An EPG is a policy that defines a group of devices that are treated similarly and provides a container around them.

The concept behind EPGs is that organizations have multiple servers/devices that utilize the same policies, such as filtering, port forwarding, and so on. To use them, users determine whether their current traditional networking design can be converted or whether they will need to modify the network design.

EPGs can be defined by multiple criteria, such as VLAN ID, IP address blocks, system type, and software version (when connected to a virtualized system that supports ACI integration).

EPGs can be linked together using Application Network Profiles, where permissions between groups of EPGs are defined:

EPGs can be used in many ways, including replicating the behavior of traditional network constructs such as VLANs, IP subnets, VXLANs, VMware port groups, and others.

In cases where EPGs are used to replicate a current VLAN infrastructure, each VLAN is replaced by a single EPG...