It's time to swing our focus over to talk specifically about Cisco's software
defined access solution.
So when we're talking about Cisco SDA, it's actually built on traditional Cisco
hardware.
We're talking about switches and routers as well as wireless LAN controllers
and
access points.
All of the same hardware that Cisco sells for a traditional network
architecture,
that's what we're going to use for SDA. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
that's what we're going to use for SDA.
We're talking about Cisco Catalyst 9300s and ISRs and
9100 and 9800 access points and wireless LAN controllers.
So all of this that we've maybe potentially already purchased as part of a
traditional architecture
can be migrated into SDA.
But it's also going to be built on
controllers that Cisco has for us.
And those controllers,
yes, Polaro, are going to be a pair that is Catalyst Center. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
yes, Polaro, are going to be a pair that is Catalyst Center.
Catalyst Center had a different name for a long time.
It used to be known as DNA Center or DNAC or D-NAC.
A lot of people used to pronounce it, but now it has been rebranded to Catalyst
Center.
And we have the Identity Services Engine or ICE.
Catalyst Center is going to manage the Layer 2, Layer 3 network,
the Fabric, a whole lot of other components.
ICE is all about managing the security. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
ICE is all about managing the security.
Furthermore, I mentioned before that one of the advantages to SDA is our admins
are going to log into a single point of management, a single pane of management
, if you will.
And that in this case is going to be Catalyst Center.
So what about ICE? Well, ICE is going to integrate
into Catalyst Center for us, making it so that we don't have to log into both
platforms to manage SDA.
Now Cisco breaks down SDA operation into four different layers. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
Now Cisco breaks down SDA operation into four different layers.
And we're not talking about OSI model type of layers, we just walked through S
DA when,
if you're working your way through this course sequentially, you just heard
about four different layers of operation and SDA.
And these are four different layers relative to the SDA.
The WAN layers, which again are all different from OSI.
Either way, when we're breaking down SDA, we do have a physical layer,
and then we have a network layer, WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
and then we have a network layer,
but we also have the controller layer,
as well as the management layer.
So we're going to go ahead and go through each one of these and talk briefly
about the responsibilities of each one.
Let's go ahead and start with the physical layer.
The physical layer is all about these devices here, all of the devices that
make up the fabric.
It's how we build out our physical network components.
And what we'll find is that these different devices can be deployed into WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
And what we'll find is that these different devices can be deployed into
specific roles within the network.
So these roles include a fabric edge node.
The fabric edge node is effectively what we're going to turn every access layer
switch into,
at least as far as the switches that connect into the fabric.
So these are the devices in our diagram that sit here at the edge,
and they form their VX line tunnels to one another, and they have networks WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
and they form their VX line tunnels to one another, and they have networks
attached to them as well.
So again, for the most part, when we're thinking about fabric edge nodes, we
should be thinking about the access layer switches.
The next role to be aware of here, we've got a few of them.
We've got fabric edge nodes. We also have the control plane node,
which will often see abbreviated as the CP node.
The control plane node is responsible for mapping our subnets to one another.
So we're going to have this control plane node out here. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
So we're going to have this control plane node out here.
And when a packet comes in, this switch needs to figure out what to do with it.
So it checks in with the control plane node has a quick exchange.
And then it knows to forward it over here to the ultimate destination.
So this is all about our subnet and especially our device mappings.
Given that this is a stretched layer to environment, I might have a specific
device over here and specific device on the left here. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
device over here and specific device on the left here.
These devices are part of the same subnet.
And so when we're talking about sharing control plane information, it's not
about sharing the subnet.
It's about sharing the actual device mappings.
Now, we might also have a fabric border node.
The fabric border node is going to be what sits at the end of our SDA fabric.
So we've got sort of the rest of the world out here.
All of the non SDA environment, the core of the network, for example, all of WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
All of the non SDA environment, the core of the network, for example, all of
this, this is going to connect in through the border node.
We'll say border node here.
So I'm going to bring this into the border node.
And this serves sort of as number one, a gateway to the rest of the world.
But because it's a gateway, we can also think of it as sort of a default route
or a default destination for all of our SDA devices. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
or a default destination for all of our SDA devices.
If we don't know where we're supposed to send a packet, we're going to send it
to the border node and hope it can get us to where we're trying to go.
Now, as part of this, we're also going to find that our wireless land
controllers, as well as our access points, they're going to also natively
connect in via this physical layer.
So we have native connection to the fabric.
And yet they follow slightly different rules, but it's pretty fascinating to WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
And yet they follow slightly different rules, but it's pretty fascinating to
see that our access points are going to be VX land capable.
And they're going to send our client traffic into the SDA world via VX land
themselves.
And so it's pretty fun conversation to have about what's happening with our
wireless devices.
But the wireless devices don't just sit off to the side.
They are active participants in the SDA fabric.
Now, from here, we're going to talk about the network layer.
And the network layer is broken down into three different components. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
And the network layer is broken down into three different components.
And really, these are the planes of operation, which are going to sound a
little more traditional on some level.
We have, for example, the data plane and the data plane is going to be run by V
X land.
Because it's all about forwarding traffic from source to destination and our VX
land tunnels is how we're going to accomplish that.
We also have a control plane.
This is what I meant by it, signing a little bit more traditional. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
This is what I meant by it, signing a little bit more traditional.
And our control plane is going to be managed by Lisp.
Lisp is all about sharing our subnet and again, our device mappings.
So this exchange right here between our fabric edge node and the control plane
node.
This is run or managed by Lisp and this communications path between our fabric
edge nodes.
This is managed by VX land.
And we'll see more details of this coming up.
But here's where things start to look a little less traditional. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
But here's where things start to look a little less traditional.
We also have what Cisco calls the policy plane.
And this is managed by Cisco trust sec, which can be abbreviated as CTS.
Cisco trust sec is all about the security components.
We mentioned that we care greatly about security and we're going to manage this
via ice,
the identity services engine and Cisco trust sec, allowing for policy
enforcement to happen
by the switches rather than some centralized forwarding mechanism. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
by the switches rather than some centralized forwarding mechanism.
Now, next we have a couple of other layers here.
We have the controller layers we mentioned and the controller layer is going to
consist of these two devices here,
Cadillac Center and ice.
And we'll be talking a little bit more about those controllers.
But in the end, they are SDN controllers managing this whole environment.
And they can be deployed as physical appliances or virtual appliances.
And lastly, we have the management layer. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
And lastly, we have the management layer.
The management layer is how we manage our infrastructure.
And so this is primarily going to be focused on using our web graphical user
interface
to communicate with the controllers, but also our ability to use those rest
APIs.
And the more we can leverage these rest APIs and network programmability,
the better off we're going to be as far as managing our large environments and
simply put and taking advantage WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
simply put and taking advantage
of modern network management.
So this is how Cisco SDA comes together.
It's a mixture of traditional Cisco network devices with some specific
controllers.
And the way they integrate and the network protocols that we end up deploying
is going to form this fabric and allow us to seamlessly manage this environment
and build out this access layer fabric.