Cisco ACI Simulator Initialization

Cisco ACI Simulator Initialization

(1) VM Deployment & Initial Setup Utility

0. Network Topology (Figure 1)

• 1 APIC, 1 Spines, 2 Leaves

1. VM Deployment
   • Download the OVA image from Cisco Software Downloads
   • Concatenate downloaded files (2 options)
     • type * > acisim-5.0-2e.ova (Figure 2)
     • cat acisim*.ova > acisim-5.0-2e.ova
   • Deploy the OVA image to VMware Workstation
     • Start the VM
     • Boot up screen (Figure 3,4)
2. Initial setup utility (Figure 5-7)
   • Cluster configuration
     
     • Fabric name: ACI Fabric1
       
     • Fabric ID: 1
       
     • Number of active controllers in the fabric: 1
       
     • POD ID: 1
       
     • Is this a standby controller? NO
       
     • Controller ID: 1
       
     • Controller name: apic1
       
     • Address pool for TEP addresses: 10.0.0.0/16
       
     • VLAN ID for infra network: 4
       
       • Must use VLAN 4 to work in this Simulator
     • Address pool for BD multicast addresses (GIPO): 225.0.0.0/15
   • Out-of-band management configuration
     • Enable IPv6 for OOB Mgmt Interface? N
       
     • IPv4 address: 192.168.200.201/24
       
     • IPv4 address of the default gateway: 192.168.200.1
       
     • Interface speed/duplex mode: auto
   • Admin user configuration
     • Enable strong passwords? Y or N
       
     • Password for admin: *******

(2) First Time Setup Wizard

0. Access the APIC GUI (Figure 1)

• Access https://192.168.200.201/
• Login using admin credential
• Initial welcome page (Figure 2)

1. Configure the Basics (Figure 3)
   • Fabric Membership (Figure 4)
     • Leaf1 is discovered first (Figure 5-7)
       • > Click Register
       • > Node ID: 101
       • > Switch Name: Leaf1
       • > Node Type: leaf
     • After Leaf1 has been registered, it will start new discovery process
     • Spine1 is discovered (Figure 8-10)
       • > Click Register
       • > Node ID: 201
       • > Switch Name: Spine1
       • > Node Type: spine
     • After Spine1 has been registered, it will start new discovery process
     • Leaf2 is discovered (Figure 11,12)
       • > Click Register
       • > Node ID: 102
       • > Switch Name: Leaf2
       • > Node Type: leaf
     • All nodes has been discovered (Figure 13)
   • BGP (Figure 14,15)
     • Autonomous System Number: 65001
     • Select Spine1
   • Out-of-Band Management (Figure 16)
     • Configure OOB IP’s for selected nodes (Figure 17,18)
       • > IPv4 Starting Address: 192.168.200.201/24
       • > IPv4 Gateway: 192.168.200.1
   • DNS (Figure 19,20)
     • DNS Servers
       • > Address: 192.168.200.1
       • > Preferred: True
     • Search Domains
       • > Name: docisco.com
       • > Default: True
   • NTP (Figure 21,22)
     • Display Format: local
     • Time Zone: Asia/Singapore
     • NTP Servers
       • > IP Address: 192.168.200.1
       • > Preferred: True
   • Global Configurations (Figure 23)
     • Recommended best practices for the initial setup of the ACI Fabric (Figure 24,25)
       • > Review and configure if necessary
   • Summary (Figure 26)
     • Summary of 5 configured sections (Figure 27)
     • 2 Additional sections (Figure 28)
       • SNMP, Syslog
     • Click Close
2. Useful tips
   • How to navigate back to the “First time setup” wizard (Figure 29)
     • System > Quickstart > First time setup of the ACI fabric

(3) Basic Verification For First Time Setup

1. Basic Verification
   • Notifications (Figure 1)
   • Fabric Topology & Details
     • Fabric > Inventory > Topology > Topology (Figure 2)
       • > Click on the network node to view the details
     • Spine 1 details (Figure 3)
   • Static Node Management Addresses (Figure 4)
     • Tenants > mgmt > Node Management Addresses > Static Node Management Addresses
       • > Click on the network node to change the properties
     • Node-201 (Spine1) properties (Figure 5)
   • Apic1 Status & Properties
     
     • System > Controllers > Controllers > apic1 > General
       • Controllers tab: Firmware version (Figure 6)
       • IP Settings tab: Infra IP, OOB Management IP (Figure 7)
       • Hardware tab: APIC model, serial number (Figure 8)
     • System > Controllers > Controllers > apic1 > Cluster as Seen by Node
       • Admin state, operational state, health state, failover status (Figure 9)
   • Fabric Membership
     • Fabric > Inventory > Fabric Membership
       • Nodes model, underlay IP addresses, status (Figure 10)
   • CLI example (Spine1) (Figure 11)
     • #acidiag version
       
     • #acidiag fnvread