Physical APIC Controller Or Virtual APIC Server For Home LAB

[AlirezaR]

Hi DC experts,

I am currently learning CCNP DC and I wanted to test real scenario in ACI Mode. Therefore, I have bought 2x C9336PQ and 2x 9372PX as SPINE and Leaf respectively. And all of them have 14.2.7 ACI version. According to Cisco documents, I should use Apic controller below 5.0. Moreover, I would like to know that I should use Physical APIC M2 Oder M3 as the first Apic Controller? Or can I use Virtual Apic below 5.0 as the first Apic controller in my home Lab? As far as I understood for below version of 5.0. I should have at least one physical Apic Controller.

Best Regards,

[mfr-6 · Accepted solution]

hi @AlirezaR 

"According to Cisco documents, I should use Apic controller below 5.0"

Yes, software version on switches should match with APIC's version. In this case - N9K-C9336PQ - was supported from release 12.0.1 to release 14.2.7. Since you have the newest supported version for this hardware, you should downgrade your APIC's version to 4.2(7). It's not recommended to have a discrepancy between APIC cluster and switches. I see you want to test real-life scenarios so I guess it's crucial for you to replicate environment by following best practices.

APIC-M2 is enough as it is supported from release 14.2.1 to release 16.1.2.

Going back to Virtual APIC, quote from: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/aci/apic/sw/kb/cisco-mini-aci-fabric.html#id_75032

"While two of the three Cisco APICs in a cluster can now be virtual APICs as virtual machines running in ESXi hosts, you must install and configure a physical APIC first. The physical APIC discovers the spine and leaf switches in the fabric, discovers and configures the virtual APICs during their installation, and facilitates the Cisco APIC cluster upgrades."

[Wassim Aouadi · Accepted solution]

Hello @AlirezaR,

Now that you bought the hardware, you can only practice with ACI 4.x software, which does not support virtual APICs. The virtual APIC feature is supported with ACI 6.0(2) and later.

Your only possiblility regarding APIC selection is to use physical appliances. Both M2 and M3 support ACI 4.x. 

For your information, most if not all releases below ACI 6.x are End of Life and End of Sale. Link

Best regards

Wassim