Upon completion of this course, learners should be able to perform the necessary and invariant configuration and troubleshooting steps for the following key Cisco CCIE Routing and Switching technologies:

• Cisco Data Center Layer 2 / Layer 3 Technologies
• Cisco Data Center Network Services
• Data Center Storage Networking and Compute
• Data Center Automation and Orchestration
• Cisco ACI

There are no formal prerequisites for CCIE certification. CCNP + or equivalent knowledge recommended.

Candidates that need to acquire their CCIE Data Center certificate.
Network engineers/designers that need to raise their knowledge to an expert-level.

Day 1
The Cisco Nexus platform and NX-OS

• Cisco Nexus Products
• Nexus 7K Features at a High Level
• Nexus 9000 Features at a High Level
• The NX-OS Software Architecture
• Cisco NX-OS Architecture, Key Features, and Capabilities

Configuring Layer 2 Features using the NX-OS

• Virtual Device Contexts (VDCs) in the Nexus 7000 Switches
• Configuring Layer 2 Switching Features
• Configuring Nexus Fabric Extenders (FEX)
• Port Channels and Virtual Port Channels (VPCs)

Fiber Channel and FCoE

• Fiber Channel Protocol
• Configuring FCoE
• Configuring SAN Switching Features

Day 2 
Layer 3 Features using the NX-OS  

• Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) Contexts
• Static Routing
• EIGRP
• OSPF
• BGP
• IS-IS
• Unicast RIB and FIB
• Route Policy Manager
• Policy-Based Routing (PBR)
• First Hop Redundancy Protocols
• Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV)

VXLAN on Cisco Nexus Series Switches

• VXLAN Overview
• Use of VTEPs
• VXLAN Routing

Day 3 
Cisco UCS Architecture

• Describing Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Server Hardware Components
• Describing Cisco UCS User Interfaces
• Configuring Cisco UCS B-Series Physical Connectivity and High Availability
• Using RBAC and Organizations

Cisco UCS LAN Connectivity

• Configuring Compute Node LAN Connectivity
• Configuring LAN Identity and Resource Pools
• Configuring Compute Node LAN Policies

Cisco UCS SAN Connectivity

• Configuring Compute Node SAN Connectivity
• Configuring Advanced Compute Node SAN Connectivity
• Configuring SAN Identity and Resource Pools

Configuring Cisco UCS B-Series Servers

• Configuring Server Identity and Resource Pools
• Configuring Server Policies
• Configuring Templates and Service Profiles
• Managing Service Profiles
• Configuring Logical Service Profiles that Boot from iSCSI

Configuring Cisco UCS Virtualization

• Configuring Cisco UCS VM-FEX
• Configuring Cisco UCS SR-IOV
• Configuring Cisco UCS VM-FEX

Cisco UCS Administration

• Backing Up and Restoring the Cisco UCS Manager Database
• Managing and Upgrading Cisco UCS B-Series Firmware
• Using Cisco UCS Management Tools

Cisco UCS C-Series Features

• Describing Cisco UCS C-Series Servers
• Describing Cisco USC C-Series Server Connectivity Options
• Using Cisco UCS C-Series IMC Discovery
• Upgrading Cisco UCS C-Series Firmware

Introduction to Hyper-converged Infrastructure (HCI)

• Identify the components of a Hyper-converged Infrastructure (HCI)
• Understand the challenges that are being addresses by Hyper-converged Infrastructure
• Explain the benefits of an HCI solution
• Compare First Generation HCI solutions with Cisco HyperFlex
• Present the components and physical topology of the Cisco HyperFlex with Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) solution

Cisco HyperFlex Systems Hardware and Software Architecture

• Present the New Features available with the Cisco HX Release 3.5
• Understand the capabilities and functionality of the HyperFlex All-Flash server platform
• Present the Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform hardware components
• Describe the Cisco HyperFlex system architecture
• Understand the advanced storage features and performance enhancements of the HyperFlex cluster
• Identify the hardware functionality of the Hyperflex HX server nodes
• Describe the management and connectivity details for various HyperFlex HX cluster deployments

Cisco HyperFlex Systems Use Cases, Solutions and Performance

HyperFlex Pre-installation Requirements

Installing Cisco HyperFlex Systems Using the HX Installer

• Present the benefits of the HX Data Platform automation function to streamline Cisco UCS and VMware vCenter configuration
• Describe the HyperFlex factory pre-installed hardware and software options
• Identify the steps required to install, deploy and launch the HX Data Platform Installer
• Describe HyperFlex cluster creation validation using UCS Manager and VMware vSphere Client/Web Client

Post-Installation Requirements for HX Data Platform

• Data Center Protocols
  • Configuring Spanning Tree Protocol
  • Configuring Port Channels
  • Understanding Overlay Transport Virtualization
  • Implementing VXLAN
  • Implementing LISP
• Layer 3 Switching Features in the Data Center
  • Configuring First-Hop Redundancy
  • Configuring Routing
  • Configuring IP Multicast
• Data Center Infrastructure Security
  • Configuring User Management
  • Configuring System Security Features
• Data Center Infrastructure Storage Fabric
  • Basic Fibre Channel Configuration
  • Managing Domains
  • Implementing Port Security and Fabric Binding
• FCoE Unified Fabric
  • Describing FCoE
  • Implementing FCoE
• Data Center Infrastructure Storage Services
  • Configuring Distributed Device Aliases
  • Implementing Zoning
  • Configuring NPIV and NPV
• Data Center Infrastructure Maintenance, Management and Operations
  • Configuring System Management
  • Configuring Infrastructure Monitoring

 Lab Outline

• Configure Layer 2 Switching
• Configure Port Channels
• Configure OTV
• Configure VXLAN
• Configure VRRP
• Configu0re OSPF
• Configure User Management Security Features
• Configure System Security Features
• Configure Fibre Channel
• Manage Domains and Configure Persistent FCIDs
• Configure Fabric Binding and Port Security
• Configure FCoE
• Configure Device Aliases
• Configure Zoning
• Configure NPV
• Configure System Management
• Implement Infrastructure Monitoring

Day 4 
Classical DC Infrastructure Limitations 

Abstraction and Policy Model Introduced by ACI

Policy Model Explained 

ACI Components

• APIC
• ACI Fabric

Fabric Startup and Auto-Discovery 

ACI Components 3rd Party Integration 

APIC GUI Introduction 

ACI Logical Constructs

• Tenants
• Tenant types
• Context
• Application Network Profiles
• Bridge Domain
  • BD Traffic Handling
• Subnets
• End Point Groups (EPG)
  • Types of EPGs
• Contracts
  • Subjects and Filters
  • Labels and Label Matching
  • Taboo Contracts
  • Inter-Tenant Contracts
• Domains
  • Pools
• Attachable Access Entity Profiles

Encapsulation Normalization and Integrated Overlay

ACI Unicast traffic handling 

VxLAN – Cisco ACI Implementation

Multicast

• Multicast Handling in ACI
• Multicast Policies in ACI

Storm control and load balancing in ACI 

ACI Access and Fabric Policies 

VLAN pools in ACI 

ACI Networking (Part 1)

• BGP AS Numbers and Route Reflectors
• Networking Domains in ACI
• Statically Deploying an EPG to a Leaf switch port
• Attachable Entity Profiles Example (AEP)

Day 5 
ACI Networking (Part 2)

• ACI and Layer 2 External Connectivity
  • External EPGs (Bridged Outside connections to ACI)
  • External BD (Bridge Outside connections to ACI)
• ACI Routed Outside (L3 External) Connections
  • OSPF
  • BGP
  • Transit Routing
  • Generating a Default Route in ACI
• ACI integration with Virtualized Environments
  • ACI Integration with VMware vCenter

Data Center (DC) services Insertion in ACI 

• Services Insertion in ACI
• Service Graphs

ACI Deployment Methodologies

• vPod
• Multi-Pod
• Multi-Site
• GOLF

Day 6 
Data center tasks using scripts (Python and Ansible)

• Create, Read, Update, Delete using RESTful APIs
• Deploy and modify configurations
• Statistics, Data Collection

Data Center Automation and Orchestration using tools

• DCNM
• UCSD
• Tasks
• Workflows
• Catalog
• Intersight
• CloudCenter Suite
• Applications
• Deployments
• Action Orchestration

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