Cisco Aci Overview

Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) is a policy-based data center networking solution that provides application agility, operational efficiency, and reduced TCO. The solution is built on the industry-leading Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches and offers a unique, centralized application policy model that enables application-aware network infrastructure.

The Cisco ACI solution consists of the following components:

• Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches: The foundation of the Cisco ACI solution, the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches offer high performance, low latency, and line-rate 10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet and Fiber Channel switching with advanced features for virtualized and cloud-optimized data centers.

• Cisco APIC: The Cisco APIC is the centralized point of policy and orchestration for the Cisco ACI solution. It provides a single point of management and automation for the network infrastructure and enables the application-centric policy model.

• Cisco Application Virtual Networking (AVN): Cisco AVN is a set of software solutions that enable the creation of virtualized network services that are optimized for specific applications. Cisco AVN solutions include the following:

• Cisco Application Networking Services (CANS): CANS provides a set of software-defined networking (SDN) capabilities that enable the creation of virtualized network services.
• Cisco Application-Centric Infrastructure Services (ACIS): ACIS provides a set of ACI-specific services that enable the creation of virtualized network services.
• Cisco AVN Gateway: The Cisco AVN Gateway is a hardware appliance that provides gateway services between the Cisco ACI fabric and external networks.

Cisco ACI provides the following benefits:

• Application agility: The Cisco ACI policy model enables data center network administrators to centrally define and manage application policies that are enforced consistently across the entire network infrastructure. This application-centric approach to policy management simplifies and automates network operations, reduces TCO, and accelerates application deployment.

• Operational efficiency: The Cisco ACI solution enables the creation of virtualized network services that are optimized for specific applications. These virtualized network services can be deployed and managed independently of the underlying physical infrastructure, which simplifies and automates network operations.

• Reduced TCO: The Cisco ACI solution offers a unique, centralized application policy model that reduces the number of devices that need to be configured and managed. In addition, the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches offer line-rate 10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet and Fiber Channel switching with advanced features for virtualized and cloud-optimized data centers.