Is ACI to replace this design?

[Maivakov]

Assume I have to routing among different block of campus network with a square cross connected with OSPF peer to peer type,

what is the disadvantage of this square cross design?

Is ACI fabric used to replace this square cross design? or replace campus network?

[Kasun Bandara]

@Maivakov hi, ACI is designed to provide high density connectivity in data datacenters. for Campus network, you can use SD-WAN and SD-Access architectures.

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Unsure I understand your current topology.  Is it a 4 node ring?

I believe the likely answers to both your ACI questions are no.

Recent white paper on ACI https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/data-center-virtualization/application-centric-infrastructure/white-paper-c11-742214.html

[Maivakov]

Do ACI directly replace campus network ?

or ACI is a central network for routing different block of campus network?

ACI has so many version. When and which version is the final version? what is the final goal for improvement of ACI?

[Joseph W. Doherty]

"what is the final goal for improvement of ACI?"

Only Cisco might be able to answer that, but when you look out over more and more years, things don't always, if even often, develop as planned.

Right now, ACI is oriented for large scale data center use.  Could you use it elsewhere?  Sure, but would it be the best or optimal solution for most other cases?  Probably not.

Consider would you use a Nexus to replace every Catalyst switch?  Would you replace all your routers with L3 switches, or the converse?

Would you replace nails with screws or bolts, or converse?

Point is specific platforms or technologies serve some purposes "better".  ACI has its best purpose too, and at the moment, I would say it's not best for providing generic campus networks.

[Maivakov]

when saw ACI , it gave me a sense that 

will switches be deprecated in coming future? no longer to use switches?

will spanning tree be deprecated in coming future? no longer to use spanning tree?

i am confused about the role of switches in ACI 

[Joseph W. Doherty · Accepted solution]

In the near future I expect switches and STP will still be about and actively used, nor do I expect ACI to, again, near future, start replacing the usual LAN infrastructures.

However, I do expect things like ACI and SD-WAN evolve into networks that you just plug in and they provide an efficient working network that requires little detailed configuration, beyond, perhaps, some high level goals, such as prefer such-and-such for these times and/or traffic types.  The forgoing I would expect also include other network services such as FWs or LBs, etc.

Mid level network engineering, as we know it today, I believe is a dead end career path.  Likely we'll need those to physically install hardware and those making high level strategic decisions.