Cisco Nexus Dashboard Orchestrator Deployment Guide, Release 4.2(x)

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Configuring Infra: Spine Switches

Updated: November 11, 2023

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Overview

sd Configuring Infra: Spine Switches

This section describes how to configure spine switches in each site for Cisco Multi-Site. When you configure the spine switches, you are effectively establishing the underlay connectivity between the sites in your Multi-Site domain by configuring connectivity between the spines in each site and the ISN.

Before Release 3.5(1), underlay connectivity was establishing using OSPF protocol. In this release however, you can choose to use OSPF, BGP (IPv4 only), or a mixture of protocols, with some sites using OSPF and some using BGP for intersite underlay connectivity. We recommend configuring either OSPF or BGP and not both, however if you configure both protocols, BGP will take precedence and OSPF will not be installed in the route table.

Procedure

1.

Log in to the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Orchestrator GUI.
2.

In the left navigation menu, select Config > Site To Site Connectivity.
3.

In the top right of the main pane, click Configure.
4.

In the left pane, under Sites, select the specific on-premises site.
5.

In the main pane, select a spine switch within a pod.
6.

In the right <Spine> Settings pane, click +Add Port.
7.

In the Add Port window, provide the underlay connectivity information.

Any port that is already configured directly in APIC for IPN connectivity will be imported and shown in the list. For any new ports you want to configure from NDO, use the following the steps:

  1. Provide general information:

    • In the Ethernet Port ID field, enter the port ID, for example 1/29.

      This is the interface which will be used to connect to the IPN.

    • In the IP Address field, enter the IP address/netmask.

      The Orchestrator creates a subinterface with VLAN 4 with the specified IP ADDRESS under the specified PORT.

    • In the MTU field, enter the MTU. You can specify either inherit, which would configure an MTU of 9150B, or choose a value between 576 and 9000.

      MTU of the spine port should match MTU on IPN side.
8.

Choose the underlay protocol.

  1. Enable OSPF if you want to use OSPF protocol for underlay connectivity.

    If you want to use BGP protocol for underlay connectivity instead, skip this part and provide the information that is required in the next substep.

    • Set OSPF to Enabled.

      The OSPF settings become available.

    • From the OSPF Policy drop-down, select the OSPF policy for the switch that you have configured in Configuring Infra: On-Premises Site Settings.

      OSPF settings in the OSPF policy you choose should match on IPN side.

    • For OSPF Authentication, you can pick either none or one of the following:

      • MD5

      • Simple

    • Set BGP to Disabled.

  2. Enable BGP if you want to use BGP protocol for underlay connectivity.

    If you're using OSPF protocol for underlay connectivity and have already configured it in the previous substep, skip this part.

    Note

    BGP IPv4 underlay is not supported in the following cases:

    • If your Multi-Site domain contains one or more Cloud Network Controller sites, in which case you must use the OSPF protocol for intersite underlay connectivity for both On-Prem to On-Prem and On-Prem to cloud sites.

    • If you are using GOLF (Layer 3 EVPN services for fabric WAN) for WAN connectivity in any of your fabrics.

    In the above cases, you must use OSPF in the Infra L3Out deployed on the spines.

    • Set OSPF to Disabled.

      We recommend configuring either OSPF or BGP and not both, however if you configure both protocols, BGP will take precedence and OSPF routes will not be installed in the route table because only EBGP adjacencies with the ISN devices are supported.

    • Set BGP to Enabled.

      The BGP settings become available.

    • In the Peer IP field, provide the IP address of this port's BGP neighbor.

      Only IPv4 IP addresses are supported for BGP underlay connectivity.

    • In the Peer AS Number field, provide the Autonomous System (AS) number of the BGP neighbor.

      This release supports only EBGP adjacencies with the ISN devices.

    • In the BGP Password field, provide the BGP peer password.

    • Specify any additional options as required:

      • Bidirectional Forwarding Detection—Enables Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) protocol to detect faults on the physical link this port and the IPN device.

      • Admin State—Sets the admin state on the port to enabled.
9.

Repeat the procedure for every spine switch and port that connects to the IPN.