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BRKDCT-2081
FabricPath Technology and Design

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 2
Agenda
FabricPath Introduction
FabricPath Technical Overview
FabricPath and TRILL
FabricPath Use Case and Designs
FabricPath Monitoring and Troubleshooting
Summary

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FabricPath Introduction

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VLAN VLAN
VLAN VLAN
Access
Core
Eternal Debates on Network Design Layer 2 or Layer 3?
Layer 3 Network
VLAN VLAN
VLAN VLAN
L3 L2
Simplicity (no planning/configuration required for either addressing or control plane) Single control plane protocol for unicast, broadcast, and multicast Easy application development
Subnet provide fault isolation Scalable control planes with inherent provision of multi-pathing and multi-topology HA with fast convergence Additional loop-mitigation mechanism in the data plane (e.g. TTL, RPF check, etc.)
Both Layer 2 and Layer 3 are required for any network design
Cisco has solutions for both Layer 2 and Layer 3 to satisfy
Customers’ requirements Layer 2?
Layer 3?

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L2 Network Requirements inside DC
Maximize Bi-Sectional Bandwidth
Scalable Layer 2 domain
High Availability Resilient control-plane Fast convergence upon failure Fault-domain isolation
Facilitate Application Deployment Workload mobility, Clustering, etc.
Multi-Pathing/Multi-Topology

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L2 Provides Flexibility in the Data Center
Layer 2 required by data center applications Layer 2 is “plug and play”
Layer 2 is Layer 3 agnostic With Layer 2:
Server mobility does not require interaction between Network/Server teams
Theoretically, no physical constraint on server location

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L2 Requires a Tree Branches of trees never interconnect (no loop)
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) typically used to build this tree
Tree topology implies: Wasted bandwidth → increased oversubscription Sub-optimal paths Conservative convergence (timer-based) → failure
catastrophic (fails open)
11 Physical Links 5 Logical Links
S1
S2
S3

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VPC domain
Virtual Port Channel (vPC)
Introduces some changes to the data plane Provides active/active redundancy Does not rely on STP (STP kept as safeguard) Limited to pair of switches (enough for most cases)
Redundancy handled by STP
Redundancy handled by vPC
Blocked port (STP)
Simple Building Block
Data plane based loop prevention

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MAC Address Scaling & L2 Bridging
MAC addresses encode no location or network hierarchy
Default forwarding behavior in bridged network is flood
MAC filtering database limits scope of flooding
Ultimately, does not scale – every switch learns every MAC
MAC Table
A
MAC Table
A
MAC Table
A
MAC Table
A
MAC Table
A
MAC Table
A
Layer 2 Domain

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Network Addressing Scheme MAC v.s. IP
10.0.0.10 /24
Network Address 10.0.0.0/24
Host Address 10.0.0.10
0011.1111.1111 Non-hierarchical
Address
L2 Forwarding (Bridging) Data-plane learning Flat address space and forwarding table (MAC everywhere!!!) Flooding required for unknown unicast destination Destination MACs need to be known for all switches in the same network to avoid flooding
0011.1111.1111 0011.1111.1111
0011.1111.1111
0011.1111.1111 0011.1111.1111
L3 Forwarding (Routing) Control-plane learning Hierarchical address space and forwarding Only forwarding to destination addresses with matching routes in the table Flooding is isolated within subnets No dependence on data-plane for maintaining forwarding table
10.0.0.10 20.0.0.20
10.0.0.0/24
10.0.0.0/16 20.0.0.0/16
20.0.0.0/24

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The Next Era of Layer 2 Network What Can Be Improved?
Network Address Scheme: Flat Hierarchical Additional header is required to allow L2 “Routing” instead of “Bridging” Provide additional loop-prevention mechanism like TTL
Address Learning: Data Plane Control Plane Eliminate the needs to program all MACs on every switches to avoid flooding
Control Plane: Distance-Vector Link-State Improve scalability, minimize convergence time, and allow multipathing inherently
The ultimate solution needs to take both control and data plane into consideration this time!!!

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Layer 3 strengths Leverage bandwidth Fast convergence Highly scalable
Introducing Cisco FabricPath An NX-OS Innovation for Layer 2 Networks
Simplicity Flexibility Bandwidth Availability Cost
Layer 2 strengths Simple configuration Flexible provisioning Low cost Si
mpl
icity
Resilience
Flex
ibilit
y Fabric Path
"The FabricPath capability within Cisco's NX-OS offers dramatic increases in network scalability and resiliency for our service delivery data center. FabricPath extends the benefits of the Nexus 7000 in our network, allowing us to leverage a common platform, simplify operations, and reduce operational costs.” Mr. Klaus Schmid, Head of DC Network & Operating, T-Systems International GmbH

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FabricPath: an Ethernet Fabric
Connect a group of switches using an arbitrary topology With a simple CLI, aggregate them into a Fabric:
Enabling Network Fabrics
N7K(config)# interface ethernet 1/1 N7K(config-if)# switchport mode fabricpath
An open protocol based on L3 technology provides Fabric-wide intelligence and ties the elements together
FabricPath

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What is a Fabric? Externally, a Fabric looks like a single switch Internally, a protocol adds Fabric-wide intelligence and ties the
elements together. This protocol provides in a plug-and-play fashion:
Optimal, low latency connectivity any to any High bandwidth, high resiliency Open management and troubleshooting
Cisco FabricPath provides additional capabilities in term of scalability and L3 integration
FabricPath FabricPath

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FabricPath – Simplicity from the Outside
Benefits server team by providing a network Fabric that looks like a single switch → Breaks down silos, permits workload mobility, provides maximum flexibility
Lowers OPEX by simplifying server team operation → Reduces dependency on/interaction with network team
FabricPath – Any App, Anywhere! Multi-Domain – Silos
Fabric

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FabricPath – Simplicty from the Inside
Benefits network team by:
Reducing number of switches Higher port density Lower oversubscription
Isolating network from the users No impact due to topology changes Fabric can be upgraded/reconfigured live
Utilizing an open protocol Unicast, multicast, broadcast, VLAN pruning all controlled by single control protocol Maintenance and troubleshooting equivalent to L3 network Easy to extend, providing standards-compliance with Cisco value-add

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© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 18 Cisco Nexus Platform
Cisco NX-OS
Cisco FabricPath Overview
FabricPath encapsulation Conversation Learning Routing, not bridging Built-in loop-mitigation
Time-to-Live (TTL) RPF Check
Data Plane Innovation
Plug-n-Play Layer 2 IS-IS Support unicast and multicast Fast, efficient, and scalable Equal Cost Multipathing (ECMP) VLAN and Multicast Pruning
Control Plane Innovation

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FabricPath versus Classic Ethernet Interfaces Classic Ethernet (CE) Interface Interfaces connected to existing NICs and
traditional network devices Send/receive traffic in 802.3 Ethernet frame
format Participate in STP domain Forwarding based on MAC table
FabricPath Interface Interfaces connected to another FabricPath
device Send/receive traffic with FabricPath header No spanning tree!!! No MAC learning Exchange topology info through L2 ISIS
adjacency Forwarding based on ‘Switch ID Table’
Ethernet Ethernet FabricPath Header
→ FabricPath interface
→ CE interface

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FabricPath IS-IS
FabricPath IS-IS replaces STP as control-plane protocol in FabricPath network
Introduces link-state protocol with support for ECMP for Layer 2 forwarding
Exchanges reachability of Switch IDs and builds forwarding trees
Improves failure detection, network reconvergence, and high availability
Minimal IS-IS knowledge required –no user configuration by default
Maintains plug-and-play nature of Layer 2
STP BPDU FabricPath IS-IS STP BPDU

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Why IS-IS?
A few key reasons:
Has no IP dependency – no need for IP reachability in order to form adjacency between devices
Easily extensible – Using custom TLVs, IS-IS devices can exchange information about virtually anything
Provides SPF routing – Excellent topology building and reconvergence characteristics
FabricPath Port CE Port

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Basic FabricPath Data Plane Operation
Ingress FabricPath switch determines destination Switch ID and imposes FabricPath header
Destination Switch ID used to make routing decisions through FabricPath core
No MAC learning or lookups required inside core
Egress FabricPath switch removes FabricPath header and forwards to CE
→ FabricPath interface
→ CE interface
MAC A MAC B
S10 S20
DMAC→B
SMAC→A
Payload
DMAC→B
SMAC→A
Payload
Ingress FabricPath Switch
Egress FabricPath Switch
DMAC→B
SMAC→A
Payload
DSID→20
SSID→10
DMAC→B
SMAC→A
Payload
DSID→20
SSID→10
DMAC→B
SMAC→A
Payload
DMAC→B
SMAC→A
Payload
Encapsulation to creates hierarchical address scheme

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Cisco FabricPath Frame
Classical Ethernet Frame
FabricPath Encapsulation 16-Byte MAC-in-MAC Header
Switch ID – Unique number identifying each FabricPath switch Sub-Switch ID – Identifies devices/hosts connected via VPC+ Port ID – Identifies the destination or source interface Ftag (Forwarding tag) – Unique number identifying topology and/or multidestination
distribution tree TTL – Decremented at each switch hop to prevent frames looping infinitely
DMAC SMAC 802.1Q Etype CRC Payload
DMAC SMAC 802.1Q Etype Payload CRC (new)
FP Tag (32)
Outer SA (48)
Outer DA (48)
Endnode ID (5:0)
Endnode ID (7:6)
U/L
I/G
RS
VD
O
OO
/DL
Etype
6 bits 1 1 2 bits 1 1 12 bits 8 bits 16 bits 10 bits 6 bits 16 bits
Switch ID Sub Switch ID Ftag TTL Port ID
Original CE Frame

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FabricPath MAC Table Edge switches maintain both MAC address table and Switch ID table
Ingress switch uses MAC table to determine destination Switch ID
Egress switch uses MAC table (optionally) to determine output switchport
Local MACs point to switchports
Remote MACs point to Switch IDs
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S101 S200
MAC A MAC C MAC D MAC B
FabricPath MAC Table on S100 MAC IF/SID
A e1/1
B e1/2
C S101
D S200

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S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S200
po1 po2 po3 po4
A B
show mac address-table dynamic
S100# sh mac address-table dynamic Legend: * - primary entry, G - Gateway MAC, (R) - Routed MAC, O - Overlay MAC age - seconds since last seen,+ - primary entry using vPC Peer-Link VLAN MAC Address Type age Secure NTFY Ports/SWID.SSID.LID ---------+-----------------+--------+---------+------+----+------------------ * 10 0000.0000.0001 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0002 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0003 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0004 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0005 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0006 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0007 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0008 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0009 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.000a dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 10 0000.0000.000b dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.000c dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.000d dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.000e dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.000f dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.0010 dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.0011 dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.0012 dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.0013 dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.0014 dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30
S100#

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FabricPath Control Plane Operation FabricPath IS-IS manages Switch ID (routing) table
All FabricPath-enabled switches automatically assigned Switch ID (no user configuration required)
Algorithm computes shortest (best) paths to each Switch ID based on link metrics
Equal-cost paths supported between FabricPath switches S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S101 S200
FabricPath Routing Table on S100
Switch IF
S10 L1
S20 L2
S30 L3
S40 L4
S101 L1, L2, L3, L4
… …
S200 L1, L2, L3, L4
One ‘best’ path to S10 (via L1)
Four equal-cost paths to S101
L1 L2 L4 L3
Plug-n-Play L2 IS-IS manages forwarding topology

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Building the FabricPath Routing Table
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S101 S200
MAC A MAC C MAC D MAC B
L1 L2 L4 L3
L5 L6 L7 L8
L9 L10 L11 L12
Switch IF
S10 L1
S20 L2
S30 L3
S40 L4
S101 L1, L2, L3, L4
… …
S200 L1, L2, L3, L4
Switch IF
S20 L1,L5,L9
S30 L1,L5,L9
S40 L1,L5,L9
S100 L1
S101 L5
… …
S200 L9
Switch IF
S10 L4,L8,L12
S20 L4,L8,L12
S30 L4,L8,L12
S100 L4
S101 L8
… …
S200 L12
Switch IF
S10 L9
S20 L10
S30 L11
S40 L12
S100 L9, L10, L11, L12
S101 L9, L10, L11, L12
… …

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show fabricpath route S100# sh fabricpath route FabricPath Unicast Route Table 'a/b/c' denotes ftag/switch-id/subswitch-id '[x/y]' denotes [admin distance/metric] ftag 0 is local ftag subswitch-id 0 is default subswitch-id
FabricPath Unicast Route Table for Topology-Default
0/100/0, number of next-hops: 0 via ---- , [60/0], 5 day/s 18:38:46, local 1/10/0, number of next-hops: 1 via Po1, [115/10], 0 day/s 04:15:58, isis_l2mp-default 1/20/0, number of next-hops: 1 via Po2, [115/10], 0 day/s 04:16:05, isis_l2mp-default 1/30/0, number of next-hops: 1 via Po3, [115/10], 2 day/s 08:49:51, isis_l2mp-default 1/40/0, number of next-hops: 1 via Po4, [115/10], 2 day/s 08:47:56, isis_l2mp-default 1/200/0, number of next-hops: 4 via Po1, [115/20], 0 day/s 04:15:58, isis_l2mp-default via Po2, [115/20], 0 day/s 04:15:58, isis_l2mp-default via Po3, [115/20], 2 day/s 08:49:51, isis_l2mp-default via Po4, [115/20], 2 day/s 08:47:56, isis_l2mp-default S100#
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S200
po1 po2 po3 po4
A B

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When multiple forwarding paths available, path selection based on ECMP hash function
Up to 16 next-hop interfaces for each destination Switch ID
Number of next-hops installed controlled by maximum-paths command under FabricPath IS-IS process (default is 16)
Path selection based on hash function
FabricPath ECMP
S1
S100
S16

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Multiple Topologies
L1
L2 L3 L4 L8 L5 L6 L7
L9
L10 L11 L12
Topology: A group of links in the Fabric. By default, all the links are part of topology 0. • Other topologies can be created by assigning a subset of the links to them. • A link can belong to several topologies • A VLAN is mapped to a unique topology Topologies can be used for traffic engineering, security etc…
Topology 0
Topology 1
Topology 2

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Conversational MAC Learning
MAC learning method designed to conserve MAC table entries on FabricPath edge switches
FabricPath core switches do not learn MACs at all
Each forwarding engine distinguishes between two types of MAC entry:
Local MAC – MAC of host directly connected to forwarding engine Remote MAC – MAC of host connected to another forwarding engine or switch
Forwarding engine learns remote MAC only if bidirectional conversation occurring between local and remote MAC
MAC learning not triggered by flood frames
Conversational learning enabled in all FabricPath VLANs

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MAC C
Conversational MAC Learning
MAC A
MAC B
FabricPath MAC Table on S100 MAC IF/SID
A e1/1 (local)
B S200 (remote)
S100
S200
S300
FabricPath MAC Table on S200 MAC IF/SID
A S100 (remote)
B e12/1(local)
C S300 (remote)
FabricPath MAC Table on S300 MAC IF/SID
B S200 (remote)
C e7/10 (local)

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Conversational MAC Learning
500 MACs
500 MACs
500 MACs
500 MACs
250 MACs
250 MACs
250 MACs
250 MACs
ALL MACs needs to be learn on EVERY Switch
Large L2 domain and virtualization present challenges to MAC Table scalability
STP Domain
Local MAC: Source-MAC Learning only happen to traffic received on CE Ports
Remote MAC: Source-MAC for traffic received on FabricPath Ports are only learned if Destination-MAC is already known as Local
S11
A C
BMAC IF
C 3/1
A S11
MAC IF
B 2/1
MAC IF
Optimize Resource Utilization – Learning only the MAC addresses required

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FabricPath ‘Tree’ Used for forwarding L2 multi-destination traffic (Unknown
Unicast, Broadcast, and Multicast) inside the L2 Fabric
‘Tree’ topology is required to forward multi-destination traffic properly One Ingress Switch Many Egress Switches
Same method is also used by L3 (e.g. PIM Source Tree/Shared Tree) One or more ‘Root’ devices are first elected for the L2 Fabric A ‘Tree’ spanning from each ‘Root’ is then formed and a network-wide unique ID is assigned to it Support for multiple ‘Trees’ allows Cisco FabricPath to support multipathing even for multi-destination traffic Ingress Switch determines the ‘Tree’ for each traffic flow
S100 S105
S200
S101
A C FabricPath Port CE Port
S100 S200
S1 S2 S16
L1 L2
L16
L101 L102 L116
Root for Tree #1
Tree # IF
1 L1, L101

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FabricPath Multidestination Trees
Multidestination traffic constrained to loop-free trees touching all FabricPath switches
Root switch assigned for each multidestination tree in FabricPath domain
Loop-free tree built from each Root and assigned a network-wide identifier (Ftag)
Support for multiple multidestination trees provides multipathing for multi-destination traffic
Two trees supported in NX-OS release 5.1
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S101 S200
Root for Tree 1
S10
S100
S101
S200
S20
S30
S40
Logical Tree 1
Root for Tree 2
S40
S100
S101
S200
S10
S20
S30
Logical Tree 2
Root Root

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S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S101 S200
Root for Tree 1
Root for Tree 2
Multidestination Trees and Role of the Ingress FabricPath Switch
Ingress FabricPath switch determines which tree to use for each flow
Other FabricPath switches forward based on tree selected by ingress switch
Broadcast and unknown unicast typically use first tree
Hash-based tree selection for multicast, with several configurable hash options
Multidestination Trees on Switch 100
Tree IF
1 L1,L2,L3,L4
2 L4
L1 L2 L4 L3
L5 L6 L7 L8
L9 L10 L11 L12

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Putting It All Together – Host A to Host B (1) Broadcast ARP Request
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S101 S200
Root for Tree 1
Root for Tree 2
MAC A MAC B
Multidestination Trees on Switch 100
Tree IF
1 L1,L2,L3,L4
2 L4
DMAC→FF
SMAC→A
Payload
DSID→FF Ftag→1
SSID→100
Broadcast →
DMAC→FF
SMAC→A
Payload
Multidestination Trees on Switch 10
Tree IF
1 L1,L5,L9
2 L9
L1 L2 L4 L3
L5 L6 L7 L8
L9 L10 L11 L12
Ftag →
Ftag →
DMAC→FF
SMAC→A
Payload
DSID→FF Ftag→1
SSID→100
FabricPath MAC Table on S200 MAC IF/SID
Multidestination Trees on Switch 200
Tree IF
1 L9
2 L9,L10,L11,L12
FabricPath MAC Table on S100 MAC IF/SID MAC IF/SID
A e1/1 (local)
DMAC→FF
SMAC→A
Payload
Learn MACs of directly-connected devices unconditionally
Don’t learn MACs in flood frames

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Putting It All Together – Host A to Host B (2) Unicast ARP Reply
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S101 S200
MAC A MAC B
Multidestination Trees on Switch 100
Tree IF
1 L1,L2,L3,L4
2 L4
DMAC→A
SMAC→B
Payload
DSID→MC1 Ftag→1
SSID→200
Ftag →
DMAC→A
SMAC→B
Payload
Multidestination Trees on Switch 10
Tree IF
1 L1,L5,L9
2 L9
Ftag →
Unknown →
DMAC→A
SMAC→B
Payload
DSID→MC1 Ftag→1
SSID→200
FabricPath MAC Table on S200 MAC IF/SID
Multidestination Trees on Switch 200
Tree IF
1 L9
2 L9,L10,L11,L12
FabricPath MAC Table on S100 MAC IF/SID
A e1/1 (local) DMAC→A
SMAC→B
Payload
MAC IF/SID
B e12/2 (local)
A → MAC IF/SID
A e1/1 (local)
B S200 (remote)
L1 L2 L4 L3
L5 L6 L7 L8
L9 L10 L11 L12
A → If DMAC is known, then learn remote MAC

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FabricPath MAC Table on S200 MAC IF/SID
B e12/2 (local)
FabricPath MAC Table on S100 MAC IF/SID
A e1/1 (local)
B S200 (remote)
Putting It All Together – Host A to Host B (3) Unicast Data
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S101 S200
MAC A MAC B S200 → DMAC→B
SMAC→A
Payload
L1 L2 L4 L3
L5 L6 L7 L8
L9 L10 L11 L12
S200 →
DMAC→B
SMAC→A
Payload
DSID→200 Ftag→1
SSID→100
MAC IF/SID
A S100 (remote)
B e12/2 (local)
DMAC→B
SMAC→A
Payload
B → B →
FabricPath Routing Table on S100
Switch IF
S10 L1
S20 L2
S30 L3
S40 L4
S101 L1, L2, L3, L4
… …
S200 L1, L2, L3, L4
DMAC→B
SMAC→A
Payload
DSID→200 Ftag→1
SSID→100
FabricPath Routing Table on S30
Switch IF
… …
S200 L11
FabricPath Routing Table on S30
Switch IF
… …
S200 – S200 →
Hash

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Loop Mitigation with FabricPath Minimize impact of transient loop with TTL and RPF Check
Block redundant paths to ensure loop-free topology
Frames loop indefinitely if STP failed
Could results in complete network melt-down as the result of flooding
Root S1
S10
S2
TTL=3
TTL=2 TTL=1
TTL=0
TTL is part of FabricPath header Decrement by 1 at each hop Frames are discarded when
TTL=0 RPF check for multicast based
on “tree” info
Root

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VLAN Pruning in L2 Fabric
VL10
VL
20
VL30
VL10
VL
30
VL20
Shared Broadcast Tree
L2 Fabric
VLAN 10
L2 Fabric
VLAN 20
L2 Fabric
VLAN 30
Switches indicate ‘locally interested VLANs’ to the rest of the L2 Fabric
Broadcast traffic for any VLAN only sent to switches that have requested for it

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STP Interaction
L2 Fabric is presented as a single bridge to all connected CE devices L2 Fabric should be the root for all connected STP domains. CE ports
will be put into blocking state when ‘better BPDU’ is received (rootguard) No BPDUs are forwarded across the fabric (terminated on CE ports)
Classical Ethernet
(STP)
FabricPath (L2 IS-IS)
✖STP Domain 1
STP Domain 2
FabricPath Port CE Port

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vPC Enhancement for FabricPath
For Switches at L2 Fabric Edge
vPC is still required to provide active/active L2 paths for dual-homed CE devices or clouds
However, MAC Table only allows 1-to-1 mapping between MAC and Switch ID
Each vPC domain is represented by an unique ‘Virtual Switch’ to the rest of L2 Fabric
Switch ID for such ‘Virtual Switch’ is then used as Source in FabricPath encapsulation
L2 Fabric
S1 S2
A
B
S3
MAC Table
A ???
MAC Table
B S3 B A Payload
B A Payload S2 S3 B A Payload S1 S3
MAC Table
A S4
vPC
L2 Fabric
S1 S2
B
S3
B A Payload A
S4
B A Payload S4 S3 B A Payload S4 S3
vPC+ MAC Table
B S3

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Connect L3 or Services to L2 Fabric
Layer 3 Network
L3
L2 FHRP
FHRP Active
Mul
ti-pa
thin
g
FabricPath enables multipathing for bridged traffic
However, FHRP allows only 1 active gateway for each host, therefore prevent traffic that needs to be routed to take advantage of multi-pathing
Provide active/active data-plane for FabricPath with no change to existing FHRP
Allow multi-pathing even for routed traffic
Same feature can be leveraged by service nodes as well
L2 Fabric
VMAC
Layer 3 Network
L3
L2 FHRP
FHRP Active
Mul
ti-pa
thin
g
L2 Fabric
VMAC VMAC vPC+

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 45
VPC+
VPC+ allows dual-homed connections from edge ports into FabricPath domain with active/active forwarding
CE switch, Layer 3 router, dual-homed server, etc.
VPC+ requires F1 modules with FabricPath enabled in the VDC
Peer-link and all VPC+ connections must be to F1 ports
VPC+ creates “virtual” FabricPath switch for each VPC+-attached device to allow load-balancing within FabricPath domain
F1 F1
VPC+ F1
F1 F1
S1 S2
po3
F1
F1 F1
VPC+ F1
F1 F1
S1 S2
po3
F1
Host A→S4→L1,L2 S3
Host A
Host A
L1 L2
S3
L1 L2
S4
Physical
Logical
Virtual “Switch 4” becomes next-hop for Host A in FabricPath domain
FabricPath
CE

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 46 MAC A
VPC+ Physical Topology
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S200
MAC B MAC C
Peer link and PKA required
Peer link runs as FabricPath core port
VPCs configured as normal
No requirements for attached devices other than channel support
VLANs must be FabricPath VLANs

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 47
VPC+ Logical Topology
MAC A
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S200
MAC B MAC C
S1000
Virtual switch introduced

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 48
Remote MAC Entries for VPC+
MAC A
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S200
MAC B MAC C
S1000
S200# sh mac address-table dynamic Legend: * - primary entry, G - Gateway MAC, (R) - Routed MAC, O - Overlay MAC age - seconds since last seen,+ - primary entry using vPC Peer-Link VLAN MAC Address Type age Secure NTFY Ports/SWID.SSID.LID ---------+-----------------+--------+---------+------+----+------------------ * 10 0000.0000.000c dynamic 1500 F F Eth1/30 10 0000.0000.000a dynamic 1500 F F 1000.11.4513
S200#
po1 po2
1/30

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 49
FabricPath Routing for VPC+
MAC A
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S200
MAC B MAC C
S1000
S200# sh fabricpath route topology 0 switchid 1000 FabricPath Unicast Route Table 'a/b/c' denotes ftag/switch-id/subswitch-id '[x/y]' denotes [admin distance/metric] ftag 0 is local ftag subswitch-id 0 is default subswitch-id
FabricPath Unicast Route Table for Topology-Default
1/1000/0, number of next-hops: 2 via Po1, [115/10], 0 day/s 01:09:56, isis_l2mp-default via Po2, [115/10], 0 day/s 01:09:56, isis_l2mp-default S200#
po1 po2
1/30

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 50
SVI SVI
VPC+ and Active/Active HSRP
With VPC+ and SVIs in mixed-chassis, HSRP Hellos sent with VPC+ virtual switch ID
FabricPath edge switches learn HSRP MAC as reached through virtual switch
Traffic destined to HSRP MAC can leverage ECMP if available
Either VPC+ peer can route traffic destined to HSRP MAC
HSRP Active HSRP Standby
MAC A
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S200
MAC B MAC C
S1000
po1 po2
1/30
DMAC→0002
SMAC→HSRP
Payload
DSID→MC
SSID→1000

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 51
HSRP MAC on Edge Switches
SVI SVI
HSRP Active HSRP Standby
MAC A
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S200
MAC B MAC C
S1000
po1 po2
S200# sh mac address-table dynamic address 0000.0c07.ac0a Legend: * - primary entry, G - Gateway MAC, (R) - Routed MAC, O - Overlay MAC age - seconds since last seen,+ - primary entry using vPC Peer-Link VLAN MAC Address Type age Secure NTFY Ports/SWID.SSID.LID ---------+-----------------+--------+---------+------+----+------------------ 10 0000.0c07.ac0a dynamic 0 F F 1000.0.1054
S200#

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 52
Edge Devices Integration
Hosts see a single default gateway The fabric provide them transparently with multiple
simultaneously active default gateways Allows extending the multipathing from the inside to the fabric to
the L3 domain outside the fabric
Hosts can leverage multiple L3 default gateways
FabricPath
A
s3
dg dg L3
dg

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 53
Layer 3 Integration
The fabric provides seamless L3 integration An arbitrary number of routed interfaces can be created at the
edge or within the fabric Attached L3 devices can peer with those interfaces The hardware is capable of handling million of routes
SVIs anywhere
FabricPath L3
L3

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 54
Integrating L3 with Fabric Path Alternatives for N-Way Layer 3 Egress
Various alternatives exist, depending on FHRP preference and location of L2/L3 boundary
FHRP options: HSRP/VRRP, GLBP
L2/L3 boundary: internal or external routers

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 55
L3
Alternatives for N-Way Layer 3 Egress VLAN Splitting with Active/Active HSRP in VPC+
S1 S4
L1
FabricPath
CE
S3 S2
L2
L4
VLANs x: GWY MAC X→L1, L2 VLANs y: GWY MAC Y→L3, L4
VPC+ VPC+
HSRP HSRP Active/Active HSRP for VLANs X GWY MAC X
L3
Leverages benefit of VPC+ active/active HSRP
Each router still has interface in all VLANs but not running HSRP
Does require PL/PKA, and mixed chassis
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs Y GWY MAC Y

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 56
SVI SVI SVI SVI
Alternatives for N-Way Layer 3 Egress GLBP with FabricPath (Internal Routers)
L3
GLBP
S1 S4 S3 S2
FabricPath
CE
Single virtual IP, multiple virtual MACs (up to 4)
Load sharing toward exit points based on which MAC each server learns through ARP
GWY IP X GWY MAC C
GWY IP X GWY MAC D
GWY IP X GWY MAC A
GWY IP X GWY MAC B
GWY MAC A→L1 GWY MAC B→L2 GWY MAC C→L3 GWY MAC D→L4

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 57
L3
Alternatives for N-Way Layer 3 Egress GLBP with FabricPath (External Routers)
L3
GLBP
S1 S4
L1
FabricPath
CE
S3 S2
L2
L4 GWY MAC A→L1 GWY MAC B→L2 GWY MAC C→L3 GWY MAC D→L4
GWY IP X GWY MAC C
GWY IP X GWY MAC D
GWY IP X GWY MAC A
GWY IP X GWY MAC B
provides more FabricPath port density

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 58
L3
Alternatives for N-Way Layer 3 Egress MHSRP with FabricPath
L3
HSRP
S1 S4
L1
FabricPath
CE
S3 S2
L2
L4 GWY MAC W→L1 GWY MAC X→L2 GWY MAC Y→L3 GWY MAC Z→L4
For VLAN n:
GWY IP Y (a) GWY IP X (s)
GWY MAC Y
GWY IP Z (a) GWY IP Y (s)
GWY MAC Z
GWY IP W (a) GWY IP Z (s)
GWY MAC W
GWY IP X (a) GWY IP W (s)
GWY MAC X
More complex configuration, DHCP changes
But, can scale beyond four active forwarders

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 59
L3
L3
Alternatives for N-Way Layer 3 Egress VLAN Splitting with HSRP
HSRP
S1 S4
L1
FabricPath
CE
S3 S2
L2
L4
VLANs w: GWY MAC W→L1 VLANs x: GWY MAC X→L2 VLANs y: GWY MAC Y→L3 VLANs z: GWY MAC Z→L4
Active VLANs Y Standby VLANs X
GWY MAC Y
Active VLANs Z Standby VLANs Y
GWY MAC Z
Active VLANs W Standby VLANs Z GWY MAC W
Active VLANs X Standby VLANs W
GWY MAC X
Splitting by VLAN (avoids DHCP challenge of MHSRP)
Each router still has interface in all VLANs but not HSRP (or HSRP in Listen mode)

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 60
FabricPath Configuration
No L2 IS-IS configuration required
New ‘feature-set’ keyword allows multiple conditional services required by FabricPath (e.g. L2 IS-IS, LLDP, etc.) to be enabled in one shot
Simplified operational model – only 3 CLIs to get FabricPath up and running
FabricPath Port CE Port
N7K(config)# feature-set fabricpath N7K(config)# vlan 10-19 N7K(config-vlan)# mode fabricpath N7K(config)# interface port-channel 1 N7K(config-if)# switchport mode fabricpath

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 61
FabricPath comparison
Transparent Bridging
vPC FabricPath IP Routing
Control Protocol Spanning Tree
Spanning Tree
IS-IS IS-IS/ EIGRP/ OSPF etc…
Default forwarding behavior Flood Flood Drop Drop
Data plane loop protection None None RPFC, TTL RPFC, TTL
Frames/packets forwarded along the shortest path
No Yes (limited topologies)
Yes Yes
Multiple paths between nodes
No Yes (limited topologies)
Yes, ECMP Yes, ECMP
Transparent to IP and other L3 protocols
Yes Yes No
Configuration less addressing
Yes Yes No

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 62
Cisco FabricPath Feature Set Value-Add Enhancements
16-Way Equal Cost Multipathing (ECMP) at Layer 2
FabricPath Header Hierarchical Addressing with built in loop mitigation (RPF,TTL)
Conversational MAC Learning Efficient use of hardware resource by learning only MACs for interested hosts
Interoperability with existing classic Ethernet networks
• VPC + allows VPC into a L2 Fabric • STP Boundary Termination
Multi-Topology – providing traffic engineering capabilities
Up to 16Way L2 ECMP
Up to 16-Way L2 ECMP

63 © 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 64
TRILL – Standardizing Multi-pathing
IETF RFC 5556 defines Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL)
TRILL is a standards based implementation of Layer 2 Multi-pathing
Lot of similarities between Cisco’s current implementation and TRILL TRILL HW Frame format finalized Final control plane (SW implementation) to be standardized by end of the year
IETF standard for Layer 2 multipathing
Driven by multiple vendors, including Cisco
Base protocol RFC ready for standardization but waiting on dependent standards
Control-plane protocol RFCs still in process
Target for standard completion is early CY2011
http://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/trill/

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 65
What Is the Relationship between FabricPath and TRILL?
a set of Layer 2 multipathing technologies
FabricPath initial release runs in a Native mode that is Cisco-specific, using proprietary encapsulation and control-plane elements
Nexus 7000 F1 I/O modules and Nexus 5500 HW are capable of running both FabricPath and TRILL modes

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 66
FabricPath & TRILL Feature Summary FS-link is a superset of TRILL
L2MP TRILL Frame routing (ECMP, TTL, RPFC etc…)
Yes Yes
vPC+ Yes No
FHRP active/active Yes No
Multiple topologies Yes No
Conversational learning Yes No
Inter-switch links Point-to-point only Point-to-point OR shared
Base protocol specification is now a proposed IETF standard (March 2010)
Control plane specification will become a proposed standard within months

67 © 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 68
FabricPath Design Guidance
Industry has converged on a handful of well-understood designs/network topologies
Largely driven by constraints of STP, and density limits of switches
Designs will necessarily evolve Not only what can/cannot be built today versus in future, but how people think about L2 designs in general

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 69
Scaling Bandwidth with FabricPath Example: 2,048 X 10GE Server Design
16X improvement in bandwidth performance From 74 managed devices to 12 devices 2X+ increase in network availability Simplified IT operations
Traditional Spanning Tree Based Network FabricPath Based Network
Fully Non-B
locking
2, 048 Servers
8 Access Switches
Network Fabric
64 Access Switches
2, 048 Servers
Blocked Links
Ove
rsub
scrip
tion
16:
1
8:1
2:1
4 Pods

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 70
32 Chassis
16 Chassis
16-way ECMP
8,192 10GE ports 512 10GE FabricPath ports per system
256 10GE FabricPath Ports
160 Tbps System Bandwidth
Open I/O Slots for connectivity
Spine Switch
Edge Switch
16-port Etherchannel
HPC Requirements
HPC Clusters require high-density of compute nodes
Minimal over-subscription
Low server to server latency
FabricPath Benefits for HPC
FabricPath enables building a high-density fat-tree network
Fully non-blocking with FabricPath ECMP & port-channels
Minimize switch hops to reduce server to server latencies
Use Case: High Performance Compute Building Large Scalable Compute Clusters

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 71
Workload Flexibility with FabricPath Example: Removing Data Center Silos
Single domain Pooled compute resources
Increased agility Seamless data center wide
workload mobility
Responsive Virtualized Applications move within minutes vs. days
Capex and Opex savings Maximize resource utilization, simplify IT operations
Single Domain – Any App, Any where! Multi-Domain – Silo’d

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 72
Use Case: L2 Internet Exchange Point IXP Requirements Layer 2 Peering enables multiple
providers to peer their internet routers with one another
10GE non-blocking fabric
Scale to thousands of ports
FabricPath Benefits for IXP Transparent Layer 2 fabric , No STP at core,
simple to manage
Scalable to thousands of ports
Bandwidth not limited by chassis / port-channel limitations
N+1 redundancy in distribution
Large bisectional bandwidth at distribution
Provider A Provider B
Provider C Provider D

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 73
L3
Classical POD with FabricPath FabricPath vs. vPC/STP
FabricPath POD
Simple configuration (no peer link, no pair of switches, no port channels)
Total flexibility in design and cabling
Seamless L3 integration
No STP, no traditional bridging (no topology changes, no sync to worry about, no risk of loops)
Scale mac address tables with conversational learning
Unlimited bandwidth, even if hosts are single attached
Can extend easily and without operational impact
vPC POD
L3 Core

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 74
L3
FabricPath Core Efficient POD Interconnect
vPC+ POD vPC+ POD
FabricPath in the Core VLANs can terminate at the
distribution or extend between PODs.
STP is not extended between PODs, remote PODs or even remote data centers can be aggregated.
Bandwidth or scale can be introduced in a non-disruptive way
L2+L3 FabricPath Core

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 75
Combining FabricPath PODs and Core Allows Tier Consolidation
3
2
L3
1 L2+L3 FabricPath
2
3
L3
FabricPath
3
1
L3
FabricPath

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 76
FabricPath at the Edge
E
1/10G connectivity to Nexus 7000
1/10G connectivity to Fabric Extender attached to Nexus 7000
1/10G connectivity to Nexus 5500
1/10G connectivity to Fabric Extender attached to Nexus 5500
A B
C
D
E A B C D

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 77
Migration of Existing Designs
Emphasis on preserving existing topologies without major disruption
Evolution rather than revolution in existing DC network
Assumes DC isn’t pure Nexus
Phases: Integrate Nexus 7000 with F1 modules into existing Aggregation Migrate to VPC+ Migrate Access devices to FabricPath Interconnect FabricPath Pods Pod scale-out

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 78
Migration Phases
Only the core of the network needs to be running L2MP
Simple Integration of “Classical Ethernet”
vPC+
FabricPath
7K access 7K or 5K access + FEX
Cairo (maint) Cairo End CY2010
CE access
Radar

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 79
L3
Fabric Module Integration
L3
CE
Pod 1 VLANs 100-199
Pod 2 VLANs 200-299
Pod 3 VLANs 300-399
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 100-199
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 200-299
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 300-399
VPC VPC VPC
Motivations: minimize STP, use high-density, low-cost F1 modules at aggregation layer
Understand East-West capacity requirements (160G proxy L3 per agg switch in 5.1)
North-South bandwidth already limited by uplink capacity
160G proxy L3 per switch
Peer link runs in CE mode Downlinks
on F1 modules
Uplinks on M1 modules
Adding F1 modules to agg (either as part of Catalyst 6500 to Nexus 7000 migration or adding F1 cards into agg that already has M1 modules)
Uplinks are on M1 modules (L3 links to core) Downlinks on F1 modules (L2 agg to access) Uses standard VPC with peer link in CE mode,
providing active/active HSRP forwarding at agg layer Access could be anything – 7k, 6k, 5k, 5k+FEX, or
any other box

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 80
L3
L3
CE
Pod 1 VLANs 100-199
Pod 2 VLANs 200-299
Pod 3 VLANs 300-399
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 100-199
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 200-299
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 300-399
VPC+ VPC+ VPC
VPC+ in Localized Pods Motivations: prepare for scale-out and VLAN anywhere while preserving investment in STP devices
Note that change from VPC to VPC+ is disruptive
CE
Peer link runs in FabricPath mode
Only change here is migration from VPC to VPC+, in preparation to add FabricPath devices in access combined with VPC+ attached legacy CE devices

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 81
L3
L3
Pod 1 VLANs 100-199
Pod 2 VLANs 200-299
Pod 3 VLANs 300-399
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 100-199
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 200-299
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 300-399
VPC+ VPC+ VPC
Migrating to FabricPath Pods Motivations: prepare for scale-out and
VLAN anywhere
FabricPath
Pod 1 VLANs 100-199
Keep VPC+ for active/active forwarding
Migrate all or part of each pod to FabricPath Keep VPC+ to provide active/active HSRP
FabricPath here assumes Nexus 5500
Leverage VPC+ for existing Nexus 5000

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 82
L3
Meshed Aggregation Layer
L3
FabricPath
Pod 1 VLANs 100-299
Pod 2 VLANs 100-299
Pod 3 VLANs 300-399
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 300-399
VPC
Motivations: Consolidation; VLAN anywhere with FabricPath network
Number of Pods you can combine limited by abilty to fully mesh aggregation switches
Reduced cabling burden vs direct access connect, but has gateway and scale limits
VPC+ VPC+
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 100-199
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 200-299
Affinity for 100-199 Affinity for 200-299
Backbone/mesh agg layer connections provide “VLAN anywhere” capability among connected FabricPath Pods
Still have Layer 3 “VLAN affinity” at Pod level – HSRP for particular VLAN only lives in one Pod

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 83
L3
Parallel FabricPath Core
L3
FabricPath
Pod 1 VLANs 100-299
Pod 2 VLANs 100-299
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 100-199
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 200-299
VPC+ VPC+
FabricPath Core
Pod 3 VLANs 300-399
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 300-399
VPC
Affinity for 100-199 Affinity for 200-299
Motivations: Consolidation and whole-network scale
Removes access connections and aggregation mesh limitations Meshed agg model overly complex
after a certain point
Add FabricPath core parallel to L3 core to interconnect FabricPath Pods

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 84
L3 L3
Parallel FabricPath Core with VDCs
L3
FabricPath
Pod 1 VLANs 100-299
Pod 2 VLANs 100-299
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 100-199
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 200-299
VPC+ VPC+
FabricPath Core VDC
FabricPath Core VDC
Layer 3 Core VDC Layer 3
Core VDC
Pod 3 VLANs 300-399
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 300-399
VPC
Affinity for 100-199 Affinity for 200-299
Exact same model as prior slide but with VDCs instead of separate physical switches

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 85
L3
Pod Build-Out with Parallel FabricPath Core
L3
FabricPath
Pod 1 VLANs 100-299 Pod 2
VLANs 100-299
FabricPath Core
Pod 3 VLANs 300-399
Active/Active HSRP for VLANs 300-399
VPC
N-Way Active FHRP for VLANs 100-299
Motivations: Consolidation and per-Pod scale
Requires n-way FHRP Add additional capacity in each Pod using more agg switches
Not all aggs have to connect to FabricPath or L3 core necessarily

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 86
L3
SVI SVI Standby
SVI SVI
SVI SVI
L3 Egress 3 L3 Egress 4 L3 Egress 1 L3 Egress 2
FabricPath Core with L3 Access
OSPF etc.
S1 S4
FabricPath
CE
S3 S2
VPC+ VPC+ VPC+
HSRP
Active Standby
OSPF etc.
Active
HSRP HSRP
OSPF
Scales L3 at the edge
Can extend VLANs through FabricPath backbone (no hard requirement to terminate L3 at edge VPC+ peers)
VLANs still have “affinity” to L3 access pair
Can extend some or all VLANs into FabricPath core
Requires FabricPath and L3 support on 5500

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 87
L3
SVI SVI Standby
SVI SVI
SVI SVI
L3 Egress 3 L3 Egress 1
FabricPath Core with L3 Access
OSPF etc.
S1 S4
FabricPath
CE
S3 S2
VPC+ VPC+ VPC+
HSRP
Active Standby
OSPF etc.
Active
HSRP HSRP
OSPF
Scales L3 at the edge
Can extend VLANs through FabricPath backbone (no hard requirement to terminate L3 at edge VPC+ peers)
VLANs still have “affinity” to L3 access pair
FP extended to core
Can extend some or all VLANs into FabricPath core
Requires FabricPath and L3 support on 5500
SVI SVI

88 © 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 89
Troubleshooting FabricPath
Leverage the same tooling for L3 technologies Routing table Link-state database Distribution trees ECMP path selection
Pong – L2 Ping + Traceroute Provide info on all devices on a given path in L2 Fabric Check on link health
Performance Profiling across FabricPath Through IEEE 1588 timestamp and pong to help estimate average end-to-end latency
Improved Visibility for Layer 2 Evolution

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 90
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S200
po1 po2 po3 po4
A B
show mac address-table dynamic
S100# sh mac address-table dynamic Legend: * - primary entry, G - Gateway MAC, (R) - Routed MAC, O - Overlay MAC age - seconds since last seen,+ - primary entry using vPC Peer-Link VLAN MAC Address Type age Secure NTFY Ports/SWID.SSID.LID ---------+-----------------+--------+---------+------+----+------------------ * 10 0000.0000.0001 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0002 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0003 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0004 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0005 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0006 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0007 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0008 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.0009 dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 * 10 0000.0000.000a dynamic 0 F F Eth1/15 10 0000.0000.000b dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.000c dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.000d dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.000e dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.000f dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.0010 dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.0011 dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.0012 dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.0013 dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30 10 0000.0000.0014 dynamic 0 F F 200.0.30
S100#
Local mac

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public BRKDCT-2081 91
show fabricpath route
S10 S20 S30 S40
S100 S200
po1 po2 po3 po4
A B
Topology ID: 0 Switch ID: 100 Subswitch ID:0 –used for vPC+
S100# sh fabricpath route FabricPath Unicast Route Table 'a/b/c' denotes ftag/switch-id/subswitch-id '[x/y]' denotes [admin distance/metric] ftag 0 is local ftag subswitch-id 0 is default subswitch-id
FabricPath Unicast Route Table for Topology-Default
0/100/0, number of next-hops: 0 via ---- , [60/0], 5 day/s 18:38:46, local 1/10/0, number of next-hops: 1 via Po1, [115/10], 0 day/s 04:15:58, isis_l2mp-default 1/20/0, number of next-hops: 1 via Po2, [115/10], 0 day/s 04:16:05, isis_l2mp-default 1/30/0, number of next-hops: 1 via Po3, [115/10], 2 day/s 08:49:51, isis_l2mp-default 1/40/0, number of next-hops: 1 via Po4, [115/10], 2 day/s 08:47:56, isis_l2mp-default 1/200/0, number of next-hops: 4 via Po1, [115/20], 0 day/s 04:15:58, isis_l2mp-default via Po2, [115/20], 0 day/s 04:15:58, isis_l2mp-default via Po3, [115/20], 2 day/s 08:49:51, isis_l2mp-default via Po4, [115/20], 2 day/s 08:47:56, isis_l2mp-default S100#

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Abstracted Fabric View Identify fabric ‘hot-spots’
FabricPath state awareness
Traffic Monitoring Frames distribution visibility
Threshold crossing alerts for bandwidth management
Troubleshooting Visualize unicast, multicast and
broadcast paths
Check reachability between source and destination nodes
Configuration Expert Manage FabricPath topologies with
Wizard tools
Simplify fine-tuning FabricPath
Up
to 1
6-W
ay L
2 EC
MP
FabricPath: In Control with DCNM

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N7K(config)# feature-set fabricpath N7K(config)# fabricpath switch-id <#> N7K(config)# interface ethernet 1/1 N7K(config-if)# switchport mode fabricpath
FabricPath is Simple
No L2 IS-IS configuration required Single control protocol for unicast, multicast, vlan pruning
FabricPath Port CE Port
1/1

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FabricPath is Efficient & Resilient Shortest path, Multi-Pathing, High-availability
A
L1 L2
S1 S2 S3 S4
S11 S12 S42
L3
L4
B
Shortest path for low latency Up to 256 links active between any 2 nodes Multipathing over all links increase availability High availability with N+1 path redundancy Enhanced redundancy models No STP - Fast convergence
FabricPath Routing Table
Switch IF
… …
S42 L1, L2, L3, L4

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FabricPath is Scalable Safe Data Plane, Conversational learning TTL and RFP check the data plane protect against loops
L2 can be extended in the data center (while STP is segmented) Conversational learning allows scaling mac address tables at
the edge
Classical Ethernet Mac Address Table
A
S11 S42
B A B A B
MAC IF A 1/1 … … B S42
Classical Ethernet Mac Address Table
Classical Ethernet Mac Address Table
MAC IF … …
MAC IF A S11 … … B 1/1
S22

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Key Takeaways
Fabric Path enables network fabric scalability, flexibility, availability and resiliency
Innovations in FabricPath will change long-standing Layer 2 networking design paradigms
FabricPath will evolve going forward Hardware, software, and design options will only increase our flexibility and scale
Nexus hardware available has FabricPath and TRILL capability
