ACI Services
Cisco ACI Design, Implementation & Advisory Services
Extend your networking capabilities with specialist Cisco ACI expertise — for design, implementation, validation and operational handholding.
Extend Your Networking Capabilities with Cisco ACI Expertise
ACI Rack Rentals is more than a remote lab rental provider.
We also support IT infrastructure companies, system integrators, managed service providers and enterprise teams that need experienced Cisco ACI resources for design, implementation, validation and operational handholding.
Many infrastructure providers have strong routing, switching, security and data-centre experience but may not maintain dedicated Cisco ACI expertise internally. Building that capability for a single project can be expensive and time-consuming.
ARR can work alongside your existing team and provide the specialist ACI knowledge required to deliver the project successfully.
How ARR Can Support Your Cisco ACI Project
Engage us for a single activity or across the complete project lifecycle — from first architecture workshop through to post-migration stabilization.
High-Level Design
Translate requirements into a scalable ACI architecture
We help translate business, application and infrastructure requirements into a scalable Cisco ACI architecture.
The HLD can cover:
- Fabric architecture and sizing
- Spine and leaf design
- APIC controller architecture
- Single-Pod, Multi-Pod or Multi-Site considerations
- Tenant, VRF, Bridge Domain and EPG structure
- Contract and communication policy design
- L3Out and external connectivity
- VMM integration
- Management, monitoring, NTP, DNS and AAA requirements
- High availability and failure-domain considerations
- Migration strategy and implementation phases
- Security, operations and support requirements
Low-Level Design
An implementation-ready LLD your engineers can build from
ARR can create a detailed implementation-ready LLD based on the approved architecture.
The LLD may include:
- Physical and logical topology
- Interface and port-channel mapping
- vPC design
- VLAN and encapsulation planning
- IP addressing and subnet allocation
- Tenant and application-profile structure
- Bridge Domain and VRF configuration
- EPG and static-path mappings
- Contract, filter and subject configuration
- L3Out node and interface profiles
- Routing protocol parameters
- VMM domain mappings
- Out-of-band and in-band management design
- Naming standards and configuration conventions
- Validation and rollback requirements
Design Review and Validation
An independent technical review before you implement
If your team or another vendor has already created the design, ARR can perform an independent technical review before implementation.
We can validate:
- Design consistency
- ACI object relationships
- Scale and platform considerations
- Failure scenarios
- Redundancy and convergence
- Endpoint and policy behaviour
- External connectivity
- Migration assumptions
- Operational readiness
- Upgrade and lifecycle considerations
Where required, the design can also be recreated and tested using real Cisco ACI hardware in the ARR lab environment before production implementation.
Fabric Implementation Support
Hands-on support while your fabric is deployed
ARR can support your engineers during the deployment and configuration of the ACI fabric.
Support can include:
- APIC installation and initial setup
- Fabric discovery and switch registration
- Access-policy configuration
- Tenant and application-policy deployment
- EPG, Bridge Domain and VRF configuration
- Contracts and policy enforcement
- Static-path and VMM deployment
- L3Out configuration
- External routing integration
- Validation testing
- Troubleshooting during implementation
- Documentation updates
- Implementation review and acceptance support
The delivery model can be remote, collaborative and aligned with your project schedule.
Migration Planning
Move workloads to ACI without surprising production
Migrating applications and network services to Cisco ACI requires more than moving physical connections from legacy switches to ACI leaf switches. ARR can help develop a structured migration plan that considers application dependencies, Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity, security policies, external routing, operational risks and rollback requirements.
Migration-planning support can include:
- Assessment of the existing data-centre network
- Collection of VLAN, subnet, VRF and routing information
- Review of server, firewall, load balancer and appliance connectivity
- Identification of application communication dependencies
- Mapping legacy VLANs and networks to ACI Bridge Domains and EPGs
- Mapping existing security rules to ACI contracts and filters
- Planning for network-centric or application-centric migration
- Legacy network and ACI Layer 2 interconnection design
- Layer 2 extension and loop-prevention validation
- Spanning Tree, vPC and first-hop redundancy considerations
- Default-gateway migration planning
- L3Out and external-routing migration
- Firewall and service-appliance migration
- Bare-metal and virtualized workload migration
- Phased migration grouping based on application dependencies
- Maintenance-window and outage planning
- Pre-migration validation and readiness checks
- Detailed migration Method of Procedure
- Test cases and acceptance criteria
- Rollback triggers and rollback procedures
- Post-migration endpoint, route and policy validation
- Stabilization and troubleshooting support after each migration phase
Where required, critical migration scenarios can be recreated and validated on ARR’s real Cisco ACI lab environment before the production change. This helps identify design gaps, configuration risks and unexpected forwarding behaviour before they affect production applications.
Knowledge Transfer
Leave your team able to run it themselves
Our goal is not only to complete the implementation but also to help your team understand and operate the solution confidently.
Knowledge-transfer sessions can cover:
- Cisco ACI architecture
- APIC navigation and object relationships
- Tenant and application-policy configuration
- Endpoint learning
- Contracts and zoning rules
- Bridge Domains and VRFs
- L3Out operation
- Faults, events and health scores
- Day-1 and Day-2 operational workflows
- Common troubleshooting scenarios
- Backup, upgrade and recovery considerations
Sessions can be tailored for architects, implementation engineers, operations teams or support staff.
Post-Implementation Handholding
Stay supported through the stabilization period
After go-live, ARR can remain engaged during the stabilization period.
Post-implementation support may include:
- Configuration review
- Fault and event analysis
- Endpoint troubleshooting
- Policy and contract validation
- L3Out troubleshooting
- Operational guidance
- Change review
- Knowledge-gap support
- Documentation updates
- Assistance with vendor or Cisco TAC coordination
This gives smaller infrastructure providers access to experienced ACI support without having to maintain a permanent specialist resource.
Who It’s For
Who Can Benefit from These Services?
ARR’s Cisco ACI services are suitable for:
Flexible Engagement Models
ARR can participate as:
- A design consultant
- An independent design reviewer
- A remote implementation specialist
- An extension of your existing network team
- A technical escalation resource
- A knowledge-transfer partner
- A post-deployment handholding resource
The scope can be limited to a specific activity or extended across the complete project lifecycle.
Why Work with ARR?
- Practical Cisco ACI design and deployment experience
- Strong understanding of enterprise and data-centre networking
- Support for architecture, implementation and operations
- Access to real Cisco ACI hardware for validation and testing
- Flexible engagement for smaller companies and project-based requirements
- Collaborative delivery alongside your existing engineering team
- Focus on knowledge transfer rather than long-term dependency
- Remote support for customers and partners across different locations
Discuss Your Cisco ACI Requirement
Whether you are planning a new ACI deployment, expanding an existing fabric, reviewing a design or supporting a customer implementation, ARR can help strengthen your delivery team.
Contact us to discuss the architecture, scope, timelines and support model required for your project.