The Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) is an integrated computing infrastructure with embed management that automates and accelerates deploy-ment. This technology is designed to easily standardize IT processes, by facilitating virtualization and cloud computing, scale-out and bare-metal workloads.

It’s the first truly unified data center platform that combines industry-standard, x86-architec-ture servers with networking and storage access into a single system.

UCS technology allows you to scale without complexity as well as directly connecting servers and virtual machines to the network for increased performance, security and manageability by requiring fewer compo-nents and networks.

Cisco UCS reduces power and cooling burdens, which are demonstrated by its power savings of around 2Kw, showing an increase on energy efficiency.

This two-day Insoft Try-Out is designed to provide a purview of the UCS architecture and its deployment, while describing the servers and hardware components. The course covers the key components and procedures needed to install, configure, and manage the Cisco Nexus -7000, -5000, -2000 Series and the Cisco MDS in the network and SAN environment. With this Try-Out you’ll be able to interact with the Nexus Switches and check how they eliminate the need for parallel storage and computation networks.

The course emphasizes the distinctive Cisco switches and how they can be connected to the Cisco Unified Fabric products.

• Describe the Cisco Unified Fabric products in a Cisco Data Center network architecture
• Select and configure the distinctive Cisco Nexus Series Switch features to meet the implementation requirements and expectations in the Cisco Data Center Architecture
• Be familiar with the Cisco Nexus 5000, 7000 and MDS switches

1: CISCO NEXUS PRODUCT OVERVIEW

– The Cisco Data Center Network Architecture

• Cisco Unified Fabric Overview;
• Structured Layers – Core, Aggregation, Access
• Placement of Products;
• Positioning of Product Families in the Architecture.

-Identifying Cisco Nexus Products

• The Cisco Nexus Product Family;
• Key Features of Cisco Nexus I/O Modules;
• Key Features of Cisco NX-OS.

2: CISCO NEXUS SWITCH FEATURE CONFIGURATION

-Understanding High Availability and Redundancy

• Network-Level High Availability;
• System-Level High Availability;
• In-Service Software Upgrade.

-Configuring Virtual Device Contexts

• Using VDCs in Data Centers;
• Virtual Device Contexts (VDCs);
• Resource Allocation.

-Configuring Layer 2 Switching Features

• Basic Interface Parameters;
• Cisco Nexus 7000 and Cisco Nexus 5000
• Switch Feature Comparison;
• VLAN Configuration;
• Spanning Tree Protocol Extensions.

-Configuring PortChannels

• Using PortChannels and Virtual PortChannels;
• Configuring PortChannels;
• vPC Architecture.

-Implementing Cisco FabricPath

-Configuring Layer 3 Switching Features

• Routing Protocols.

3: CISCO NEXUS SWITCH ADVANCED FEATURE CONFIGURATION

-Understanding Overlay Transport Virtualization

• Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV).

4: CISCO NEXUS STORAGE FEATURES

-Understanding FCoE Protocol

• FCoE Overview;
• FCoE Architecture.

-Identifying Data Center Bridging Enhancements

• Data Center Bridging (DCB).

5: CISCO NEXUS SERIES SWITCH MANAGEMENT

-Configuring User Management

• User Management Features;
• Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA).

The course is designed for end-users’ system archi-tects and senior IT personal who evaluate the product suitability for their company’s environment. Since it introduces the main components and architecture of the Cisco UCS and illustrates how this technology works, giving a small preview of the product, the attendees can test the product before purchasing.

Attendees should have work experience with data center networking, a good understanding of the Fiber Channel protocol and the SAN environment and storage area networks. Any Cisco Data Center certification is a plus.