IP Addresses and Services Configuration Guide for Cisco 8000 Series Routers, IOS XR Releases

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IP Addresses and Services Configuration Guide for Cisco 8000 Series Routers, IOS XR Releases

ABF over BVI

Updated: August 12, 2026

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This topic describes ACL-based forwarding (ABF) for IPv4 and IPv6 addresses on a Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI) on the Cisco 8000 Series Router.

Starting with Cisco IOS XR Release 7.5.3, you can enable ACL-based Forwarding for IPv4 and IPv6 addresses on Bridge Virtual Interfaces (BVIs). You can configure ABF to forward incoming traffic on the BVIs that matches the ACEs.

Feature History Table

Table 1. Feature History Table

Feature Name

Release Information

Description

ACL-based Forwarding (ABF) on Bridge Virtual Interfaces (BVIs)

Release 26.2.1

Introduced in this release on: Modular Systems (8800 [LC ASIC: P100]):*

*This feature is supported on:

  • 88-LC1-48Y8H-EM

ACL-based Forwarding (ABF) on Bridge Virtual Interfaces (BVIs)

Release 25.4.1

Introduced in this release on: Fixed Systems (8010 [ASIC: A100])(select variants only*)

*This feature is supported on:

  • 8011-32Y8L2H2FH

  • 8011-12G12X4Y-A/D

ACL-based Forwarding (ABF) on Bridge Virtual Interfaces (BVIs)

Release 25.1.1

Introduced in this release on: Fixed Systems (8700 [ASIC: K100], 8010 [ASIC: A100])(select variants only*)

*This feature is supported on:

  • 8712-MOD-M

  • 8011-4G24Y4H-I

ACL-based Forwarding (ABF) on Bridge Virtual Interfaces (BVIs)

Release 24.4.1

Introduced in this release on: Fixed Systems (8200, 8700); Modular Systems (8800 [ASIC: P100]) (select variants only*)

*This feature is now supported on:

  • 8212-32FH-M

  • 8711-32FH-M

  • 88-LC1-12TH24FH-E

  • 88-LC1-52Y8H-EM

  • 88-LC1-36EH

ACL-based Forwarding (ABF) on Bridge Virtual Interfaces (BVIs)

Release 7.5.3

This feature allows using Bridge Virtual Interfaces (BVIs) as next hop in ABF. You can apply a single ABF configuration to multiple interfaces that are part of the BVI. You can therefore divert user traffic for a group of interfaces with a particular purpose.

Restrictions for configuring ABF over BVI

  • ABF for IPv4 and IPv6 addresses over BVI is supported only in ingress direction.

Configure ABF over BVI

Use this procedure to configure ACL-based forwarding (ABF) for IPv4 and IPv6 addresses on a Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI), and to verify the running configuration.

Procedure

  1. Enter IPv4 or IPv6 ACL configuration mode and configure an ACL.

    Example:

    /* IPv4 */
Router# configure
Router(config)# ipv4 access-list abf-acl1
Router(config-ipv4-acl)# commit
Router(config-ipv4-acl)# exit

/* IPv6 */
Router# configure
Router(config)# ipv6 access-list abf-acl2
Router(config-ipv6-acl)# commit
Router(config-ipv6-acl)# exit

  2. Create ACEs for the ACL and configure next-hop addresses for ABF.

    Example:

    /* IPv4 */
Router(config)# ipv4 access-list abf-acl1
Router(config-ipv4-acl)# 10 permit ipv4 192.168.18.0 0.255.255.255 any nexthop1 ipv4 192.168.20.2
Router(config-ipv4-acl)# 15 permit ipv4 192.168.21.0 0.0.0.255 any
Router(config-ipv4-acl)# commit
Router(config-ipv4-acl)# exit

/* IPv6 */
Router(config)# ipv6 access-list abf-acl2
Router(config-ipv6-acl)# 10 permit ipv6 2001:db8::/32 any nexthop1 ipv6 2001:db8::2
Router(config-ipv6-acl)# commit
Router(config-ipv6-acl)# exit

  3. Configure the HundredGigE interface for the BVI, and enable it for Layer 2 transport.

    Example:

    Router(config)# interface HundredGigE 0/0/0/0
Router(config-if)# l2transport
Router(config-if-l2)# commit

  4. Enter the BVI mode and configure ABF.

    Example:

    Router(config)# interface BVI 1
Router(config-if)# ipv4 access-group abf-acl1 ingress
Router(config-if)# ipv6 access-group abf-acl2 ingress
Router(config-if)# commit

  5. Configure the bridge domain with the HundredGigE interface and BVI.

    Example:

    Router(config)# l2vpn
Router(config-l2vpn)# bridge group BG1
Router(config-l2vpn-bg)# bridge-domain B1
Router(config-l2vpn-bg-bd)# interface HundredGigE 0/0/0/0
Router(config-l2vpn-bg-bd-ac)# routed interface BVI1

  6. Save the configuration.

    Router(config-l2vpn-bg-bd)# commit
Router(config-l2vpn-bg-bd)# exit
Router(config-l2vpn-bg)# exit
Router(config-l2vpn)# exit