ACI | Video Training

The network made simple

Carlos Campos Torres

WW DC Switching Technical Lead
Modules
Initial Tasks

Configuring physical Ports

Adding Virtual & logical

networking (L2/L3)

Configuring L4-L7 Services

Extending the Fabric:

MPod, MSite, vPod, Rleaf

Advanced Topics and Other

Integrations
© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Module 1: Initial tasks

Cabling the Fabric

Initial APIC Configuration

Fabric Discovery/Adding
new switches

Firmware Upgrades

Basic Services (NTP/OOB

Management)

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
 Module 1 Chapter 4

Cabling the Fabric

Initial APIC Configuration

Fabric Discovery/Adding
Initial Tasks new switches

Firmware Upgrades

Basic Services (NTP/OOB

Management)

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
From last episode….
ACI Spines and Leaves auto-discovered
VXLAN and MP-BGP auto-configured
Single management for all of them (GUI/CLI)

Spine Layer
Nexus 9000

Leaf Layer
Nexus 9000

ACI
The network made simple
© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Firmware Upgrade Procedure
Check Release Notes Recommendations
Pre-requisites Upload same version APIC and Switch Firmware to APIC
APIC Cluster status shows as fully-fit

1 2 3
Spine Layer
AVE
Nexus 9000

VMWare VCenter Plugin

SCVMM Agent
X Leaf Layer AVE, vPod
Nexus 9000 Others (e.g. Multi-Site
Orchestrator, etc)

Perform 1-click APIC Perform 1-click Switches (Leaf & Spine) Upgrade other components to
Upgrade Upgrade corresponding version
© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Firmware Upgrade Procedure

Check Release Notes Recommendations

Pre-requisites Upload same version APIC and Switch Firmware to APIC
APIC Cluster status shows as fully-fit

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Firmware Upgrade Procedure

1
Perform 1-click
APIC Upgrade
X

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Graceful Insertion and Removal (GIR)

Maintanance Mode (GIR) diverts the data

ACI Tip traffic to alternate paths and allows node
troubleshooting, maintenance and upgrade

Spine Layer
Nexus 9000

Leaf Layer Maintenance Mode

Nexus 9000
(GIR)

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Replacing a Leaf

ACI Fact In ACI, leaf configuration is bound to Node ID

1 2 3
Leaf 101 Leaf 101
SN: AXFUDKF SN: WXDUAKF

Decommission the Commission the new Leaf with the same Verify that the existing
broken leaf node ID configuration is applied to the
new Leaf

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Useful links and procedures for other tasks

APIC Switches
ACI Factory-defaults apic#acidiag touch clean Switch#setup-clean-config.sh
(CLI) apic#acidiag touch setup Switch#reload
From APIC Troubleshooting guide: Fabric Rebuild apic#acidiag reboot Note: Equivalent to decommission

From APIC Troubleshooting Guide and Unofficial ACI Guide

APIC Password Recovery
https://unofficialaciguide.com/2018/04/09/apic-controller-password-recovery/

In Cisco.com search for:

Nexus 9000 NX-OS to ACI
Procedure Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS Software Upgrade and Downgrade Guide
Chapter: Converting from NX-OS to ACI Boot Mode and back

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Summary

Firmware upgrade, maintenance and

ACI replacement

GIR Zero
Faster Graceful
Configuration
Upgrades during
maintenance
replacement

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential