● Describing High Availability on Layer 2
◦ Overview of Layer 2 High-Availability Mechanisms
◦ Virtual Port Channels
◦ Cisco Fabric Path
◦ Virtual Port Channel+
● Designing Layer 3 Connectivity
◦ First Hop Redundancy Protocols
◦ Improve Routing Protocol Performance and Security
◦ Enhance Layer 3 Scalability and Robustness
● Designing Data Center Topologies
◦ Data Center Traffic Flows
◦ Cabling Challenges
◦ Access Layer
◦ Aggregation Layer
◦ Core Layer
◦ Spine-and-Leaf Topology
◦ Redundancy Options
● Designing Data Center Interconnects with Cisco OTV
◦ Cisco OTV Overview
◦ Cisco OTV Control and Data Planes
◦ Failure Isolation
◦ Cisco OTV Features
◦ Optimize Cisco OTV
◦ Evaluate Cisco OTV

● Describing Locator/ID Separation Protocol
◦ Locator/ID Separation Protocol
◦ Location Identifier Separation Protocol (LISP) Virtual Machine (VM) Mobility
◦ LISP Extended Subnet Mode (ESM) Multihop Mobility
◦ LISP VPN Virtualization
● Describing VXLAN Overlay Networks
◦ Describe VXLAN Benefits over VLAN
◦ Layer 2 and Layer 3 VXLAN Overlay
◦ Multiprotocol Border Gateway Protocol (MP-BGP) Ethernet VPN (EVPN) Control Plane Overview
◦ VXLAN Data Plane

● Describing Hardware and Device Virtualization
◦ Hardware-Based High Availability
◦ Device Virtualization
◦ Cisco UCS Hardware Virtualization
◦ Server Virtualization
◦ SAN Virtualization
◦ N-Port ID Virtualization
● Describing Cisco FEX Options
◦ Cisco Adapter FEX
◦ Access Layer with Cisco FEX
◦ Cisco FEX Topologies
◦ Virtualization-Aware Networking
◦ Single Root I/O Virtualization
◦ Cisco FEX Evaluation
● Describing Basic Data Center Security
◦ Threat Mitigation
◦ Attack and Countermeasure Examples
◦ Secure the Management Plane
◦ Protect the Control Plane
◦ RBAC and Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA)
● Describing Advanced Data Center Security
◦ Cisco TrustSec in Cisco Secure Enclaves Architecture
◦ Cisco TrustSec Operation
◦ Firewalling
◦ Positioning the Firewall Within Data Center Networks
◦ Cisco Firepower® Portfolio
◦ Firewall Virtualization
◦ Design for Threat Mitigation

● Describing Management and Orchestration
◦ Network and License Management
◦ Cisco UCS Manager
◦ Cisco UCS Director
◦ Cisco Intersight
◦ Cisco DCNM Overview
● Describing Storage and RAID Options
◦ Position DAS in Storage Technologies
◦ Network-Attached Storage
◦ Fibre Channel, FCoE, and Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI)
◦ Evaluate Storage Technologies

● Describing Fibre Channel Concepts
◦ Fibre Channel Connections, Layers, and Addresses
◦ Fibre Channel Communication
◦ Virtualization in Fibre Channel SAN
● Describing Fibre Channel Topologies
◦ SAN Parameterization
◦ SAN Design Options
◦ Choosing a Fibre Channel Design Solution
● Describing FCoE
◦ FCoE Protocol Characteristics
◦ FCoE Communication
◦ Data Center Bridging
◦ FCoE Initialization Protocol
◦ FCoE Design Options
● Describing Storage Security
◦ Common SAN Security Features
◦ Zones
◦ SAN Security Enhancements
◦ Cryptography in SAN
● Describing SAN Management and Orchestration
◦ Cisco DCNM for SAN
◦ Cisco DCNM Analytics and Streaming Telemetry
◦ Cisco UCS Director in the SAN
◦ Cisco UCS Director Workflows

● Describing Cisco UCS Servers and Use Cases
◦ Cisco UCS C-Series Servers
◦ Fabric Interconnects and Blade Chassis
◦ Cisco UCS B-Series Server Adapter Cards
◦ Stateless Computing
◦ Cisco UCS Mini
● Describing Fabric Interconnect Connectivity
◦ Use of Fabric Interconnect Interfaces
◦ VLANs and VSANs in a Cisco UCS Domain
◦ Southbound Connections
◦ Northbound Connections
◦ Disjoint Layer 2 Networks
◦ Fabric Interconnect High Availability and Redundancy

● Describing Hyper converged and Integrated Systems
◦ Hyper converged and Integrated Systems Overview
◦ Cisco HyperFlex™ Solution
◦ Cisco HyperFlex Scalability and Robustness
◦ Cisco HyperFlex Clusters
◦ Cluster Capacity and Multiple Clusters on One Cisco UCS Domain
◦ External Storage and Graphical Processing Units on Cisco HyperFlex
◦ Cisco HyperFlex Positioning
● Describing Cisco UCS Manager System wide Parameters
◦ Cisco UCS Setup and Management
◦ Cisco UCS Traffic Management
● Describing Cisco UCS RBAC
◦ Roles and Privileges
◦ Organizations in Cisco UCS Manager
◦ Locales and Effective Rights
◦ Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting
◦ Two-Factor Authentication
● Describing Pools for Service Profiles
◦ Global and Local Pools
◦ Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) Suffix and Media Access Control (MAC) Address Pools
◦ World Wide Name (WWN) Pools
◦ Server and iSCSI Initiator IP Pools
● Describing Policies for Service Profiles
◦ Global vs. Local Policies
◦ Storage and Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) Policies
◦ Boot and Scrub Policies
◦ Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) and Maintenance Policies

● Describing Network-Specific Adapters and Policies
◦ LAN Connectivity Controls
◦ SAN Connectivity Controls
◦ Virtual Access Layer
◦ Connectivity Enhancements
● Describing Templates in Cisco UCS Manager
◦ Cisco UCS Templates
◦ Service Profile Templates
◦ Network Templates

● Designing Data Center Automation
◦ Model-Driven Programmability
◦ Cisco NX-API Overview
◦ Programmability Using Python
◦ Cisco Ansible Module
◦ Use the Puppet Agent