Integrate BlueCat, Cisco ACI, and Cisco DNA to save time and promote data integrity

BlueCat integrates with Cisco ACI and Cisco DNA center to simplify DDI connections with your entire network stack.

Key Takeaways
  • Cisco ACI and DNA introduce significant dependencies on accurate, real-time DNS, DHCP, and IPAM (DDI) data for automated network deployments.
  • Without integration, administrators must manually pull device and IP information from ACI and push available IP space into DNA to keep configurations synchronized.
  • BlueCat’s integrations with ACI and DNA leverage a centralized DNS/IPAM source of truth to automatically populate and synchronize network configuration data.
  • The BlueCat ACI integration feeds fabric information into BlueCat Address Manager, enabling mapping and annotation of dynamically discovered network views.
  • The BlueCat DNA integration centralizes provisioning by allowing DNA to request the next available pool, subnet, and IP address directly from BlueCat’s core platform.
  • These ACI and DNA integrations are delivered through BlueCat’s Intelligent Automation package built on the Gateway platform to support large-scale network automation.

Cisco Application Centered Infrastructure (ACI) and Digital Network Architecture (DNA) are powerful solutions which automate and simplify network infrastructure deployments.  Using the power of software-defined networking, ACI and DNA optimize the performance of network hardware across the enterprise.

Both ACI and DNA have operational impacts on back-end DNS, DHCP, and IP address management (DDI) infrastructure.  Whether it’s provisioning IP addresses for network devices, assigning DHCP scopes, or mapping architectures, ACI and DNA require an accurate, centralized database of DNS data which can deliver information in real time.

To meet the operational requirements of their Cisco deployments, network administrators have to constantly manage the flow of data between their DDI infrastructure, ACI, and DNA.  This means manually “pulling” information from ACI to match devices with assigned IP spaces and DHCP scopes.  It also means “pushing” information on available IP space into DNA so it can assign available resources.

BlueCat’s integrations auto-populate network configuration and DNS data in Cisco ACI and DNA.  This creates a seamless workflow which takes full advantage of BlueCat’s centralized source of truth for DNS and IPAM.  By eliminating the need for constant management of the interaction between ACI, DNA, and the underlying IPAM and DNS infrastructure, BlueCat and Cisco are making life even easier for network administrators.

The BlueCat ACI integration feeds information from ACI into BlueCat Address Manager with the ability to map and annotate this dynamic view.

The BlueCat DNA integration centralizes provisioning by allowing DNA to select the next available Pool (Block), Network (Subnet) and IP address from BlueCat’s core platform solution.

The Cisco ACI and DNA integrations are available as part of BlueCat’s Intelligent Automation package, which builds on the powerful Gateway platform to offer integrations for customers who are deploying automation at scale.

Learn more about BlueCat’s DNS automation tools here.


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BlueCat provides core services and solutions that help our customers and their teams deliver change-ready networks. With BlueCat, organizations can build reliable, secure, and agile mission-critical networks that can support transformation initiatives such as cloud adoption and automation. BlueCat’s growing portfolio includes services and solutions for automated and unified DDI management, network security, multicloud management, and network observability and health.

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