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Hardware Centralized VXLAN Using the Spine/Leaf Two-Layer Architecture
Figure 1 shows the hardware centralized VXLAN using the spine/leaf two-layer architecture. Spine nodes and gateways are converged and function as Layer 3 VXLAN gateways, and leaf nodes function as Layer 2 VXLAN gateways.
Figure 2-3 Hardware centralized VXLAN using the spine/leaf two-layer architecture
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- Overall design:
- Flexibly configure the number of spine nodes and leaf nodes, as shown in Figure 2.
- Spine nodes and leaf nodes are connected at Layer 3 and ECMP are configured on the entire network, achieving load balancing of traffic, non-blocking forwarding, and fast convergence.
- Deploy ARP broadcast suppression globally and traffic suppression on an interface to prevent broadcast traffic from being flooded.
- Router:
- Routers and spine nodes are fully meshed, ECMP-based forwarding is implemented between spine nodes and routers, and links between routers and between spine nodes are used as backup links.
- Routers are used as egress devices and are connected to extranets.
- Spine node:
- Spine nodes can work in active-active mode or constitute a stack. It is easier to deploy and maintain the stack, but the service interruption time is long during version upgrade. The centralized active-active gateways are recommended.
- Two paths are planned between spine nodes. One path is used as the peer-link of M-LAG, and the other path is used as the backup of the uplink.
- Spine nodes and leaf nodes are directly connected through Layer 3 routed interfaces, implementing ECMP-based forwarding (scenarios where centralized active-active gateways or the stack are used). VAS devices are connected to spines in bypass mode. M-LAG is recommended when centralized active-active gateways are used, and M-LAG is recommended when the stack is used.
- It is recommended that the CE12800 be used as the spine node to meet expansion requirements of the future network.
- Leaf node:
- When NICs of a server are connected in load balancing mode, leaf nodes support multiple networking such as the stack, M-LAG, and SVF composed of fixed devices. M-LAG is recommended because of its high reliability. When NICs of a server are connected in active/standby mode, leaf nodes use the standalone mode.
- When leaf nodes constitute an M-LAG, the Monitor Link group needs to be deployed. The uplink is associated with all downlinks, preventing traffic interruption when the uplink fails.