Implementing Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (300-620 DCACI)

Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) was designed with precisely this goal in mind. By combining a high-performance switching fabric with a centralised policy controller, it allows organisations to translate application requirements directly into network behaviour. The Implementing Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (300-620 DCACI) course explores this approach in depth, giving learners a confident, practical command of application-centric networking and data center automation.

The course is organised around the key areas of the official exam blueprint:

• Fabric infrastructure. The spine-and-leaf architecture, the ACI object model, fabric discovery, access and fabric policies, and the role of the Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC).
• Policy model. Tenants, VRFs, bridge domains, application profiles, endpoint groups and contracts, the constructs that define how applications communicate.
• Forwarding and connectivity. Endpoint learning, bridge domain behaviour, and external Layer 2 and Layer 3 connections to the wider network.
• Integrations and operations. VMM integration, service graphs, monitoring, backup, RBAC, upgrades and an introduction to Multi-Pod, Multi-Site and Remote Leaf designs.
• Through this structured progression, the Cisco DCACI training builds the knowledge required for the 300-620 DCACI exam and for the confident operation of modern data center infrastructure.

Course Objectives

On completing the course, learners should be able to:

• Describe how the ACI fabric is built and discovered, and how the APIC and the ACI object model support centralised, policy-driven management.
• Create and manage tenants, VRFs, bridge domains, application profiles and endpoint groups for multi-tier applications.
• Apply contracts, subjects and filters to permit and control traffic between EPGs, including the use of vzAny and preferred groups.
• Configure interface, switch and access policies to connect physical and virtual endpoints to leaf switches.
• Implement external Layer 2 and L3Out connectivity, and integrate the fabric with VMware vCenter and Nutanix VMM domains.
• Interpret faults, events, audit logs, and health scores, and troubleshoot common ACI connectivity and policy problems.
• Describe ACI Anywhere architectures, including Multi-Pod, Multi-Site and Remote Leaf, and apply sound operational practices to growing fabrics.