Cisco ACI Sandbox has no leaf or spine switches again

[zo3]

Hiya! Is there some way that folks can re-add leaf or spine switches to the sandbox? I am continuously running into the issue that they're deleted or cannot be discovered. This time it seems that the switches are inactive though I'm not sure what else I can do to bring them up.

I've tried setting up my own sandbox but the expiration every 5 days max is a detriment in its own way as well. If there's any way to have a sandbox with no expiration date, I would appreciate it.

[mfr-6]

hi @zo3 

I believe the best way to exercise with lab environment is to create your personal instance as you already did several times. Expiration time might be problematic, as you need to rebuild your scenario over and over again from scratch, but maybe this is a good opportunity for you to practice programmability and develop a script or use tools like Ansible or Terraform and execute it every time you spin up your own instance of a lab?

From the other hand - be aware that EVERYONE has access to https://sandboxapicdc.cisco.com/ so there is a risk that someone would remove your lab scenario you just deployed.

I tried to create a node using "Create Fabric Node Member" option with providing SN of: TEP-1-102 which is missing right now, but with no success - this node cannot be registered (at least from GUI, maybe direct REST API will solve the issue? i haven't tested it). The interesting thing is that it's properly discovered by LLDP and it's visible that that one is connected to simulated spine switch.

[Alexander Stevenson]

@zo3 

You might want to look into ACI Simulator

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/cloud-systems-management/application-centric-infrastructure-simulator/index.html

or

Cisco Modeling Labs

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/cloud-systems-management/modeling-labs/index.html

[zo3]

@Alexander Stevenson Thank you! Are there any docs around the Cisco Modeling Labs? I see that there's support for things out of the box for stuff like SD-WAN, but I want to add an APIC to manage the NX9k devices they seem to be able to simulate Much appreciated!

[Alexander Stevenson]

Hi @zo3,

Glad I could be of assistance!

Here are the docs for CML: https://developer.cisco.com/docs/modeling-labs/

You can toggle for version number in the upper-left-hand corner.

I don't think you can add APIC inside of CML. If you can get the 9K switches in CML to switch to ACI mode (I'm not 100% sure this is supported in in CML) you may be able to manage them from an ACI Simulator on your local network.

Steps to Implement:

1. Deploy APIC Simulator:

Obtain the APIC simulator and deploy it as a VM within your CML environment. Follow the guidelines for integrating APIC with Nexus 9000 devices.

2. Configure Nexus 9000 for ACI:

Convert or configure your Nexus 9000 devices in CML to run in ACI mode, which is required for APIC management.

3. Establish Connectivity:

Ensure that the APIC simulator is properly connected to the Nexus 9000 devices in your CML topology.

4. Manage with APIC:

Once connectivity is established, you can use the APIC to manage your Nexus 9000 devices within CML, creating policies, configuring the network, and automating tasks as you would in a physical ACI environment.

- - -

The best place to ask CML questions, in my opinion, is the Cisco Modeling Labs - Personal Community: https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/s/topic/0TO3i00000094ZjGAI/cisco-modeling-labs-personal-community