This blog is about Good Links I’ve come across recently, as of 10/14/2013. Admittedly, some are older links, in some cases ones I already knew about. Topics include FabricPath, OTV, ASA Cluster on Nexus, VPC, VXLAN, DFA (Dynamic Fabric Automation), ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure), and VMware/Nicira NSX.
For VXLAN, I’m providing links to a lot of good content by Ivan Pepelnjak (IPspace.net). That should get you a solid start on how VXLAN works.
Cisco Support Community
The following are up on the Cisco Support Community pages. They are PowerPoint, sometimes with rather a lot of (literal) fine print. But all Good Stuff!
| Quick Start Guide::FabricPath | https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-34758 |
| Quick Start Guide::Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) | https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-35931 |
| Quick Start Guide::ASA Cluster on Nexus | https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-35762 |
| Quick Start Guide::Virtual Port Channel (vPC) | https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-35113 |
VXLAN
If you don’t know about VXLAN, it is a tunneling L2 over L3 technology introduced by VMware and Cisco a while ago. The 1000v supports it, as does the more NSX product from VMware (see below).
| Multicast VXLAN in 1000v | http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/ switches/ps9441/ps9902/ guide_c07-702975.html#wp9000039 |
| Unicast VXLAN in 1000v | http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/ datacenter/nexus1000/sw/ 4_2_1_s_v_2_2_1/VXLAN/ b_VXLAN_Configuration_4_2_1SV_2_2_1.html |
| IPspace.net blog on 1000v unicast VXLAN | http://blog.ipspace.net/2013/07/ unicast-only-vxlan-finally-shipping.html |
| VXLAN Scalability (IPspace.net) | http://blog.ipspace.net/2013/04/ vxlan-scalability-challenges.html |
| VXLAN Gateway Design (IPspace.net) | http://blog.ipspace.net/2013/02/ vxlan-gateway-design-guidelines.html |
| VXLAN is not a Datacenter Interconnect Technologhy | http://blog.ipspace.net/2012/11/ vxlan-is-not-data-center-interconnect.html |
Dynamic Fabric Automation
For what it’s worth, I keep looking for more content about DFA (Dynamic Fabric Automation), announced at CiscoLive 2013. There’s not a lot of content on the Cisco web page nor blogs about it. (I’ve been watching, for more specifics, not finding them.) Greg Ferro did write a blog with more information than I’m finding elsewhere: http://www.networkcomputing.com/data-center/cisco-accelerates-sdn-strategy-with-dyna/240157709. See also BRKDCT-2385 from CiscoLive 2013 Orlando, if you have access. This and some other things I’ve seen do seem to be strongly suggesting that spine-and-leaf CLOS tree topology is the way to go in Cisco device-based datacenters. Assuming you will want automation. What’s in print leaves DFA rather vague (is it real, yet?), and some blogs suggest it is tied to Application Centric Infrastructure (see the next topic).
Application Centric Infrastructure
I suspect we’re going to be hearing a lot more about Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI). Probably tied to the upcoming Insieme announcement.
Recently, ACI activity is picking up . Reading the tea leaves says it may be the acronymn to watch.
http://blogs.cisco.com/datacenter/the-next-paradigm-shift-application-centric-infrastructure-aci-gets-ready-to-rumble/
https://blog.vce.com/innovation/future-vblock-systems-and-application-centric-infrastructures/
VMware / Nicira NSX
NSX recently has gotten a lot of attention, due to all the splash about it at VMworld 2013. There are a lot of blogs and videos about it. The best I’ve found so far are:
| Brad Hedlund of VMware at OpenStack | http://www.openstack.org/summit/portland-2013/ session-videos/presentation/vmware-nicira-nvp-deep-dive |
| VMware product pages on NSX | http://www.vmware.com/products/nsx/resources.html |
| Ivan Pepelnjak, Scott Lowe, Brad Hedlund on NSX | http://demo.ipspace.net/get/NSX%20Architecture.pdf |
Life Log
I’ve been having fun preparing a CMUG (Cisco Mid-Atlantic User’s Group) presentation. Trying to roll up FabricPath, OTV, 1000v, VXLAN, VMware / Nicira NSX, Automation and SDN, and Datacenter Pain Points. Stir but not shake. What does it all mean for the datacenter?
Twitter: @pjwelcher