Continuing Education Credits: 30

The Understanding Cisco Data Center Foundations (DCFNDU) course helps you prepare for entry-level data center roles. In this course, you will learn the foundational knowledge and skills you need to configure Cisco data center technologies including networking, virtualization, storage area networking, and unified computing.

You will get an introduction to Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI), automation and cloud computing. You will get hands-on experience configuring features on Cisco Nexus Operating System (Cisco NX-OS) and Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS).

Associated Certification: None

Associated Exam: None

Course Objectives

After taking this course, you should be able to:

• Describe the foundations of data center networking
• Describe Cisco Nexus products and explain the basic Cisco NX-OS functionalities and tools
• Describe Layer 3 first-hop redundancy
• Describe Cisco FEX connectivity
• Describe Ethernet port channels and vPCs
• Introduce switch virtualization, machine virtualization, and describe network virtualization
• Compare storage connectivity options in the data center
• Describe Fibre Channel communication between the initiator server and the target storage
• Describe Fibre Channel zone types and their uses
• Describe NPV and NPIV
• Describe data center Ethernet enhancements that provide a lossless fabric
• Describe FCoE
• Describe data center server connectivity
• Describe Cisco UCS Manager
• Describe the purpose and advantages of APIs
• Describe Cisco ACI
• Describe the basic concepts of cloud computing

Target Audience

• Data center administrators
• Data center engineers
• Systems engineers
• Server administrators
• Network managers
• Cisco integrators and partners
• Data center designers
• Technical solutions architects
• Network architects

Course Prerequisites

To fully benefit from this course, you should have the following knowledge and skills:

• Good understanding of networking protocols
• Good understanding of the VMware environment
• Basic knowledge of Microsoft Windows operating systems

These are the recommended Cisco courses that may help you meet these prerequisites:

• Implementing and Administering Cisco Solutions (CCNA)
• Introducing Cisco Data Center Networking (DCICN)
• Introducing Cisco Data Center Technologies (DCICT)