Today on Heavy Networking, a network transformation. OK, that sounds like marketing, but it isn’t.

This is a discussion about a migration to Cisco ACI and VMware NSX technologies, paired with some automation, by a network engineer who was new to both products. It wasn’t all beers and cheers on the way to success. There were rocks and pitfalls.

Joining us for detailed conversation about running ACI and NSX in the same data center is Derek Wilson, a Principal Network Consultant at a big company you’ve heard of but we won’t mention.

We discuss:

* The impetus for a hardware refresh that led to ACI

* Why he chose a spine-leaf design

* How ACI simplified the physical infrastructure

* Why the organization chose NSX for the overlay

* How ACI and NSX interact (and don’t)

* The learning curves on each product

* How the team decided between Terraform and Ansible for automation tooling

* More

Sponsor: Cumulus Networks

Cumulus Networks is announcing a brand-new networking certification: the Cumulus Certified Open Networking Professional. Learn Linux networking fundamentals, including essential concepts and commands behind Linux-based open networking, and master the Cumulus Core–everything you need to know to become proficient in Cumulus Linux. Get details at cumulusnetworks.com/cert.

Sponsor: InterOptic

InterOptic is your reliable data interconnect company. Stop paying OEM prices for optics, and get brand-equivalent transceivers at a fraction of the cost.  Find out more at Interoptic.com/packet-pushers.

Show Links:

Setting the Record Straight: Confusion about ACI on VMware Technologies – Cisco Systems

Heavy Networking 438: VMware NSX Evolution For Cloud Networking And Security (Sponsored) – Packet Pushers

PQ 137: WhiteSpider & Real-World Cisco ACI Deployments (Sponsored) – Packet Pushers