Build (Physical)

Staging Resources

From the blueprint, navigate to Staged / Physical / Build / Resources. (The build panel is on the right side.)

Update Assignments

1. A red status indicator means that resources need to be assigned. Click the indicator, then click the Update assignments button.
2. Select a pool from which to pull the resources, then click the Save button. AOS assigns the required number of resources to the resource group automatically. When the red status indicator turns green, the resource assignment has been successfully staged.

You can also assign resources on a per-device basis (especially useful if you have a predefined resource mapping). Select the device from the topology view or nodes view, then assign the resource from the Properties section of the Selection panel (right-side). (This is also where you can see the specific resource that was assigned from a resource pool.)

Reset Resource Group Overrides

Certain blueprint operations require AOS to retain resource allocations even when a device has been removed from a blueprint. The resource groups are overridden, which mean that when a device is re-used, previously allocated resources are re-used as well. For example, if you’ve deleted a rack, then you rollback to a version with that rack, AOS must ensure that the same resources are used. Otherwise, the topology would change (for example, it might have different IP addresses). Situations like this can (but do not always) result in build errors. Some other examples of where resource group overrides are used include:

• Other time voyager rollbacks.
• Revert operations.
• Using the Update Stated Cabling Map from LLDP feature.

If you do not need to re-use the same resources, click the Reset resource group overrides button to reset the resource group.

Reverting Example

After reverting the changes in a blueprint, resources become “sticky” and even removing a pool or changing it to a new one doesn’t affect the resulting config. In the blueprint below, we can see old resources still assigned.

Click the Reset resource group overrides button. Then resources can be unallocated, and new ones can be allocated, as applicable.

Manage Resource Pools

The resource assignment section has a convenient shortcut button, Manage resource pools, that takes you to resource pool management. There, you can monitor resource usage (new in AOS version 3.3.0) and create additional resource pools, as needed.

Staging Device Profiles

1. From the blueprint, navigate to Staged / Physical / Build / Device Profiles.

   

2. Click a red status indicator, then click the Change interface maps assignment button (looks like an edit button). Device profiles are staged by assigning interface maps.

3. Select the appropriate interface map from the drop-down list for each node. Or, to assign the same interface map to multiple nodes, you can select the ones that use the same interface map (or all of them with one click), then select the interface map from the drop-down list located above the selections, and click Assign Selected.

   

4. Click Update Assignments. When the red status indicator turns green, the device profile assignments have been successfully staged.

Staging Devices

Devices must have interface maps associated with them before they can have system IDs assigned to them. See the previous section for details. When a device is assigned to a blueprint, it performs discovery configuration. During this phase all interfaces are changed to L3-only mode allowing interfaces to be up. There is no BGP configuration, no routing expectations, nothing that can influence the network. A device in discovery mode is benign; it does not participate in the datacenter fabric, and it does not forward any packets through it. You can then perform critical validations of network health including viewing statistics for cabling, LLDP, transceivers and more. Any issues, such as miscabling or physical link errors, cause a telemetry alarm. You can address and correct the anomalies before deploying the device.

Sanitize the Device

When resetting the system ID (serial number) Discovery-1 is re-applied. It is good practice to fully erase the device configuration and uninstall the AOS device agent before physically uninstalling the device.

Assigning System IDs and Deploy Modes to Multiple Devices

1. From the blueprint, navigate to Staged / Physical / Build / Devices, and click the status indicator for Assigned System IDs (if the nodes list is not already displayed). Unassigned devices are indicated in yellow.

   

2. Click the Change System IDs assignments button (below Assigned System IDs) and, for each node, select system IDs from the drop-down list.

   

   Tip

   If you don’t see an expected serial number (system ID), you may still need to acknowledge the device (Devices / Managed Devices).

3. When a system ID is selected, the deploy mode changes to Deploy by default. If you don’t want to stage the device to be deployed yet, change the deploy mode here. When you’re ready to deploy the device, return here to set the deploy mode back to Deploy. See the next section for more information about deploy modes.

4. Click Update Assignments to stage the changes. Before the task is completed you can click Active Tasks at the bottom of the screen to see its progress.

   Note

   You can also use AOS CLI to bulk-assign system IDs to devices either with a CSV text file or the blueprint set-serial-numbers command.

Assigning System IDs to One Device

1. From the blueprint, navigate to Staged / Physical / Build / Devices; if you don’t see the nodes list, click the status indicator for Assigned System IDs.

   

2. Click a node name to see device details (deploy mode, serial number, hostname rendered, incremental and pristine config, as applicable).

   Tip

   Another way to access these device attributes is to click Selected Nodes (left-middle), then select a node name in the drop-down list.

   

3. To assign a system ID, click the Edit button for S/N, select the system ID from the drop-down list, and click the Save button to stage the change.

   Tip

   If you don’t see the expected serial number (system ID), you may still need to acknowledge the device (Devices / Managed Devices).

4. If you want to remove an existing S/N instead of assigning one, click the Edit button for S/N, then click the red square to stage the change.

Changing Deploy Mode on One Device

1. From the blueprint, navigate to Staged / Physical / Build / Devices; if you don’t see the nodes list, click the status indicator for Assigned System IDs.

2. Click a node name to see device details.

3. Click the Edit button for Deploy Mode and select a deploy mode.

   • Deploy - Adds service configuration and puts the device fully in service.

   • Ready - Adds discovery 2 configuration (hostnames, interface descriptions, port speeds / breakouts). Changing from deploy to ready removes service configuration.

   • Drain - Takes a device out of service gracefully for maintenance. See Draining Device Traffic for more information.

     Tip

     While TCP sessions drain (which could take some time, especially for EVPN blueprints) BGP anomalies are expected. When configuration deployment is complete the temporary anomalies are resolved. To ensure switches are completely drained before undeploying them, you could instantiate the drain validation dashboard to monitor progress.

   • Undeploy - Removes AOS-rendered configuration. If a device is carrying traffic it is best to first put the device into drain mode (and commit the change). When the device is completely drained, proceed to undeploy the device.

4. Click the Save button to stage the change.

5. When you are ready, commit the changes.

Tip

You can also change deploy modes from Staged / Physical / Nodes. See Setting Deploy Mode for Multiple Nodes for more information.

Changing Hostname on One Device

1. From the blueprint, navigate to Staged / Physical / Build / Devices; if you don’t see the nodes list, click the status indicator for Assigned System IDs.
2. Click a node name to see device details.
3. Click the Edit button for Hostname, change the name, and click the Save button to stage the change.
4. Commit the changes.

Staging External Routers

1. Make sure that the appropriate external routers have been imported into the blueprint catalog from the global catalog.
2. From the blueprint, navigate to Staged / Physical / Build / External Routers.
3. Click the red status indicator for External Router Links. If the external router has not been imported yet, you can click the Import External Router button, select the external router from the drop-down list, and click Import External Router.
4. Click the Edit Links button, then select the external router from the drop-down list.
5. Select Connectivity Type.
   • L3 (default) - for BGP loopback (eBGP multi-hop) peering
   • L2 - for BGP interface on L2 SVI peering. Overlay control protocol must be MP-EBGP EVPN and external router connections must be leaf. Spine external router connections are not supported.
6. Select external router links. By default, all available external router interface links are selected. If more than one external router is imported, you can add and remove links as needed for each external router. All defined external router interface links must be configured before the blueprint can be deployed.
7. Click Update to stage the external router and return to the list view.
8. L3 connectivity requires additional IP resources for Link IPs - To External Router for the default security zone. See Staging Physical Resources above for steps.

If you’re connecting external routers in an EVPN blueprint, you must add external connectivity points to the security zone (as of version 3.0).

If you are connecting OSPF external routers in a blueprint, you must add OSPF external connectivity points to the security zone (as of version 3.2).

For more information, see Adding Connectivity Point to Security Zone.

Staging Configlets

Configlets are vendor-specific. AOS automatically ensures that configlets of a specific vendor are not assigned to devices from a different vendor.

1. Make sure that the appropriate configlets have been imported into the blueprint catalog from the global catalog.
2. From the blueprint, navigate to Staged / Physical / Build / Configlets.
3. If the configlet has not been imported yet, you can click Manage Configlets to import it. See Importing Configlet for details.
4. Click the status indicator for the configlet. If the configlet uses a property set, click the Import Property Set button, select the property set from the drop-down list, then click Import Property Set.