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Nov 8
Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI)
Posted by Chris Marshall

I have recently been working with a customer on designing and building out a new Data Center. This task is something that is not as common as it once was, with many of our customers adopting a cloud first methodology (AWS, Azure etc.) when it comes time for a DC refresh. Since it’s a been a while since I have dived into DC technology I figured it was about time that I take another look at Cisco SDN data center offering ACI. Below are some notes that I have made while researching this solution.

Today’s applications behave differently, are highly virtualized, run on multiple hypervisors, and are more distributed than ever. They also require rapid and continuous delivery. In addition, IT is increasingly challenged to reduce the time required to deliver optimally configured, shared-resource pools of networking, computing, and storage services.

ACI Diagram.png

Although IT may be able to provision virtual machine workloads in minutes, it can still take months to design an on-demand, multi-tier, multi-tenant application environment that meets specific requirements for availability, scalability, security, and performance. Continuous monitoring, troubleshooting, and adjustments are necessary to help guarantee service levels in an environment with dynamic demand.

Customers changing application requirements need a flexible approach that is simple, more agile, and application-centric. Ease of provisioning and speed are critical performance metrics for data center network infrastructure that support physical, virtual, and cloud environments—without compromising scalability or security.

Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) is a comprehensive software-defined networking (SDN) architecture. This solution provides a network that is deployed, monitored, and managed in an application-centric way. It uses business-relevant language that benefits different teams working with and within the IT organization.

Cisco ACI supports rapid application change by reducing complexity with a common open policy framework that can automate virtual and physical infrastructure provisioning and simplify resource management. The benefits begin on day one and extend throughout the complete life cycle of the infrastructure resources—be it compute, storage, or the network.

Cisco ACI makes businesses more agile and responsive to their customers’ needs. Day-to-day operational tasks can be automated, which reduces human errors and also drastically reduces operational costs. In addition, it allows IT to provide stakeholders with quicker response times and a better user experience.

Cisco ACI is an enterprise-class architecture that automates IT tasks and accelerates data center application deployments. It accomplishes this using a business-relevant SDN policy model across networks, servers, storage, security, and services. This policy-based automation solution supports application policy language, greater scalability through a distributed enforcement system, and better network visibility.

Through Cisco ACI, you can reduce application deployment times from weeks to minutes. This solution also dramatically improves IT alignment with business objectives and policy requirements. It allows you to:

  • Improve availability and scale ACI fabrics under a single policy domain
  • Drive agility with policy driven automation for cloud deployments
  • Secure infrastructure with visibility and analytics to meet compliance
  • Simplify operations with flexible deployment models

Cisco ACI provides a network that is deployed, monitored, and managed in a way that benefits different teams in the IT organization. It supports rapid application change by reducing complexity with a common policy framework that can automate provisioning and resource management. In addition, it enhances business agility, reduces TCO, automates IT tasks, and accelerates data center application deployments.

 Cisco ACI Components

ACI Components-1.png

Written By: Chris Marshall, LookingPoint Senior Solutions Architect - CCIE #29940

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