Latest

Datacenter SDN Statergy : Cisco ACI Vs Juniper Contrail

 Today I am going to talk about the comparison between Cisco ACI and Juniper Contrail. Both these can be deployed as a controller in the datacenter environment. 

Before we will come to discuss the difference between these two controllers, first we just go through both the controllers in detail and then we will come up with the difference between them.

Cisco ACI- APIC Controller
Cisco ACI stands for Application Policy Infrastructure, With the help of Cisco ACI APIC you can get the  centralized access to all fabric data, enhances the application lifespan for scale and efficency, and provisions adaptable application implementation through physical and virtual assets.

With the help of the Cisco ACI APIC controller, you can get the Centralized application-level control for network, security, and network services automation. You can also get the Common policy and management framework across physical, virtual, and cloud infrastructure.

With Cisco ACI APIC controller you have the Open architecture which can also integrate with the open APIs to integrate Layer 4 - 7 service, virtualization, and management OEMs. Cisco ACI APIC controller is robotic and will give you the features like Application awareness, mobility, integrated visibility, and control.


Fig 1.1- Cisco ACI Controllers and Fabric


As we discuss that Cisco ACI APIC controller, proposed for automation, programmability, and centralized management, the Cisco ACI APIC itself exposes northbound APIs through XML and JSON. It offers both a command-line interface (CLI) and GUI which operate the APIs to achieve the fabric practically. 

The system also delivers an open source southbound API which permits third-party network service OEMs to apply policy control of provided devices through the Cisco ACI APIC.


Juniper Contrail Controller
Juniper Contrail Controller from Juniper Networks is an open cloud network automation product that customs software-defined networking (SDN) technology to orchestrate the design of virtual networks with extraordinary expansion.

It transmits prepared a scale-out schema and physical routers and switches to expand arrangements outside the data center of cloud restrictions in mandate to deliver workload flexibility in a hybrid ecosystem. 

Fig 1.2- Juniper Contrail Contrllers and Fabric

The commitment of the Juniper Contrail Controller is to implement the cloud like Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure and automate the things.

Contrail Edge Cloud Works at the network edge to abstract and virtualize compute, storage, and networking resources with efficiency and economy, speeding creation of new low-latency services.

Below is the comparison between Cisco ACI and Juniper Contrail

Fig 1.3- Cisco ACI Vs Juniper Contrail