Implementing Automation for Cisco Data Center Solutions (DCAUI)

Prerequisites:

Before taking this offering, you should have:  

• Basic knowledge of programming language concepts 
• Basic understanding of virtualization and VMware 
• Ability to use Linux and CLI tools, such as SSH and bash 
• CCNP-level data center knowledge 
• Foundational understanding of Cisco ACI 

Target Audience:

• Channel and Customer Engineers including Network Engineers, System Engineers, Wireless Engineers, Consulting Systems Engineers, Technical Solutions Architects, Network Administrators, Wireless Design Engineers, Network Managers, Site Reliability Engineers, and Deployment Engineers 
• Channel Sales Engineers 
• Channel Account Managers

Course Objectives:

• Review Cisco ACI fundamental concepts, GUI workflows, and create the case for implementing automation 
• Introduce the Cisco ACI REST API, the tools already available on the Cisco APIC, and understand basic API interaction using Postman 
• Understand the functionality provided by the Python ACI libraries and write scripts that apply configuration and verify state on the Cisco ACI fabric 
• Understand Cisco ACI Ansible modules, build playbooks that apply Infrastructure-as-Code concepts to Cisco ACI tenant configuration, and generate a health report using Ansible 
• Understand Cisco ACI Apps Center integration and the benefits of integrating Kubernetes infrastructure with Cisco ACI 
• Understand the API types and capabilities available on Cisco Nexus product family 
• Understand Day 0 operations and how ZTP, POAP, and iPXE fulfill these goals with their respective tooling 
• Understand functionality provided by the on-box tooling on the Cisco Nexus series switches and implement simple solutions to improve daily operations 
• Use Python and Ansible to leverage the NX-API to implement and verify configuration state using modern workflows 
• Understand the paradigm shift of Model-Driven Telemetry and explore a fully set up pipeline for data collection and analysis 
• Understand the Cisco UCS developer tools and implement management workflows leveraging Cisco UCS APIs, Python, and Ansible modules 
• Review Cisco NDFC product capabilities and understand how its API can be leveraged to automate the Cisco Data Center 
• Understand the advantages of using Cisco Intersight and how to implement automation tasks using its REST APIs via Python and Ansible 
• Describe Terraform plans for Cisco ACI deployments 

Course Outline:

• Describing the Cisco ACI Policy Model 
• Describing the Cisco APIC REST API 
• Using Python to Interact with the Cisco ACI REST API 
• Using Ansible to Automate Cisco ACI 
• Introducing Cisco NX-OS Programmability 
• Describing Day-Zero Provisioning with Cisco NX-OS 
• Implementing On-Box Programmability and Automation with Cisco NX-OS 
• Implementing Off-Box Programmability and Automation with Cisco NX-OS 
• Automating Cisco UCS Using Developer Tools 
• Describing Cisco Intersight 

Lab Outline

• Use Cisco APCI Web GUI 
• Discover the Cisco APIC REST API 
• Use Postman with the APIC REST API 
• Use Python with Cisco APIC REST API 
• Configure and Verify Cisco ACI Using Acitoolkit 
• Use Cobra and Arya to Recreate a Tenant 
• Manage Configuration Using Ansible 
• Set Up a New Tenant the NetDevOps Way 
• Create an Infrastructure Health Report 
• Set Up Power On Auto Provisioning on the Cisco Nexus 9000 
• Use Bash and Guest Shell on Cisco NX-OS 
• Use Python to Enhance CLI Commands 
• Trigger a Python Script Using EEM 
• Configure and Verify Using NX-API and Python 
• Configure and Verify Using NETCONF and YANG 
• Use Ansible with Cisco NX-OS 
• Connect, Query, and Modify Cisco UCS Manager Objects Using Cisco UCS PowerTool 
• Connect, Query, and Modify Cisco UCS IMC Objects Using Cisco UCS PowerTool 
• Utilize Cisco UCS Python SDK 
• Utilize Cisco IMC Python SDK 
• Implement Ansible Playbooks to Modify and Verify the Configuration of Cisco UCS Manager