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Cisco ACI Virtualization Guide, Release 2.3(1)

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Book Title

Cisco ACI Virtualization Guide, Release 2.3(1)

Chapter Title

Intra-EPG Isolation Enforcement and Cisco ACI

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Updated:
August 7, 2017

Chapter: Intra-EPG Isolation Enforcement and Cisco ACI

Intra-EPG Isolation Enforcement and Cisco ACI

This chapter contains the following sections:

Intra-EPG Isolation for VMware vDS

Intra-EPG Isolation is an option to prevent physical or virtual endpoint devices that are contained in the same base EPG or uSeg EPG from communicating with each other. By default endpoint devices included in the same EPG are allowed to communicate with one another; however, conditions exist in which total isolation of the endpoint devices from on another within an EPG is desirable. For example, if the endpoint VMs in the same EPG belong to multiple tenants, or if you want to prevent the possible spread of a virus that might infect one VM from spreading to all VMs in an EPG, intra-EPG isolation might be desirable to enforce.

An ACI virtual machine manager (VMM) domain creates an isolated PVLAN port group at the VMware vDS switch for each EPG that has intra-EPG isolation enabled. A fabric administrator specifies primary encapsulation or the fabric dynamically specifies primary encapsulation at the time of EPG-to-VMM domain association. When the fabric administrator selects the VLAN-pri and VLAN-sec values statically, the VMM domain validates that the VLAN-pri and VLAN-sec are part of a static block in the domain pool.


Note

When intra-EPG isolation is not enforced, the VLAN-pri value is ignored even if it is specified in the configuration.

VLAN-pri/VLAN-sec pairs for the vDS switch are selected per VMM domain during the EPG-to-domain association. The port group created for the intra-EPG isolation EPGs uses the VLAN-sec tagged with type set to PVLAN. The vDS and fabric swap the VLAN-pri/VLAN-sec encapsulation:

  • Communication from the ACI fabric to the vDS switch uses VLAN-pri.

  • Communication from the vDS switch to the ACI fabric uses VLAN-sec.

Figure 1. Intra-EPG Isolation for VMware vDS



Note these details regarding this illustration:

  1. EPG-DB sends VLAN traffic to the ACI leaf switch. The ACI egress leaf switch encapsulates traffic with a primary VLAN (PVLAN) tag and forwards it to the Web-EPG endpoint.

  2. The vDS switch sends traffic to the ACI leaf switch using VLAN-sec. The ACI leaf switch drops all intra-EPG traffic because isolation is enforced for all intra VLAN-sec traffic within the Web-EPG.

  3. The vDS VLAN-sec uplink to the ACI Leaf is in isolated trunk mode. The ACI leaf switch uses VLAN-pri for downlink traffic to the vDS switch.

  4. The PVLAN map is configured in the vDS and ACI leaf switches. VM traffic from WEB-EPG is encapsulated in VLAN-sec. The vDS switch denies local intra-WEB EPG VM traffic according to the PVLAN tag. All intra-ESXi host VM traffic is sent to the ACI leaf using VLAN-sec

Related Topics

For information on configuring intra-EPG isolation in a Cisco AVS environment, see Intra-EPG Isolation Enforcement for Cisco AVS.

Configuring Intra-EPG Isolation for VMware vDS using the GUI

Procedure
    Step 1   In a tenant, right click on an Application Profile, and open the Create Application EPG dialog box to perform the following actions:
    1. In the Name field, add the EPG name (intra_EPG-deny).
    2. For Intra EPG Isolation, click Enforced.
    3. In the Bridge Domain field, choose the bridge domain from the drop-down list (bd1).
    4. Associate the EPG with a bare metal/physical domain interface or with a VM Domain.

      For the VM Domain case, check the Associate to VM Domain Profiles check box.

      For the bare metal case, check the Statically Link with Leaves/Paths check box.

    5. Click Next.
    6. In the Step 2 for Specify the VM Domains area, expand Associate VM Domain Profiles and from the drop-down list, choose the desired VMM domain. Click Update and click OK.
    Step 2   In the Domains dialog box, perform the following actions:
    1. In the Domain Profile field, choose a domain profile from the drop-down list (VMwarePVLAN).
      For the static case, in the Port Encap (or Secondary VLAN for Micro-Seg) field, specify the secondary VLAN (vlan-2005), and in the Primary VLAN for Micro-Seg field, specify the primary VLAN (vlan-2006). If the Encap fields are left blank, values will be allocated dynamically.
      Note   

      For the static case, a static VLAN must be available in the VLAN pool.

    2. Choose a domain profile from the drop-down list (VMwareDVS).
    3. Click Update.
    4. Click Finish.

    Configuring Intra-EPG Isolation for VMware vDS using the NX-OS Style CLI

    Procedure

      Step 1   In the CLI, create an intra-EPG isolation EPG:

      Example: The VMM case is below. 
      apic1(config)# tenant Test_Isolation  
apic1(config-tenant)# application PVLAN 
apic1(config-tenant-app)# epg EPG1 
apic1(config-tenant-app-epg)# show running-config  
# Command: show running-config 
tenant Test_Isolation
 application PVLAN epg EPG1   
  tenant Test_Isolation
     application PVLAN 
      epg EPG1 
        bridge-domain member VMM_BD
        contract consumer VMware_vDS-Ext
        contract consumer default
        contract provider Isolate_EPG 
        vmware-domain member PVLAN encap vlan-2002 primary-encap vlan-2001 push on-demand <--- Assigns static primary & secondary encap to EPG. 
        vmware-domain member mininet  <--- If no static vlan assigned APIC assigns primary & secondary encap for isolated EPG. 
        isolation enforce   <---- This enables EPG isolation mode.
        exit
    exit
exit
      Step 2   Verify the configuration:

      Example: 
       show epg StaticEPG detail
Application EPg Data: 
Tenant              : Test_Isolation 
Application         : PVLAN 
AEPg                : StaticEPG 
BD                  : VMM_BD 
uSeg EPG            : no 
Intra EPG Isolation : enforced 
Vlan Domains        : VMM 
Consumed Contracts  : VMware_vDS-Ext 
Provided Contracts  : default,Isolate_EPG 
Denied Contracts    :  
Qos Class           : unspecified 
Tag List            :   
VMM Domains: 
Domain                Type       Deployment Immediacy  Resolution Immediacy  State           Encap       Primary 
Encap  
 --------------------  ---------  --------------------  --------------------  --------------  ----------  ----------     
 DVS1                  VMware     On Demand             immediate             formed          auto        auto           
 
Static Leaves: 
 Node        Encap             Deployment Immediacy  Mode                Modification Time                
----------  ----------------  --------------------  ------------------  ------------------------------  
 
Static Paths: 
 Node        Interface                       Encap             Modification Time               
 ----------  ------------------------------  ----------------  ------------------------------  
 1018        eth101/1/1                      vlan-100          2016-02-11T18:39:02.337-08:00    
 1019        eth1/16                         vlan-101          2016-02-11T18:39:02.337-08:00   
 
Static Endpoints: 
 Node        Interface          Encap             End Point MAC      End Point IP Address          Modification Time               
 ----------  ------------------------------  ----------------  -----------------  ------------------------------  ------------------------------  
 
Dynamic Endpoints: 
Encap: (P):Primary VLAN, (S):Secondary VLAN 
 Node        Interface            Encap             End Point MAC      End Point IP Address         Modification Time               
 ----------  ------------------------------  ----------------  -----------------  ------------------------------  ------------------------------   
1017        eth1/3              vlan-943(P)       00:50:56:B3:64:C4  ---                        2016-02-17T18:35:32.224-08:00                    
                                vlan-944(S)

      Configuring Intra-EPG Isolation for VMware vDS using the REST API

      Before You Begin
      Procedure
        Step 1   Send this HTTP POST message to deploy the application using the XML API.

        Example: 
           POST https://apic-ip-address/api/mo/uni/tn-ExampleCorp.xml
        Step 2   For a VMware vDS VMM deployment, include this XML structure in the body of the POST message.

        Example: 
        <fvTenant name="Tenant_VMM" > 
 	<fvAp name="Web"> 
 	 	<fvAEPg name="IntraEPGDeny" pcEnfPref="enforced"> 
  	 	     <!-- pcEnfPref="enforced" ENABLES ISOLATION--> 
	 	 	     <fvRsBd tnFvBDName="bd" /> 	 
 	 	      <fvRsPathAtt tDn="topology/pod-1/paths-1017/pathep-[eth1/2]" encap="vlan-51" primaryEncap="vlan-100" instrImedcy='immediate'/>
          <!-- STATIC ENCAP ASSOCIATION TO VMM DOMAIN-->
          <fvRsDomAtt encap="vlan-2001" instrImedcy="lazy" primaryEncap="vlan-2002" resImedcy="immediate" tDn="uni/vmmp-VMware/dom-DVS1”> 
	   </fvAEPg> 	 
 </fvAp> 
</fvTenant>

        Intra-EPG Isolation Enforcement for Cisco AVS

        By default, endpoints with an EPG can communicate with each other without any contracts in place. However, beginning with Cisco AVS Release 5.2(1)SV3(1.20), you can isolate endpoints within an EPG from each other. In some instances, you might want to enforce endpoint isolation within an EPG to prevent a VM with a virus or other problem from affecting other VMs in the EPG.

        You can configure isolation on all or none of the endpoints within an application EPG; you cannot configure isolation on some endpoints but not on others.

        Isolating endpoints within an EPG does not affect any contracts that enable the endpoints to communicate with endpoints in another EPG.

        Isolating endpoints within an EPG will trigger a fault When the EPG is associated with Cisco AVS domains in VLAN mode.


        Note
        Using intra-EPG isolation on a Cisco AVS microsegment (uSeg) EPG is not currently supported. Communication will be possible between two endpoints that reside in separate uSeg EPGs if either has intra-EPG isolation enforced, regardless of any contract that exists between the two EPGs.

        Configuring Intra-EPG Isolation for Cisco AVS Using the GUI

        Follow this procedure to create an EPG in which the endpoints of the EPG are isolated from each other.

        The port that the EPG uses must belong to one of the VM Managers (VMMs).


        Note
        This procedure assumes that you want to isolate endpoints within an EPG when you create the EPG. If you want to isolate endpoints within an existing EPG, select the EPG in Cisco APIC, and in the Properties pane, in the Intra EPG Isolation area, choose Enforced, and then click SUBMIT.
        Before You Begin

        Make sure that Cisco AVS is in VXLAN mode.

        Procedure
          Step 1   Log in to Cisco APIC, using Advanced or Basic mode.
          Step 2   Choose Tenants, expand the folder for the tenant, and then expand the Application Profiles folder.
          Step 3   Right-click an application profile, and choose Create Application EPG.
          Step 4   In the Create Application EPG dialog box, complete the following actions:
          1. In the Name field, enter the EPG name.
          2. In the Intra EPG Isolation area, click Enforced.
          3. From the Bridge Domain drop-down list, choose the bridge domain.
          4. Check the Associate to VM Domain Profiles check box.
          5. Click Next.
          6. In the Associate VM Domain Profiles area, click the plus icon, and from the Domain Profile drop-down list, choose the desired VMM domain.
          7. Click Update and click FINISH.
          What to Do Next

          You can select statistics and view them to help diagnose problems involving the endpoint. See the sections "Choosing Statistics to View for Isolated Endpoints" and "Viewing Statistics for Isolated Endpoints" in this guide.

          Configuring Intra-EPG Isolation for Cisco AVS Using the NX-OS Style CLI

          Before You Begin

          Make sure that Cisco AVS is in VXLAN mode.

          Procedure
          In the CLI, create an intra-EPG isolation EPG:

          Example: 
          # Command: show running-config
tenant TENANT1
  application APP1
    epg EPG1
      bridge-domain member VMM_BD
      vmware-domain member VMMDOM1
      isolation enforce <---- This enables EPG into isolation mode.
      exit
   exit
exit

          What to Do Next

          You can select statistics and view them to help diagnose problems involving the endpoint. See the sections "Choosing Statistics to View for Isolated Endpoints" and "Viewing Statistics for Isolated Endpoints" in this guide.

          Configuring Intra-EPG Isolation for Cisco AVS Using the REST API

          Before You Begin

          Make sure that Cisco AVS is in VXLAN mode.

          Procedure
            Step 1   Send this HTTP POST message to deploy the application using the XML API.

            Example: 
               POST 
https://192.0.20.123/api/mo/uni/tn-ExampleCorp.xml
            Step 2   For a VMM deployment, include the XML structure in the following example in the body of the POST message.

            Example: 
            Example:
<fvTenant name="Tenant_VMM" >
  <fvAp name="Web">
    <fvAEPg name="IntraEPGDeny" pcEnfPref="enforced">
      <!-- pcEnfPref="enforced" ENABLES ISOLATION-->
      <fvRsBd tnFvBDName="bd" />
      <fvRsDomAtt encap="vlan-2001" tDn="uni/vmmp-VMware/dom-DVS1”>
    </fvAEPg>
  </fvAp>
</fvTenant>
            What to Do Next

            You can select statistics and view them to help diagnose problems involving the endpoint. See the sections "Choosing Statistics to View for Isolated Endpoints" and "Viewing Statistics for Isolated Endpoints" in this guide.

            Choosing Statistics to View for Isolated Endpoints on Cisco AVS

            If you configured intra-EPG isolation on a Cisco AVS, you need to choose statistics—such as denied connections, received packets, or transmitted multicast packets—for the endpoints before you can view them.

            Procedure
              Step 1   Log into Cisco APIC, using Advanced or Basic mode.
              Step 2   Choose Tenants > tenant.
              Step 3   In the tenant navigation pane, choose Application Profiles > profile > Application EPGs, and then choose the EPG containing the endpoint the statistics for which you want to view.
              Step 4   In the EPG Properties work pane, click the Operational tab to display the endpoints in the EPG.
              Step 5   Double-click the endpoint.
              Step 6   In the Properties dialog box for the endpoint, click the Stats tab and then click the check icon.
              Step 7   In the Select Stats dialog box, in the Available pane, choose the statistics that you want to view for the endpoint and then use the right-pointing arrow to move them into the Selected pane.
              Step 8   Click SUBMIT.

              Viewing Statistics for Isolated Endpoints on Cisco AVS

              If you configured intra-EPG isolation on a Cisco AVS, once you have chosen statistics for the endpoints, you can view them.

              Before You Begin

              You must have chosen statistics to view for isolated endpoints. See "Choosing Statistics to View for Isolated Endpoints for Cisco AVS" in this guide for instructions.

              Procedure
                Step 1   Log into Cisco APIC, using Advanced or Basic mode.
                Step 2   Choose Tenants > tenant.
                Step 3   In the tenant navigation pane, choose Application Profiles > profile > Application EPGs, and then choose the EPG containing the endpoint the statistics for which you want to view.
                Step 4   In the EPG Properties work pane, click the Operational tab to display the endpoints in the EPG.
                Step 5   Double-click the endpoint.
                Step 6   In the Properties dialog box for the endpoint, click the Stats tab.

                The central pane displays the statistics that you chose earlier. You can change the view by clicking the table view or chart view icon on the upper left side of the work pane.

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