Configuring Custom EPG Names for VMM Domains
When you associate an endpoint group (EPG) to a Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) domain, Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) automatically creates a VMware vCenter port group or a Microsoft VM network. Beginning in Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) Release 4.2(3), it is easier to manage the port groups or VM networks because you now have the option of giving the EPG a custom name.
In earlier Cisco APIC releases, Cisco ACI creates port group or VM network names using a specific format: tenant|application|epg
for VMware vCenter-based domains and tenant|application|epg|domain
for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM). The format can result in long, similar names that are difficult
to distinguish from each other.
However, eginning in Cisco APIC Release 4.2(3), you can optionally give the EPG a custom name when you create the VMM domain association. The name is then
carried over to the port group in VMware vCenter or the Microsoft VM network. Using a custom name enables you to associate
a simple or meaningful EPG name in Cisco APIC with a VMware vCenter port group or a Microsoft VM network. It also enables consistent naming between port groups and VM
networks. Also, for Microsoft SCVMM, using a custom EPG name provides the ability to create a VM network in situations where
the VM network creation would fail due to the 64-character limit when concatenating tenant|application|epg|domain
.
For VMware vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) domains, you can configure, edit, and delete the custom EPG names through Cisco APIC GUI, REST API, or NX-OS Style CLI. For Microsoft SCVMM, you can configure, edit, and delete the custom EPG names through Cisco APIC GUI or REST API.