DCACI

ACI Tenant Policy Model (or ACI Logical Constructs)

Cisco ACI is a policy based fabric. This means that the complete environment is modelled in objects. When you look at the ACI fundamentals guide you’ll find the model explained in steps. This post covers the tenant policy model. The tenant policy model is a part of the overall model directly located under the root of the model. This shows that the tenant policy model is one of the most important parts of ACI.

ACI Access Model

We’ve learned about the ACI object model in reference to the Tenants. However, to apply an EPG to a port you need the Access Policy Model. The access policy model consists of a few object in the model that in the end make up the configuration of the physical port on a switch. This chapter will cover all the objects in the image above. Vlan Pools A vlan pool is a set of vlans that can be used at a later time in the policy.

Fabric Discovery

Fabric Discovery is the process of discovering all the Leaf and Spine switches in the fabric. This sounds fairly straightforward and it is. But before you can start Fabric Discovery you have to perform the APIC setup first. APIC setup When you first unbox an APIC you will have a UCS server. It will have several interfaces on the backside. At one of the interfaces there should be a label To Fabric.

ACI Topology and Hardware

ACI Hardware Though this chapter is called ACI Topology and Hardware we begin with the hardware. This makes more sense from a logical standpoint. Otherwise I would be telling you about Leafs and Spines and APICs and such, without any reference. There is a lot of specific hardware available for ACI and I won’t cover it all here. The best place to find hardware specific information is on the Cisco website itself.