Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Medium - rack-mountable

The Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) is a distributed system implemented as a cluster of controllers. The Cisco APIC provides a single point of control, a central API, a central repository of global data, and a repository of policy data for the Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI). Cisco ACI is conceptualized as a distributed overlay system with external endpoint connections controlled and grouped through policies. Physically, Cisco ACI is a high-speed, multipath leaf and spine (bipartite graph) fabric.

The Cisco APIC is a unified point of policy-driven configuration. The primary function of the Cisco APIC is to provide policy authority and policy resolution mechanisms for the Cisco ACI and devices attached to Cisco ACI. Automation is provided as a direct result of policy resolution and of rendering its effects onto the Cisco ACI fabric.

The Cisco APIC communicates in the infrastructure VLAN (in-band) with the Cisco ACI spine and leaf nodes to distribute policies to the poin