9780137638246

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Get ready to configure and operate modern data centers—and move up to high-value CCNP Data Center (DC) certification

Cisco Data Center Fundamentals is the complete guide for network engineers and other professionals who need a solid understanding of modern data center technologies. Especially useful for those preparing for the Cisco DCCOR exam and Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Data Center certification, it fully addresses the essentials of networking, storage, compute, and automation in today's data center environments.

Authored by two long-time experts in operating Cisco data centers and developing official Learning@Cisco training for them, this guide explains each concept step by step, balancing depth and breadth, and maximizing clarity throughout. The authors go far beyond introducing relevant products, protocols, and features. They illuminate underlying technologies, identify key interdependencies, walk through configuring working solutions, and truly help prepare you to set up and operate a modern data center.

Gain a holistic, unified understanding of the data center and its core components
Walk through installation and deployment of key data center technologies
Explore potential applications to see what's possible in your environment
Learn how Cisco switches and software implement data center networking and virtualization
Discover and apply data center network design and security best practices
Review Cisco data center storage technologies and concepts, including Fibre Channel, VSANs, storage virtualization, and FCoE
Explore the building blocks of the Cisco UCS data center compute solution, and how UCS uses hardware abstraction and server virtualization
Use automation and APIs to improve data center productivity and agility
Create and customize scripts for rapid troubleshooting
Understand cloud computing for the data center: services, deployment models, and the Cisco Intersight hybrid cloud operations platform

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 xxiv

Part I Networking

Chapter 1 Data Center Architectures 1

Data Center Basics 1

Cisco Unified Data Center Platform 4

Data Center Network Infrastructure 6

Data Center Storage Infrastructure 10

Data Center Computing Infrastructure 12

Summary 19

References 20

Chapter 2 Describing the Cisco Nexus Family and Cisco NX-OS Software 21

Cisco Nexus Data Center Product Overview 21

Cisco FEX Overview 35

Cisco NX-OS Software Architecture 44

Exploring Cisco NX-OS CLI 48

Summary 61

References 62

Chapter 3 Describing Layer 3 First-Hop Redundancy 65

Default Gateway Redundancy 65

Hot Standby Router Protocol 68

Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol 78

Gateway Load Balancing Protocol 82

Summary 86

References 86

Chapter 4 Port Channels and vPCs 87

Ethernet Port Channels 88

Virtual Port Channels 93

Summary 124

References 125

Chapter 5 Switch Virtualization 127

Cisco Nexus Switch Functional Planes 127

Cisco Nexus Switch Process Separation and Restartability 132

Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) 134

Cisco Nexus 7000 VDCs 144

Summary 177

References 177

Chapter 6 Nexus Switch Routing 179

Routing Fundamentals 179

RIPv2 on NX-OS 190

EIGRP on NX-OS 198

OSPFv2 on NX-OS 210

Multicast Fundamentals 227

Multicast Configuration on NX-OS 240

Summary 254

References 255

Chapter 7 Network Virtualization 257

Overlay Network Protocols 257

Network Interface Virtualization Using FEX 286

VMware vSphere Virtual Switches 287

Summary 291

References 292

Contents xv

Chapter 8 Describing Cisco ACI 295

Cisco ACI Overview 295

Cisco ACI Building Blocks 299

Cisco ACI Deployment Models 303

Cisco ACI Hardware 307

ACI Startup Discovery 313

Cisco ACI Policy Model 314

Packet Forwarding within the ACI Fabric 327

Summary 328

References 330

Chapter 9 Operating Cisco ACI 333

Cisco ACI External Connectivity Options 333

Cisco ACI and VMM Integration 339

Cisco ACI and L4–L7 Integration 342

Cisco ACI Management and Automation 343

Cisco ACI Anywhere 352

Cisco Nexus Dashboard 356

Summary 358

References 359

Part II Storage

Chapter 10 Data Center Storage Concepts 361

Storage Connectivity Options in the Data Center 361

Fibre Channel Storage Networking 376

Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) 383

NVM Express and NVM Express over Fabrics 385

Cisco MDS Product Overview 389

Summary 401

Reference 402

Chapter 11 Fibre Channel Protocol Fundamentals 403

Fibre Channel Layered Model 403

Building the Switched Fabric 412

Fibre Channel Flow Control 419

Fabric Shortest Path First 421

Summary 423

Reference 424

Chapter 12 Describing VSANs and Fibre Channel Zoning 425

VSAN Overview 425

VSAN Configuration 430

Fibre Channel Zoning 439

Zoning Configuration 441

Zoning Management 448

Summary 451

Reference 453

Chapter 13 Storage Virtualization 455

Cisco Fibre Channel NPIV Feature 456

Cisco Fibre Channel NPV Mode 460

Summary 469

Reference 470

Chapter 14 Describing Data Center Ethernet Enhancements 471

IEEE Data Center Bridging 472

Priority Flow Control 472

Enhanced Transmission Selection 475

DCBX Protocol 476

Summary 478

References 478

Chapter 15 Describing FCoE 479

Cisco Unified Fabric 479

FCoE Architecture 482

FCoE Initialization Protocol 488

FCoE Configuration 490

Summary 495

References 496

Part III Compute

Chapter 16 Describing Cisco UCS Components 497

Cisco UCS Components 497

Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect Product Overview 503

Cisco UCS Blade Chassis 506

Cisco IOM Product Overview 509

Cisco UCS B-Series Servers 510

Cisco UCS C-Series Servers and the Cisco IMC Supervisor 514

Cisco UCS S-Series Storage Server 521

Cisco HyperFlex Data Platform 524

Cisco UCS X-Series Modular System 527

Summary 529

References 530

Chapter 17 Describing Cisco UCS Abstraction 531

Cisco UCS Manager Overview 532

Exploring the Cisco UCS Server Environment 543

Identity and Resource Pools for Hardware Abstraction 548

Service Profiles and Service Profile Templates 552

Cisco UCS Polices for Use in Service Profiles 555

Cisco UCS Service Profile Configuration 556

Cisco UCS Central Overview 564

Summary 566

References 568

Chapter 18 Server Virtualization 569

Virtual Machine 569

Hypervisor 574

Virtual Switch 575

VMware vSphere 576

VMware ESXi Installation 582

VMware vCenter Installation 592

Summary 611

References 612

Part IV Automation

Chapter 19 Using APIs 613

Common Programmability Protocols and Methods 613

Configuring Cisco NX-OS with APIs 624

Exploring the Cisco UCS Manager XML API Management Information Tree 626

Summary 629

Reference 629

Chapter 20 Automating the Data Center 631

Automation Basics 631

Automation and Orchestration Technologies 634

Choosing the Automation Toolset 642

Summary 643

Reference 644

Part V Cloud

Chapter 21 Cloud Computing 645

Cloud Computing Overview 645

Cloud Computing Services 653

Cloud Deployment Models 660

Cisco Intersight 666

Summary 669

References 671

9780137638246, TOC, 8/29/2022

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Cisco Data Center Fundamentals

Cisco Data Center Fundamentals

0137638248

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

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