Contents
- Overview
- Information About Cisco Dynamic Fabric Automation
- Cisco Nexus 1000V Switches in a DFA Network
Overview
This chapter contains the following sections:
Information About Cisco Dynamic Fabric Automation
Cisco Dynamic Fabric Automation (DFA) simplifies a cloud deployment through automated provisioning and centralized management. Cisco DFA automates device and fabric configuration, eases virtual machine (VM) deployment and migration, and integrates baremetal and virtualized resources without using a dedicated gateway.
For more information about Cisco DFA, see http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/cloud-systems-management/dynamic-fabric-automation/index.html.
Cisco Nexus 1000V Switches in a DFA Network
The Cisco Nexus 1000V acts as a leaf extension in the Cisco DFA network. The Cisco Nexus 1000V is configured as an end station in the DFA network and uses VSI Discovery and Configuration Protocol (VDP)-based communication to notify the DFA leaf of a VM instantiation or a VM mobility event.
The components of the Cisco DFA architecture are as follows:
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Leaf switch—A DFA leaf node operates as the bridge for the VDP exchange that handles requests from end hosts. The leaf node also communicates with the configuration profile databases to retrieve and apply the previously defined port profiles to each attached end host.
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End station—An end station in Cisco DFA can be VDP capable or incapable. A VDP-capable end station operates as the primary station for the VDP exchange and registers or deregisters its resident VMs to the attached leaf switch. A VDP-incapable end station is a normal server node that does not participate in the VDP message exchange.
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Profile database—This database is a standalone server or a local configuration storage in the leaf switch that maps each end host to its predefined port profile. This profile can be VLAN, ACL, or QoS.