UAT in CISCO ACI
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) in Cisco ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure) involves verifying that the system meets user requirements and functions as intended. Here are some specific areas to focus on during UAT for Cisco ACI:
- Fabric Initialization and Configuration:
- Validate the setup process for fabric initialization and ensure all fabric components are discovered and integrated correctly.
- Verify the creation of tenant-based policies, application profiles, bridge domains, and endpoint groups (EPGs) as per design requirements.
- Policy Validation and Enforcement:
- Test the implementation and enforcement of network policies within the ACI fabric.
- Ensure that contracts, filters, and security policies between EPGs are properly applied and enforced.
- Network Connectivity and Integration:
- Verify connectivity within EPGs and between different application tiers to ensure proper communication based on policies.
- Validate integration with external networks or services, such as connecting to non-ACI environments or services.
- Service Insertion and Functionality:
- Test service insertion and chaining functionalities (e.g., firewall, load balancer) for specific application traffic flows.
- Validate the functionality and configuration of L4-L7 services integrated into the ACI fabric.
- High Availability and Resiliency:
- Test failover scenarios to ensure the fabric's resilience against switch, link, or controller failures.
- Verify that redundancy mechanisms and high availability configurations function as expected.
- Performance and Scalability:
- Test the fabric's performance under different traffic loads to ensure it meets performance benchmarks.
- Validate scalability by adding new tenants, endpoints, or policies to ensure the fabric can handle growth.
- Integration with Orchestration and Automation:
- Validate integration with orchestration tools (e.g., VMware vRealize, Cisco UCS Director) and automation frameworks.
- Test API functionality for provisioning, configuration changes, and monitoring.
- Upgrade and Patch Management:
- Test the process of upgrading ACI software versions to ensure seamless transitions without service disruptions or data loss.
- Monitoring, Visibility, and Troubleshooting:
- Validate monitoring capabilities for fabric-wide and endpoint-specific statistics.
- Test troubleshooting features to identify and resolve network issues efficiently.
- Security and Compliance:
- Validate security features such as role-based access control (RBAC), encryption, and secure communication protocols.
- Ensure compliance with relevant security standards (e.g., PCI DSS, HIPAA) and regulatory requirements.
- User Interface and Experience:
- Evaluate the usability of the ACI GUI and verify that it provides an intuitive and user-friendly experience.
- Test the functionality of the GUI for configuration, monitoring, and management tasks.
- Documentation and Training:
- Evaluate the completeness and accuracy of documentation provided for administrators and end-users.
- Conduct user training sessions to ensure stakeholders are familiar with using the ACI features effectively.
Tailor these UAT test cases based on the specific deployment, requirements, and use cases within your Cisco ACI environment to ensure comprehensive coverage and validation of the system's functionalities.
