number of AEP and infrastructure vlan

[petercinvest]

I have two physical domains with different vlan pool, so should i create one AEP or two AEP ? what are the factors determine the number of AEP?

if we need to associate the AEP with VMM domain or microsft virtual scvm domain, is it correct to say we need to activiate infrasture vlan in AEP, for physical domain, we should not choose infrasture vlan in AEP?

[RedNectar]

The AAEP

Think of it like this.

How many different variations do you want to have to write the following?:

switchport trunk allowed vlan <list_variation#1>

For each list_variation you have, you'll want another AAEP.  I suggest you keep the number as small as possible.

Now to be honest, an AAEP is not exactly equivalent to switch port trunk allowed because that command opens up a port to all the broadcasts for all the VLANs in the list.  With an AAEP, it only opens up the port to the active VLANs on that port - in other words, to all the EPG that actually exist on that port.

So my general rule of thumb is to have one AAEP per Tenant, and another global AAEP that all Tenants can share (so that multiple Tenants could say share a L3 external connection).  I sometimes refer to the AAEP as the Attachable Access Entity Party - where ports and VLANs gather to dance. 

Remember - this is just MY opinion.  There will be many other equally valid opinions out there I'm sure.

The Infrastructure VLAN

Now, if your external connections are hosting Cisco AVE (or the old AVS) virtual switching, you will need to include the Infrastructure VLAN. That's it. Finished. End of story.  If you are NOT using AVE/AVS, you don't need to include the Infrastructure VLAN.  Oh - and if you DO include the infrastructure VLAN, all ports in your AEP will have to be switchports - you can't include a dedicated router port in an AAEP that includes the Infrastructure VLAN (Hint for anyone who come to one of my ACI Troubleshooting classes)

I hope this helps.

---

Don't forget to mark answers as correct if it solves your problem. This helps others find the correct answer if they search for the same problem

---

[Nameless-IT]

What About Inband MGMT AEP? According to the guide, I need to trunk the infrastructure VLAN. I don't know why though?

[RedNectar]

Hi @Nameless-IT ,

Wow! This post just had its 4th birthday and still hasn't been accepted as an answer or even marked as helpful!

So in the interests of the community, I SHOULD be asking you ( @Nameless-IT ) to post a new question!

But instead I'll ask you a couple

You said:

What About Inband MGMT AEP? According to the guide,

What guide? I don't see any guide referred to in either the question or my answer, and I don't remember referring to a Inband MGMT AEP in any of the series of blog posts I wrote about "Configuring In-Band Management for the APIC on Cisco ACI" back in 2016

I need to trunk the infrastructure VLAN. I don't know why though?

Neither do I without more information - and if you care to give more, how about putting it in a NEW question (with a reference back to this post to complete the loop)