SDN

Question 1

List the 3 router and switch ‘planes’

Answer 1

Management/monitoring plane - admin config, SNMP, API, etc

Control plane - decisions about how to forward traffic. I.e. routing protocols and spanning tree

Data plane - actual data passing through the device

Question 2

What ‘planes’ does SDN move from the local device?

Answer 2

The control plane - rules for packet handling are sent from the controller to the device and the devices ask for guidance from the controller.

Question 3

What is APIC-EM?

Answer 3

Cisco’s SDN controller
Linux based server that can be clustered.

Question 4

Define northbound API in SDN

Answer 4

From the point of view from the SDN controller, Those are calls in the dirction of the Application Layer fo the network stack

Question 5

Define southbound API in SDN

Answer 5

From the point of view from the SDN controller, Those are calls in the dirction of the infrastructor devices on the network.

Question 6

What is OpenFlow in SDN?

Answer 6

A well known southbound API standard.

Question 7

How does zero touch deployment work with APIC-EM

Answer 7

Devices decover the APIC-EM via methods such as DHCP options.

Question 8

What is Path Trace in APIC-EM?

Answer 8

A way to query the APIC-EM to see the path data will travel through the network.

Question 9

What is IWAN in Cisco APIC-EM terms

Answer 9

• A form of SD-WAN which automates deployment of VPN links to branch offices.
• It uses Cisco’s DMVPN (Dynamic Multipoint VPN)
• Supports AVC - Application Visability and Control - i.e.QoS shaping per traffic type

Question 10

What is EasyQoS in Cisco APIC-EM

Answer 10

• Provides end-to-end orchestration or QoS shaping for the entire network.
• You set the types of traffic that shold have priority
• APIC-EM EasyQos pushes new config to the actual devices