Cisco DCACI 300-620 study plan
Cisco DCACI 300-620 · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
ACI Fabric Infrastructure
Describe the ACI spine-leaf topology and explain why every leaf connects to every spine with no leaf-to-leaf links
Diagram the APIC cluster roles (active/standby controller) and explain how the cluster survives a single node failure
Trace how a newly racked leaf joins the fabric: discovery, DHCP/TFTP bootstrap, fabric registration, and inventory appearance
List the components of a tenant policy model (tenant, VRF, bridge domain, EPG, contract) and state the relationship between each pair
Identify which fabric infrastructure objects live under fabric membership versus under a tenant
Your checkpoint
A one-page hand-drawn or digital topology diagram of a 3-spine/6-leaf fabric with APIC cluster, labeled with bootstrap and discovery steps, plus a 10-term glossary of fabric infrastructure objects.
ACI Fabric Infrastructure & ACI Fabric Management
Configure a fabric-wide access policy chain in order: VLAN pool, domain, AAEP, and interface policy group, and explain what each layer inherits
Build interface, switch, and global policies and attach them to a leaf profile so a port comes up as a fabric port with the intended settings
Explain the difference between fabric ports, access ports, and vPC ports and when each is used
Describe how NTP, DNS, and a fabric-wide time source are configured and why clock consistency matters for APIC clustering
Demonstrate how to verify fabric health using the APIC GUI fault and health score views
Your checkpoint
A written configuration walkthrough (screenshots or CLI output allowed) that takes a bare leaf interface from default to a working access port, with a table mapping each policy object to the object that consumes it.
ACI Packet Flow
Trace the full path of a packet from an external host into an EPG: ingress leaf, source learning, mapping to a bridge domain, and egress
Explain how the ACI fabric forwards using endpoint groups and the endpoint table rather than traditional MAC address tables per VLAN
Describe the role of the spine in forwarding and explain why spines do not typically learn endpoint addresses
Compare unicast, unknown unicast, multicast, and broadcast handling within a bridge domain
Explain how the fabric handles traffic between two EPGs in the same bridge domain versus two EPGs in different bridge domains
Your checkpoint
A packet-walk narrative of at least 400 words describing a single flow from an external host to an internal endpoint, annotated with the tables and lookups used at each hop.
ACI Packet Flow & ACI Fabric Management
Configure a VRF, bridge domain, and two EPGs, then verify endpoint learning in the APIC endpoint table
Explain the difference between a bridge domain with and without unicast routing enabled and predict the forwarding consequence
Describe contract scope (VRF, tenant, application profile, global) and select the correct scope for a given requirement
Configure a contract with a provider and consumer EPG and verify that traffic is permitted only in the intended direction
Use the APIC troubleshooting tools (endpoint tracker, tenant health, contract hit counters) to confirm a flow is working
Your checkpoint
A working tenant configuration with at least two EPGs, one contract, and captured verification output showing endpoint entries and contract hit counters incrementing.
Milestones
Week 4: Score at least 80 percent on a 40-question self-made quiz covering domains 1 and 2, and explain without notes how a packet traverses the fabric from an external host to an internal endpoint.