700-172 FlexPod Sales
Exam Description:
The FlexPod Sales (700-172) exam is a 45-minute, 35−45 item exam that
assesses how sales teams can effectively position FlexPod in the Data Center.
Some of the topics assessed are how to consider the challenges faced by business
and IT today and how this relates to FlexPod opportunities. The exam also
assesses who “the customer” is and the importance of applications to many of the
customers that are influential in purchasing application-based solutions.
The following topics are general guidelines for the content likely to be
included on the exam. However, other related topics may also appear on any
specific delivery of the exam. In order to better reflect the contents of the
exam and for clarity purposes, the guidelines below may change at any time
without notice.
30% 1.0 Customer Challenges and Business Value of FlexPod
1.1 Identify the customer challenges addressed and the corresponding value that
the FlexPod architecture brings
1.1.a Responsiveness and speed of delivery
1.1.b Limited IT staff and budget
1.1.c Provisioning complexity
1.1.d Exponential data growth
1.1.e Staying competitive in their market space
1.1.f Data security
1.1.g Mobile workforce productivity
1.1.h Application availability and rollout complexity
1.1.i Application characteristics
1.2 Describe the business value proposition of converged infrastructure vs
legacy infrastructure
1.2.a Describe how FlexPod delivers business agility by accelerating application
development
1.2.b Describe how FlexPod mitigates risk
1.2.c Describe operational efficiency through standardization of deployment
1.2.d Describe how FlexPod enables different cloud models
1.3 Identify what makes the FlexPod architecture superior to alternate solutions
1.3.a Cisco Validated Designs (CVD)
1.3.b Open approach toward various workloads and hypervisors
1.3.c Unified architecture
1.3.d Storage efficiency
1.3.e Clustering technology
1.3.f Cisco Unified support
1.3.g Converged infrastructure (#1 system worldwide) 2013 Cisco Systems, Inc.
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1.3.h Scale up vs scale out discussion (standard FlexPod slide)
1.3.i Secure multitenancy
1.4 Describe competitive landscape and positioning vs. other architectures and
offerings
1.4.a Reference architecture approach allows customer to buy what they need
1.4.b Extensive library of validate workloads across virtualization platforms
and bare metal deployments
1.4.c Scalable solutions from mid-market with FlexPod Express to the Data Center
and service providers with FlexPod Datacenter
1.4.d Integrated co-operative support include hypervisors
1.4.e Integrated unified storage and networking architecture
1.4.f Secure multitenancy
19% 2.0 Technical Features and Value of the Constituent Components
2.1 Describe Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) and the value proposition
2.1.a Cisco UCS service profiles, stateless computing, simplified deployment for
non-virtualized workloads
2.1.b Identify supported hypervisors (VMware, Microsoft, XenServer)
2.1.c Articulate the Cisco UCS market Impact
2.2 Describe Cisco Nexus family
2.2.a Describe the value proposition of Cisco Unified fabric – power, cooling,
and cabling savings aspect
2.2.b Identify the benefits of various fabric options (switches, fabrics, and
interconnects)
2.3 Describe NetApp storage
2.3.a Identify the benefits of a NetApp storage architecture
2.3.a (i) Leading storage efficiency
2.3.a (ii) Nondisruptive operations
2.3.a (iii) Seamless platform scalability
2.3.a (iv) Ease of management
2.3.a (v) Enable cloud computing evolution into hybrid environment
2.3.b Describe the differences between 7 Mode, Clustered Data ONTAP, and E
Series
2.3.c Describe the characteristics of a unified storage platform
19% 3.0 FlexPod Management, Automation, and Orchestration
3.1 Describe the differences between management, automation, and
orchestration
3.1.a Management
3.1.b Automation
3.1.c Orchestration
3.2 Identify the appropriate cloud solution for the customer use case (private,
public, and hybrid)
3.2.a Private cloud
3.2.b Public cloud
3.2.c Hybrid cloud
20% 4.0 Application Workloads and Use Cases Enabled by FlexPod
4.1 Describe IT business transformation and related business process and
application drivers
4.1.a Increase demand for more agile IT infrastructure to meet the business need
4.1.b Requirement to increase the efficiency within the data center
4.1.c Enable simple scaling of the infrastructure to meet the business
requirements
4.1.d Enable future development of a hybrid cloud strategy
4.1.e Meet regulatory requirements
4.1.f Limited IT resources for managing infrastructure
4.1.g Requirement for IT to become a business enabler
4.1.h Transformation of IT from a builder of infrastructure to a provider of
services
4.1.i Enable IT to be prepared for new workloads generated for new channels,
such as mobile
4.1.j Enable the business to consume IT on demand
4.2 Identify various application buying centers within organizations – LOB,
consultant, architect, server admins, VP of IT, CIO, Facilities, and Procurement
4.2.a Head of IT – Manager / VP / CIO
4.2.b Security office
4.2.c Business unit owner
4.2.d Application owner
4.2.e Application administrator
4.2.f Database administrator
4.2.g Infrastructure manager
4.2.h Operations management
4.2.i Data center manager
4.2.j Network manager
4.2.k Storage manager
4.2.l Data protection / backup administrator
4.2.m Procurement
4.3 Determine customer critical applications, insertion points and risk factors
4.3.a Business critical
4.3.a (i) Applications viewed as critical will vary between companies and based
on the level of impact that downtime or logical corruption would have on the
business
4.3.a (ii) ERP
4.3.a (iii) Collaboration – email and messaging
4.3.a (iv) Finance and accounting
4.3.a (v) Core databases
4.3.a (vi) Web-portals
4.3.a (vii) CRM
4.3.a (viii) Payroll
4.3.a (ix) Business Intelligence
4.3.b Risk factors
4.3.b (i) Network link failures
4.3.b (ii) Hardware failures
4.3.b (iii) Thermal or cooling issues 2014 Cisco Systems, Inc. This document is
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4.3.b (iv) Finance and accounting
4.3.b (v) Power failures
4.3.b (vi) Application or database failures
4.3.b (vii) Human error
4.3.b (viii) Malicious intent
4.3.b (ix) Building-level disruption
4.3.b (x) Metro-level disruption
4.3.b (xi) Regional disruption
4.4 Describe the need to collaborate with application software and hardware
vendors
4.4.a All IT environments are made up of storage, networking, compute, operating
system, application and management components that work together to create a
solution.
4.4.b Each part within the solution has a dependency on one or more other
layers, so working with vendors who work closely together minimizes the risk
when deploying an infrastructure.
4.4.c Collaboration between vendors enables optimization of the infrastructure
to ensure the best price, performance and reliability of an infrastructure.
4.5 Describe the different use cases and application workloads that can be
virtualized and nonvirtualized and describe how FlexPod meets their needs
4.5.a Describe n-tier architecture
4.5.b Describe applications and service opportunities
4.5.b (i) Oracle (E-Business Suite, Siebel, PeopleSoft)
4.5.b (ii) SAP (HANA, NetWeaver, Business Suite)
4.5.b (iii) Microsoft (Exchange, Hyper-V, SharePoint, SQL, System Center)
4.5.b (iv) IBM (WebSphere, Tivoli, Rational Software, Informix)
4.5.c Identify application acronyms: CRM, SCM, PLM, HRIS, BI/DSS, ERP, FM
4.5.d Identify situations best suited for using virtualization (scenario
questions)
4.5.e Application dependent
4.5.f Database – no
4.5.g Web, Microsoft, desktop, general purpose – yes
4.5.h Identify situations best suited for using bare-metal implementation
4.5.i Capacity, security, and corporate guidelines
4.5.j How FlexPod enhances desktop and server virtualization
4.5.k Identify applications addressed by CVDs
12% 5.0 FlexPod Programs, Tools, and Resources
5.1 Describe Premium Partner program and FlexPod Premium framework
5.1.a Identify what FlexPod Premium partners bring to the table (NetApp/Cisco
certified training)
5.1.a (i) A scalable framework from Cisco and NetApp that recognizes and rewards
partners for achieving the highest level of FlexPod competency
5.1.a (ii) A mutual investment from Cisco and NetApp to deliver greater value to
those partners
5.1.a (iii) A single set of qualification criteria to identify and differentiate
partners with highest level of competency 2014 Cisco Systems, Inc. This document
is 5.1.a (iv) An opportunity to communicate with one voice to highest level of
FlexPod partners
5.1.a (v) Incremental benefits
5.2 Describe FlexPod Partner profitability
5.2.a Rebate program
5.2.b Partner sales desk
5.2.c Extra margin programs and Cisco UCS Breakaway
5.2.d Cisco UCS and Nexus front-end partner programs, such as SIP and OIP
5.2.e Cisco UCS SmartPlay bundles
5.3 Identify FlexPod resources and tools
5.3.a Describe CiscoNetApp.com, Cisco.com, and NetApp partner portal
5.3.b Describe the CVD warehouse (design zone)
5.3.c Describe the ROI and TCO tools
5.3.d Describe the FlexPod support model
1. Overview
This document provides configuration guidance for users of Cisco® IOS SSLVPN.
This feature is
designed to terminate SSL VPN connections on Cisco IOS Software-based routers
(1800, 2800,
3700, 3800, 7200, and 7301). SSL VPN is comparable to and complements the
popular IP
Security (IPsec) remote-access VPN.
The testing was performed at the NSITE lab in Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina (RTP) on
the devices defined above. The objective of the testing was to configure and
test interaction of
Cisco IOS SSLVPN with authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA)
policies using the
backup authentication setup. This is typically used by a provider with redundant
AAA servers.
Advantage: The primary advantage of backup AAA authentication is the provider
can have
redundant AAA servers. In the event of failure, users will still be
authenticated. This setup can be
used with any of the AAA designs, and will work with authentication domains.
Note: All Cisco IOS SSL VPN/WebVPN features are included in a single,
cost-effective license
that would be purchased separately. You can purchase the feature license in
packs of 10, 25, or
100 simultaneous users directly from the Cisco.com configuration tool. If you
already have a
router, use the following SKUs to order the license: FL-WEBVPN-10-K9=,
FL-WEBVPN-25-K9=,
FL WEBVPN 100-K9=. Check the data sheet to find the maximum supported users for
your platform.
2. Audience
This configuration guide is intended for customers and partners working to
provide configuration
guidelines and best practices for smaller SSL VPN deployments.
3. Network Topology
Figure 1 shows a Cisco IOS SSL VPN topology that uses redundant AAA servers.
Figure 1. Cisco IOS SSL VPN Topology with Redundant AAA Servers
4. Basic Configurations
4.1 Global AAA Configuration
When the primary AAA server is unreachable, the service provider will typically
have a backup
AAA server. When the router does not get a pass/fail response from the primary
server, it will
eventually time out. Next it will send the request to the secondary server. It
will work with the
authentication domains as well, but this will need to be set up on both servers.
