on - edited on by
Hilda Arteaga
- Introduction
- Q: In an area such as the DNA framework, which is growing and changing so quickly, how do you try and future-proof a book?
- Q: Any plans to integrate DNAC with the SD-WAN (Viptela) solution?
- Q: Does DNA Center have all the attributes that Aruba/HPE CP/Introspect/AW have in one product?
- Q: SD-Access with Viptela's Software Defined WAN is essential. SD-Access also includes Meraki?
- Q: Will DNAC support for third-party vendor equipment natively in the future?
- Q: DNAC isn't fully integrated with Catalyst 9800 series controllers in the area of Assurance data. Any plans to improve this soon? For example, the latency field isn't populated on the DNAC when Wireless AVC data is enabled for the Policy Profile on...
- Q: I have a question regarding LISP: does the Map-Reply come from the ETR or MS? According to the Cisco live slides it says that the ETR sends the response but I was informed that it was a mistake on the slide...
- Q: Prior to 17.3, Telemetry didn't work with DNAC, but I have since upgraded to 17.3.2a and there are missing fields such as the one I mentioned earlier. So, you just get basic data such as total bytes?
- Q: Does DNA Center automatically add commands to devices so it can fully read them when it provisions it, or do the administrators have to know all of the right SNMP and Flow commands to get the devices to forward the right data to utilize DNA's full...
- Q: Can you address the major differences between DNA and Prime, and why pick DNA over Prime?
- Q: Is Prime used instead of DNA and if so, why?
- Q: Can I cover most of the concepts on DNA with the DevNet Sandbox?
- Q: Dr. Falkner, can you see the intelligence driving DNA in Cisco devices, becoming light/skinny enough to be Cloud managed?
- Q: How does anyone feel about how it was when you had to do a face to face to communicate, whereas nowadays there is social media and other channels. Do you think something is lost because you don't actually "meet" with a person you are talking too?
- Related Information
This event had place on Thursday 25th, March 201 at 10:00am PST
Introduction
In this session, Cisco Press Authors will talk about Cisco’s Digital Network Architecture (DNA) and how it helps technical professionals, decision-makers, and consultants prepare to drive maximum value from next-generation networking. Also, they will share relevant updates for everyone involved with DNA planning, implementation, and operation. During this event, you will have the opportunity to interact with the authors and ask them questions in a live Q&A session.
Join the world-class networking experts and learn more about the enterprise architecture of this decade. In addition, they will present key content featured in the book Cisco Digital Network Architecture: Intent-based Networking for the Enterprise.
Tim Szigeti, CCIE #9794, is a Principal Engineer and the Director of Technical Marketing for Cisco's Emerging Technologies & Incubation (ET&I) group, which is Cisco's leading-edge Research & Development team. Tim is involved in all phases of technology innovation, from ideation to prototyping, market validation, iteration and maturing, and ultimately to transitioning the project to a business unit as a shipping product to drive revenue growth. In his 22 years with Cisco, Tim has been issued seven US patents and authored four Cisco Press books and an IETF standard (RFC 8325). Additionally, Tim has been inducted into Cisco's Distinguished Speaker Hall of Fame Elite.
Dr. Matthias Falkner is a Distinguished Technical Marketing Engineer in Cisco's Global Partner Organization (GPO). He currently focuses on the architecture evolution towards as-a-service networking for both Enterprise and SP markets and is responsible for topics such as multi-domain orchestration and assurance, SD-WAN, and Private 5G. Prior to this role, he was a member of the Enterprise DNA Team, a lead TME Architect for the ASR 100 Series Routers, and a Consulting Systems Engineer. Matthias holds a PhD in Systems and Computer Engineering from Carleton University, Canada, and an MSc in Operations Research & Information Systems from the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
Dave Zacks is a Director in Cisco’s Customer Experience (CX) team, with a deep background in networking. As a 21-year Cisco veteran, he has seen many twists and turns in technologies capabilities and customer needs across 30+ years of industry experience. Dave is a holder of over 20 patents, a long-term CCIE, and is a Cisco Live Distinguished Speaker Hall of Fame Elite speaker with experience up and down the stack, from ASIC silicon to large-scale network designs, application monitoring, and end-to-end system assurance and troubleshooting.
Simone Arena is a principal Technical Marketing Engineer within the Cisco Enterprise Networking Business (ENB) team and is primarily focused on enterprise network architecture and on all things related to wireless and mobility. Throughout the years, Simone has covered multiple roles at Cisco, starting as a software engineer working with Catalyst switching platforms, to a consulting system engineer in the field, to TME within different teams. Currently he is the lead TME architect for DNA Wireless, and his time is split between helping customers and partners design the best solution that fits their needs and engineering and product management, trying to evolve and improve products and solutions. Simone is a Distinguished Speaker at Cisco Live and has spoken at Cisco Live events all over the world for several years.
Cisco Digital Network Architecture: Intent-based Networking for the Enterprise – This guide systematically introduces Cisco’s DNA. Merging indispensable new insider information with content previously scattered through multiple technical documents, the book combines technical depth, coherence, and comprehensiveness.You can download the slides of the presentation in PDF format here. And the recording of the session here.
Q: In an area such as the DNA framework, which is growing and changing so quickly, how do you try and future-proof a book?
A: You're right and that was a huge challenge (b/c as soon as you write it down - things change and evolve). So we were very careful to lay out the framework which would allow for expansion and extension, while also detailing the current state of the architecture.
Q: Any plans to integrate DNAC with the SD-WAN (Viptela) solution?
A: Absolutely, some integrations between DNAC and SD-WAN are already in place, but a complete integration was - and still is - the plan.
Because we only want a single pane of glass for the user to manage the entire enterprise network (of which the WAN is just a part, along with the campus, WLAN, etc.) And we want everything intent-driven.
Q: Does DNA Center have all the attributes that Aruba/HPE CP/Introspect/AW have in one product?
A: What we've build with DNA (which is beyond simply DNA Center - this is just the front-panel) is an entirely new type of network. The foundation is programmable hardware (like Dave is covering now). Then modular software (IOS-XE) and then on top of that an intent-based automation and analytics platform. As such, much more than a product-to-product comparison.
Q: SD-Access with Viptela's Software Defined WAN is essential. SD-Access also includes Meraki?
A: SD-Acesss is not supported on Meraki solutions.
Q: Will DNAC support for third-party vendor equipment natively in the future?
A: Yes, it's an open platform with NB APIs and as such can integrate with any third-party platforms. And it does support some today via SNMP, nevertheless, it's a partial support.
Q: DNAC isn't fully integrated with Catalyst 9800 series controllers in the area of Assurance data. Any plans to improve this soon? For example, the latency field isn't populated on the DNAC when Wireless AVC data is enabled for the Policy Profile on the WLC?
A: C9800 is indeed integrated with DNA. The 17.3.x release brings a lot more features on the AVC side, and we now support Application Visibility.
Q: I have a question regarding LISP: does the Map-Reply come from the ETR or MS? According to the Cisco live slides it says that the ETR sends the response but I was informed that it was a mistake on the slide...
A: It's indeed the MS/MR
Besides, it's important to remember that AVC on WLC only reports quantitative statistics (i.e. byte counts, packet counts, etc.); it does not have the ability to report qualitative metrics (like latency, jitter, loss, etc.), this latter functionality requires stateful inspection and is only supported on our router platforms.
Q: Prior to 17.3, Telemetry didn't work with DNAC, but I have since upgraded to 17.3.2a and there are missing fields such as the one I mentioned earlier. So, you just get basic data such as total bytes?
A: Correct. From 17.3.3 we support qualitative metrics, before only quantitative.
Q: Does DNA Center automatically add commands to devices so it can fully read them when it provisions it, or do the administrators have to know all of the right SNMP and Flow commands to get the devices to forward the right data to utilize DNA's full capabilities? I'm worried because I don't know enough about what it can really do, and I may not know how to get my devices to send the right data.
A: Yes, DNAC uses southbound APIs to program the individual network devices using CLI commands. The network administrator does not have to know these commands (as they just express their intent) and DNAC will translate the intent into the right CLI (which can be previewed before deployment).
Q: Can you address the major differences between DNA and Prime, and why pick DNA over Prime?
A: As we get into the session, the main differences are a closed loop system, including automation and analytics - to express business-level intent to the network - program the network as a single unified entity - and then listen to the network and compare the current state with the desired (declared) state. A very different approach vs. An imperative model that Prime uses.
Q: Is Prime used instead of DNA and if so, why?
A: Prime is more a legacy NMS system approach vs DNA Center. That doesn't mean it not useful or has to be replaced, but in terms of realizing the real advantages of Automation and Assurance, then DNA Center is the way.
Q: Can I cover most of the concepts on DNA with the DevNet Sandbox?
A: Yes. There are many DevNet resources for DNA. It’s also to be considered a platform, with many Northbound APIs to not only abstract the network but to enable programmable solutions for it.
Q: Dr. Falkner, can you see the intelligence driving DNA in Cisco devices, becoming light/skinny enough to be Cloud managed?
A: [Simone] I reply on behalf of Matt - Absolutely, management and non-real time tasks like Analytics make a lot of sense to be placed the Cloud to leverage the scale, agility and "infinite" compute that the Cloud can give you. Other functions that are real-time or are data plane related, need to be on-prem. DNA as an architecture blueprint calls for Cloud as an important enabler.
Q: How does anyone feel about how it was when you had to do a face to face to communicate, whereas nowadays there is social media and other channels. Do you think something is lost because you don't actually "meet" with a person you are talking too?
A: [Simone] Personally I think that meeting face to face is vital in certain situations, especially in a project like writing a book. In general, at work, I find face to face important to get to know the team, so for the first interactions, you really get to know the people you work with, how to relate to her/him and how to effectively communicate. All these other "social" channels we have are great and they keep getting better (could you imagine this lockdown without video calls to family and friends?) but we are humans and I think the human presence factor is still key. Call me old fashion.