Hi there,
fasten your seat belts, because these last weeks have been spectacular. Not because I was lazy and I am including here not just June, but the first July week (therefore “June+” and not only “June” update), but because Cisco Live happened, and a LOT of stuff has been going on. Take your time, select the most important items for you, and enjoy!
- ACI v1.1 is there! Software is in CCO, release notes here:
- Most CLUS15 sessions are already available in http://www.ciscolive.com. Here some of them:
- Key Note ACI (Soni Jiandani): https://www.ciscolive.com/online/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=83349&backBtn=true
- Key Note DC (Mala Anand, Satinder Sethi, Sachin Gupta, Pankaj Patel): https://www.ciscolive.com/online/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=83169&backBtn=true
- Real World ACI Deployment and Migration: https://www.ciscolive.com/online/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=83392&backBtn=true
- Introduction to ACI programming and APIs: https://www.ciscolive.com/online/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=84340&backBtn=true
- ACI troubleshooting: https://www.ciscolive.com/online/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=83390&backBtn=true
- ACI security: https://www.ciscolive.com/online/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=84340&backBtn=true
- ACI case study: https://www.ciscolive.com/online/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=84036&backBtn=true
- And many more! Just search http://www.ciscolive.com (and register if you don’t have an account yet!)
- Two reviewed demos in dCloud (and please remember that if you are a Cisco partner, you can now share dCloud demos with your customers):
- Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure 1.0 with F5 Integration v2
- Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure 1.0 with OpenStack Integration v2
- Customer slides on ACI: “Our top 5 favorite features of Cisco ACI”: http://www.slideshare.net/liposs/pulsant-cisco-aci-top-5-features
- See this new study on ACI benefits with IDC and Symantec: http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/data-center-virtualization/application-centric-infrastructure/benefits-aci.pdf
- Please use CIMC version 2.0.3i with APIC 1.1 which includes Cisco VIC firmware version 4.0(1e). VIC firmware version 4.0(1e) has some fixes related to LLDP
- Enjoy this sneak preview of the upcoming simplified ACI GUI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v4Ma_OxmPg. This simplified GUI should come in a future ACI release towards the end of the year.
- Don’t miss this new blog entries by Jason Gmitter, excellent as usual:
- On the ACI toolkit: http://dcnextgen.blogspot.com/2015/06/aci-programmability-part-1-acitoolkit.html
- On ACI security: http://dcnextgen.blogspot.in/2015/06/aci-security-part-1.html
- ACI 1.1 scalability numbers posted in CCO: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/aci/apic/sw/1-x/verified-scalability/b_Verified_Scalability_BRelease.html
- Note that, amongst other things, now we support 5 APIC controllers for large fabrics
- In that ACI software release (1.1) a maximum of 8 FEX per leaf are supported. As always a word of caution: When using FEX you are creating a larger fan out and potentially a much larger # of EPs/EPGs/contracts behind one leaf, so be careful with the per-leaf limits.
- Note that for DHCP relay to work in ACI your DHCP server must support option 82. DHCP servers NOT supporting option 82 include Windows Server 2003 and 2008. This is documented in the ACI Fundamentals Guide: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/aci/apic/sw/1-x/aci-fundamentals/b_ACI-Fundamentals/b_ACI-Fundamentals_chapter_010100.html#concept_1D4F7C5492704AE0ACD6B8034A53C63A
- Nexus 2348TQ and 2332T are not supported in the recent 1.1(1j) release (only the 2348UPQ on N9332PQ), support is planned for the next maintenance release in around August 2015
- Here a short summary on ACI ecosystem update news from Cisco Live:
- Citrix Blog June 4: Citrix NetScaler and Cisco ACI: How it all Works
- CliQr press release June 8: Cliqr Integrates Cloudcenter Application Migration And Management Platform With Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI)
- ITapp press release June 5: ITapp Adds Cisco ACI and NetApp Storage Integration to Enable On-Demand Application-Centric Cloud
- Avi Networks press release June 4: Avi Networks Integrates With Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Aci) For Application Delivery And Analytics
- Canonical press release June 5: Cisco and Canonical Collaborate on Policy-Based OpenStack Clouds
- See this impressive test results with the Nexus 9516 and 16 9408 cards, amounting to a total of 128 100GE ports, or 12.8 Tbps full duplex bandwidth in a single switch: http://networktest.com/nexus9516/nexus9516_128x100g.pdf
- About N9K and VXLAN: The N9500 line cards validated for VXLAN bridging/routing in NXOS mode are the 9536PQ and the 9564PX/TX. Make sure you have those line cards in your N9500-based leafs. Note: if your N9500 is a spine any line card will do, since all you need is the EVPN control plane (software).
- Data sheets of the two new N3Ks:
- Cisco Nexus Data Broker 2.1 is out! It brings support for N9300 and N9500 line. Find external documentation in http://www.cisco.com/go/nexusdatabroker
- NXOS 7.2 for the N7K is there, including some features that increase consistency with the N9K: NXAPI in the programmability area, and VXLAN in flood&learn or EVPN (control plane only as per release notes). See more here: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/sw/7_x/nx-os/release/notes/72_nx-os_release_note.html
- On DockerCon:
- Docker 1.7 was announced in DockerCon 2015. Take a look at this blog entry for a quick summary: https://blog.docker.com/2015/06/announcing-docker-1-7-multi-host-networking-plugins-and-orchestration-updates/. As you see in the title of the page, networking played a prominent role in the announcements.
- On that same line, don’t miss this blog entry by Mike Cohen: http://blogs.cisco.com/datacenter/docker-and-the-rise-of-microservices.
- From Cisco’s DC blog:
- How Cisco ACI Stands out from other Network Virtualization Solutions – Part 2: http://blogs.cisco.com/datacenter/aci-comparison-2
- On ACI operational simplicity: http://blogs.cisco.com/datacenter/aci-delivered-operational-simplicity-at-cisco-live-san-diego
- AVS on vSphere blog entry: http://blogs.cisco.com/datacenter/cisco-continues-to-support-application-virtual-switch-for-application-centric-infrastructure-in-vsphere-deployments
- Blog about Cisco and Red Hat cooperation: http://blogs.cisco.com/partner/achieving-it-transformation-with-cisco-and-red-hat
- On the same line: http://blogs.cisco.com/datacenter/cisco-and-red-hat-at-the-center-of-it-transformation
- From the web:
- Blog on network automation by Jason Edelman: http://jedelman.com/home/programming-an-aci-fabric/
- Blog by Joe Onisick explaining why ACI is an open network platform: http://www.definethecloud.net/application-centric-infrastructure-the-platform/
- New VXPEX Cisco-Validated Design (CVD): Cisco Solution for EMC VSPEX Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track 4.0 with UCS Servers, Nexus 9000 Switches and EMC VNX
- The Platform: There Is More Than One Route To SDN Switching
- SDxCentral: Cisco ACI Gets a Taste of DevOps
- EnterpriseNetworkingPlanet: Cisco Expands InterCloud, ACI EffortseWeek: Cisco Expands SDN Offerings with ACI, NX-OS Enhancements
- Network World: Cisco Has An SDN For You
- Data Center Knowledge: Cisco Beefs Up ACI, While Improving Non-ACI SDN Capabilities in Nexus
- New partner program on ACI: http://www.crn.com/news/networking/300077316/crn-exclusive-cisco-launches-new-aci-program-for-partners-to-build-apps-new-services-around-sdn.htm/pgno/0/1
- Creating VLAN pools and L2 BDs in ACI (Lauren Malhoit): http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/articles-tutorials/general-virtualization-articles/creating-vlan-pools-and-layer-2-bridge-domains-cisco-application-centric-infrastructure.html
- Cisco advances its ACI: http://www.convergedigest.com/2015/06/cisco-advances-its-application-centric.html
- Example of programming a new feature in ACI: MAC Authentication: http://erjosito.tumblr.com/post/120637625387/mac-authentication-in-cisco-aci-or-how-to-get-the
- Cisco ACI introduction (Christophe Compain): http://www.slideshare.net/Cisco/cisco-aci-introduction
- ITapp and ACI/Netapp integration (see video in the video section): http://finance.yahoo.com/news/itapp-adds-cisco-aci-netapp-170243526.html
- Cisco and Canonical collaboration for policy-based Openstack clouds: https://insights.ubuntu.com/2015/06/03/cisco-and-canonical-collaborate-on-policy-based-openstack-clouds/
- Avi Networks and ACI integration: http://www.fiercedevops.com/story/avi-networks-integrates-adc-cisco-apic/2015-06-04
- Videos
- Great demo by Carly, as usual, in a Tech Field Day: http://techfieldday.com/video/cisco-aci-demo-with-carly-stoughton/
- A new video on how to configure NTP added to the extensive ACI training videos: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/learning_center/aci-training-videos
- Demo ITapp+ACI CLUS15 (1:40): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2gp9MEZrqs
- Azeem’s CL session on N9K architecture (1:41:49): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnU7qcNpVA4
- Carl Niger (from Presidio Networked Solutions) uploaded a couple of interesting ACI how-to videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeP8mAknePEODmCshGpjqfw
- Using Ansible and ACI (WWT, 5:34): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t03ty5Y295U
- Evolution of “Open” (David Ward, 2:55): http://open.convergedigest.com/2015/04/ciscos-david-ward-on-evolution-of-open.html
- On ACI+Microsoft Windows Azure Pack, with the same “cartoon-like” nice optic as the ACI “Episodes” (2:28): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWLX2ihwOfo
- Interview with Robert Burns and Mike Brown on ACI (2:10): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWLX2ihwOfo
- vBrownBag sessions in CiscoLive San Diego: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2rC-8e38bUXapfA2fJMAcfgEeXOZMzMv
- Lauren Malhoit on ACI programmability (5:13): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5MYGYiHZ5c
- Martin Lipka of Pulsant talks hybrid cloud, ACI and F5 (3:29): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkvzcI3c_ko
- CliQr and ACI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vy2dvB3D0Y
- Automating cloud infrastructure with ACI (Joe Onisick, 2:00): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvdILBuxClU
- Securing virtual and bare metal apps with ACI (Joe Onisick, 2:50): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eCJgK4YaoU
- AVI Networks and Cisco ACI integration in 90 seconds (1:34): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KawBYXCBR3U
- ITapp AppCenter with Cisco ACI and NetApp storage (4:55): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWYinNAMbxk
- UCS Director and ACI to order new application project environments (Hank Preston, 4:37): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN8lz-T7G9k
- UCS Director: adding a new network segment to ACI (Hank Preston, 3:39): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvGbR8xFPu4
- PLNOG14: Cisco ACI, simplified policy-based SDN (Nick Martin, 40:54): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jd0VQ2AVJ0
- Lauren on the policy-driven data center (13:22): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUiyWOg6sv8
- ACI enables proactive SLA assurance (Joe Onisick, 2:33): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krq-YnC8sVE
- ACI designed for high application performance (Joe Onisick: 2:06): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1qK4qdhX2w
Cloudtrooper 