How Does Cisco Aci Work?

Cisco’s Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) is the company’s SDN solution. At its core, ACI is designed to increase datacenter agility and efficiency by automating many of the tasks associated with provisioning, configuring, and managing network infrastructure.

In a traditional network, each device is configured individually and the configuration is static. This means that if a change needs to be made, each device must be updated manually. In an ACI network, the APIC is used to configure the entire network centrally. This provides a number of benefits, including:

Reduced configuration time - The APIC can be used to quickly provision new services or make changes to existing ones.

Increased agility - The centralized configuration of ACI allows for rapid changes to be made to the network in response to changing business needs.

Reduced errors - Manually configuring each device in a network can lead to errors. By using the APIC to configure the network, these errors can be avoided.

The Cisco ACI Fabric is made up of a number of different components, including:

Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches - The Nexus 9000 series is a family of high-performance, low-power switches that have been purpose-built for ACI.

Cisco Application Virtual Networking (AVN) Gateway - The AVN gateway provides connectivity between the ACI Fabric and external networks.

Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switches - The Nexus 1000V series is a family of virtual switches that can be used in ACI environments.

In addition to the hardware components, the ACI Fabric also includes a number of software components, such as the:

Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller - The APIC is the central point of management and control for the ACI Fabric.

Cisco Application Virtual Networking Manager - The AVN Manager is a web-based application that can be used to manage and monitor the ACI Fabric.

Cisco onePK SDK - The onePK SDK is a set of tools that can be used to develop applications that interact with the ACI Fabric.

The Cisco ACI Applications are a set of software modules that run on the APIC and provide additional functionality, such as traffic monitoring and optimization. The ACI Applications are:

Cisco Application Visibility and Control - The AVC application provides visibility into application traffic flowing through the ACI Fabric.

Cisco Traffic Director - The Traffic Director application provides the ability to optimize and manage traffic flows within the ACI Fabric.

Cisco Application Networking Services - The ANS application provides a set of tools that can be used to manage and monitor the ACI Fabric.

Cisco ACI is a powerful SDN solution that can be used to increase datacenter agility and efficiency. The ACI Fabric is made up of purpose-built hardware and software components that work together to provide a centralized point of management and control. The ACI Applications provide additional functionality, such as traffic monitoring and optimization.