ACI with Nexus 9K and 5K

[rishad ahammed]

My data center has 2 Nexus 9K switches(which support ACI) as a CORE and 2 nexus5600 series as EOR.  Can I make spine and leaf architecture (N9K as spine and N5K as leaf)  with these hardware using ACI. Or Can I use ACI only with N9K and N5600 in nexus mode. Kindly advice me if it is possible to use ACI in these scenario.

[ranraju · Accepted solution]

Hi Rishad,

Nexus5600 series do not support ACI.
You can 2 N9K switches running in ACI mode (if one of them is supported as SPINE), and if you have APIC controller. So, as you know for ACI fabric you'll need atleast 3 APIC controllers, and N9Ks for SPINEs and LEAF switches. You can then connect the 5600 to one of the leaf switches to connect your traditional network to ACI.

I hope that answers your query.

Regards,
Ranganath

[rishad ahammed]

It is very clear. Thank you

[rishad ahammed]

Your reply was really helpful. I have one more question related to this, Can I use the hardware N9K in ACI mode only to manage from APIC controller (in independent mode not as a spine and leaf architecture).

[ranraju]

No ACI is not an alternative/replacement for DCNM. You can use DCNM to manage N9K if you'd like to.