After taking this course, you should be able to:
- Describe the Layer 2 and Layer 3 forwarding options and protocols used in a data center
- Describe the rack design options, traffic patterns, and data center switching layer access, aggregation, and core
- Describe Locator/ID separation protocol
- Design a solution that uses Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) for traffic forwarding
- Describe the hardware redundancy options; how to virtualize the network, compute, and storage functions; and virtual networking in the data center
- Describe solutions that use fabric extenders and compare Cisco Adapter Fabric Extender (FEX) with single root input/output virtualization (SR-IOV)
- Describe security threats and solutions in the data center
- Describe advanced data center security technologies and best practices
- Describe device management and orchestration in the data center
- Describe the storage options for the compute function and the different Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) levels from a high-availability and performance perspective
- Describe Fibre Channel concepts and architecture
- Describe Fibre Channel topologies and industry terms
- Describe Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
- Describe security options in the storage network
- Describe the management and automation options for the storage networking infrastructure
- Describe Cisco UCS servers and use cases for various Cisco UCS platforms
- Explain the connectivity options for fabric interconnects for southbound and northbound connections
- Describe the hyperconverged solution and integrated systems
- Describe the systemwide parameters for setting up a Cisco UCS domain
- Describe role-based access control (RBAC) and integration with directory servers to control access rights on Cisco UCS Manager
- Describe the pools that may be used in service profiles or service profile templates on Cisco UCS Manager
- Describe the different policies in the service profile
- Describe the Ethernet and Fibre Channel interface policies and additional network technologies
- Describe the advantages of templates and the difference between initial and updated templates
- Describe data center automation tools
Before taking this offering, you should be able to:
- Implement data center networking [Local Area Network (LAN) and Storage Area Network (SAN)]
- Describe data center storage
- Implement data center virtualization
- Implement Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS)
- Implement data center automation and orchestration with the focus on Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) and Cisco UCS Director
- Describe products in the Cisco Data Center Nexus and MDS families
IT professionals with five to eight years of experience in these roles:
- Data center engineers
- Network designers
- Network administrators
- Network engineers
- Systems engineers
- Consulting systems engineers
- Technical solutions architects
- Server administrators
- Network managers
- Cisco integrators or partners