco ACI uses a dedicated VRF and a subinterface of the uplinks from the Leaf to the Spines as the infrastructure to carry VXLAN traffic. In Cisco ACI terminology, the transport infrastructure for VXLAN traffic is known as Overlay-1, which is part of the tenant “infra.” 

**The Spine TEP**

The Spines also have a PTEP and an additional proxy TEP, which are used for forwarding lookups into the mapping database. The Spines have a global view of where everything is, which is held in the COOP database synchronized across all Spine nodes. All of this is done automatically for you.

**Anycast IP Addressing**

For this to work, the Spines have an Anycast IP address known as the Proxy TEP. The Leaf can use this address if they do not know where an endpoint is, so they ask the Spine for any unknown endpoints, and then the Spine checks the COOP database. This brings many benefits to the ACI solution, especially for traffic optimizations and reducing flooded traffic in the ACI. Now, we have an optimized fabric for better performance.

The ACI optimizations

**Mouse and elephant flow**

This provides better performance for load balancing different flows. For example, in most data centers, we have latency-sensitive flows, known as mouse flows, and long-lived bandwidth-intensive flows, known as elephant flows. 

The ACI has more precisely load-balanced traffic using algorithms that optimize mouse and elephant flows and distribute traffic based on flow lets: flow let load-balancing. Within a Leaf, Spine latency is low and consistent from port to port.

The max latency of a packet from one port to another in the architecture is the same regardless of the network size. So you can scale the network without degrading performance. Scaling is often done on a POD-by-POD basis. For more extensive networks, each POD would be its Leaf and Spine network.

**ARP optimizations: Anycast gateways**

The ACI comes by default with a lot of traffic optimizations. Firstly, instead of using an ARP and broadcasting across the network, that can hamper performance. The Leaf can assume that the Spine will know where the destination is ( and it does via the COOP database ), so there is no need to broadcast to everyone to find a destination.

If the Spine knows where the endpoint is, it will forward the traffic to the other Leaf. If not, it will drop it.

**Fabric anycast addressing**

This again adds performance benefits to the ACI solution as the table sizes on the Leaf switches can be kept smaller than they would if they needed to know where all the destinations were, even if they were not or never needed to communicate with them. On the Leaf, we have an Anycast address too.

These fabric Anycast addresses are available for Layer 3 interfaces. On the Leaf ToR, we can establish an SVI that uses the same MAC address on every ToR; therefore, when an endpoint needs to route to a ToR, it doesn’t matter which ToR you use. The Anycast Address is spread across all ToR leaf switches. 

**Pervasive gateway**

Now we have predictable latency to the first hop, and you will use the local route VRF table within that ToR instead of traversing the fabric to a different ToR. This is the Pervasive Gateway feature that is used on all Leaf switches. The Cisco ACI has many advanced networking features, but the pervasive gateway is my favorite. It does take away all the configuration mess we had in the past.

ACI Cisco: Integrations

  • Routing Control Platform

Then came along Cisco SDN ACI, the ACI Cisco, which operates differently from the traditional data center with an application-centric infrastructure. The Cisco application-centric infrastructure achieves resource elasticity with automation through standard policies for data center operations and consistent policy management across multiple on-premises and cloud instances.

  • Extending & Integrating the fabric

What makes the Cisco ACI interesting is its several vital integrations. I’m not talking about extending the data center with multi-pod and multi-site, for example, with AlgoSec, Cisco AppDynamics, and SD-WAN. AlgoSec enables secure application delivery and policy across hybrid network estates, while AppDynamic lives in a world of distributed systems Observability. SD-WAN enabled path performance per application with virtual WANs.

Cisco Multi-Pod Design

Cisco ACI Multi-Pod is part of the “Single APIC Cluster / Single Domain” family of solutions, as a single APIC cluster is deployed to manage all the interconnected ACI networks. These separate ACI networks are named “pods,” Each looks like a regular two-tier spine-leaf topology. The same APIC cluster can manage several pods, and to increase the resiliency of the solution, the various controller nodes that make up the cluster can be deployed across different pods.

ACI Multi-Pod
Diagram: Cisco ACI Multi-Pod. Source Cisco.

ACI Cisco and AlgoSec

With AlgoSec integrated with the Cisco ACI, we can now provide automated security policy change management for multi-vendor devices and risk and compliance analysis. The AlgoSec Security Management Solution for Cisco ACI extends ACI’s policy-driven automation to secure various endpoints connected to the Cisco SDN ACI fabric.

These simplify network security policy management across on-premises firewalls, SDNs, and cloud environments. They also provide visibility into ACI’s security posture, even across multi-cloud environments. 

ACI Cisco and AppDynamics 

Then, with AppDynamics, we are heading into Observability and controllability. Now, we can correlate app health and network for optimal performance, deep monitoring, and fast root-cause analysis across complex distributed systems with numbers of business transactions that need to be tracked.

This will give your teams complete visibility of your entire technology stack, from your database servers to cloud-native and hybrid environments. In addition, AppDynamics works with agents that monitor application behavior in several ways. We will examine the types of agents and how they work later in this post.

ACI Cisco and SD-WAN 

SD-WAN brings a software-defined approach to the WAN. These enable a virtual WAN architecture to leverage transport services such as MPLS, LTE, and broadband internet services. So, SD-WAN is not a new technology; its benefits are well known, including improving application performance, increasing agility, and, in some cases, reducing costs.

The Cisco ACI and SD-WAN integration makes active-active data center design less risky than in the past. The following figures give a high-level overview of the Cisco ACI and SD-WAN integration. For pre-information generic to SD-WAN, go here: SD-WAN Tutorial

SD WAN integration
Diagram: Cisco ACI and SD-WAN integration

The Cisco SDN ACI with SD-WAN integration helps ensure an excellent application experience by defining application Service-Level Agreement (SLA) parameters. Cisco ACI releases 4.1(1i) and adds support for WAN SLA policies. This feature enables admins to apply pre-configured policies to specify the packet loss, jitter, and latency levels for the tenant traffic over the WAN.

When you apply a WAN SLA policy to the tenant traffic, the Cisco APIC sends the pre-configured policies to a vManage controller. The vManage controller, configured as an external device manager that provides SDWAN capability, chooses the best WAN link that meets the loss, jitter, and latency parameters specified in the SLA policy.

Openshift and Cisco SDN ACI

OpenShift Container Platform (formerly known as OpenShift Enterprise) or OCP is Red Hat’s offering for the on-premises private platform as a service (PaaS). OpenShift is based on the Origin open-source project and is a Kubernetes distribution, the defacto for container-based virtualization. The foundation of the OpenShift networking SDN is based on Kubernetes and, therefore, shares some of the same networking technology along with some enhancements, such as the OpenShift route construct.

Other data center integrations

Cisco SDN ACI has another integration with Cisco DNA Center/ISE that maps user identities consistently to endpoints and apps across the network, from campus to the data center. Cisco Software-Defined Access (SD-Access) provides policy-based automation from the edge to the data center and the cloud.

Cisco SD-Access provides automated end-to-end segmentation to separate user, device, and application traffic without redesigning the network. This integration will enable customers to use standard policies across Cisco SD-Access and Cisco ACI, simplifying customer policy management using Cisco technology in different operational domains.

OpenShift and Cisco ACI

OpenShift does this with an SDN layer and enhances Kubernetes networking to create a virtual network across all the nodes. It is made with the Open Switch standard. For OpenShift SDN, this pod network is established and maintained by the OpenShift SDN, configuring an overlay network using a virtual switch called the OVS bridge. This forms an OVS network that gets programmed with several OVS rules. The OVS is a popular open-source solution for virtual switching.

OpenShift SDN plugin

We mentioned that you could tailor the virtual network topology to suit your networking requirements, which can be determined by the OpenShift SDN plugin and the SDN model you select. With the default OpenShift SDN, several modes are available. This level of SDN mode you choose is concerned with managing connectivity between applications and providing external access to them. Some modes are more fine-grained than others. The Cisco ACI plugins offer the most granular.

Integrating ACI and OpenShift platform

The Cisco ACI CNI plugin for the OpenShift Container Platform provides a single, programmable network infrastructure, enterprise-grade security, and flexible micro-segmentation possibilities. The APIC can provide all networking needs for the workloads in the cluster. Kubernetes workloads become fabric endpoints, like Virtual Machines or Bare Metal endpoints.

Cisco ACI CNI Plugin

The Cisco ACI CNI plugin extends the ACI fabric capabilities to OpenShift clusters to provide IP Address Management, networking, load balancing, and security functions for OpenShift workloads. In addition, the Cisco ACI CNI plugin connects all OpenShift Pods to the integrated VXLAN overlay provided by Cisco ACI.

Cisco SDN ACI and AppDynamics

AppDynamis overview

So, an application requires multiple steps or services to work. These services may include logging in and searching to add something to a shopping cart. These services invoke various applications, web services, third-party APIs, and databases, known as business transactions.

The user’s critical path

A business transaction is the essential user interaction with the system and is the customer’s critical path. Therefore, business transactions are the things you care about. If they start to go, your system will degrade. So, you need ways to discover your business transactions and determine if there are any deviations from baselines. This should also be automated, as learning baseline and business transitions in deep systems is nearly impossible using the manual approach.

So, how do you discover all these business transactions?

AppDynamics automatically discovers business transactions and builds an application topology map of how the traffic flows. A topology map can view usage patterns and hidden flows, acting as a perfect feature for an Observability platform.

AppDynamic topology

AppDynamics will automatically discover the topology for all of your application components. It can then build a performance baseline by capturing metrics and traffic patterns. This allows you to highlight issues when services and components are slower than usual.

AppDynamics uses agents to collect all the information it needs. The agent monitors and records the calls that are made to a service. This is from the entry point and follows executions along its path through the call stack. 

Types of Agents for Infrastructure Visibility

If the agent is installed on all critical parts, you can get information about that specific instance, which can help you build a global picture. So we have an Application Agent, Network Agent, and Machine Agent for Server visibility and Hardware/OS.

  • App Agent: This agent will monitor apps and app servers, and example metrics will be slow transitions, stalled transactions, response times, wait times, block times, and errors.  
  • Network Agent: This agent monitors the network packets, TCP connection, and TCP socket. Example metrics include performance impact Events, Packet loss, and retransmissions, RTT for data transfers, TCP window size, and connection setup/teardown.
  • Machine Agent Server Visibility: This agent monitors the number of processes, services, caching, swapping, paging, and querying. Example Metrics include hardware/software interrupts, virtual memory/swapping, process faults, and CPU/DISK/Memory utilization by the process.
  • Machine Agent: Hardware/OS – disks, volumes, partitions, memory, CPU. Example metrics: CPU busy time, MEM utilization, and pieces file.

Automatic establishment of the baseline

A baseline is essential, a critical step in your monitoring strategy. Doing this manually is hard, if not impossible, with complex applications. It is much better to have this done automatically. You must automatically establish the baseline and alert yourself about deviations from it.

This will help you pinpoint the issue faster and resolve it before it can be affected. Platforms such as AppDynamics can help you here. Any malicious activity can be seen from deviations from the security baseline and performance issues from the network baseline.

Summary: Cisco ACI Components

In the ever-evolving world of networking, organizations are constantly seeking ways to enhance their infrastructure’s performance, security, and scalability. Cisco ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure) presents a cutting-edge solution to these challenges. By unifying physical and virtual environments and leveraging network automation, Cisco ACI revolutionizes how networks are built and managed.

Understanding Cisco ACI Architecture

At the core of Cisco ACI lies a robust architecture that enables seamless integration between applications and the underlying network infrastructure. The architecture comprises three key components:

1. Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC):

The APIC serves as the centralized management and policy engine of Cisco ACI. It provides a single point of control for configuring and managing the entire network fabric. Through its intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), administrators can define policies, allocate resources, and monitor network performance.

2. Nexus Switches:

Cisco Nexus switches form the backbone of the ACI fabric. These high-performance switches deliver ultra-low latency and high throughput, ensuring optimal data transfer between applications and the network. Nexus switches provide the necessary connectivity and intelligence to enable the automation and programmability features of Cisco ACI.

3. Application Network Profiles:

Application Network Profiles (ANPs) are a fundamental aspect of Cisco ACI. ANPs define the policies and characteristics required for specific applications or application groups. By encapsulating network, security, and quality of service (QoS) policies within ANPs, administrators can streamline the deployment and management of applications.

The Power of Network Automation

One of the most compelling aspects of Cisco ACI is its ability to automate network provisioning, configuration, and monitoring. Through the APIC’s powerful automation capabilities, network administrators can eliminate manual tasks, reduce human errors, and accelerate the deployment of applications. With Cisco ACI, organizations can achieve greater agility and operational efficiency, enabling them to rapidly adapt to evolving business needs.

Security and Microsegmentation with Cisco ACI

Security is a paramount concern for every organization. Cisco ACI addresses this by providing robust security features and microsegmentation capabilities. With microsegmentation, administrators can create granular security policies at the application level, effectively isolating workloads and preventing lateral movement of threats. Cisco ACI also integrates with leading security solutions, enabling seamless network enforcement and threat intelligence sharing.

Conclusion

Cisco ACI is a game-changer in the realm of network automation and infrastructure management. Its innovative architecture, coupled with powerful automation capabilities, empowers organizations to build agile, secure, and scalable networks. By leveraging Cisco ACI’s components, businesses can unlock new levels of efficiency, flexibility, and performance, ultimately driving growth and success in today’s digital landscape.