ACI Advanced Monitoring and Troubleshooting

ACI Advanced Monitoring and Troubleshooting

by Sadiq Memon, Carlo Schmidt, Joseph Ristaino
Released November 2020
Publisher(s): Cisco Press
ISBN: 9780135264713

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Book description

ACI Advanced Monitoring and Troubleshooting provides a solid conceptual foundation and in-depth technical knowledge for monitoring and troubleshooting virtually any problem encountered during testing, deployment, or operation of Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) infrastructure. Authored by leading ACI support experts at Cisco, it covers all you’ll need to keep your ACI deployment working optimally. Coverage includes:

  • Core ACI concepts and components, including Nexus 9000 Series platforms, APIC controllers, and protocols

  • In-depth insight into ACI’s policy model

  • ACI fabric design options: single and multiple data centers, stretched vs. multiple fabrics, and multi-pod/multi-site

  • Automation, orchestration, and the cloud in ACI environments

  • ACI topology and hardware/software specifications

  • End host and network connectivity

  • VMM integration

  • Network management configuration, including SNMP, AAA, and SPAN

  • Monitoring ACI fabrics and health

  • Getting immediate results through the NX-OS command line interface

  • Troubleshooting use cases: fabric discovery, APIC, management access, contracts, external connectivity, leaf/spine connectivity, end-host connectivity, VMM problems, ACI multi-pod/multi-site problems, and more

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. About This eBook
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. About the Authors
  6. About the Technical Reviewers
  7. Dedications
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Contents at a Glance
  10. Contents
  11. Reader Services
  12. Command Syntax Conventions
  13. Foreword by Yusuf Bhaiji
  14. Foreword by Ronak Desai
  15. Introduction
    1. Who Should Read This Book?
    2. How This Book Is Organized
  16. Figure Credits
  17. Part I: Introduction to ACI
    1. Chapter 1. Fundamental Functions and Components of Cisco ACI
      1. ACI Building Blocks
      2. ACI Key Concepts
      3. Summary
      4. Review Key Topics
      5. Review Questions
    2. Chapter 2. Introduction to the ACI Policy Model
      1. Key Characteristics of the Policy Model
      2. Logical Constructs
      3. Tenant Objects
      4. VRF Objects
      5. Application Profile Objects
      6. Endpoint Group Objects
      7. Bridge Domain and Subnet Objects
      8. Contract Objects
      9. Outside Network Objects
      10. Physical Construct
      11. Managed Object Relationships and Policy Resolution
      12. Tags
      13. Default Policies
      14. How a Policy Model Helps in Diagnosis
      15. Summary
      16. Review Key Topics
      17. Review Questions
    3. Chapter 3. ACI Command-Line Interfaces
      1. APIC CLIs
      2. ACI Fabric Switch CLIs
      3. Summary
      4. Reference
    4. Chapter 4. ACI Fabric Design Options
      1. Physical Design
      2. Logical Design
      3. Summary
      4. Review Key Topics
      5. Review Questions
    5. Chapter 5. End Host and Network Connectivity
      1. End Host Connectivity
      2. Network Connectivity
      3. Diagnosing Connectivity Problems
      4. Summary
      5. Review Questions
    6. Chapter 6. VMM Integration
      1. Virtual Machine Manager (VMM)
      2. VMware Integration
      3. Microsoft SCVMM Integration
      4. OpenStack Integration
      5. Kubernetes Integration
      6. OpenShift Integration
      7. VMM Integration with ACI at Multiple Locations
      8. Summary
    7. Chapter 7. L4/L7 Service Integration
      1. Service Insertion
      2. The Service Graph
      3. Policy-Based Redirect (PBR)
      4. L4/L7 Service Integration in Multi-Pod and Multi-Site
      5. Review Questions
    8. Chapter 8. Automation and Orchestration
      1. The Difference Between Automation and Orchestration
      2. REST API
      3. Automating Tasks Using the Native REST API: JSON and XML
      4. Automating Tasks Using Ansible
      5. Orchestration Through UCS Director
      6. Summary
      7. Review Questions
  18. Part II: Monitoring and Management Best Practices
    1. Chapter 9. Monitoring ACI Fabric
      1. Importance of Monitoring
      2. Faults and Health Scores
      3. ACI Internal Monitoring Tools
      4. ACI External Monitoring Tools
      5. Monitoring Through the REST API
      6. Summary
      7. Review Questions
    2. Chapter 10. Network Management and Monitoring Configuration
      1. Out-of-Band Management
      2. In-Band Management
      3. AAA
      4. Syslog
      5. SNMP
      6. SPAN
      7. NetFlow
      8. Summary
  19. Part III: Advanced Forwarding and Troubleshooting Techniques
    1. Chapter 11. ACI Topology
      1. Physical Topology
      2. APIC Initial Setup
      3. Fabric Access Policies
      4. VMM Domain Configuration
      5. Hardware and Software Specifications
      6. Logical Layout of EPGs, BDs, VRF Instances, and Contracts
      7. Summary
      8. Review Key Topics
      9. References
    2. Chapter 12. Bits and Bytes of ACI Forwarding
      1. Limitations of Traditional Networks and the Evolution of Overlay Networks
      2. High-Level VXLAN Overview
      3. IS-IS, TEP Addressing, and the ACI Underlay
      4. Endpoint Learning in ACI
      5. Routing in ACI
      6. Policy Enforcement
      7. Quality of Service (QoS) in ACI
      8. Multi-Pod
      9. Multi-Site
      10. Remote Leaf
      11. Forwarding Scenarios
      12. Route Leaking/Shared Services
      13. Multi-Pod Forwarding Examples
      14. Multi-Site Forwarding Examples
      15. Remote Leaf
      16. Summary
      17. Review Key Topics
      18. References
      19. Review Questions
    3. Chapter 13. Troubleshooting Techniques
      1. General Troubleshooting
      2. Infrastructure Troubleshooting
      3. How to Verify Physical- and Platform-Related Issues
      4. Troubleshooting Endpoint Connectivity
      5. Troubleshooting Contract-Related Issues
      6. Embedded Logic Analyzer Module (ELAM)
      7. Summary
      8. Review Key Topics
      9. Review Questions
    4. Chapter 14. The ACI Visibility & Troubleshooting Tool
      1. Visibility & Troubleshooting Tool Overview
      2. Faults Tab
      3. Drop/Stats Tab
      4. Contract Drops Tab
      5. Events and Audits Tab
      6. Traceroute Tab
      7. Atomic Counter Tab
      8. Latency Tab
      9. SPAN Tab
      10. Network Insights Resources (NIR) Overview
      11. Summary
    5. Chapter 15. Troubleshooting Use Cases
      1. Troubleshooting Fabric Discovery: Leaf Discovery
      2. Troubleshooting APIC Controllers and Clusters: Clustering
      3. Troubleshooting Management Access: Out-of-Band EPG
      4. Troubleshooting Contracts: Traffic Not Traversing a Firewall as Expected
      5. Troubleshooting Contracts: Contract Directionality
      6. Troubleshooting End Host Connectivity: Layer 2 Traffic Flow Through ACI
      7. Troubleshooting External Layer 2 Connectivity: Broken Layer 2 Traffic Flow Through ACI
      8. Troubleshooting External Layer 3 Connectivity: Broken Layer 3 Traffic Flow Through ACI
      9. Troubleshooting External Layer 3 Connectivity: Unexpected Layer 3 Traffic Flow Through ACI
      10. Troubleshooting Leaf and Spine Connectivity: Leaf Issue
      11. Troubleshooting VMM Domains: VMM Controller Offline
      12. Troubleshooting VMM Domains: VM Connectivity Issue After Deploying the VMM Domain
      13. Troubleshooting L4–L7: Deploying an L4–L7 Device
      14. Troubleshooting L4–L7: Control Protocols Stop Working After Service Graph Deployment
      15. Troubleshooting Multi-Pod: BUM Traffic Not Reaching Remote Pods
      16. Troubleshooting Multi-Pod: Remote L3Out Not Reachable
      17. Troubleshooting Multi-Site: Using Consistency Checker to Verify State at Each Site
      18. Troubleshooting Programmability Issues: JSON Script Generates Error
      19. Troubleshooting Multicast Issues: PIM Sparse Mode Any-Source Multicast (ASM)
      20. Summary
  20. Appendix A. Answers to Chapter Review Questions
  21. Index
  22. Code Snippets

Product information

  • Title: ACI Advanced Monitoring and Troubleshooting
  • Author(s): Sadiq Memon, Carlo Schmidt, Joseph Ristaino
  • Release date: November 2020
  • Publisher(s): Cisco Press
  • ISBN: 9780135264713