Get ready to configure and operate modern data centers―and move up to high-value CCNP Data Center (DC) certification

Cisco Data Center Fundamentals is the complete guide for network engineers and other professionals who need a solid understanding of modern data center technologies. Especially useful for those preparing for the Cisco DCCOR exam and Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Data Center certification, it fully addresses the essentials of networking, storage, compute, and automation in today's data center environments.

Authored by two long-time experts in operating Cisco data centers and developing official Learning@Cisco training for them, this guide explains each concept step by step, balancing depth and breadth, and maximizing clarity throughout. The authors go far beyond introducing relevant products, protocols, and features. They illuminate underlying technologies, identify key interdependencies, walk through configuring working solutions, and truly help prepare you to set up and operate a modern data center.

• Gain a holistic, unified understanding of the data center and its core components
• Walk through installation and deployment of key data center technologies
• Explore potential applications to see what's possible in your environment
• Learn how Cisco switches and software implement data center networking and virtualization
• Discover and apply data center network design and security best practices
• Review Cisco data center storage technologies and concepts, including Fibre Channel, VSANs, storage virtualization, and FCoE
• Explore the building blocks of the Cisco UCS data center compute solution, and how UCS uses hardware abstraction and server virtualization
• Use automation and APIs to improve data center productivity and agility
• Create and customize scripts for rapid troubleshooting
• Understand cloud computing for the data center: services, deployment models, and the Cisco Intersight hybrid cloud operations platform

Table of Contents

Part I Networking

Chapter 1 Data Center Architectures

Chapter 2 Describing the Cisco Nexus Family and Cisco NX-OS Software

Chapter 3 Describing Layer 3 First-Hop Redundancy

Chapter 4 Port Channels and vPCs

Chapter 5 Switch Virtualization

Chapter 6 Nexus Switch Routing

Chapter 7 Network Virtualization

Chapter 8 Describing Cisco ACI

Chapter 9 Operating Cisco ACI

Part II Storage

Chapter 10 Data Center Storage Concepts

Chapter 11 Fibre Channel Protocol Fundamentals

Chapter 12 Describing VSANs and Fibre Channel Zoning

Chapter 13 Storage Virtualization

Chapter 14 Describing Data Center Ethernet Enhancements

Chapter 15 Describing FCoE

Part III Compute

Chapter 16 Describing Cisco UCS Components

Chapter 17 Describing Cisco UCS Abstraction

Chapter 18 Server Virtualization

Part IV Automation

Chapter 19 Using APIs

Chapter 20 Automating the Data Center

Part V Cloud

Chapter 21 Cloud Computing

About the Authors

Somit Maloo, CCIE No. 28603, CCDE No. 20170002, is a content architect from the data center team at Learning@Cisco. He holds a master's degree in telecommunication networks and a bachelor's degree in electronics and telecommunication engineering. He is also a penta-CCIE in enterprise infrastructure, service provider, enterprise wireless, security, and data center technologies. Somit holds various industry-leading certifications, including CCDE, PMP, RHCSA, and VMware VCIX6 in Data Center and Network Virtualization. Somit has extensive experience in designing and developing various data center courses for the official Cisco curriculum. He started his career as a Cisco TAC engineer. Somit has more than 12 years of experience in the networking industry, working mostly with data center networks. You can reach Somit on Twitter: @somitmaloo.

Iskren Nikolov, CCIE No.20164, CCSI No.32481, MCT Alumni, Content architect, engineer, and developer with the Cisco Learning & Certifications Data Center and Cloud team. He is responsible for designing, developing, reviewing Data Center Official Learning Cisco courses, including lab infrastructures and exercises. He holds a master's degree in computer systems and management from the Technical University-Sofia, Bulgaria. Iskren has more than 26 years of experience in designing, implementing, and supporting solutions based on technologies such as data center, security, storage, wide area network, software-defined network, cloud, hybrid, and multicloud, including 11 years of teaching and developing Cisco Data Center and Cloud courses and Microsoft Azure courses. Because of his vast experience across technologies from multiple vendors, such as Cisco Systems, VMware, Microsoft, and Barracuda, combined with the different perspectives he has gained from his different work roles and working with customers from different industries, Iskren has a unique view of the current data center technologies and future trends. You can reach Iskren on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iskrennikolov.