Cisco Live Amsterdam 2025

Cisco Live 2025 Amsterdam

Introduction

Cisco Live has been on my bucket list for a many years. I heard the stories, watched the streams and VODs and wondered what the event would be like in person. This year Routz facilitated the opportunity and together with a couple colleagues I was able to attend Cisco Live EMEA 2025 in Amsterdam.
My focus from a technology perspective was on SD-Access, Catalyst Center, Service Provider Technologies, Segment Routing, Multi-Domain Segmentation and IPv6. 

Cisco Champions

Being part of the Cisco Champions made the experience even better because I was able to meet people from our community in person. I got to talk to Champions from America, Iceland, Azerbaijan, Germany, Sweden and many more countries from all over the world. The Cisco Champions gave us access to behind-the-scenes tours before the event started, whisper sessions on many topics and domains, and feedback session with Bonny Shapira who is charge of planning Cisco Live EMEA.

Location location location

Cisco Live was held in the Rai and split up in various halls and sections. It took me a while to find my way and get familiar with the layout. I probably walked in circles more times then I’d like to admit. Once I got familiar with the layout and the shortcuts everything was a lot better. The Cisco Event App also gave you directions to your sessions. I wore my smartwatch to track my steps during the event and averaged 10,000 steps per day. While 10K steps a day is a great benchmark, it’s definitely more than my usual step count. And even though I run frequently I definitely was feeling my legs by the end of the week.

Schedule

Sunday 09-02-2025

Daily step count: 9151 Steps

Cisco Champion Tours

Sunday started with registration and I had various behind-the-scenes tours with Cisco Champions. We had access to parts of World of Solutions that only opened officially the next day. The tours included the Cisco Store, Cisco TV studio, Cisco Showcase and the Cisco AI Hub. 

Monday 10-02-2025

Daily step count: 9449

Sessions

Advanced Cisco SD-Access Troubleshooting [TECENT-3688]

Monday started off “light” with 4 hour Technical Seminar Advanced Cisco SD-Access Troubleshooting. This Technical Seminar session was a guided experience walking the attendee step by step on the methodological approach to SD-Access troubleshooting, focusing on all components including Cisco Catalyst Center,(formerly Cisco DNA Center), LISP fabric, control and data plane, ISE, and fabric-enabled wireless.

In the afternoon I had two sessions about Segment Routing.

Introduction to Segment Routing – BRKSP-2551

This session provides an overview of segment routing MPLS and its use cases. This new routing paradigm provides high operational simplicity and maximum network scalability and flexibility. You will get an understanding of the basic concepts behind the technology for MPLS forwarding plane and its wide applicability ranging from simple transport for VPN services to disjoint routing, traffic engineering, and its benefits in the context of software defined networking.

Troubleshooting Segment Routing – BRKSPG-3624

This breakout session on troubleshooting segment routing (SR) covers troubleshooting the basic deployment scenarios, such as control plane and data plane troubleshooting with basic SR, SR policy, on-demand next-hops (ODN), and Ti-LFA. The session briefly covers some SR PCE, SRv6, SR OAM, and Tree-SID. The requirement is that you have a basic knowledge of segment routing prior to attending this session.

Cisco Champions Beers & Banter

In the evening I had the Cisco Champions Beers & Banter event. Drinks, great food and even better company. It was fun to meet new people and catch up with other Champions.

Tuesday 11-02-2025

Daily step count: 10.142 steps

Keynote

Tuesday started with the keynote. You can view it on youtube here. Since A.I was such a huge topic it was only fitting to put it into practice. I used A.I. to create a mind map of the keynote. 

Sessions

Advanced Campus Network Design – BRKENS-2500

After the keynote was the session “Advanced Campus Network Design” by Jakub and Shawn. This session features best practices for deploying the Cisco Multilayer Campus Model with an emphasis on high availability. It focuses on the technology alternatives related to an enterprise campus network.

The session contains design and implementation guidance on technology and protocol alternatives like NSF/SSO, HSRP, GLBP, Spanning Tree (PVSTP+), and Rapid Spanning Tree (Rapid PVST+). Software features and design principles for each layer of the hierarchical network model are covered. Detailed examples are presented of failure analysis scenarios and LAN and Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) tuning related to enterprise networks.

Complete Provisioning of Cisco Switches using Cisco Catalyst Center Templates – BRKOP-2566 

Automation of device configurations and checking configuration compliance, is one of the key tasks which has high priority for many customers. Cisco Catalyst Center offers multiple options to solve this task, like automation, using predefined workflows for certain solutions like SD Access or using APIs for “network-as-a-code” type of provisioning.

 CCNP Enterprise Network Troubleshooting Deep Dive – BRKCRT-2285

Patrick is the author of various CCNP Enterprise books and courses on u.cisco.com. I joined his session because I coach engineers who are working on certifications. Patrick has great insights and it is always good to get a refresher on the fundamentals. 

Dutch Evening @ ZuidPool

The last event on Tuesday was the “Dutch Evening” in ZuidPool close to the RAI. The Dutch Evening is a networking event for Dutch people attending Cisco Live. A great way to meet new people and catch up with others. The CCIE party was also at Tuesday evening but that one I decided to skip. Maybe next year!

Wednesday 12-02-2025

Daily step count: 10.063 steps

Sessions

Architectural Best Practices for Ensuring High Availability – BRKSPG-2080

In this breakout session, we reviewed fundamental principles and best practices for ensuring the high availability of service provider IP/MPLS backbone networks through the use of IOS XR software.

Key Insights

• High availability requires robust network architecture, including node resilience and redundancy, to minimize single points of failure.
• Operational rigor is essential, involving well-documented procedures and thorough testing before network changes are implemented.
• Automation and advanced management tools can significantly improve incident response times and operational efficiency.
• Multi-Plane Architectures enhance traffic steering and provide various service models that improve network reliability.
• Continuous improvement and proactive capacity plan

Zero Trust – Secure the workplace with Cisco SD-Access – BRKENS-1851

SD-Access meets the strict zero-trust requirements by establishing trust, enforcing trust-based access, continuously verifying trust, and responding to changes in trust. In this session, attendees will gain an understanding of the challenges posed by traditional networks and how SD-Access fabric architecture overcomes these issues with a policy-driven approach. Additionally, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from a peer who will share their experience on how this solution solved their zero-trust needs.

Cisco SD-Access Migration Tools and Strategies – BRKENS-2827

Previous Cisco Live sessions such as DGTL-BRKENS-3822 and BRKENS-2008 have shared real-world migration tools and strategies, along with recommended best practices for migrating existing networks to Cisco SD-Access. This session augments the existing content to include the latest Cisco SD-Access features and lessons learned from the field.

This session will focus on multisite design and deployment options with the intent to provide end-to-end segmentation with consistent policy across the enterprise. It is highly recommended that attendees have an understanding of the Cisco SD-Access architecture, which can be learned from previously recorded sessions (BRKCRS-2810 and BRKCRS-2811) available in the Cisco Live on-demand library.

Wednesday was heavily focused on SDA related sessions. 

Thursday 13-02-2025

Daily step count: 11.156 steps

40 years of Innovation

In the morning I took some time to walk around the venue. One of the stops was the 40 years history of Cisco. Since Cisco’s founding in 1984, they have connected organizations around the world and helped them unlock the power of technology to make anything possible. It was special to see the innovation throughout the years as I am 40 years old myself. So much can happen in a lifetime.

Sessions

I had two session by Jerome Dolphin, who is a great presenter and expert in the SD-Access field.

Advanced LISP SD-Access Forwarding Archicature – BRKENS-3826

Cisco SD-Access and Multi-Domain Segmentation – BRKENS-2819

Using Cisco SD-Access LISP Fabric as a foundation this session will explore and integrate important LAN, WAN and cloud segmentation solutions. Theory will be reinforced with real-world demonstrations of each concept. Beginning with Catalyst Center, cabled networking devices, and a basic preliminary configuration, you will learn how and why to build end-to-end network segmentation while preserving and adapting security context. During this session you’ll learn about:

How to adopt Zero Trust using SD-Access and Default-Deny without Tears – BRENS-3810

Celebration Time!

Thursday evening is the evening of the celebration!
It is spread over different halls with music, performers, food and drinks. 

Friday 14-02-2025

Daily step count: 3.134 steps

Last day and final day and I’m feeling the wear and tear of 6 days Cisco Live. Today I have two sessions planned. One on Segment Routing and one on Troubleshooting IPv6.

Sessions

Segment Routing Innovations in IOS (XE) – BRKENT-2520

Summary and Takeaways

Total Steps: 53.095

As an engineer I initially went to Cisco Live with a technical perspective. Trying to plan and attend as many technical sessions as I could fit into my agenda. I quickly realized the breakout sessions are only the tip of the iceberg. Cisco Live offers so much more in terms of communities like Cisco Champions, the great people you meet, Success Stories from customers, Partner engagement, Whisper Suit Sessions, Meet the Engineers, Meet the Executives and much more. 

Next Cisco Live I will try and explore those options more and gain insights beyond just the technical sessions. 

Hope to see you all next year!