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Topic - Location A ACI lane for AI cluster fast-track
Overview
Define the transitional network lane in Location A where a single ACI pod is used only to fast-track the AI cluster deployment. This note provides scope boundaries and operational guardrails so the temporary lane does not become a second long-term platform baseline.
Context
The rollout strategy is hybrid by location:
- Location A: ACI lane, single pod, AI-cluster-only.
- Location B: EVPN/VXLAN target-state lane for multi-tenant and multi-cluster platform capabilities.
This split is governed by adr-019-hybrid-network-rollout-aci-a-ai-only-evpn-b-target and adr-004-single-active-phased-rollout.
Applicable Principles
- Automation First - transitional scope remains codified and auditable.
- Reliability and Resilience - bounded scope reduces rollout risk.
- Security by Design - AI lane uses the same governance and break-glass controls.
Decisions
- adr-019-hybrid-network-rollout-aci-a-ai-only-evpn-b-target - choose hybrid rollout with strict ACI scope in Location A.
- adr-004-single-active-phased-rollout - single-active rollout context for Location A and Location B sequencing.
Current State
- Location A network lane is constrained to a single ACI pod for AI cluster use case only.
- No general multi-tenant platform onboarding is permitted on the ACI lane.
- No broad cross-domain expansion of the ACI lane is permitted without a new ADR.
- Shared governance (identity, policy, audit, evidence retention) remains mandatory for the AI cluster.
Operational guardrails
- Approved scope: AI model serving/evaluation workloads and supporting platform services required for that use case.
- Out of scope: general CaaS/VMaaS/DBaaS tenant onboarding, platform-wide east-west segmentation design, and Location B target-state substitutions.
- Changes to the ACI lane must retain clear migration path to Location B target-state networking.
Exit criteria
- Location B EVPN/VXLAN lane reaches agreed readiness gates for multi-tenant and multi-cluster platform operations.
- AI cluster traffic and dependencies can be cut over or federated under the Location B target-state controls.
- ACI lane remains frozen or decommissioned after cutover decision.
Exit criteria evidence is tracked in cutover release evidence bundles and enforced through the production change process.
Future Work
- Keep AI-lane boundary evidence synchronized with readiness-gate records and cutover execution logs.