At the center of this topology lies the Cisco ACI fabric, formed by a spine-leaf architecture. Two Nexus 9332C switches serve as spine switches, and two Nexus 9336-FX2 switches act as leaf switches. These switches are interconnected using high-speed 40GbE links, forming a non-blocking, low-latency fabric.
All data center devices connect only to the leaf layer, never directly to the spine. This creates a scalable, predictable, and programmable network design.
Centralized policy through APIC
Policy control is managed by the ACI APIC cluster. The three-controller cluster pushes policies, manages configurations, monitors performance, and enforces security across the infrastructure. Instead of configuring VLANs and routing manually, APIC provides an application-centric operating model that simplifies day-to-day operations.
External connectivity
External connectivity is provided by a management switch connected to the ACI leaf switches using virtual PortChannel links. This design enables resilient Layer 2 bridging for legacy systems, supporting smoother migrations and secure north-south traffic flows.
Compute and storage integration
The compute domain uses Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects, connecting northbound to the ACI leaves and southbound to compute nodes. This provides end-to-end automation and policy enforcement while reducing operational complexity.
The storage domain connects directly to the ACI leaves using high-speed port channels. Consistent security and quality-of-service policies can therefore be applied to storage traffic, helping maintain predictable application performance.