Building Data Centers with VXLAN BGP EVPN: A Cisco NX-OS Perspective

Description

The complete guide to building and managing next-generation data center network fabrics with VXLAN and BGP EVPN This is the only comprehensive guide and deployment reference for building flexible data center network fabrics with VXLAN and BGP EVPN technologies. Writing for experienced network professionals, three leading Cisco experts address everything from standards and protocols to functions, configurations, and operations. The authors first explain why and how data center fabrics are evolving, and introduce Cisco’s fabric journey. Next, they review key switch roles, essential data center network fabric terminology, and core concepts such as network attributes, control plane details, and the associated data plane encapsulation. Building on this foundation, they provide a deep dive into fabric semantics, efficient creation and addressing of the underlay, multi-tenancy, control and data plane interaction, forwarding flows, external interconnectivity, and service appliance deployments. You’ll find detailed tutorials, descriptions, and packet flows that can easily be adapted to accommodate customized deployments. This guide concludes with a full section on fabric management, introducing multiple opportunities to simplify, automate, and orchestrate data center network fabrics. Learn how changing data center requirements have driven the evolution to overlays, evolved control planes, and VXLAN BGP EVPN spine-leaf fabrics Discover why VXLAN BGP EVPN fabrics are so scalable, resilient, and elastic Implement enhanced unicast and multicast forwarding of tenant traffic over the VXLAN BGP EVPN fabric Build fabric underlays to efficiently transport uni- and multi-destination traffic Connect the fabric externally via Layer 3 (VRF-Lite, LISP, MPLS L3VPN) and Layer 2 (VPC) Choose your most appropriate Multi-POD, multifabric, and Data Center Interconnect (DCI) options Integrate Layer 4-7 services into the fabric, including load balancers and firewalls Manage fabrics with POAP-based day-0 provisioning, incremental day 0.5 configuration, overlay day-1 configuration, or day-2 operations About This E-Book Title Page Copyright Page About the Authors About the Technical Reviewers Dedications Acknowledgments Contents at a Glance Contents Introduction Chapter 1 Introduction to Programmable Fabric Today’s Data Center Challenges and Requirements The Data Center Fabric Journey Cisco Open Programmable Fabric Fabric-Related Terminology Data Center Network Fabric Properties Server or Endpoint Connectivity Options Summary References Chapter 2 VXLAN BGP EVPN Basics Overlays Introduction to VXLAN VXLAN Flood and Learn (F&L) Introduction to BGP EVPN with VXLAN MP-BGP Features and Common Practices IETF Standards and RFCs Host and Subnet Route Distribution Host Deletion and Move Events Summary References Chapter 3 VXLAN/EVPN Forwarding Characteristics Multidestination Traffic Leveraging Multicast Replication in the Underlying Network Using Ingress Replication VXLAN BGP EVPN Enhancements ARP Suppression Distributed IP Anycast Gateway Integrated Route and Bridge (IRB) Endpoint Mobility Virtual PortChannel (vPC) in VXLAN BGP EVPN DHCP Summary References Chapter 4 The Underlay Underlay Considerations MTU Considerations IP Addressing IP Unicast Routing OSPF as an Underlay IS-IS as an Underlay BGP as an Underlay IP Unicast Routing Summary Multidestination Traffic Unicast Mode Multicast Mode PIM Any Source Multicast (ASM) BiDirectional PIM (PIM BiDir) Summary References Chapter 5 Multitenancy Bridge Domains VLANs in VXLAN Layer 2 Multitenancy: Mode of Operation VLAN-Oriented Mode BD-Oriented Mode VRF in VXLAN BGP EVPN Layer 3 Multitenancy: Mode of Operation Summary References Chapter 6 Unicast Forwarding Intra-Subnet Unicast Forwarding (Bridging) Non-IP Forwarding (Bridging) Inter-Subnet Unicast Forwarding (Routing) Routed Traffic to Silent Endpoints Forwarding with Dual-Homed Endpoint IPv6 Summary Chapter 7 Multicast Forwarding Layer 2 Multicast Forwarding IGMP in VXLAN BGP EVPN Networks Layer 2 Multicast Forwarding in vPC Layer 3 Multicast Forwarding Summary References Chapter 8 External Connectivity External Connectivity Placement External Layer 3 Connectivity U-Shaped and Full-Mesh Models VRF Lite/Inter-AS Option A LISP MPLS Layer 3 VPN (L3VPN) External Layer 2 Connectivity Classic Ethernet and vPC Extranet and Shared Services Local/Distributed VRF Route Leaking Downstream VNI Assignment Summary Reference Chapter 9 Multi-pod, Multifabric, and Data Center Interconnect (DCI) Contrasting OTV and VXLAN Multi-pod Interconnection at the Spine Layer Interconnection at the Leaf Layer Multifabric Inter-pod/Interfabric Interfabric Option 1: Multi-pod Interfabric Option 2: Multifabric Interfabric Option 3 (Multisite for Layer 3) Interfabric Option 4 (Multisite for Layer 2) Summary References Chapter 10 Layer 4–7 Services Integration Firewalls in a VXLAN BGP EVPN Network Routing Mode Bridging Mode Firewall Redundancy with Static Routing Static Route Tracking at a Service Leaf Static Routing at a Remote Leaf Physical Connectivity Inter-Tenant/Tenant-Edge Firewall Services-Edge Design Intra-Tenant Firewalls Mixing Intra-Tenant and Inter-Tenant Firewalls Application Delivery Controller (ADC) and Load Balancer in a VXLAN BGP EVPN Network One-Armed Source-NAT Direct VIP Subnet Approach Indirect VIP Subnet Approach Return Traffic Service Chaining: Firewall and Load Balancer Summary References Chapter 11 Introduction to Fabric Management Day-0 Operations: Automatic Fabric Bring-Up In-Band Versus Out-of-Band POAP Other Day-0 Considerations Day-0.5 Operations: Incremental Changes Day-1 Operations: Overlay Services Management Virtual Topology System (VTS) Nexus Fabric Manager (NFM) Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) Compute Integration Day-2 Operations: Monitoring and Visibility VXLAN OAM (NGOAM) Summary References Appendix A VXLAN BGP EVPN Implementation Options EVPN Layer 2 Services EVPN IP-VRF to IP-VRF Model References Index