9781587205910

CCNA Data Center DCICT 200-155 Official Cert Guide from Cisco Press allows you to succeed on the exam the first time and is the only self-study resource approved by Cisco. A team of leading Cisco data center experts share preparation hints and test-taking tips, helping you identify areas of weakness and improve both your conceptual knowledge and hands-on skills.

This complete, official study package includes

A test-preparation routine proven to help you pass the exam
“Do I Know This Already?” quizzes, which allows you to decide how much time you need to spend on each section
Chapter-ending and part-ending exercises, which help you drill on key concepts you must know thoroughly
The powerful Pearson IT Certification Practice Test software, complete with hundreds of well-reviewed, exam-realistic questions, customization options, and detailed performance reports
Study plan suggestions and templates to help you organize and optimize your study time
A final preparation chapter that guides you through tools and resources to help you craft your review and test-taking strategies

Well-regarded for its level of detail, study plans, assessment features, and challenging review questions and exercises, this official study guide helps you master the concepts and techniques that ensure your exam success.

The official study guide helps you master topics on the CCNA Data Center DCICT 200-155 exam, including

Cisco data center concepts: Portchannel, virtual port-channel (vPC), FabricPath, data plane, control plane, management plane, role based access control, and more
Data center unified fabric: FCoE, multihop, VIFs, FEX, and setup
Data center virtualization: servers, devices, and Nexus 1000v, including setup and operations
Cisco Unified Computing: concepts, discovery, connectivity, setup, and UCSM
Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure, ACI logical model, and policy framework n Cloud Computing, services models, and the use of application programming interfaces (APIs)
Cisco UCS Director and troubleshooting UCSD workflows

Navaid Shamsee, CCIE No.12625, is a senior solutions architect in the Cisco Services organization. He holds a master’s degree in telecommunication and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He is also a triple CCIE in routing and switching, service provider, and data center technologies. Navaid has extensive experience in designing, implementing and securing many large-scale enterprise and service provider data centers. In Cisco, Navaid is focused on the security of data center, cloud, and software-defined networking technologies. You can reach Navaid on Twitter: @NavaidShamsee.

David Klebanov, CCIE No.13791 (Routing and Switching), is leading Technical Marketing organization at Viptela, the Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) company. David has more than 15 years of diverse industry experience architecting and deploying complex network environments. In his work, David sets strategic direction for industry-leading network platforms, which transform the world of wide area communications for enterprises and service providers alike. David also takes great pride in speaking at industry events, releasing publications, and working on patents. You can reach David on Twitter: @DavidKlebanov.

Hesham Fayed, CCIE No.9303 (Routing and Switching/Data Center), is a consulting systems engineer for data center and virtualization based in California. Hesham has been with Cisco for more than 11 years and has 19 years of experience in the computer industry, working with service providers and large enterprises. His main focus is working with customers in the western region of the United States to address their challenges by doing end-to-end data center architectures.

Ahmed Afrose is a solutions architect at Cisco Cloud and Networking Services (C&NS) Innovation and Delivery team. He is responsible for providing architectural design guidance and leading complex multitech service deliveries. Furthermore, he is involved in demonstrating the Cisco value propositions in data center analytics, application automation, software-defined data centers, and Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS). Ahmed has a bachelor’s degree in information systems. He started his career with Sun Microsystem—based technologies and has 17 years of diverse experience in the industry. He’s been working for Cisco Systems for 7+ years and was directly responsible for establishing Cisco UCS Advanced Services delivery capabilities while evangelizing the product in the EMEA region. You can reach Ahmed on Twitter: @ahmedafrose.

Ozden Karakok, CCIE No. 6331, is a technical leader from the data center products and technologies team in the Technical Assistant Center (TAC). She has been with Cisco Systems for 17 years and specializes in storage area and data center networks. Prior to joining Cisco, Ozden spent five years working for a number of Cisco’s large customers in various telecommunication roles. She is a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert in routing and switching, SNA/IP, and storage. A frequent speaker at Cisco and data center events, she serves as a member of the patent committee at Cisco Services. Ozden holds a degree in computer engineering from Istanbul Bogazici University. Currently, she is focused on Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) and software-defined storage (SDS). You can reach Ozden on Twitter: @okarakok.

Introduction xxxii

Getting Started 3

A Brief Perspective on the CCNA Data Center Certification Exam 3

Suggestions for How to Approach Your Study with This Book 3

This Book Is Compiled from 17 Short Read-and-Review Sessions 4

Practice, Practice, Practice—Did I Mention: Practice? 4

In Each Part of the Book You Will Hit a New Milestone 5

Use the Final Preparation Chapter to Refine Skills 6

Set Goals and Track Your Progress 6

Other Small Tasks Before Getting Started 7

Part I Data Center Networking Technologies 9

Chapter 1 Data Center Networking 11

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 11

Foundation Topics 15

Port Channel 15

What Is Port Channel? 15

Benefits of Using Port Channels 15

Port Channel Compatibility Requirements 16

Link Aggregation Control Protocol 16

Port Channel Modes 17

Configuring Port Channel 18

Port Channel Load Balancing 19

Verifying Port Channel Configuration 19

Virtual Port Channel 20

What Is Virtual Port Channel? 20

Benefits of Using vPC 22

Components of vPC 22

vPC Data Plane Operation 24

vPC Control Plane Operation 26

vPC Limitations 27

Configuration Steps of vPC 27

Verification of vPC 29

FabricPath 29

Spanning Tree Protocol 29

What Is FabricPath? 31

Benefits of FabricPath 31

Components of FabricPath 32

FabricPath Frame Format 34

FabricPath Control Plane 35

FabricPath Data Plane 37

Conversational Learning 38

FabricPath Packet Flow Example 38

Unknown Unicast Packet Flow 39

Known Unicast Packet Flow 39

Virtual Port Channel Plus 40

FabricPath Interaction with Spanning Tree 41

Configuring FabricPath 42

Verifying FabricPath 43

Reference List 44

Exam Preparation Tasks 45

Review All Key Topics 45

Complete Tables and Lists from Memory 45

Define Key Terms 45

Chapter 2 Management and Monitoring of Cisco Nexus Devices 47

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 47

Foundation Topics 50

Operational Planes of a Nexus Switch 50

Data Plane 50

Store-and-Forward Switching 51

Cut-Through Switching 51

Nexus 5500 Data Plane Architecture 51

Control Plane 53

Nexus 5500 Control Plane Architecture 54

Control Plane Policing 55

Control Plane Analyzer 57

Management Plane 58

Nexus Management and Monitoring Features 59

Out-of-Band Management 59

Console Port 60

Connectivity Management Processor 61

Management Port (mgmt0) 61

In-Band Management 62

Simple Network Management Protocol 62

SNMP Notifications 63

SNMPv3 63

Remote Monitoring 64

RMON Alarms 64

RMON Events 65

Syslog 65

Embedded Event Manager 66

Event Statements 66

Action Statements 66

Policies 66

Generic Online Diagnostics 67

Smart Call Home 68

NX-API 68

Role-Based Access Control 70

User Roles 71

Rules 71

User Role Policies 72

RBAC Characteristics and Guidelines 72

Privilege Levels 72

Reference List 73

Exam Preparation Tasks 74

Review All Key Topics 74

Complete Tables and Lists from Memory 74

Define Key Terms 74

Chapter 3 Unified Fabric Overview 77

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 77

Foundation Topics 80

Challenges of Today’s Data Center Networks 80

Cisco Unified Fabric Principles 82

Convergence of Network and Storage 82

Scalability and Growth 88

Security and Intelligence 93

Inter-Data Center Unified Fabric 97

Fibre Channel over IP 98

Overlay Transport Virtualization 100

Locator ID Separation Protocol 104

Reference List 106

Exam Preparation Tasks 107

Review All Key Topics 107

Complete Tables and Lists from Memory 107

Define Key Terms 107

Part I Review 108

Part II Network Virtualization 113

Chapter 4 Cisco Nexus 1000V and Virtual Switching 115

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 116

Foundation Topics 119

Evolution of Virtual Switching 119

Before Server Virtualization 119

Server Virtualization with Static VMware vSwitch 121

Virtual Network Components 122

Virtual Access Layer 123

Standard VMware vSwitch Overview 124

Standard VMware vSwitch Operations 125

Standard VMware vSwitch Configuration 127

VMware vDS Overview 128

VMware vDS Configuration 129

VMware vDS Enhancements 131

VMware vSwitch and vDS 131

Cisco Nexus 1000V Virtual Networking Solution 132

Cisco Nexus 1000V System Overview 134

Cisco Nexus 1000V Salient Features and Benefits 134

Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Virtual Switch Architecture 137

Cisco Nexus 1000V Virtual Supervisory Module 137

Cisco Nexus 1000V Virtual Ethernet Module 138

Cisco Nexus 1000V Component Communication 140

Cisco Nexus 1000V Management Communication 140

Cisco Nexus 1000V Port Profiles 141

Types of Port Profiles in Cisco Nexus 1000V 142

Cisco Nexus 1000V Administrator View and Roles 142

Cisco Nexus 1000V Verifying Initial Configuration 144

Cisco Nexus 1000V VSM Installation Methods 144

Initial VSM Configuration Verification 145

Verifying VMware vCenter Connectivity 145

Verifying Nexus 1000V Module Status 147

Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM Installation Methods 148

Initial VEM Status on ESX or ESXi Host 148

Verifying VSM Connectivity from vCenter Server 148

Verifying VEM Agent Running 148

Verifying VEM Uplink Interface Status 149

Verifying VEM Parameters with VSM Configuration 150

Validating VM Port Groups and Port Profiles 150

Verifying Port Profile and Groups 152

Key New Technologies Integrated with Cisco Nexus 1000V 153

What Is the Difference Between VN-Link and VN-Tag? 153

What Is VXLAN? 153

What Is vPath Technology? 154

What Is Cisco Application Virtual Switch (AVS)? 154

Reference List 155

Exam Preparation Tasks 156

Review All Key Topics 156

Complete Tables and Lists from Memory 156

Define Key Terms 157

Chapter 5 Data Center Overlay Networks 159

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 159

Foundation Topics 162

Overlay Transport Virtualization 162

Introduction to Overlay Transport Virtualization 162

OTV Terminology 164

OTV Control Plane 166

Multicast-Enabled Transport Infrastructure 166

Unicast-Enabled Transport Infrastructure 167

Data Plane for Unicast Traffic 168

Data Plane for Multicast Traffic 170

Failure Isolation 172

STP Isolation 172

Unknown Unicast Handling 172

ARP Optimization 173

OTV Multihoming 173

First Hop Redundancy Protocol Isolation 174

OTV Configuration Example with Multicast Transport 174

OTV Configuration Example with Unicast Transport 177

Virtual Extensible LAN 179

VXLAN Terminology 180

VTEP 180

VNID 181

VXLAN Gateway Types 181

VXLAN Bridging 181

VXLAN Routing 181

VXLAN Packet Forwarding 183

VXLAN VTEP Discovery and Address Learning 183

VXLAN Data Plane Learning 184

VXLAN Unicast-Only Mode 184

VXLAN Using Control Plane Protocol 184

Network Virtualization Using Generic Routing Encapsulation 184

Reference List 185

Exam Preparation Tasks 186

Review All Key Topics 186

Define Key Terms 186

Chapter 6 Virtualizing Cisco Network Devices 189

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 189

Foundation Topics 192

Describing VDCs on the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch 192

VDC Deployment Scenarios 194

Horizontal Consolidation Scenarios 194

Vertical Consolidation Scenarios 195

VDCs for Service Insertion 196

Understanding Different Types of VDCs 196

Interface Allocation 198

VDC CPU Shares and Hardware Resources 199

VDC Administration 199

VDC Requirements 200

Verifying VDCs on the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switch 201

Describing Layer 3 Virtualization Within VDCs 204

Describe the Benefits and Perform Simple Troubleshooting of VDC STP 207

Verifying STP Operation 209

Describing Network Interface Virtualization 210

Cisco Nexus 2000 FEX Terminology 210

Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extender Connectivity 211

VN-Tag Overview 212

Cisco Nexus 2000 FEX Packet Flow 213

Cisco Nexus 2000 FEX Port Connectivity 214

Cisco Nexus 2000 FEX Configuration on the Nexus 7000 Series 216

Cisco Adapter FEX Technology 219

Reference List 221

Exam Preparation Tasks 222

Review All Key Topics 222

Define Key Terms 222

Part II Review 224

Part III Cisco Unified Computing 229

Chapter 7 Cisco UCS Architecture 231

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 232

Foundation Topics 235

Evolution of Server Computing in a Nutshell 235

What Is a Socket? 236

What Is a Core? 236

What Is Hyperthreading? 237

Understanding Server Processor Numbering 237

Value of Cisco UCS in the Data Center 238

One Unified System 239

Unified Fabric 240

Unified Management and Operations 240

Cisco UCS Stateless Computing 241

Intelligent Automation, Cloud-Ready Infrastructure 242

Describing the Cisco UCS Product Family 243

Cisco UCS Computer Hardware Naming 243

Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects 244

What Is a Unified Port? 247

What Are QSA Modules and Breakout Cables? 247

Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect—Expansion Modules 247

Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis 248

Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis—Power Supply and Redundancy Modes 248

Cisco UCS M4308 Chassis 249

Cisco UCS I/O Modules (FEX) 250

Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers 251

Cisco UCS B-Series Best Practices for Populating DRAM 253

Cisco Adapters (Mezzanine Cards) for UCS B-Series Blade Servers 254

Cisco Converged Network Adapters (CNA) 254

Cisco Virtual Interface Cards 255

Cisco UCS VIC 1340/1380 256

Cisco UCS Port Expander 257

What Is Cisco Adapter FEX? 257

What Is Cisco Virtual Machine-Fabric Extender? 257

Cisco UCS Storage Accelerator Adapters 258

Cisco UCS C-Series Rackmount Servers 258

Cisco UCS C-Series Dense Storage Rack Server 261

Cisco UCS C-Series Best Practices for Populating DRAM 261

Cisco Adapters for UCS C-Series Rackmount Servers 262

Cisco UCS C-Series RAID Adapter Options 262

Cisco UCS C-Series Virtual Interface Cards and OEM CAN Adapters 265

Cisco UCS VIC 1387 mLOM 266

What Is SR-IOV (Single Root-IO Virtualization)? 266

Cisco UCS C-Series Network Interface Card 267

Cisco UCS C-Series Host Bus Adapter 268

What Is N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV)? 269

Cisco UCS Storage Accelerator Adapters 270

Cisco UCS E-Series Servers 271

Cisco UCS Mini 272

Cisco UCS M-Series Servers 272

Cisco UCS Software 274

Cisco UCS Manager 274

Cisco UCS Central 274

Cisco UCS StorMagic SvSAN 274

Cisco UCS Director 274

Cisco IMC Supervisor 275

System Menu 276

Policies Menu 276

Administration Menu 276

Cisco UCS Platform Emulator 277

Cisco goUCS Automation Tool 277

Cisco UCS Connectivity Architecture 277

Cisco UCS 5108 Chassis to Fabric Interconnect Physical Connectivity 277

Cisco UCS C-Series Rackmount Server Physical Connectivity 278

Cisco UCS 6200 Fabric Interconnect to LAN, SAN Connectivity 280

Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect Switching Modes 281

Ethernet Switching Mode 281

Fibre Channel Switching Mode 282

Cisco UCS I/O Module and Fabric Interconnect Connectivity 283

Cisco UCS I/O Module Architecture 285

Fabric and Adapter Port Channel Architecture 287

Cisco Integrated Management Controller Architecture 287

Reference List 289

Exam Preparation Tasks 290

Review All Key Topics 290

Complete Tables and Lists from Memory 292

Define Key Terms 292

Chapter 8 Cisco UCS Manager 295

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 296

Foundation Topics 299

Cabling a Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect HA Cluster 299

Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect HA Architecture 299

Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect Cluster Connectivity 300

Initial Setup Script for Primary Fabric Interconnect 302

Initial Setup Script for Subordinate Secondary Fabric Interconnect 303

Verify Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect Cluster Setup 303

Changing Cluster Addressing via Command-Line Interface 305

Command Modes 305

Changing Cluster IP Addresses via Command-Line Interface 306

Changing Static IP Addresses via Command-Line Interface 306

Cisco UCS Manager Operations 307

Cisco UCS Manager Functions 307

Cisco UCS Manager GUI Layout 310

Cisco UCS Manager: Navigation Pane—Tabs 313

Equipment Tab 313

Servers Tab 314

LAN Tab 314

SAN Tab 315

VM Tab 315

Admin Tab 317

Storage Tab 317

Basic Port Roles in the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects 318

Cisco UCS Manager Hardware Discovery 319

Verifying Device Discovery in Cisco UCS Manager 321

Reference List 323

Exam Preparation Tasks 324

Review All Key Topics 324

Define Key Terms 325

Chapter 9 Cisco Unified Computing System Pools, Policies, Templates, and Service Profiles 327

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 327

Foundation Topics 331

Cisco UCS Service Profiles 331

Cisco UCS Hardware Abstraction and Stateless Computing 331

Contents of a Cisco UCS Service Profile 333

Other Benefits of Cisco UCS Service Profiles 335

Ease of Incremental Deployments 335

Plan and Preconfigure Cisco UCS Solutions 335

Ease of Server Replacement 336

Right-Sized Server Deployments 336

Cisco UCS Templates 336

Organizational Awareness with Service Profile Templates 337

Cisco UCS Service Profile Templates 338

Cisco UCS vNIC Templates 339

Cisco UCS vHBA Templates 339

Cisco UCS Logical Resource Pools 340

UUID Identity Pools 341

MAC Address Identity Pools 342

WWN Address Identity Pools 343

WWNN Pools 343

WWPN Pools 344

Cisco UCS Physical Resource Pools 345

Server Pools 345

Cisco UCS Server Qualification and Pool Policies 345

Server Auto-Configuration Policies 346

Creation of Policies for Cisco UCS Service Profiles and Service Profile Templates 347

Frequently Used Policies Explained 347

Equipment Tab—Global Policies 347

BIOS Policy 348

Boot Policy 348

Local Disk Configuration Policy 349

Maintenance Policy 350

Scrub Policy 351

Host Firmware Packages 351

Adapter Policy 352

Cisco UCS Chassis and Blade Power Capping 353

What Is Power Capping? 353

Cisco UCS Power Capping Strategies 353

Utilizing Cisco UCS Service Profile Templates 355

Creating Cisco UCS Service Profile Templates 355

Modifying a Cisco UCS Service Profile Template 356

Utilizing Cisco UCS Service Profile Templates for Different Workloads 357

Creating Service Profiles from Templates 357

Reference List 359

Exam Preparation Tasks 360

Review All Key Topics 360

Complete Tables and Lists from Memory 361

Define Key Terms 361

Chapter 10 Administration, Management, and Monitoring of Cisco UCS 363

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 363

Foundation Topics 367

Cisco UCS Administration 367

Organization and Locales 367

Role-Based Access Control 369

Authentication Methods 370

LDAP Providers 370

LDAP Provider Groups 370

Domain, Realm, and Default Authentication Settings 371

Communication Management 372

UCS Firmware, Backup, and License Management 373

Firmware Terminology 373

Firmware Definitions 374

Firmware Update Guidelines 375

Host Firmware Packages 375

Cross-Version Firmware Support 376

Firmware Auto Install 376

UCS Backups 377

Backup Automation 378

License Management 379

Cisco UCS Management 380

Operational Planes 380

In-Band Versus Out-of-Band Management 381

Remote Accessibility 382

Direct KVM Access 382

Advanced UCS Management 383

Cisco UCS Manager XML API 383

goUCS Automation Toolkit 384

Using the Python SDK 386

Multi-UCS Management 387

Cisco UCS Monitoring 387

Cisco UCS System Logs 388

Fault, Event, and Audit Logs (Syslogs) 388

System Event Logs 391

UCS SNMP 391

Fault Suppression 393

Collection and Threshold Policies 394

Call Home and Smart Call Home 396

Reference List 400

Exam Preparation Tasks 401

Review All Key Topics 401

Define Key Terms 401

Chapter 11 Server Virtualization Solutions 403

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 403

Foundation Topics 406

Brief History of Server Virtualization 406

Server Virtualization Components 407

Hypervisor 407

Virtual Machines 408

Virtual Switching 409

Shared Storage 410

Management Tools 411

Types of Server Virtualization 411

Full Virtualization 412

Paravirtualization 413

Operating System Virtualization 414

Server Virtualization Benefits and Challenges 415

Server Virtualization Benefits 415

Server Virtualization Challenges 416

Reference List 421

Exam Preparation Tasks 422

Review All Key Topics 422

Define Key Terms 422

Part III Review 424

Part IV Application Centric Infrastructure 429

Chapter 12 ACI Architecture 431

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 432

Foundation Topics 436

What’s an Application Programming Interface (API)? 436

Network Management Options 436

Cisco Software-Defined Networking (SDN) 438

The Policy-Based Model 445

OpFlex 447

Spine-Leaf Data Center Design 447

ACI Physical Topology and Software 449

ACI Fabric Hardware—Cisco Nexus 9000 Family 452

Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) 456

VXLAN Forwarding 464

Mapping Database 467

ACI Fabric Provisioning and Startup Discovery 468

Reference List 470

Exam Preparation Tasks 472

Review All Key Topics 472

Complete Tables and Lists from Memory 473

Define Key Terms 473

Chapter 13 ACI Logical Model and Policy Framework 475

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 475

Foundation Topics 479

Abstraction 479

ACI Policy Object Model 480

Different Models 487

ACI Logical Constructs 488

Bridge Domains and Subnets 492

In-Band and Out-of-Band Management Networks 493

Endpoint Groups 497

Policy Enforcement 502

Multicast Policy Enforcement 504

Microsegmentation 505

Intra-EPG Endpoint Isolation 505

Application Profiles 506

Contracts 506

Labels, Filters, and Subjects 508

Reference List 509

Exam Preparation Tasks 511

Review All Key Topics 511

Define Key Terms 512

Chapter 14 Operating ACI 515

“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 515

Foundation Topics 518

ACI and Three-Tier Application Model 518

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CCNA Data Center DCICT 200-155 Official Cert Guide

CCNA Data Center DCICT 200-155 Official Cert Guide

1587205912

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials