Grouping Fabric Devices and Roles Using Device Functional Groups

Contrail Networking fabric management currently provides pre-defined node profiles to configure certain properties, such as supported routing-bridging roles, for a specified class of devices. Node profiles are defined on a per-vendor-family basis. Contrail Networking Release 1911 enables you to assign properties like OS version, and physical and routing-bridging roles to a user-defined group of devices using device functional groups (DFGs) instead of a grouping defined by node profiles. This is particularly useful in mixed mode where devices in a single fabric support multiple OS versions. These properties are applied while provisioning fabric devices using Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) or during device Return Material Authorization (RMA).

Contrail Command contains a set of predefined device functional groups. You can view existing groups in the Device Functional Groups tab of the Infrastructure > Fabrics page.

For the list of predefined device functional groups, see Table 1.

For more information on supported hardware platforms and routing-bridging roles, see Contrail Networking Supported Hardware Platforms and Associated Roles And Node Profiles.

You can also create custom device functional groups by clicking Create on the top right corner of the Infrastructure > Fabrics > Device Functional Groups page. Device functional groups are added in the fabric_ztp.yml file under Device Info used during fabric creation in the UI.

To group devices and assign properties using device functional groups, you must:

1. Create a new device functional group. Alternatively, you can use the predefined device functional groups.

   To create a new device functional group.

   1. Click Create on the Device Functional Groups tab of the Infrastructure > Fabrics page. The Create Device Functional Group page appears.

   2. Enter the required information. You can select a physical role, multiple routing-bridging roles, and the associated devices. You can also specify the required OS version.

   3. Click Create. The newly created device functional group is listed in the Device Functional Groups tab.

2. the device functional group in the Device Info YAML file used during fabric creation.

   To a device functional group.

   1. Click Create on the Fabrics tab of the Infrastructure > Fabrics page. The Select Provisioning Option page appears.

   2. Select the New Fabric option since device functional groups are supported only on greenfield deployments. The Create Fabric page appears.

   3. Edit the fabric_ztp.yml file under Device Info to add the device functional group. Add device_functional_group: '<>’ to the fabric_ztp.yml YAML file. For a sample YAML file, see Create a Fabric.

   4. Enter the required information as per the steps provided in the Create a Fabric topic and click Next. The Device discovery page is displayed.

   5. After you have completed the steps provided in the Discover a Device topic, click Next. The Assign the Roles page is displayed.

   6. The preassigned roles and device names from the previously defined device functional group is prepopulated and displayed. Click Autoconfigure to continue and complete the fabric creation process.

The device functional groups are used for image upgrade during ZTP, addition of new devices, and also during RMA.