Cisco APIC Layer 3 Networking Configuration Guide, Release 6.2(x)

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Cisco APIC Layer 3 Networking Configuration Guide, Release 6.2(x)

Configure aggregated BUM storm control on an ACI border gateway

Updated: April 17, 2026

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Rate-limit aggregated broadcast, unknown unicast, and multicast traffic across the DCI links on an ACI border gateway.

Use this procedure to protect data center interconnect (DCI) bandwidth from traffic storms by applying an aggregated policer to all DCI links on an ACI border gateway.

Aggregated broadcast, unknown unicast, and multicast (BUM) storm control rate-limits multidestination traffic on ACI border gateways. Unlike interface-level storm control, aggregated BUM storm control applies a single policer across all DCI links on the border gateway.

Note

Aggregated BUM storm control requires Cisco APIC Release 6.2(2) or later. If you apply the configuration to a switch running an earlier release, Cisco APIC accepts the configuration, but the switch ignores the policy updates.

Note

Because of hardware limitations and the way packets of different sizes are counted, the configured rate percentage is approximate. The actual enforced rate might differ from the configured rate by several percentage points, depending on the frame sizes in the incoming traffic.

Before you begin

  • Configure the required Infra L3Outs and EVPN settings on the border gateways.

  • Do not configure interface-level storm control on border gateway DCI ports. The aggregated storm control policy applies at the node level. If you apply interface-level storm control to a DCI port, Cisco ACI generates a fault.

Procedure

  1. Create the BGW aggregated DCI storm control policy:

    1. Choose Fabric > Access Policies > Policies > Switch > BGW Aggregate DCI Storm Control.
    2. Right-click BGW Aggregate DCI Storm Control and choose Create BGW Aggregated DCI Interface Storm Control Policy.
    3. In the Name field, enter a unique name for the policy.
    4. Optional: In the Description field, enter a description of the policy.
    5. From the Configure Storm Control drop-down list, choose All Types or Unicast, Broadcast, Multicast.

      • Choose Unicast, Broadcast, Multicast to configure storm control separately for each traffic type.

      • Choose All Types to configure one rate for all traffic types.

    6. If you chose All Types, enter a value from 0 through 100 in the Rate (percentage of bandwidth) field.

      The rate is a percentage of the total available bandwidth of the DCI ports on each hardware slice. If ingress traffic reaches or exceeds this rate during a one-second interval, storm control drops traffic for the remainder of the interval.

      • A value of 100 does not limit the traffic.

      • A value of 0 suppresses all traffic.

    7. Click Submit.

  2. Associate the policy with a node profile:

    1. Choose Fabric > Access Policies > Switches > Leaf Switches > Profiles.
    2. Choose the leaf switch profile associated with the border gateway.

      The Create Access Switch Policy Group dialog box appears. In this dialog box, you can configure the Policy Group identity properties.

    3. From the BGW Aggregate DCI Storm Control drop-down list, choose the policy that you created in Step 1.
    4. Click Submit.

The aggregated BUM storm control policy is associated with the border gateway node profile. The policy rate-limits multidestination traffic across the DCI links on the border gateway according to the configured settings.