(1/3) A deep-dive into OpenStack networking with Cisco ACI Opflex integration – Integration overview

(1/3) A deep-dive into OpenStack networking with Cisco ACI Opflex integration – Integration overview

This is the follow-up of my previous post on the installation of the ACI Openstack integration plugin (OpFlex mode) in my lab. In this blog post, we will take a step back and discuss why we would want to integrate ACI with OpenStack in the first place, the benefits of the integration (especially OpFlex mode), the different integration modes (ML2 vs. GBP, OpFlex vs. non OpFlex) and the decision to choose one.

You may also find very good details on this topic covered in Cisco ACI Unified Plug-in for OpenStack Architectural Overview document. I am not trying to make a full clone of the whitepaper here, but will summarize some key points and provide demonstrations specific for our previous lab setup with some packet capture to illustrate the networking features that we have discussed.

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