Cisco Data Center Fundamentals

Somit Maloo, CCIE No. 28603, CCDE No. 20170002, is a content architect from the data center team at Learning@Cisco. He holds a master's degree in telecommunication networks and a bachelor's degree in electronics and telecommunication engineering. He is also a penta-CCIE in enterprise infrastructure, service provider, enterprise wireless, security, and data center technologies. Somit holds various industry-leading certifications, including CCDE, PMP, RHCSA, and VMware VCIX6 in Data Center and Network Virtualization. Somit has extensive experience in designing and developing various data center courses for the official Cisco curriculum. He started his career as a Cisco TAC engineer. Somit has more than 12 years of experience in the networking industry, working mostly with data center networks. You can reach Somit on Twitter: @somitmaloo.  Iskren Nikolov, CCIE No.20164, CCSI No.32481, MCT Alumni, Content architect, engineer, and developer with the Cisco Learning & Certifications Data Center and Cloud team. He is responsible for designing, developing, reviewing Data Center Official Learning Cisco courses, including lab infrastructures and exercises. He holds a master's degree in computer systems and management from the Technical University-Sofia, Bulgaria. Iskren has more than 26 years of experience in designing, implementing, and supporting solutions based on technologies such as data center, security, storage, wide area network, software-defined network, cloud, hybrid, and multicloud, including 11 years of teaching and developing Cisco Data Center and Cloud courses and Microsoft Azure courses. Because of his vast experience across technologies from multiple vendors, such as Cisco Systems, VMware, Microsoft, and Barracuda, combined with the different perspectives he has gained from his different work roles and working with customers from different industries, Iskren has a unique view of the current data center technologies and future trends. You can reach Iskren on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iskrennikolov.

• Introduction xxivPart I NetworkingChapter 1 Data Center Architectures 1Data Center Basics 1Cisco Unified Data Center Platform 4Data Center Network Infrastructure 6Data Center Storage Infrastructure 10Data Center Computing Infrastructure 12Summary 19References 20Chapter 2 Describing the Cisco Nexus Family and Cisco NX-OS Software 21Cisco Nexus Data Center Product Overview 21Cisco FEX Overview 35Cisco NX-OS Software Architecture 44Exploring Cisco NX-OS CLI 48Summary 61References 62Chapter 3 Describing Layer 3 First-Hop Redundancy 65Default Gateway Redundancy 65Hot Standby Router Protocol 68Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol 78Gateway Load Balancing Protocol 82Summary 86References 86Chapter 4 Port Channels and vPCs 87Ethernet Port Channels 88Virtual Port Channels 93Summary 124References 125Chapter 5 Switch Virtualization 127Cisco Nexus Switch Functional Planes 127Cisco Nexus Switch Process Separation and Restartability 132Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) 134Cisco Nexus 7000 VDCs 144Summary 177References 177Chapter 6 Nexus Switch Routing 179Routing Fundamentals 179RIPv2 on NX-OS 190EIGRP on NX-OS 198OSPFv2 on NX-OS 210Multicast Fundamentals 227Multicast Configuration on NX-OS 240Summary 254References 255Chapter 7 Network Virtualization 257Overlay Network Protocols 257Network Interface Virtualization Using FEX 286VMware vSphere Virtual Switches 287Summary 291References 292Contents xvChapter 8 Describing Cisco ACI 295Cisco ACI Overview 295Cisco ACI Building Blocks 299Cisco ACI Deployment Models 303Cisco ACI Hardware 307ACI Startup Discovery 313Cisco ACI Policy Model 314Packet Forwarding within the ACI Fabric 327Summary 328References 330Chapter 9 Operating Cisco ACI 333Cisco ACI External Connectivity Options 333Cisco ACI and VMM Integration 339Cisco ACI and L4–L7 Integration 342Cisco ACI Management and Automation 343Cisco ACI Anywhere 352Cisco Nexus Dashboard 356Summary 358References 359Part II StorageChapter 10 Data Center Storage Concepts 361Storage Connectivity Options in the Data Center 361Fibre Channel Storage Networking 376Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) 383NVM Express and NVM Express over Fabrics 385Cisco MDS Product Overview 389Summary 401Reference 402Chapter 11 Fibre Channel Protocol Fundamentals 403Fibre Channel Layered Model 403Building the Switched Fabric 412Fibre Channel Flow Control 419Fabric Shortest Path First 421Summary 423Reference 424Chapter 12 Describing VSANs and Fibre Channel Zoning 425VSAN Overview 425VSAN Configuration 430Fibre Channel Zoning 439Zoning Configuration 441Zoning Management 448Summary 451Reference 453Chapter 13 Storage Virtualization 455Cisco Fibre Channel NPIV Feature 456Cisco Fibre Channel NPV Mode 460Summary 469Reference 470Chapter 14 Describing Data Center Ethernet Enhancements 471IEEE Data Center Bridging 472Priority Flow Control 472Enhanced Transmission Selection 475DCBX Protocol 476Summary 478References 478Chapter 15 Describing FCoE 479Cisco Unified Fabric 479FCoE Architecture 482FCoE Initialization Protocol 488FCoE Configuration 490Summary 495References 496Part III ComputeChapter 16 Describing Cisco UCS Components 497Cisco UCS Components 497Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect Product Overview 503Cisco UCS Blade Chassis 506Cisco IOM Product Overview 509Cisco UCS B-Series Servers 510Cisco UCS C-Series Servers and the Cisco IMC Supervisor 514Cisco UCS S-Series Storage Server 521Cisco HyperFlex Data Platform 524Cisco UCS X-Series Modular System 527Summary 529References 530Chapter 17 Describing Cisco UCS Abstraction 531Cisco UCS Manager Overview 532Exploring the Cisco UCS Server Environment 543Identity and Resource Pools for Hardware Abstraction 548Service Profiles and Service Profile Templates 552Cisco UCS Polices for Use in Service Profiles 555Cisco UCS Service Profile Configuration 556Cisco UCS Central Overview 564Summary 566References 568Chapter 18 Server Virtualization 569Virtual Machine 569Hypervisor 574Virtual Switch 575VMware vSphere 576VMware ESXi Installation 582VMware vCenter Installation 592Summary 611References 612Part IV AutomationChapter 19 Using APIs 613Common Programmability Protocols and Methods 613Configuring Cisco NX-OS with APIs 624Exploring the Cisco UCS Manager XML API Management Information Tree 626Summary 629Reference 629Chapter 20 Automating the Data Center 631Automation Basics 631Automation and Orchestration Technologies 634Choosing the Automation Toolset 642Summary 643Reference 644Part V CloudChapter 21 Cloud Computing 645Cloud Computing Overview 645Cloud Computing Services 653Cloud Deployment Models 660Cisco Intersight 666Summary 669References 671  9780137638246, TOC, 8/29/2022