This blog is part of a series covering various SD-Access topics.
Previous blogs in this series:
- What Is SD-Access and Why Do I Care?
- Navigating Around SD-Access
- Managing SD-Access Segmentation
- Securing SD-Access Traffic
- SD-Access Single-Site Design
- SD-Access Multi-Site Design
- SD-Access Multi-Site Lab
- SD-Access Multi-Site Lab Tasks
- SD-Access IP Pools
- SD-Access and e911 Services
There are many great resources for learning more about SD-Access. This blog will point you at some of them.
I’m frugal (my wife sometimes says “cheap”), so I may favor the low / no-cost options.
Books
- Cisco Press book: Software–Defined Access
- (Quick Google search didn’t turn anything else up)
Courses
Note that some of the Cisco learning courses have self-paced online versions (usually at lower cost), as well as instructor-led versions. They usually have the same acronyms. The beginning parts of the following URLs tell you where to search.
It looks like ENSDA is what’s available for SD-Access.
- Deploying Cisco SD-Access (ENSDA) v1.1 (online): https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/on-demand-e-learning/deploying-cisco-sd-access-ensda-v1-1-elt-ensda-v1-023909
- ENSDA Instructor-Led version: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications/training/training-services/courses/deploying-cisco-sd-access-ensda.html
The ISESDA course might be pretty useful as a pre-requisite for people who want to brush up or build key ISE skills that SD-Access will use.
- Configuring Cisco ISE Essentials for SD-Access (ISESDA) v1.0: https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/on-demand-e-learning/configuring-cisco-ise-essentials-for-sd-access-isesda-v1-0-elt-isesda-v1-023787
CiscoLive
CiscoLive On-Demand presentations are a great free resource. They tend to age pretty well, and the diagrams can really help. They can also be terse, which is where a book can provide more detailed explanations.
I usually go to the following page, specify the most recent one or two CiscoLive sessions in the U.S. (more presentations than elsewhere), and then search by keyword: CiscoLive OnDemand Library
CiscoLive 2019 had a LOT of good SD-Access presentations. If you go to BRKCRS-2810, the fourth slide provides a diagram of many, if not all, the other SD-Access presentations. Great idea!
Just for fun and in case it saves you time, here’s the 2019 search I did. You may well need to log in first, then follow that link. (Yeah, getting close to “LMGTFY” here?)
CiscoLive 2020 has, of course the latest updates. Here’s the search URL. BRKCRS-2810 slide 5 is the SD-Access map of the 2020 presentations.
If that isn’t enough to keep you busy for a while, some of the presentations found by searching on “DNA Center” are also relevant. And some “ISE” never hurts … but what I see isn’t that directly relevant to learning SD-Access.
Cisco Web Pages
Searching cisco.com for SD-Access deployment or design, and the same for DNA Center, is the most obvious place to start. I included the Cisco links I’ve found most useful in the prior blogs in this series.
The SD-Access Distributed Campus Deployment Guide (CVD) (July 2019) is good.
The Software-Defined Access Medium and Large Site Fabric Provisioning Guide (Oct 2019) is also good but covers less (it looks like it is an earlier version).
Cisco Community page of SDA resources – plenty of links! Looks like mostly 2019 with some edits in 2020 (at the time this was written).
Bear in mind that SD-Access now includes extended nodes and policy extended nodes – in good part, to support legacy switches and IOT industrial switches, etc. Also the just-announced micro-switches, which would be extended nodes.
Conclusion
Remember: SD-Access has many moving parts – it is a journey. Walking 100 miles begins by taking that first step!
