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White Box switch interoperability test - Edgecore SONiC x Catalyst (Symmetric IRB/Asymmetric IRB edition) -

Introduction

Following on from last time, we conducted an interconnection test between a white Box switch (hereinafter referred to as WBS) and Cisco switch products, so in this article we will introduce the settings and the test results.
For this interoperability verification, we imagined a data center network and built a small-scale Leaf-Spine configuration using Symmetric IRB/Asymmetric IRB.

[Points of this article]

          A Symmetric IRB/Asymmetric IRB environment was constructed between WBS (ecSONiC) and Cisco switch products, and communication tests were conducted.
          The high quality of the WBS was confirmed once again.
          You can understand the operating specifications of ecSONiC's Symmetric IRB/Asymmetric IRB.

Simple design information

We will summarize simple design information for interconnection verification.

Used equipment

The equipment used is as follows.

　 SpineSW LeafSW-1 LeafSW-2

Vendor

Edegecore

Edgecore

Cisco

Platform

AS7726-32X

AS7326-56X

C9300-48T

ASIC

Trident III
(BCM56870)

Trident III
(BCM56873)

(not clear)

Network OS(Ver)

ecSONiC
(ec202111.8)

ecSONiC
(ec202111.8)

IOS
(XE 17.3.4)

Configuration information

The configuration information is as follows.

Setting Contents Overview (Simple Parameter Sheet)

The settings are summarized below.

  SpineSW LeafSW-1 LeafSW-2

VRF

Not set
(Default VRF only)

Default VRF
Vrf10300

Default VRF
Vrf10300

■Default VRF

      

VLAN

-

-

Vlan100

VTEP

-

2.2.2.2/32

3.3.3.3/ 32

LACP

■PortChannel1
Members: Port29, Port30
■PortChannel2
Members: Port32/1, Port32/2

■PortChannel1
Members: Port49, Port50
IP: 10.0.0.2 /29

■Po1
Members: Te1/1/7, Te1/1/8
IP: 10.0.0.3 /29 (vlan100)

BGP (iBGP) / EVPN related

      

　ASN

-

 65100

 65100

　Router ID

-

2.2.2.2 /32

3.3.3.3 /32

neighbor

-

10.0.0.3

10.0.0.2

VNI notification

-

All VNIs

All VNIs

■Vrf10300

      

VLAN/VxLAN related

      

VLAN/VNI

-

vlan10 / VNI 10100
vlan20 / VNI 10200
vlan30 / VNI 10300 (L3 VNI)

vlan10 / VNI 10100
vlan20 / VNI 10200
vlan30 / VNI 10300 (L3 VNI)

Static Anycast Gateway

-

MAC: 00:11:22:33:44:55
vlan10 / 192.168.1.254
vlan20 / 192.168.2.254

MAC: 00:11:22:33:44:55
vlan10 / 192.168.1.254
vlan20 / 192.168.2.254

BGP (iBGP) / EVPN related

      

ASN

-

65100

65100

Route Information Redistribution

-

connected

connected

Setting details

Here is a summary of the commands that were actually set on the switch.
*We assume that management functions and interface speed settings have been completed and will omit them here.
(Host name, management account, management IP, SSH/Telnet, speed settings, breakout settings, etc.)

*The following content will not be included in this post. (It will be included in the downloadable materials.)
          SpineSW (Edgecore AS7726-32X): General configuration commands
          LeafSW-1 (Edgecore AS7326-56X): Configuration commands other than SymmetricIRB/Asymmetric IRB
          LeafSW-2 (Cisco switch): All settings


＼ The full version of the document, which includes all the commands and settings, is here! ／

Document download

SpineSW settings

As a premise, the interface names and physical port numbers of SpineSW (AS7726-32X) correspond as follows.

Interface name

Physical port number

Ethernet112

Port29

Ethernet116

Port30

Ethernet124

Port32 (Breakout Lane 1)

Ethernet125

Port32 (Breakout Lane 2)

[SpineSW settings]

          Interface related: LACP

The configuration details for SpineSW are as follows:

Configuring LACP​


          Create LACP interfaces "PortChannel1" and "PortChannel2" (Fast Rate setting)
          Member port settings for PortChannel1 and PortChannel2

LeafSW-1 settings

As a premise, the interface names and physical port numbers of LeafSW-1 (AS7326-56X) correspond as follows:

Interface name

Physical port number

Ethernet0

Port1

Ethernet11

Port2

Ethernet124

Port49

Ethernet125

Port50

[LeafSW-1 settings]

          VLAN configuration
          LACP configuration
          VRF, Static Anycast Gateway (SAG), and IP Settings
          VxLAN, VNI configuration
          BGP/EVPN Settings (Default VRF)
          BGP/EVPN configuration (Vrf10300)

The details of each setting are summarized below.

VLAN configuration


          Creating vlan10, vlan20, vlan30
          Set Ethernet0 to vlan10 and Ethernet1 to vlan20 as access ports (untagged)

LACP configuration


          Create LACP interface "PortChannel1" (Fast Rate setting)
          PortChannel1 member port settings

VRF, Static Anycast Gateway (SAG), IP settings


          Creating VRF and linking VLAN
          SAG Settings
          MAC Address Settings
          Enabling IPv4 addresses for SAG
          Loopback0 (loopback interface) settings
(Used as VTEP and BGP router ID)
          Set IP addresses to PortChannel1, vlan10, and vlan20

### Creating VRF and mapping VRF to VLAN​
admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config vrf add Vrf10300
 admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config interface vrf bind Vlan10 Vrf10300
 admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config interface vrf bind Vlan20 Vrf10300
 admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config interface vrf bind Vlan30 Vrf10300

### Static Anycast Gateway configuration
admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config sag mac_address add 00:11:22:33:44:55
 admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config sag ipv4 enable

### IP address settings
admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config interface sag ip add Vlan10 192.168.1.254/24
 admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config interface sag ip add Vlan20 192.168.2.254/24
 admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config interface ip add Loopback0 2.2.2.2/32
 admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config interface ip add PortChannel1 10.0.0.2/29


VxLAN, VNI configuration


          VTEP Configuration
          Create and configure NVO (VTEP and VLAN/VNI mapping binding policy)
          LAN/VNI Mapping
          L3 VNI configuration

### VTEP configuration
admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config vxlan add vtep 2.2.2.2

### Create NVO and link it to vtep(2.2.2.2)​
admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config vxlan evpn_nvo add nvo vtep

### VLAN-VNI mapping with NVO
admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config vxlan map add vtep 10 10100
 admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config vxlan map add vtep 20 10200
 admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config vxlan map add vtep 30 10300

### VNI settings used for inter-VRF communication
admin@LeafSW-1:~$ sudo config vrf add_vrf_vni_map Vrf10300 10300

BGP/EVPN Settings (Default VRF)


          Configure BGP (AS 65100 / DefaultVRF)
          Setting the Router ID
          Setting the neighbor address (LeafSW-2)
          Set 10.0.0.3 (AS65100 / LeafSW-2) as neighbor
          Advertise your Router ID to Naver
          Advertise all of your VNIs to your neighbors
*In ecSONiC, BGP settings are configured in FRRouting.



### Transition to FRRouting mode, Configuration mode
admin@LeafSW-1:~$ vtysh
 Hello, this is FRRouting (version 8.0).
Copyright 1996-2005 Kunihiro Ishiguro, et al.

LeafSW-1# configure terminal
 ### Create BGP (AS 65100 / DefaultVRF) and enter configuration mode
LeafSW-1(config)# router bgp 65100

### Router ID, Neighbor, and VTEP Advertisement Settings
LeafSW-1(config-router)# bgp router-id 2.2.2.2
 LeafSW-1(config-router)# neighbor 10.0.0.3 remote-as 65100
 LeafSW-1(config-router)# address-family ipv4 unicast
 LeafSW-1(config-router-af)# network 2.2.2.2/32
 LeafSW-1(config-router-af)# exit-address-family 

### Configuring EVPN to advertise all VNIs to neighbors
LeafSW-1(config-router)# address-family l2vpn evpn
 LeafSW-1(config-router-af)# neighbor 10.0.0.3 activate
 LeafSW-1(config-router-af)# advertise-all-vni
 LeafSW-1(config-router-af)# exit-address-family
 LeafSW-1(config-router)# exit

BGP/EVPN settings (Vrf10300)


          Mapping Vrf10300 and VNI10300
          Configure BGP (AS 65100 / Vrf10300)
          Directly connected route re-advertisement settings
          Configuring IPv4 address notification in EVPN

### Map Vrf10300 and VNI10300​
LeafSW-1(config)# vrf Vrf10300
 LeafSW-1(config-vrf)# vni 10300
 LeafSW-1(config-vrf)# exit

### Create BGP (AS 65100 / Vrf10300) and enter configuration mode
LeafSW-1(config)# router bgp 65100 vrf Vrf10300

### Configuring Directly Connected Routes and IPv4 Unicast Table Advertisement in EVPN​
LeafSW-1(config-router)# address-family ipv4 unicast
 LeafSW-1(config-router-af)# redistribute connected
 LeafSW-1(config-router-af)# exit-address-family
 LeafSW-1(config-router)# address-family l2vpn evpn
 LeafSW-1(config-router-af)# advertise ipv4 unicast
 LeafSW-1(config-router-af)# exit-address-family
 LeafSW-1(config-router)# end

LeafSW-2 configuration

[LeafSW-2 settings]

          VRF configuration
          Interface settings (VLAN/LACP)
          Static Anycast Gateway (SAG), IP, VRF settings
          EVPN configuration
          VNE interface configuration
          BGP Configuration


Details of each setting are as follows:

VRF configuration

          Defining a VRF Instance
          VRF routing table and forwarding table creation
          Route Target Import/Export Settings

Interface Settings (VLAN/LACP)

          Creating VLANs
          VLAN port assignment settings
          LACP member port settings (Fast Rate), VLAN assignment settings
* vlan100 teeth SpineSW, LeafSW-1 For connection to VLAN

Static Anycast Gateway (SAG), IP, VRF settings

          Set IP addresses for loopback and VLAN interfaces
          Configuring VLAN interfaces
          VRF Mapping
          MAC address setting for SAG
          IP processing settings for loopback interface in L3VNI

EVPN configuration

          Creating EVPN
          Set to Ingress-Replication
          Specify the router ID as Loopback0.
          Default GW advertisement setting
          VNI notification settings
          Creating a VLAN-based EVPN Instance
          VxLAN usage settings, Ingress replication settings
          Bind the EVPN instance to the VLAN and configure the VNI

NVE Interface Settings

          Configuring the NVE interface
          BGP usage setting
          Binding Loopback0, VNI 10100, 10200, and Ingress-Replication usage settings
          Link L3 VNI to VRF

BGP Configuration

          Creating BGP (AS65100)
          Settings for using router ID 3.3.3.3 in BGP
          Specify LeafSW-1 (10.0.0.2 / AS 65100) as the neighbor.
          Setting to advertise router ID to neighbors
          Configure EVPN connection with neighbors

Communication test/status confirmation

This summarizes the results of the communication test and status check.

Test results

By passing traffic between each terminal, we were able to confirm that terminals in the same VLAN and different VLANs were able to communicate with each other, as shown below.

address

sender

Terminal A
(vlan10/VNI10100)

Terminal B
(vlan20/VNI10200)

Terminal C (vlan10)
(vlan10/VNI10100)

Terminal D
(vlan20/VNI10200)

Terminal A
(vlan10/VNI10100)

 -

Yes (different VLAN)

Yes (same VLAN)

Yes (different VLAN)

Terminal B
(vlan20/VNI10200)

Yes (different VLAN)

-

Yes (different VLAN)

Yes (same VLAN)

Terminal C
(vlan10/VNI10100)

Yes (same VLAN)

Yes (different VLAN)

 -

Yes (different VLAN)

Terminal D
(vlan20/VNI10200)

Yes (different VLAN)

Yes (same VLAN)

Yes (different VLAN)

 -

Interface information

You can check the interface information with the following command.
ecSONiC / IOS common: show interfaces status

​Click here for details

[Supplementary Note] ecSONiC's Symmetric IRB/Asymmetric IRB automatic selection mechanism

In ecSONiC (as of November 8, 2021), whether to use Symmetric IRB or Asymmetric IRB is automatically selected using the destination VNI as a key.

Symmetric IRB/Asymmetric IRB selection criteria

The selection criteria for ecSONiC 's Symmetric IRB/Asymmetric IRB are as follows:

[ecSONiC​ ​Symmetric IRB/Asymmetric IRB Selection Criteria]

          Symmetric IRB: Used for communication to a VNI that is not set in the source ecSONiC
          Asymmetric IRB: Used for communication addressed to a VNI set in the source ecSONiC

 

*In this verification, since the VNI held by ecSONiC and the Cisco switch was the same, communication from ecSONiC to the Cisco switch was carried out via asymmetric IRB.

Concrete example

A specific example is given below based on the above selection criteria.
For the VNIs configured on the source device (ecSONiC) and destination device (optional), ecSONiC will select the following:

 

VNI

Sender (ecSONiC)

Destination (optional)

Selection Results

VNI 10100

With setting

With setting

Asymmetric IRB

VNI 10200

Not set

With setting

Symmetric IRB

VNI 20000 (L3 VNI)

-

-

-

Summary

This time, we created a Symmetric IRB/Asymmetric IRB environment between WBS (ecSONiC) and Cisco switch products.
We also learned the selection criteria for Symmetric IRB/Asymmetric IRB in ecSONiC.
Following on from last time, we were able to once again confirm the high quality of WBS through the WBS-Cisco switch interconnection.

Remote verification service image diagram

Remote verification service image diagram

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You can check the downloadable materials for available network OS and white Box switches, specific use cases, and how to apply. The materials can be downloaded from the URL listed in the information email by answering the questionnaire from the "Macnica Network OS Remote Verification Service" below.

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