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Rack Types (Datacenter Design)

Rack Type Overview

Rack types define the type and number of leaf devices, access switches and/or generic systems that are used in rack builds. Since rack types don't define specific vendors or their devices, you can design your network before choosing hardware. If you need to create a template, you'll use rack types to build the structure of your network. Rack types include the details in the following sections:

Summary

Summary Description
Name (and optional description) A unique name to identify the rack type, 17 characters or fewer
Fabric connectivity design
  • L3 Clos - used in 3-stage and 5-stage fabric templates with spine devices. The spine level connects leaf devices to each other.
  • L3 Collapsed - (Junos only) - used in collapsed (spineless) templates. Leaf devices are connected directly to each other via full mesh.

Leaf Devices

Leaf Devices Description
Name 64 characters or fewer
Leaf Logical Device Used as ToR leaf switch network device(s)
Links per spine, and Link speed (L3 Clos Only) Number of leaf-spine links and their speed.
Redundancy Protocol
CAUTION:

Make sure that the intended platform supports the chosen redundancy protocol. For example, L3 MLAG peers are not supported on SONiC, and ESI is supported on Junos only.
  • None - For single-homed connections
  • MLAG - For dual-homed connections. Both switches use the same logical device.
    • MLAG Keepalive VLAN ID - If left blank during rack type creation, 2999 is assigned to the peer link during the build phase. If 2999 conflicts with vendors' reserved ranges, enter a different ID.
      Note:

      Network device vendors have varying requirements for "reserved" VLAN ID ranges. For example, Cisco NX-OS reserves the VLAN ID range from 3968 to 4094. Arista, by default, uses a VLAN ID range from 1006 to 4094 for internal VLANs for routed ports.

    • Peer Links, and Link speed - Number of links between the MLAG devices, and their speed
    • Peer Link Port Channel ID
    • L3 peer links, and Link speed -Used mainly for BGP peering between border MLAG leaf devices in non-default routing zones. Mainly used for routed L3 traffic to solve EVPN blackhole issues or if upstream routers go down. L3 peer-links act as backup paths for the north-south traffic. Other than border leaf it can be used on any other ToR leaf devices as well as for avoiding blackholing traffic for a VRF.
    • L3 Peer Link Port Channel ID
  • ESI (Junos only) - Ethernet Segment ID assigned to the bundled links. Specifying device platforms other then Juniper Junos (such as Cisco, Arista) results in blueprint build errors. See Juniper EVPN Support for information about Juniper ESI support and ESI MAC MSB settings for more information about ESI.
Tags User-specified. Select tags from drop-down list generated from global catalog or create tags on-the-fly (which then become part of the global catalog). Tags used in rack types are embedded, so any subsequent changes to tags in the global catalog do not affect the rack type.

Access Switches

ESI support at the access layer is supported as a technology preview in Apstra version 4.1.0 and as GA in Apstra version 4.1.1. Before 4.1.0, you couldn't dual-home generic systems (servers) to access switches. If you wanted to dual-home a generic system, it had to be up to the leaf layer. In Apstra version 4.1.0, we extend the concept of switch pairs to the access layer. We're leveraging EVPN at the access layer to enable ESI-LAG towards the generic system while keeping the L2 only nature of the access switch role.

Supported/Unsupported Topologies for ESI Access:

  • Each member of an access switch pair dual-attached to the leaf pair is supported.
  • Each member of an access switch pair single-attached to the leaf pair is supported.
  • One member of an access switch pair dual-attached to the leaf pair and the other member of an access switch pair single-attached to the leaf pair is not supported.

This is supported on 3-Stage, 5-Stage, and collapsed fabric blueprints. Day 2 topology changes are available through Add/Edit/Remove Racks.

Requirements for the switch model acting as Access Switch are:

  • EVPN-VxLAN with VTEP support is required on the Access Switches.
  • L2 VxLAN only is required, L3 VxLAN (RIOT) is not required, and will continue to be available only at the leaf layer.

When creating and managing access switches, follow the general workflow for building a network while taking into account the following options and design considerations.

  1. When creating logical devices, on leaf switches facing an access switch, select the port role access, and configure ports in the access switch logical device.

  2. Create an interface map per standard procedure.

  3. Create a rack type with configured access switches.

  4. Create a template that uses rack types with access switches.

  5. Create a blueprint and build it following the general workflow. You can perform the same tasks as for other blueprints.

Access Switches Description
Name 64 characters or fewer
Access Switch count Number of access switches. These switches share the same logical link group.
Logical Device Logical device is applied to this access switch.
Redundancy Protocol
  • None - For single-homed connections
  • ESI (Junos only) - Ethernet Segment ID assigned to the bundled links. Specifying device platforms other than Juniper Junos (such as Cisco, Arista) results in blueprint build errors. For information about Juniper ESI support, see Juniper EVPN Support and for information about ESI, see ESI MAC MSB settings.
    • L3 Peer Links - Number of L3 peer links between both access switches.
    • Link Speed - Link speed on the peer link interfaces.
Tags User-specified. Select tags from drop-down list generated from global catalog or create tags on-the-fly (which then become part of the global catalog). Tags used in rack types are embedded, so any subsequent changes to tags in the global catalog do not affect the rack type.
Logical Link
  • Name - 64 characters or fewer
  • Leaf - Leaf configured in Leafs section
  • Physical link count per individual switch
  • Link speed
  • Tags - User-specified. Select tags from drop-down list generated from global catalog or create tags on-the-fly (which then become part of the global catalog). Tags used in rack types are embedded, so any subsequent changes to tags in the global catalog do not affect the rack type.

Access Layers on Apstra Version 4.1.1

This feature is classified as General Availability as of Apstra version 4.1.1.

Access Layers on Apstra Version 4.1.0

Note:

This feature has been classified as a Juniper Apstra Technology Preview feature. These features are "as is" and voluntary use. Juniper Support will attempt to resolve any issues that customers experience when using these features and create bug reports on behalf of support cases. However, Juniper may not provide comprehensive support services to Tech Preview features.

For additional information, refer to the Juniper Apstra Technology Previews page or contact Juniper Support.

Generic Systems

Generic Systems Description
Name 64 characters or fewer
Generic system count Number of systems in the set
Port Channel ID Min, and Max Port channel IDs are used when rendering leaf device port-channel configuration towards generic systems. default: 1-4096. You can customize this field.
Logical Device The generic system network device
Tags User-specified. Select tags from drop-down list generated from global catalog or create tags on-the-fly (which then become part of the global catalog). Useful for specifying generic systems as servers or external routers on nodes and links. Tags used in rack types are embedded, so any subsequent changes to tags in the global catalog do not affect the rack type.
Logical Link
  • Name - 64 characters or fewer
  • Switch - Leaf configured in Leafs section
  • LAG Mode
    • LACP (Active) - Link Aggregation Control Group (LACP) in active mode - This mode actively advertises LACP BPDU even when the neighbor does not.
    • LACP (Passive) - Link Aggregation Control Group (LACP) in passive mode - This mode doesn't generate LACP BPDU until it sees one from a neighbor.
    • Static LAG (no LACP) - Static LAGs don't participate in LACP and will unconditionally operate in forwarding mode.
    • No LAG - This link is not part of a LAG.
  • Physical link count per individual leaf, and Link speed) - Number of links from each generic system to each leaf and their speed. If using dual leaf switches, this number should be half of the total links attached to the generic system.
  • Tags - User-specified. Select tags from drop-down list generated from global catalog or create tags on-the-fly (which then become part of the global catalog). Useful for specifying generic systems as servers or external routers on nodes and links. Tags used in rack types are embedded, so any subsequent changes to tags in the global catalog do not affect the rack type.
Note:

You can also add generic systems to blueprints as a Day 2 operation. For more information, see Add Generic System.

Access Rack Types

From the left navigation menu, navigate to Design > Rack Types to go to rack types in the design (global) catalog. Click a rack type name to see its details. You can create, clone, edit, and delete rack types.

Create Rack Type

  1. From the left navigation menu, navigate to Design > Rack Type and click Create Rack Type.
  2. Enter a unique rack type name (17 characters or fewer).
  3. Enter a description (optional), then select a fabric connectivity design (L3 Clos, L3 Collapsed).
  4. Configure the panel as required for your design.
    • See rack type overview above for parameter details and the example below for a specific use case.
    • To clone or delete a logical link or generic system group within a rack type, click the Clone button or Delete button (top-right of section).

Example: Create Rack Type

This example shows how to create a rack type for a dual-connected L2 rack with two AOS-48x10+6x100-1 logical device leaf switches, each with 4-100 GbE spine links and forty-eight dual-connected 10 GbE generic systems.

  1. From the left navigation menu, navigate to Design > Rack Type and click Create Rack Type.
  2. Enter a unique name (RackType1 in this example), then select L3 Clos fabric connectivity design.
  3. In the Leafs section, enter a name (MyLeaf1 in this example) and select AOS-48x10+6x100-1 from the Leaf Logical Device drop-down list.
    Note:

    Instead of scrolling through the list in the Leaf Logical Device drop-down list you can start typing in the field to filter the list based on your input.
  4. Change the Links per spine to 2. Notice the Topology preview on the right side shows the first leaf.
  5. Click Add new leaf and enter a name for the second leaf (MyLeaf2 in this example), select AOS-48x10+6x100-1 from the Leaf Logical Device drop-down list, then change the Links per spine to 2. Notice the Topology preview on the right side now shows both leaf devices.
  6. Click Generic Systems, click Add new generic system group and enter a name (MySystemGroup1 in this example), change the Generic system count to 20, then select AOS-2x10-1 from the Logical Device drop-down list. Notice that the Topology preview changes as you configure the rack type.
  7. Click Add logical link, enter a name (MyLogicalLink1 in this example), select MyLeaf1 from the Switch drop-down list, select LACP (Active) for LAG Mode, then change Physical link count per leaf to 2.
  8. Click Add new generic system group, and enter a name (MySystemGroup2 in this example), change the Generic system count to 20, then from the Logical Device drop-down list, select AOS-2x10-1.
  9. Click Add logical link, enter a name (MyLogicalLink2 in this example), select MyLeaf2 from the Switch drop-down list, select LACP (Active) for LAG Mode then change Physical link count per leaf to 2.
  10. If you'd like to see a preview of the logical devices that you've configured in the rack type, click Logical Devices in the Preview section.
  11. Click Create to create the rack type in the global catalog and return to the table view.

Edit Rack Type in Global Catalog

Changes to rack types in the global catalog do not affect rack types that have been embedded into templates (or blueprints that were created from those templates). See the sections below for more information.

  1. To edit a rack type in the global catalog, either from the table view (Design > Rack Type) or the details view, click the Edit button for the rack type to edit.
  2. Make your changes.
  3. Click Update (bottom-right) to update the rack type in the global catalog and return to the table view.

Edit Rack Type in Template

If the intent is for a template to use a modified rack type, then after editing the rack type in the global catalog it must be imported into the template. For more information, see Update Rack Type in Rack Based Template on the Templates page (Design > Templates > Edit Template).

Edit Rack Type in Blueprint

You can edit rack types in active running blueprints. For more information, see Edit Rack (Blueprints > Staged > Physical > Racks).

Delete Rack Type

Deleting a rack type in the global catalog does not affect templates and blueprints that previously embedded that rack type. For information about deleting racks from blueprints, see Delete Rack (Blueprints > Staged > Physical > Racks).

  1. To delete a rack type in the global catalog, either from the table view (Design > Rack Type) or the details view, click the Delete button for the rack type to delete.
  2. Click Delete to delete the rack type and return to the table view.