This five-day course on Cisco Nexus Dashboard covers data center and campus operations with VXLAN and EVPN, then addresses the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC) to deploy and manage VXLAN and EVPN. The course is built on Cisco Nexus Dashboard release 4.2, with hands-on practice on NX-OS and Cisco IOS XE devices.
The course qualifies for 40 Cisco Continuing Education credits (CE) towards recertification.
Course Objectives:
Upon completing this course, the learner will be able to meet these overall objectives:
Who Should Attend
The primary audience for this course is as follows:
Module 1. VXLAN EVPN with MP-BGP
Spine and Leaf Fabric
VXLAN as an Overlay
BGP, OSPF, and IS-IS
BUM Traffic Replication
EVPN MP-BGP
Multicast Control Plane
BGP Control Plane
Distributed IP Anycast Gateway
Forwarding with Dual-Homed Endpoints (vPC)
Inter-Subnet Forwarding (Routing)
Non-IP Forwarding (Bridging)
Cisco VXLAN QoS Configuration
Multitenancy
External Fabrics
Troubleshooting Commands
Module 2. Nexus Dashboard Overview
Introduction to Cisco Nexus Dashboard
Introduction to Nexus Dashboard Architecture
Fabric Controller (NDFC) Service Overview
Insights (NDI) Service Overview
Orchestrator (NDO) Service Overview
Nexus Dashboard Federation and Single Pane of Glass (SPOG)
Nexus Dashboard Installation, Configuration, and Deployment
Form Factors and Deployment Models
Unified Operations Model in Release 4.2
Module 3. Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC)
Introduction to NDFC
DCNM Migration to Nexus Dashboard
Cisco NDFC LAN Solution Overview
Module 4. Discovering Existing Network Devices with Cisco NDFC
Brownfield Onboarding Workflow
Capacity Planning and Compatibility
Configure Switches for Discovery
Module 5. Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Templates
NDFC Templates
Configuration Changes with Templates
Module 6. Nexus Dashboard for Multi-Site
NDFC Multi-Site Architecture
Multi-Site Domain (MSD) for VXLAN BGP EVPN
NDFC VRF Management
Module 7. Managing and Monitoring the Data Center with Cisco NDFC
Access Topology View
Navigate the Map Views and Layout
Compute and Virtualization Visualizers (vCenter, Kubernetes, OpenStack)
Deploy Changes to the Fabric
Module 8. Nexus Dashboard Insights
Introduction to Nexus Dashboard Insights
GUI Overview
Insights Explorer
Connectivity Analysis for NX-OS Fabrics
Resource Browser and Bug and PSIRT Advisories
Flow Telemetry
Delta Analysis
Firmware Update Analysis
Licensing
Module 9. Nexus Dashboard Integrations
Nexus Dashboard Ecosystem Architecture
Nexus Dashboard API
Splunk Integration
AppDynamics (AppD) Integration
ServiceNow Integration
NDFC SAN
Module 10. Using Nexus Dashboard Programmatically
From Intent to Automation
RESTful API
JSON
REST API Tools
Python Programming Fundamentals
Python Programming with RESTful API to Nexus Dashboard
Module 11. Nexus Dashboard Troubleshooting
NDFC Backup and Restore
NDFC Alarms
Fabric Troubleshooting Tools
NDFC Command Execution
Lab Outline
Labs are designed to give learners a complete practical experience through the following activities. The lab set follows the Managing LAN Networks with Cisco Nexus Dashboard lab guide.
Lab 0. Access the NterOne Lab Devices
Connect to the assigned student pod and confirm access to all lab devices.
Lab 1. Explore and Test the Nexus and Catalyst Lab Topology
Examine the pod topology and run baseline NX-OS verification, checkpoints, and rollbacks.
Lab 2. Configure NX-OS VXLAN with Multicast Control Plane Using CLI
Build VXLAN bridging with a PIM multicast control plane and verify it with the CLI and packet captures.
Lab 3. Configure EVPN BGP with Unicast Forwarding
Replace the multicast control plane with MP-BGP EVPN and validate the EVPN routes.
Lab 4. Configure EVPN BGP with Multicast Routing
Combine EVPN BGP with a multicast underlay for BUM traffic and verify forwarding.
Lab 5. Configure EVPN BGP with Route Reflectors
Introduce a spine route reflector to scale EVPN BGP neighbor relationships.
Lab 6. Configuring VXLAN Routing
Add Layer 3 VXLAN routing for inter-subnet forwarding within a tenant.
Lab 7. Adding an External Router
Configure the BORDER device for external connectivity between pods through the IPN.
Lab 8. Troubleshoot VXLAN with EVPN and BGP in the CLI
Establish a baseline and isolate VXLAN EVPN faults using CLI tools.
Lab 9. Nexus Dashboard Admin Console
Navigate the Nexus Dashboard admin console and perform initial administration.
Lab 10. Introduction to Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC)
Explore the NDFC interface and locate its core features.
Lab 11. NDFC Bootstrap New NX-OS Data Center Fabric
Deploy a new VXLAN EVPN fabric in the pod using NDFC.
Lab 12. Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Templates
Verify the fabric deployment and apply configuration changes through NDFC templates.
Lab 13. Nexus Dashboard External Fabric with IOS XE
Use NDFC to deploy an external fabric on the Cisco IOS XE BORDER router.
Lab 14. NDFC Multi-Site Configuration with Multisite Domain (MSD) Template
Build a multi-site domain, configure 802.1Q trunks, and enable connectivity between fabrics.
Lab 15. Managing and Monitoring the Network Using NDFC
Use NDFC tools to verify fabric configuration and operational health.
Lab 16. Nexus Dashboard Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
Configure and test role-based access control on Nexus Dashboard.
Lab 17. Nexus Dashboard and NDFC RESTful API
Practice REST API calls to Nexus Dashboard and NDFC using JSON payloads.
Lab 18. Python Programming to Nexus Dashboard and NDFC
Use an IDE and Python to automate Nexus Dashboard and NDFC tasks.
Lab 19. Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Challenge Configuration
Apply VXLAN and NDFC skills in an open configuration challenge.
Lab 20. Troubleshooting with VXLAN with EVPN and BGP
Troubleshoot VXLAN EVPN issues using the skills developed throughout the course.
The knowledge and skills the learner should have before attending this course is as follows:
