Description

The 5-day ACE Media & Entertainment (M&E) Specialist course is built to establish a firm foundation for newcomers to networking and the individuals who will be designing and configuring scalable professional media networks based on modern Leaf-Spine architecture.

Media over IP

• Requirements of M&E Customers
• One Medium for all I/O
• Quality of Experience
• Network-Wide Telemetry
• Open APIs for Broadcast Integration
• Arista Media Network Approach

Foundation of Networking

• Layered Network Architecture
• Ethernet, IPv4, IPv6, TCP, UDP
• Cabling for Modern Media Connectivity

Working with Arista EOS

• Arista EOS Software Approach
• Single EOS for All M&E Use Cases
• State Driven, NetDB, Net DL
• EOS Command Line Interface (CLI)
• Arista Hardware Approach
• Merchant Silicon
• Deep Buffer
• Interface Flexibility (10G to 400G)
• Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)
• Initial Switch Config
• ZTP Requirements and Bootstrap
• Config vs Scripts
• Initial Boot-up
• Configuring M&E Basic Operations
• Device Parameters
• NTP, Ethernet Management Port
• Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA)
• TACACS+ vs RADIUS
• AAA Configuration
• ARP, DHCP
• Introduction to IPv6
• Format and Scope of IPv6 Address
• First-Hop Redundancy Protocols (FHRP)
• ARP and DHCP
• VRRP – Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol
• Arista vARP
• Recommended Practices for Media Networks Design

CloudVision Portal (CVP) Overview and Architecture

• Introduction to CloudVision
• Network Automation
• DIY, DevOps, Turnkey (CV, Studio)
• State Streaming, SysDB,NetDB, NetDL
• CloudVision Partner Integration
• Overview of Installation
• CloudVision Deployment
• Cloud-based CVaaS, Appliance, Virtual (OVA, KVM)
• Software, Authentication, and Connectivity Requirements
• CVP Setup
• Enabling eAPI
• Initial Switch Behavior
• Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)
• Process, Modes, Provisioning
• DHCP Configuration
• ZTP Bootstrap with CVP
• Zero Touch Replacement
• Automating Configuration with Configlets
• Container and Configlet Plan
• Creating Containers
• Configlet Builder
• Python Library
• Change Control
• Compliance
• Create Change Control
• Add/Remove Metrics
• Day 2 Network Operations
• Real-Time Telemetry, Analytics
• Client to Cloud Visibility
• Troubleshooting with CLI and CVP
• Image Management
• Data Plane Visibility

Layer 2 Operations

L2 Switching, L2 Redundancy
VLANs and Trunk – 802.1Q
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)
Per VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST)
Link Aggregation
• Port Channel
• Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
• Multi-Chassis Link Aggregation (MLAG)

Layer 3 Operations

Routing Fundamentals
• Layer 3 Redundancy
• ECMP
OSPF
• Enabling OSPF
• Configuring OSPF in a L-S Design
• OSPF Network Types
VRFand VPN
WAN Connectivity for M&E
• Internet Connectivity
• Ethernet-based WAN
• DCI for Media
BGP
• Enabling BGP
• BGP Peer Groups, Routes, Operations
• BGP Labeled Unicast (BGP-LU)
• L3 L-S Design with BGP
• Recommended Practices for M&E
Multicast
• IP Multicast
• Large-Scale Multicast Support
• Multicast Flow Orchestration
• Arista Media Control Service (MCS)
• Multicast Protocols - DM, SM, PIM, IGMP
• PIM-SM, PIM SSM, PMBR, Rendezvous Point (RP)
• Multicast Operation, Addressing, Routing, Load Balancing
• Multicast Groups Address

Leaf-Spine DC Architectures

• Media Move to Leaf-Spine Architecture
• Scale-Out Architecture for M&E
• L2 LS, L3 LS
• VXLAN Data Plane

Scalable IP Architecture for M&E

• L3 Architectural Overview
• Design for Resiliency at Scale
• Cloud-Scale IP Infrastructure

Precision Time Protocol (PTP)

• Overview of PTP
• PTP for LAN and WAN
• Recommended Practices

Appendix - Campus Architectures

• Resilient and Scalable L-S Campus Network
• WiFi Fundamentals and Design
• CloudVision Cognitive Unified Edge (CV-CUE)
• Power over Ethernet (PoE)
• Unified Wired and WiFi

Labs

The ACE M&E Specialist course includes diverse practical labs. The labs are accessible for three weeks, one week during the instructor-led course, and two additional weeks to work on labs independently. Each student is given their own dedicated environment. Students can connect to these cloud-based labs from anywhere at any time.

Lab Activities

OSI, MAC Addresses and IP Addresses
Cabling & Interface Speed Configuration
Installing and Working with EOS and CloudVision
Intro to EOS Command Line Interface (CLI)
CVP Introduction - Navigation
CloudVision - Configlet Management
Setting up Management Connectivity to Arista Switches
Understanding and Working with IP and ARP
Configuring Layer 2
Configuring LACP and MLAG
Configuring BGP
Protocol Independent Multicast Sparse-mode

Target Audience

The ACE M&E Specialist certification course is best suited for individuals who are looking to acquire the essential knowledge and skills to design and configure a modern resilient multimedia network infrastructure.

Specialization

The ACE M&E Specialist requires a 2-hour multiple choice exam. Candidates must complete the M&E course prior to attempting the exam.