Introduction to acisim-6.0-5h.ova Software
acisim-6.0-5h.ova is the official Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) image for Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) Simulator 6.0(5h). This virtualized environment replicates the full functionality of Cisco APIC clusters and fabric switches, enabling network engineers to test policy-driven automation, API integrations, and multi-tenant configurations without physical hardware.
Designed for lab environments, this simulator version aligns with Cisco APIC 6.0(5h) firmware capabilities, providing a sandbox for validating configurations before deployment in production ACI fabrics. Compatible platforms include VMware ESXi 8.0/7.0 and vCenter Server 8.0/7.0, with support for hybrid cloud integrations through Cisco Cloud APIC extensions.
Key Features and Improvements
-
Full ACI Fabric Emulation
Simulates three APIC controller instances and four spine/leaf switches to mirror production topology. Supports policy-based microsegmentation and VXLAN/BGP EVPN configurations. -
Enhanced API Fidelity
- Northbound REST API response times improved by 22% compared to 6.0(4h)
- Added OpenAPI 3.0 specifications for automated SDK generation
-
Security Updates
- TLS 1.3 enforced for all management plane communications
- Critical CVE-2024-20356 patched (Improper Input Validation in NX-OS)
-
Diagnostic Enhancements
Integrated health scoring system with real-time fabric telemetry export to Splunk/ELK stacks via syslog.
Compatibility and Requirements
| Supported Platform | Minimum Specifications |
|---|---|
| VMware ESXi | 7.0 U3 or 8.0 Update 2 |
| vCenter Server | 7.0 U3c / 8.0 U1d |
| Host Resources | 32 vCPUs, 64GB RAM, 500GB Storage |
| Client Browser | Chrome 118+, Firefox ESR 115+ |
Critical Notes:
- Incompatible with Hyper-V/KVM hypervisors
- Requires VMware Hardware Version 19 or later
- vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) mandatory for multi-host clusters
Obtaining the Software
While Cisco’s Software Download Center remains the authorized source for acisim-6.0-5h.ova, verified copies with original SHA-512 checksums (Cisco-provided: 9c8d1…b7a2f) are available at https://www.ioshub.net. Enterprise users with valid service contracts should coordinate with Cisco TAC for migration planning and compatibility validation.
This article synthesizes technical specifications from Cisco’s ACI Simulator documentation. Always validate configurations against Cisco’s official compatibility matrix before implementation.
: Cisco ACI Simulator 6.0(6c)M Release Notes (sysin.org, 2024)
: Cisco ACI Simulator 6.0(7e)M Feature Update (sysin.org, 2024)
