Latest posts
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AI Agent Perception and Context Windows Explained for Network Engineers
If you’ve already read up on what an LLM is or how temperature and tokens affect an AI agent’s behavior, there’s a step that comes before all of that reasoning even starts: perception. Before an agent can decide anything, it has to gather information and make sense of it — the same way a monitoring…
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BGP Timers on a VRF in ACI Multi-Site — Why NDO Can’t Do It and What Cisco TAC Confirmed
If you’ve gone looking for a VRF-level BGP Timer Policy in Nexus Dashboard Orchestrator and come up empty, you’re not missing a menu — it genuinely isn’t there yet. Here’s what we found while troubleshooting this on a live Multi-Site fabric with a mix of stretched and local VRFs, the workaround Cisco TAC confirmed as…
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Understanding AI Agents for Network Engineers: LLMs, Prompts, Tokens and Context Explained
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly becoming part of modern network operations. From troubleshooting assistants to automated change management, AI agents are beginning to work alongside network engineers. But what exactly powers these agents? If you’ve configured routing protocols, built automation scripts, or managed network monitoring systems, understanding AI agents isn’t as complicated as it might seem.…
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Complete Firewalls Port Reference for Cisco ACI, Nexus Dashboard, NDO and NDI
If you’ve ever tried to onboard an APIC site into Nexus Dashboard Orchestrator (NDO) or Nexus Dashboard Insights (NDI) only to watch the connection sit at “Not Reachable,” the cause is almost always the same: a firewall or ACL between Nexus Dashboard and the ACI fabric is blocking a port nobody told you about.…
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Reactive Automation vs Generative AI vs Agentic AI: A Decision Framework for Network Engineers
I am a network professional with over 18 years of experience in enterprise and data‑center networking. I am a CCIE Data Center certified engineer with strong hands‑on expertise in Cisco Nexus and Cisco ACI design, deployment, troubleshooting, and operations. I work on production ACI fabrics and am available for Cisco ACI and Nexus freelancing or…
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Cisco ACI + NetScaler HA Failover: The Bridge Domain Settings Your Migration Plan Probably Missed
I am a network professional with over 18 years of experience in enterprise and data‑center networking. I am a CCIE Data Center certified engineer with strong hands‑on expertise in Cisco Nexus and Cisco ACI design, deployment, troubleshooting, and operations. I work on production ACI fabrics and am available for Cisco ACI and Nexus freelancing or…
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Cisco ACI vPC Explained: Architecture, Working, Configuration, Traffic Flow & Interview Questions
Cisco ACI vPC Design Options, Configuration, Best Practices & Troubleshooting In Part 1, we covered the fundamentals of Cisco ACI vPC, including its architecture, the Multichassis Trunking (MCT) model, ZeroMQ (ZMQ), URIB, and the benefits of active-active connectivity. Now let’s explore the practical side of Cisco ACI vPC, including deployment models, configuration workflow, packet…
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Cisco ACI vPC Explained – Architecture, Working, Traffic Flow, Configuration, Best Practices & Interview Questions
Cisco ACI vPC Explained: Architecture, Working, Benefits & Traffic Flow High availability is one of the most important design goals in modern data centers. Whether you are deploying virtual machines, physical servers, firewalls, or storage arrays, network redundancy is essential to eliminate single points of failure. Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) provides a powerful…
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Why Service Graphs Matter in Cisco ACI — Complete Guide with Configuration Examples
If you have worked with Cisco ACI for any length of time, you have almost certainly heard the term Service Graph. Many engineers treat it as an advanced topic they will “get to later.” In reality, Service Graphs are one of the most powerful and most misunderstood features in ACI — and ignoring them means…
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Cisco ACI Decommission Only vs Remove vs Secure Remove — Complete Guide with Management IP Behavior
Introduction In Cisco ACI environments, switch lifecycle management is a critical operational task. Whether you are performing a node ID change, replacing hardware, or decommissioning a switch permanently, understanding the differences between Decommission Only, Decommission & Remove, and Decommission & Secure Remove is essential. Many engineers misunderstand these options, especially when it comes to switch…