Data Center Networking - Overview - WWT

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What is data center networking?

Reliable and high-performing data center networking enables organizations to provision new services faster, leverage automation and orchestration to reduce the cost of ownership, empower development teams, and better secure assets through enterprise segmentation. Modern data center networks must be automated to provide business with the agile services they need.

Data Center Networking

Comparing Two-Tier and Three-Tier Data Center Networks

Modern applications require a modern data center infrastructure, and two-tier, spine-leaf architectures offer many advantages over traditional three-tier designs.

Article

• Feb 16, 2022

Data Center Networking

How to Determine If ACI Multi-Site is the Right Data Center Solution

Is ACI and ACI Multi-Site the correct solution for your data center refresh? By leveraging the ACI Multi-Site on-demand labs, you can determine if the ACI Multi-Site spine/leaf fabric architecture fits your business and technical requirements for brownfield or greenfield data center refreshes.

Article

• Jun 12, 2020

Data Center Networking

WWT Delivers First of Its Kind ACI Multi-Site, Multi-Pod Integration During Data Center Migration

WWT's subject matter expertise and willingness to go the extra mile helped a massive service provider consolidate more than 50 data center facilities into three while upskilling its IT team to work with the technology.

Case Study

• Jun 1, 2021

Optical Networking

Optical Data Center Interconnect: Connecting Your Data Centers With Private DWDM Technology

Optical Data Center Interconnect (DCI) provides a cost saving, high density, flexible alternative to leased circuits for connecting geographically separated data centers.

Article

• Sep 7, 2021

Data Center Networking

Global Network Transformation for Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Enterprise

See the impact that the WWT team made in transforming the network and end user experience at one of the world's leading manufacturing companies.

Case Study

• Apr 28, 2022

How do I get started?

Data center networks have evolved to consist of both logical and physical networks. Simplifying data center operations through automation introduces new concepts as well as challenges to maintaining security and reliability. WWT can help you assess your current environment, then design, build, install and operate the optimal data center networking solution to meet your short and long-term business goals.

Evaluate

Evaluate and learn about the different technologies that make up today's modern data centers, software-defined networking (SDN) solutions, and automation tools and platforms.

Data Center Networking

Cisco ACI Multisite Lab 1 - Dual site APIC Setup, Best Practices Lab and Tutorial

Cisco's ACI Anywhere vision is to allow a single security and connectivity policy with a single pane of glass to manage all multicloud environments. The key to ACI Anywhere is the ACI Multi-Site Orchestrator (MSO), which allows the administrator to create consistent security and connectivity policies across multiple physical, virtual, and cloud-based sites. Please note that these four ACI Multisite lab modules are 301 level and our 101 and 201 ACI training labs should be completed before attempting these labs. Basic ACI concepts, labs, and tutorials are explained in detail in our ACI 101 and 202 level training labs. In addition, we also recommend reading our articles on ACI and multi-pod and multisite fundamentals before doing the labs for a thorough learning experience. Please go to the resources to see our recommended ACI syllabus to become an ACI expert.

Advanced Configuration Lab

• 1328 launches

Data Center Networking

NEXUS Dashboard, NEXUS Insights and AppDynamics Lab

Over the years, Cisco has developed various ACI tools (now for DCNM and NX-OS and eventually public cloud visibility) known as the day 2 operations suite. The tools are Network Assurance Engine (NAE) and NEXUS Insights (NI is now the combination of Network Insights Resources (NIR) and Network insights Advisor (NIA)). Cisco has embarked on combining NAE and NI into a single pane of glass view and providing sharable data lakes for all apps, allowing for correlating application performance and fabric events.

Advanced Configuration Lab

233 launches

Data Center Networking

VMware NSX-T Virtual Lab

This is an On-Demand Lab for VMware NSX-T. It provides the same lab experience as the one day NSX-T training class but without the slide content and on-site architect. This lab is not meant to teach operations, best practices or replace VMware's hands-on classes.

Foundations Lab

1275 launches

Data Center Networking

Multi-Site DCNM Lab

This lab will enable a student to build a basic Multi-Site fabric using Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) for complete end-to-end connectivity.

Advanced Configuration Lab

196 launches

Data Center Networking

Open Networking: Linux Fabric Lab

At the core of every modern network operating system sits a Linux kernel. This kernel is accessible on major vendors (eg, Cisco, Juniper and Arista), to varying degrees. However, in the Open Networking space, it IS the operating system. The open nature of Linux allows for a great deal more flexibility in designing, building, maintaining and automating a fabric than has been enjoyed by previous generations of technology.

Foundations Lab

68 launches

Design

Proper underlay (physical network) and overlay (logical network) design is crucial to achieving the desired simplicity of modern data center networks. You can only achieve data security and constant policy by taking a holistic approach that removes traditional data center workgroup silos. WWT can help you plan and design an automated, secure and streamlined data center.

Data Center Networking

Understanding the Cisco NEXUS Dashboard Platform

Here's what you should know about the new Cisco NEXUS Dashboard platform and how to think about day 2 operations moving forward.

Article

• May 2, 2023

Data Center Networking

Thinking About ACI or DCNM for Your Next Data Center Upgrade?

Thinking about ACI or DCNM for your next data center upgrade? This article will help you learn more about the advantages of each fabric.

Article

• Sep 22, 2021

Data Center Networking

What Is Software-Defined Networking (SDN)?

At its core, software-defined networking (SDN) separates the management, which is the control plane of network devices, from the data plane, which relays network traffic.

Article

• Aug 25, 2021

Data Center Networking

SmartNICs, Distributed Service Processing Cards and Functional Accelerator Cards: The Future of Networking

Learn what a SmartNIC is, and why today is the perfect time to start implementing them.

Article

• Jun 15, 2021

Implement

Because data centers house the crown jewels of any business, they must be properly planned and implemented to mitigate risk. We have the experience and expertise to help you every step of the way.

Data Center Networking

Data Center Networking Design Workshop

A Data Center Networking Design Workshop creates a holistic view of your data center infrastructure that can deliver the right support for security, connectivity and operational impact.

Workshop

• 8 hrs

Data Center Networking

Cisco ACI Design Workshop

For customers who have chosen the Cisco ACI platform and are working to progress through the steps of modernization within the data center, they find that the journey provides an opportunity to explore and learn new features and capabilities that can affect their unique outcomes. This workshop will explore the various aspects of the Cisco Intent Based (Data Center) Network and focus on key aspects of the closed loop assurance solution. Our goal is to help customer achieve a secure, reliable and stable data center network delivering consistent repeatable results that can be quantified and measured.

Workshop

• 4 hrs

Data Center Networking

VMware NSX-T Design Workshop

WWT's goal of the NSX-T Design Workshop is to help provide a solid design foundation for NSX-T.

Workshop

• 4 hrs

Data Center Networking

NSX on ACI Workshop

WWT's goal of the NSX on ACI Workshop is to help provide guidance around integrating VMware NSX with Cisco's ACI.

Workshop

• 8 hrs

Data Center Networking

Open Networking Briefing

Opensource/Whitebox Networking is both a technology and methodology. Through this briefing, you will develop an understanding of the technical, logistical and economic considerations involved in the evaluation, customization, at-scale deployment and ongoing support for ON solutions.

Briefing

• 1 hr

Operate

The work doesn't stop once a data center is up and running. There are still Day 2 operational tasks, monitoring tools and additional features to implement. WWT can help you make the most of your hardware and software investment. Post-deployment is also a great time to continue learning about new automation tools and skills.

Infrastructure Automation

Using Ansible Tower to Implement Security Policies and Telemetry Streaming for Hybrid Clouds

Network analytics provides insight to the traffic flow between applications and endpoints. Telemetry data is streamed in real-time from software sensors and network devices to big-data clusters. Implementing the policy to create a whitelist-based segmentation and zero-trust model requires automation when dealing with tens of thousands of workloads and complex rules.

Video

• 51:29

• Nov 1, 2019

Infrastructure Automation

It's an Exciting Time to Be in Networking...

The role of network engineers is evolving to one that requires skills creating, manipulating and generating data used to automate network configuration.

Article

• Nov 18, 2019

Data Center Networking

An Automation Journey: From ACI to IAC With Terraform

Terraform is a tool for building, changing and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently. It can handle the repetitive configuration task programmatically without the need to use the ACI management GUI or command-line interface.

Article

• Dec 2, 2019

Infrastructure Automation

WWT Saves Time and Money Using Ansible Automation

By adopting Ansible automation, WWT IT is no longer asking themselves if they should automate; they're asking what should they automate next?

Case Study

• Oct 22, 2019

Data Center Networking

Open Networking: What to Expect in 2021

SONiC is working its way to the top of the Open Network foodchain, and now the big vendors are lining up to support it.

Article

• Jan 28, 2021

Case studies

Global Pharmaceutical Company Saves Six Months and 14% on Network Infrastructure Build

Learn how WWT's seamless teamwork and collaboration reduced costs and allowed the business to hit critical timelines while supporting their digital transformation.

Case Study

• Sep 3, 2022

Network Security

Bank Accelerates Technology Innovation with Lab as a Service

WWT's lab as a service offering is playing a key role in how a bank certifies technology, evaluates solutions from multiple vendors and acquires new skills.

Case Study

• Aug 3, 2022

Data Center Networking

Energy Providers Saves Millions with Data Center Modernization

Learn how a large utilities provider partnered with WWT on their IT transformation toward Multi Cloud & deployed Dell VxRail with VMware Tanzu as a solution to achieve the objective

Case Study

• Jul 19, 2022

Data Center Networking

WWT Helps Software Vendor Accelerate Lab Time for Innovative Network Monitoring Tool

WWT's partner uses this dedicated lab to test and validate software, certify new features, and integrate them with other products and platforms, allowing them to roll out software new releases and offerings more quickly.

Case Study

• Jul 19, 2022

Connect with our experts

Bill Thompson

Director, ATC Solutions Development

Craig Kemmerer

Technical Solutions Architect - ACI

Matt Hilliker

Technical Solutions Architect

Eric Fairfield

Technical Solutions Architect

Michael Witte

Principal Solutions Architect

Jon Duren

Global Solutions & Architecture - Practice Manager

Rita Younger

Solutions Manager

Nick Thompson

Principal Solutions Architect - Automation

Justin van Schaik

Technical Solutions Architect

Get started today

Don't see what you're looking for or want to learn more? Reach out to us to get started.

Segmenting Complex Environments Using Cisco ACI

ACI is a powerful technology offering rich features for SDN to include application-centric security segmentation, automation and orchestration in the data center.

White Paper

• Jun 3, 2023

Data Center Networking

The Risk of End of Support (EoS) Infrastructure in Your Data Center

This article examines what End of Support/End of Life means, how it can affect your business and steps to making a plan to refresh your data center.

Article

• May 2, 2023

Data Center Networking

Understanding the Cisco NEXUS Dashboard Platform

Here's what you should know about the new Cisco NEXUS Dashboard platform and how to think about day 2 operations moving forward.

Article

• May 2, 2023

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN)

The Multi-Domain Architecture Mind Set

Move away from the legacy mindset and make way for the end-to-end Software Defined Network (SDN) architecture.

ATC Insight

Mar 31, 2023

Sustainable Technology

Going Green: New Generation of NVIDIA-Powered Systems Show Way Forward

Learn how the new generation of NVIDIA-Powered Systems can show you a way forward.

Article

• Jan 19, 2023

The Future of Sustainability and its Effect on IT

Technology will be critical to empowering sustainability initiatives moving forward, particularly as data-fueled AI and ML insights begin to more heavily influence the use and positioning of renewables.

Article

• Nov 3, 2022

Net Zero and Data Centers: Is It Possible?

Can you really get to Net Zero by 2030 or 2050 if you haven't started accounting for your Scope 3 emissions now?

Article

• Aug 29, 2022

Begin Your Manufacturing Digital Journey

Partnering with Paul Johnson, Global Solutions Architect with Equinix, we share how to reduce risk, increase speed and enable innovation as a manufacturer on a digital journey.

Article

• Jul 21, 2022

What's popular

Data Center Networking

Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 1

This lab is the Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 1, and after completion, the student can launch Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 2 to complete the entire lab. The lab uses the ACI virtual simulator based on ACI Version 6, emulating an APIC, 2 leafs, and a spine. Part 2 uses a shared physical ACI fabric to complete the policy and verify data plane connectivity. The ACI Virtual Simulator was needed to demo the building of the ACI fabric from scratch, bootstrapping the APIC, adding the spine and leafs, fabric discovery, and completing VMM integration. Since the Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab, Part 2 is a shared on-demand environment, to decouple the APIC build process from the APIC policy creation. Due to limitations, the virtual ACI fabric is a control plane-only simulator, and no data plane testing (Ping, SSH) can get done for validation. Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 2 uses a Tenant inside of a physical ACI, and data plane functionality can get tested ( Ping, SSH)

Foundations Lab

• 1793 launches

Data Center Networking

Comparing Two-Tier and Three-Tier Data Center Networks

Modern applications require a modern data center infrastructure, and two-tier, spine-leaf architectures offer many advantages over traditional three-tier designs.

Article

• Feb 16, 2022

Infrastructure Automation

Cisco Ansible Automation Lab

Welcome to WWT's Introduction to Network Automation and Programmability Lab. The intended goal of this lab is to introduce network architects and DevOps engineers in taking the first step to automate, simplify and streamline the provisioning and configuration of networking platforms such as Cisco IOS XE and Cisco Nexus.

Foundations Lab

2623 launches

Data Center Networking

6 Steps to Understanding Cisco ACI

When understood, these six concepts will help anyone new to ACI to understand a more detailed technical discussion.

Article

• Jan 12, 2020

Data Center Networking

Cisco ACI Multi-Site vs. Multi-Pod

Understanding these two powerful yet distinct architectures is paramount to deriving maximum value from your data center network powered by ACI.

Article

• Nov 6, 2019

What's new

The Evolving Role of On-Prem Infrastructure in a Cloud-Centric Landscape | Partner Spotlight

As organizations continue to invest heavily in cloud, what is the role of private data centers and on-prem infrastructure? What's the right balance of workloads in the cloud vs on-prem? And how will these strategies affect sustainability initiatives? Join ZK Research Founder Zeus Kerravala as he speaks with Alan Ashby, Senior Director of Data Center Solution Sales for Dell; Robert Looney, Intel's Data Center Americas Sales Director; and WWT Principal Architect Matt Halcomb about lessons learned from Dell Technologies World and how they can be applied to your business moving forward.

Webinar

Jun 13, 2023 • 11am

Segmenting Complex Environments Using Cisco ACI

ACI is a powerful technology offering rich features for SDN to include application-centric security segmentation, automation and orchestration in the data center.

White Paper

• Jun 3, 2023

ASAv integration in Cisco ACI using PBR Service Graph redirection Lab

The goal of this lab is to show how policy-based redirection to a L4-7 device can be used with a single bridge domain needed for Cisco ACI fabrics. The use of a single bridge domain and single PBR redirection is known as "one-armed mode."

Advanced Configuration Lab

35 launches

Cisco vFTD integration in ACI using PBR Service Graph redirection Lab

The goal of this lab is to show how policy-based redirection to a L4-7 device can be used with a single bridge domain needed for Application Centric (ACI) fabrics. The use of a single bridge domain and single PBR redirection is known as "one -armed mode."

Advanced Configuration Lab

27 launches

Data Center Networking

Cisco ACI Design Workshop

For customers who have chosen the Cisco ACI platform and are working to progress through the steps of modernization within the data center, they find that the journey provides an opportunity to explore and learn new features and capabilities that can affect their unique outcomes. This workshop will explore the various aspects of the Cisco Intent Based (Data Center) Network and focus on key aspects of the closed loop assurance solution. Our goal is to help customer achieve a secure, reliable and stable data center network delivering consistent repeatable results that can be quantified and measured.

Workshop

Cisco ACI Segmentation Migration Lab

Over the past few years many customers deploying ACI have opted for using the "Network-Centric" approach for implementing their ACI installations. Customers who no want to migrate to a Application-Centric approach often find their workloads are spread across multiple subnets, and grouping them by application is difficult. This lab provides a technique on how to make this migration simpler

Advanced Configuration Lab

50 launches

How to Make the Right Technology Decisions During Uncertain Times | Partner Spotlight

Shifting and dynamic economic conditions are causing executives to scrutinize budgets, leading to a gap between the need to digitize and the ability to actually do it. In an age where many are being tasked with doing more with less, what role does technology play? Join ZK Research Founder Zeus Kerravala as he talks with Bob Olwig, WWT's EVP of Global Partner Alliances, about lessons learned from Dell Technologies World and how leaders can begin to approach IT modernization in such a way that combats the seemingly never-ending state of change in the technology landscape.

Webinar

Jun 21, 2023 • 9am

Data Protection

Putting Data Protection into Action with Cohesity's DataHawk | Partner Spotlight

With the cyber threat landscape growing more complex each and every day, data protection and cyber resiliency have moved to the forefront of our clients' strategic agendas. IT decision makers are now highly focused on protecting their crown jewels – often their data – by securing the perimeter of their networks and looking to integrate AI and ML into their models to move into a more proactive defense posture. It's challenging... but there's good news, too. The innovations taking place in this space provides optimism that as an industry we are rounding the bend on overcoming most of the bad actors who look to exploit and destroy our customers.

Webinar

Jun 22, 2023 • 9am

Data Center Networking

Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 1

This lab is the Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 1, and after completion, the student can launch Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 2 to complete the entire lab. The lab uses the ACI virtual simulator based on ACI Version 6, emulating an APIC, 2 leafs, and a spine. Part 2 uses a shared physical ACI fabric to complete the policy and verify data plane connectivity. The ACI Virtual Simulator was needed to demo the building of the ACI fabric from scratch, bootstrapping the APIC, adding the spine and leafs, fabric discovery, and completing VMM integration. Since the Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab, Part 2 is a shared on-demand environment, to decouple the APIC build process from the APIC policy creation. Due to limitations, the virtual ACI fabric is a control plane-only simulator, and no data plane testing (Ping, SSH) can get done for validation. Cisco ACI Fundamentals Lab Part 2 uses a Tenant inside of a physical ACI, and data plane functionality can get tested ( Ping, SSH)

Foundations Lab

1793 launches

Infrastructure Automation

Cisco Ansible Automation Lab

Welcome to WWT's Introduction to Network Automation and Programmability Lab. The intended goal of this lab is to introduce network architects and DevOps engineers in taking the first step to automate, simplify and streamline the provisioning and configuration of networking platforms such as Cisco IOS XE and Cisco Nexus.

Foundations Lab

2623 launches

Data Center Networking

Application Dependency Mapping Pilot Assessment

Application Dependency Mapping (ADM) is a management solution which discovers various applications running on various servers and network devices within a customer's network infrastructure and maps the dependencies between them. It aids in discovering, mapping and building a holistic view of all the resources running in a business infrastructure and the relationships between them.

Assessment

Data Center Networking

The Risk of End of Support (EoS) Infrastructure in Your Data Center

This article examines what End of Support/End of Life means, how it can affect your business and steps to making a plan to refresh your data center.

Article

• May 2, 2023

Data Center Networking

Understanding the Cisco NEXUS Dashboard Platform

Here's what you should know about the new Cisco NEXUS Dashboard platform and how to think about day 2 operations moving forward.

Article

• May 2, 2023

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN)

The Multi-Domain Architecture Mind Set

Move away from the legacy mindset and make way for the end-to-end Software Defined Network (SDN) architecture.

ATC Insight

Mar 31, 2023

Data Center Networking

Intent Based Networking with Juniper Apstra

This lab will enable a student to build a basic Multi-Site fabric using Apstra for complete end-to-end connectivity.

Advanced Configuration Lab

117 launches

Data Center Networking

VMware NSX-T Virtual Lab

This is an On-Demand Lab for VMware NSX-T. It provides the same lab experience as the one day NSX-T training class but without the slide content and on-site architect. This lab is not meant to teach operations, best practices or replace VMware's hands-on classes.

Foundations Lab

1275 launches

Sustainable Technology

Going Green: New Generation of NVIDIA-Powered Systems Show Way Forward

Learn how the new generation of NVIDIA-Powered Systems can show you a way forward.

Article

• Jan 19, 2023

Data Center Networking

Migrating Cisco DCNM to NDFC Lab

This lab will enable a student to migrate Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) to Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC).

Advanced Configuration Lab

25 launches

Cisco ACI Segmentation Migration Video

Implementing an application-centric mode to specifically meet a segmentation strategy and zone architecture requires a different approach — one referred to as the hybrid model.

Video

• 19:21

Jan 10, 2023

Data Center Networking

NSX on ACI Lab

This is an On-Demand Lab for VMware NSX-T running on top of Cisco ACI. With this lab, you will be able to access a live lab with NSX-T configured to utilize ACI with both a single and double overlay implementation. The lab will step you through viewing the configuration for both ACI and NSX-T.

Advanced Configuration Lab

170 launches