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Implementing Cisco NX-OS Switches and Fabrics in the Data Center
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CiscoProfessionalOn requestUpdated: July 2026
DCMDS Training for Your Team — Configuring Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches
Fibre Channel is the quietest technology in the data center — right up until a zoning mistake takes a database cluster off its disks. Because SANs change rarely and fail loudly, most organizations have exactly one person who is confident touching the MDS fabric, and that person takes vacations. DCMDS (Configuring Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches) is how the second and third person get made.
The course builds SAN switching competence from fundamentals to daily operations: Fibre Channel fabric behavior, VSAN design, zoning discipline that survives years of change requests, NPV/NPIV for scale, plus the management, monitoring and troubleshooting tooling that turns the SAN from a black box into an operated system. It suits both storage administrators who inherited the switches and network engineers who inherited the storage protocol.
We arrange delivery through authorized partners with instructors who run production SAN fabrics — live online in your time zone, on site, or as a private group with labs biased toward your fabric topology and change patterns.
Who this course is for
- Storage administrators who own SAN switching alongside the arrays
- Network engineers handed the Fibre Channel estate because it has ports
- Data center engineers preparing an MDS refresh or fabric consolidation
- Integrator staff installing and servicing MDS-based SANs at customer sites
What your team will learn
Topic areas below are grouped in our own words. The full official agenda is available on request — it comes from the authorized partner as part of your quote.
- Fibre Channel without the folklore: fabrics, logins and what a name server actually does
- Building and extending SAN fabrics on MDS 9000 — ports, VSANs and inter-switch links
- Zoning that stays maintainable after the hundredth change request
- NPV and NPIV: scaling fabrics and connecting blade estates without domain sprawl
- SAN management and monitoring tooling, before the fabric tells you nothing at 3 a.m.
- A practical troubleshooting toolkit for the network storage traffic secretly depends on
Key facts
| Duration | On request |
|---|---|
| Level | Professional |
| Prerequisites | Basic data center networking knowledge; storage concepts helpful but not assumed at expert level |
| Formats | Live online (VILT), On-site at your location, Private group, Seats in scheduled groups |
| Languages | English + local-language instructors on request |
Formats and how we organize it
- Live online (VILT)
- On-site at your location
- Private group
- Seats in scheduled groups
One request → three options
Fill in the form below — it takes a couple of minutes. Within 5 business days you compare 2–3 concrete offers — provider, instructor, dates, price below the public list. We contract and administer the delivery end to end. Details:how we work and vendor training.
DCMDS vs alternatives: which to choose
Factual criteria only — level, duration, audience and certification. The right choice depends on your team's starting point and stack.
Cisco DCNX (NX-OS Switches and Fabrics)
The Ethernet-side sibling: Nexus switching and VXLAN fabrics for LAN traffic. Choose DCNX for data center LAN work; DCMDS when the estate in question moves storage over Fibre Channel. Larger teams often need both, in different heads.
Cisco DCCOR (Data Center Core)
The CCNP Data Center core (exam 350-601) covering storage networking as one domain among several. Choose DCCOR for certification and breadth; DCMDS for engineers who need real depth on MDS platforms specifically, not a survey.
A custom intensive
SAN skills rarely exist in isolation: a custom program can combine MDS switching with your array vendor and multipathing stack, rehearsing zoning changes and firmware upgrades against a model of your actual fabric.
Need only part of DCMDS?
If your team needs a subset of this program — or a mix of topics from several courses — we build a custom 2–4 day intensive on our own materials, shaped by your infrastructure. One custom program typically replaces 2–3 catalog courses.
Explore custom coursesDCMDS: frequently asked questions
Our storage vendor is not Cisco — is this course still relevant?
Yes, if your SAN switching runs on MDS. The course covers the fabric layer — VSANs, zoning, NPV, monitoring — which sits between servers and any vendor's arrays. Array-specific administration is out of scope; the switching skills apply regardless of whose storage is attached.
How much Fibre Channel background is assumed?
Little. FC fundamentals — fabric services, logins, addressing — are built up early in the course, because most attendees arrive from either networking or storage administration, rarely both. What is assumed is general data center literacy and comfort with a CLI.
Is there an exam attached to DCMDS?
No exam maps directly to this course. Storage networking is examined within the CCNP Data Center track — the 350-601 core and its concentrations — via other courses. DCMDS is chosen for operational depth on MDS platforms rather than a certificate.
Does the course cover fabric upgrades and migrations?
Maintenance operations, firmware handling and fabric extension are covered, and refresh scenarios come up naturally in the labs. For a full migration rehearsal from an older SAN estate to current MDS platforms, a private group with a custom module is the usual format.
How do we organize DCMDS training?
Fill in the request form on this page — team size, format, timing. Within 5 business days you receive 2–3 options from authorized partners with vetted instructors, dates and prices below public lists.
Request 2–3 DCMDS training options — quotes within 5 business days
No commitment — describe the task and we come back with concrete options, dates and prices.
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