Cisco ACI integration with Cisco Hyperflex

[radipermana]

I want integration Cisco ACI with Hyperflex, difficult for me to get document design-guide available that describes this integration.

My current reference:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/HX171_VSI_ESXi6U2.html#_Toc468704731,

but in the document there is no explanation for integration hyperflex with cisco aci.

I'm struggling for configuration in aci, where we config gateway VLAN for hyperflex (hx-inband-mgmt, hx-storage-data and vm-prod), Can we config in tenant management ? and create new Bridge domain in vrf mgmt:inb ?

Thanks

Radi

[Venkata Naveen Chapa]

Hi Radi, 

Upon completing hyperflex installation we need to integrate hyperflex with ACI as a UCS server integration. Once you finish hyperflex installation you can follow this guide for integrating it with ACI

http://www.cisco.com/assets/global/SI/events/cisco_datacenter_day/pdf/UCS_and_ACI_Integration.pdf 

[rtalekar]

Hello Radi,

I have recently wrote a white paper on HyperFlex ACI integration : 

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/hyperconverged-infrastructure/hyperflex-hx-series/whitepaper_c11-738327.html

Please review and let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Rahul

[radipermana]

Hi Rahul,

Thanks for the paper. it's is very helpful...

Regards,

Radi

[rajesh197475]

Hi

I am new to spine and leaf design.Is border leaf connecting to router should be L3 switch or L2 switch.

Hyper converged infrastructure ( storage,servers etc.,) switch to be connected to spine switch or Leaf switch.

Any diagram available please post it.

Is it possible to integrate HCI with DNA center.

Regards

V.RajeshKumar

[Jayesh Singh]

Hello Rajesh,

Cisco ACI is a routed access solution. Meaning every switch is running routing protocol(ISIS) with other switches that form the underlay. So all the switches are L3 switches including border leaf.

In leaf spine architecture, only leafs are connected to spine switches(except when GOLF is configured which connects directly to spine). No two leafs are connected to each other and no two spines are connected to each other. Compute(including HCI) is always connected to leaf switches which is the access layer in ACI.

DNA (SD-Access) is software defined solution for campus network, while ACI is software defined solution for DC. So, HCI don't really get along with DNA since these two belong to separate domains altogether.

For your reference, please find below link to ACI design guide which contains answers for all your queries related to ACI architecture and building components:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/data-center-virtualization/application-centric-infrastructure/white-paper-c11-737909.html

Regards,

Jayesh

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[rajesh197475]

Hi

Thanks for your Reply.Few more Queries I got .

If Catalyst 9000 series switches used in designing LAN network can I form Single network fabric as ACI fabric.

Is DNA center is Must .Without DNA center can I configure Catalyst 9000 series switches for single fabric as SDN.

can I use APIC-EM ( I think it is Freeware )with catalyst 9000 switches to create SDN.

if catalyst 2900 switches was upgraded to DNA software subscription,will single network fabric can be formed as SDN.

Thank you for your valuable time.

Regards,

V.Rajesh Kumar

[Jayesh Singh]

Hello Rajesh,

Please find my response below:

If Catalyst 9000 series switches used in designing LAN network can I form Single network fabric as ACI fabric.

-- With CAT 9k switches you can form a single fabric for campus network, solution is known as Cisco SD-Access. DNA controller provides you GUI based centralized management console which is analogous to APIC in ACI. Please note that ACI Forms your DC fabric and SD-Access forms your Campus Fabric and these are two different solutions based on completely different set of hardware and software. 

However, the integration is possible between ACI and SD-Access with the help of trustsec(ISE) to provide end-to-end segmentation between campus and DC network.

Is DNA center is Must .Without DNA center can I configure Catalyst 9000 series switches for single fabric as SDN.

-- DNA Center is must if you want to deploy SD-Access. Product portfolio is designed that way. You can use CAT9K without DNA center as well in case it is being deployed in legacy network(Non SDN).

can I use APIC-EM ( I think it is Freeware )with catalyst 9000 switches to create SDN.

-- Well, original idea was to have DNA center app installed on top of APIC-EM platform to form SD-Access. However, due to limited resources that APIC-EM could offer to run overwhelming DNA center app, this idea was discarded. So, there is a separate DNA controller in hardware appliance form factor which is part of SD-Access solution to configure and manage your devices.

if catalyst 2900 switches was upgraded to DNA software subscription,will single network fabric can be formed as SDN.

-- CAT2900 switches lack ASICs required to run SD-Access(vxlan and stuffs). However, you can discover and manage your devices through DNA controller, but they can't be part of campus fabric.

Please refer below link which would help you in learning about SD-Access Solution:

1. Software-Defined Access Design Guide

2. Cisco Software-Defined Access Ebook

Also, for more queries on SD-Access, you can use SD-Access section of cisco community for quick turn around time with the response, below is the link:

https://community.cisco.com/t5/software-defined-access-sd/bd-p/discussions-sd-access

Regards,

Jayesh

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[Manish Gogna]

Hi Radi,

Here is a good video on youtube detailed the UCS-ACI integration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUxJ81Q9InU

HTH

Manish

[jkilleda]

Hello Radi,

Cisco ACI integration with Cisco Hyperflex

Please find the link below which may help you in resolving the issue.
https://datacenterdennis.wordpress.com/2016/07/20/cisco-aci-integration-with-cisco-hyperflex/