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Cisco ACI

Score8.5 out of 10

240 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Cisco ACI?

Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) is network virtualization technology.

Categories & Use Cases

Reviews

What users are saying about Cisco ACI.
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Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) usage feedback

Incentivized
Imad Hajji
Network Engineer in Information Technology at Hermes (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) as hosting zone and transit network with multipod. Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) has been originally deployed to handle microseg and networking with a unique component. Once deployed, microseg never has been implemented and Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) became our hosting and transit network at DC.

Pros

  • ease of automation
  • simplify multi-site l2 implementation
  • simplify monitoring and troubleshooting the fabric
  • integration with third application/devices

Cons

  • learning curve for new users
  • user interface not very intuitive
  • good practice for object naming and usage not clear
  • No precheck validation before applying conf

Return on Investment

  • efficiency for network change with automation
  • less human power needed to manage the fabric
  • downside is not every network people are comfortable with Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) management

Alternatives Considered

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller

Other Software Used

Cisco Catalyst Center, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) enthusiast

Incentivized
Remco Vroman
Network Architect in Engineering at Alliander (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It is running as the datacenter network. We also run the extranet network on it.

Pros

  • API access
  • Fault overview
  • Easy to configure

Cons

  • They removed the scheduled upgrade option, bring it back !
  • Q in Q on layer 3 out

Return on Investment

  • ROI with ACI is difficult. It can be measured by less personnel for managing the network

Alternatives Considered

Splunk Attack Analyzer

Other Software Used

Splunk Enterprise, Netbox

Great

Incentivized
Fawaz Sidheek
IT Manager in Information Technology at integrated Dawiyat (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In our organization, we use Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) for micro segmentation

Pros

  • micro segmentation
  • operations

Cons

  • I think there is room for improvement in Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) for it to be user friendly

Return on Investment

  • Good in network centric implementation
  • not so good with application centric

Alternatives Considered

HPE Private Cloud

Other Software Used

Lumina SDN Controller

Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) a great Move to Datacenter application networks

Incentivized
Maen Zrawlieh
Network and security Engineer in Engineering at Dzne (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Application Centric networks, pushing new vlans to Vmware

and checking where each servers live without going back to the documentation

Pros

  • MicroSegmentation
  • IAC with terraform

Cons

  • the GUI can use a bit more improvments too many clicks
  • troubleshooting is harder than traditional networks

Return on Investment

  • Better segmentation of servers

Alternatives Considered

Cisco Nexus Dashboard and SDWAN|Link

Other Software Used

Cisco Catalyst Center, SDWAN|Link

Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) review

Incentivized
Aurelien Le Duigou
Head of Datacenter Network in Information Technology at Airbus Defence and Space (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In our organization, we built a fabric per country to get a good view on all our devices and make changes easily

Pros

  • Changes
  • maintenance
  • Overview

Cons

  • I think there is room for improvement for Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) to be more simple (configuration)

Return on Investment

  • very difficult to say

Alternatives Considered

Arista 7000 series

Other Software Used

Cisco Nexus Dashboard

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