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Dell SmartFabric OS10 User Guide Release 10.5.3

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MAC learning using EVPN control plane

This section describes MAC learning using EVPN control plane.

The following figure illustrates local and remote MAC learning:

local-and-remote-mac-learning

In this topology diagram, NVE-1, NVE-2, and NVE-3 are peering with the Spine switch. VTEP-1 learns the MAC and IP addresses of the connected Host H1, when H1 either sends an ARP request for remote Host or Gratuitous ARP. VTEP-1 also learns about Host1 being part of VNI-1 as it is connected by Port P1, VLAN V1. (P1,V1) is configured to be part of the bridge domain VNI-1. VTEP-1 advertises this information about H1 to all the remote VTEPs using MP-BGP EVPN control plane.

The following captures the route updates consisting of L2VPN AFI and EVPN SAFI values along with the NLRI attributes:

Table 1. NLRI attributesNLRI attributes
NLRI attributes Description
Route Distinguisher RD Encoded as 8 Byte value <Type+IP address of VTEP-1+EVI>
MAC-H1 MAC address of the Host attached to the VTEP-1
IP-H1 IP Address of the Host attached to the VTEP-1
VNI-1 VNID of the Bridge domain that Host is part of
IP-VTEP-1 IP Address of the VTEP-1 itself as the Next Hop to reach the Host H1
RT - Export Export value of the Route Target

When the remote VTEPs receive this MAC or IP route update, they compare the RT export attribute with the local import attributes. If they match, the route is downloaded and installed in the respective FDB.

MAC events and Dell SmartFabric OS10 behavior

The following table summarizes the behavior of SmartFabric OS10 for various events that trigger the MAC processing:

Prerequisites:

  • Underlay IGP neighborship is established with BGP.
  • BGP Peering with L2VPN is established.
  • EVPN service is enabled.
  • EVI is configured with VNI in the control plane.
  • Virtual network configured with VNI and VXLAN overlay is enabled in the forwarding path.
Table 2. Behavior of SmartFabric OS10 for various events - Local MACsBehavior of SmartFabric OS10 for various events - Local MACs

Local MACs

Events

System behavior
VLAN is attached to Virtual Network. Expectation: MAC Learning is enabled on all the VLAN member interfaces. MACs learnt on these member interfaces are advertised to the BGP Peers.
  • MACs learnt on the VLAN prior to attachment with virtual-network are all pulled by the virtual-network and are published one at a time.
  • EVPN control plane advertises the MAC or IP route to the BGP peer (in this case to the Spine), which in turn advertises it to all the NVE peers in the EVPN instance
A new MAC learnt from one of the VLAN SubIfs Expectation: The learnt MAC is advertised to the BGP peers.
  • MAC is programmed in the local FDB of the virtual-network.
  • Virtual-network published the MAC.
  • EVPN control plane advertises the MAC or IP route to the BGP peer (in this case to the Spine), which in turn advertises it to all the NVE peers in the EVPN instance
New interface added to the attached VLAN Expectation: MAC learning is enabled on the VLAN member interfaces. MACs learnt on these member interfaces are advertised to the BGP peers.
  • MACs learnt on the interface prior to the addition to VLAN are all pulled by virtual-network and are published one at a time.
  • EVPN control plane advertises the MAC or IP route to the BGP peer (in this case to the Spine), which in turn advertises it to all the NVE peers in the EVPN instance
VLAN SubIntf operationally goes down or Interface is deleted from the VLAN Expectation: MACs learnt on this interface are withdrawn. BGP sends MAC withdraw notification to all the BGP peers.
  • MAC deletion on a virtual-network is published to EVPN control plane.
  • MACs are deleted from the local FDB.
  • EVPN control plane advertises the MAC or IP route to the BGP peer (in this case to the Spine), which in turn advertises it to all the NVE peers in the EVPN instance
VLAN deleted from virtual-network Expectation: MACs learnt on all the VLAN member interfaces are withdrawn. BGP sends MAC withdraw notification to all the BGP peers.
  • Virtual-network publishes the MAC delete one-by-one to the EVPN control plane.
  • MACs are deleted from the local FDB.
  • EVPN control plane advertises the MAC or IP route to the BGP peer (in this case to the Spine), which in turn advertises it to all the NVE peers in the EVPN instance
Virtual-network delete or VNI delete from virtual-network Expectation: All the Local MACs on the virtual-network are withdrawn. BGP sends MAC withdraw notification to all the BGP peers.
  • Virtual-network publishes the MAC delete one-by-one to the EVPN control plane.
  • MACs are deleted from the local FDB.
  • EVPN control plane advertises the MAC or IP route to the BGP peer (in this case to the Spine), which in turn advertises it to all the NVE peers in the EVPN instance
  • EVPN control plane is withdraw along with the inclusive multicast route (with PMSI) attribute from all the NVE Peers.
Clear all local MACs Expectation: All the Local MACs on the virtual-network are withdrawn. BGP sends MAC withdraw notification to all the BGP peers.
  • Virtual-network flushes all MACs in the FDB.
  • Virtual-network publishes the MAC delete one-by-one to the EVPN control plane.
  • EVPN control plane is withdraw along with the inclusive multicast route (with PMSI) attribute from all the NVE Peers.
Delete EVI or Delete VNI from EVI Expectation: All the Local MACs on the virtual-network are withdrawn. BGP sends MAC withdraw notification to all the BGP peers.
  • EVPN control plane advertises MAC or IP withdraw notification to all the NVE peers.
  • EVPN control plane deletes its MAC database.
  • EVPN control plane deletes all the remote endpoints from the corresponding virtual-network.

The following table summarizes the behavior of SmartFabric OS10 for various events that trigger the MAC processing:

Table 3. Behavior of SmartFabric OS10 for various events - Remote MACsBehavior of SmartFabric OS10 for various events - Remote MACs

Remote MACs

Events

System behavior
MAC learnt from remote peer Expectation: Remote MACs learnt are programmed in the local FDB.
  • EVPN control plane populates the virtual-network with remote MAC.
  • Virtual-network programs the MAC in FDB.
  • Additionally, if this is the first ever MAC learnt from the remote peer, EVPN control plane configures this remote-endpoint in the virtual-network. The remote-mac learnt on the network port, from this remote-endpoint is disabled.
MAC withdraw from the remote peer Expectation: Remote MAC is deleted from the Local FDB.
  • EVPN control plane deletes the MAC from virtual-network.
  • Virtual-network deletes the MAC entry from the FDB.
  • Additionally, if this is the last MAC being withdrawn from the remote peer, EVPN control plane deletes this remote-endpoint in the virtual-network.
BGP peer down Expectation: All the remote MACs learnt from the peer are deleted from the local FDB.
  • EVPN control plane deletes all the MACs learnt from remote BGP peer from the virtual-network.
  • Virtual-network deletes all the remote MAC entries from the FDB.
  • EVPN control plane removes the remote-endpoints from the virtual-network after the last remote MAC is removed from the virtual-network.
Clear all remote MACs Expectation: All the remote MACs learnt from the peer are deleted from the local FDB.
  • Virtual-network deletes all the remote MACs from the FDB.
  • Virtual-network publishes the MAC delete notification one-by-one to the EVPN control plane.
  • EVPN control plane re-adds each remote MAC to virtual-network.
  • Virtual-network programs the MAC in FDB.
Virtual-network delete or VNI delete from virtual-network Expectation: All the Local and remote MACs learnt from the peer are deleted from the local FDB.
  • Virtual-network publishes the VN delete.
  • EVPN control plane deletes the EVPN bridge domain by withdrawing the inclusive multicast route (with PMSI) attribute from all the NVE peers.
  • Virtual-network publishes the MAC delete notification one-by-one to the EVPN control plane.
  • EVPN control plane deletes from its local database.
Delete EVI or Delete VNI from EVI Expectation: All the remote MACs learnt from the peer are deleted from the local FDB.
  • EVPN control plane deletes all the remote-MACs from the corresponding virtual-network.
  • EVPN control plane deletes all the remote endpoints from the corresponding virtual-network.

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