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How to Configure Multiple Independent IGP Instances of IS-IS

SUMMARY Learn how to configure and run multiple instances of IS-IS on a router.

Configure Multiple IGP Instances of IS-IS

SUMMARY Learn about the benefits and get an overview of running multiple interior gateway protocol (IGP) instances of IS-IS on a router.

Benefits of Multi-Instance IS-IS

  • You can use multiple IGP instances of IS-IS to redistribute routes among independent IS-IS domains on a single router.
  • You can construct flexible IS-IS hierarchies across independent IGP domains.
  • Allows decoupling of multiple IS-IS flooding domains and therefore achieve a more scalable IS-IS deployment.
Figure 1: Multi-Instance IS-IS Deployment TopologyMulti-Instance IS-IS Deployment Topology

Figure 1 illustrates several benefits of configuring multiple IGP instances of IS-IS on the router. For example, Router F participates in two independent IS-IS instances. Router F treats IS-IS Aggregation Network-1 and IS-IS Core Network as two independent IGP domains, while at the same time redistributing routes between those domains. Network operators can use this flexibility to construct a hierarchy of IS-IS domains.

Figure 1 also illustrates the use of multiple IGP instances of IS-IS to separate metro networks into independent IS-IS flooding domains. In the example, routers D and E participate in the IS-IS metro-a, IS-IS metro-b, and IS-IS metro-c networks, as well as in IS-IS Aggregation Network-1. Routers D and E do not flood the different IS-IS domains with IS-IS advertisements. Instead they redistribute specific routes among the different IS-IS domains, which allows for more scalable metro deployments.

Multi-Instance IS-IS Overview

You can configure and run multiple independent IGP instances of IS-IS simultaneously on a router. These instances are associated with the default routing instance, and they install routes in the default routing table.Each IS-IS instance can also export the routes installed in the routing table by other IS-IS instances using the standard Junos OS routing policy configuration. By default, the routes installed by the different IS-IS instances have the same route preference.

Note:

Junos OS does not support configuring the same logical interface in multiple IGP instances of IS-IS.

In most deployment scenarios, only one IS-IS instance on a router installs a route for a given prefix. Therefore, you don't need to configure different route preferences for multiple IS-IS instances. However, for certain deployment scenarios where multiple IS-IS instances install the routes for the same prefix in the routing table, you can set a different route preference for the routes installed by other IS-IS instances. This allows the routing table to choose the routes with the best route preference and installs those routes in the forwarding table.

You can use the multiple IS-IS instance feature for both hierarchical and parallel deployments. In the case of hierarchical deployments, there are well-defined borders between the groups of routers participating in different IGP instances. In parallel deployments, different IGP instances (typically not more than two or three) span entire groups of routers. You can also have mixed deployments, with some domains in a hierarchical deployment running IGP instances in parallel.

You can configure multiple independent IGP instances of IS-IS by including the isis-instance configuration statement at the [edit protocols] hierarchy level. The configuration statements that you use at the [edit protocols isis-instance igp-instance-name] hierarchy level are the same as those available at the [edit protocols isis] hierarchy level.

Note:

The isis-instance configuration statement is not supported at the [edit routing-instances routing-instance-name protocols] hierarchy level.

Example: Configure Independent IS-IS Instances in Metro Flooding Domains

SUMMARY Use this example to learn how to configure independent metro flooding domains running multiple IGP instances of IS-IS.

Overview

This example shows how to configure and run multiple independent IGP instances of IS-IS in metro flooding domains.

Topology

Figure 2 shows an example of metro flooding domains (metro-a and metro-b) running independent IGP instances of IS-IS. In the topology, routers R3 and R4 participate in metro IS-IS domains (IS-IS metro-a and IS-IS metro-b) and the IS-IS core network domain. Routers R3 and R4 do not flood the different IS-IS domains with IS-IS advertisements. Instead they redistribute specific routes among the different IS-IS domains, which allows for a more scalable metro deployment.

Figure 2: Multi-Instance IS-IS Topology Across Independent Metro Flooding Domains (IGP Domains)Multi-Instance IS-IS Topology Across Independent Metro Flooding Domains (IGP Domains)

Requirements

This example uses the following hardware and software components:

  • MX Series routers
  • Junos OS Release 21.1R1 or later running on all devices
Note:

You must configure the network services mode as Enhanced IP. The Enhanced IP configuration ensures that the router uses enhanced mode capabilities.

After you configure the enhanced-ip statement and commit the configuration, the following warning message appears, prompting you to reboot the router:

The reboot brings up the FPCs on the router.

[See show chassis network-services.]

Configuration

To configure and run multiple IGP instances of IS-IS on the router, perform these tasks:

CLI Quick Configuration

To quickly configure this example, copy the following commands, paste them into a text file, remove any line breaks, change any details necessary to match your network configuration, and then copy and paste the commands into the CLI at the [edit] hierarchy level.

Device R1

Device R2

Device R3

Device R4

Device R5

Device R6

Configure R1

Step-by-Step Procedure

The following example requires you to navigate various levels in the configuration hierarchy. For information about navigating the CLI, see Using the CLI Editor in Configuration Mode in the CLI User Guide.

You can use the steps in this example to also configure the R2, R5, and R6 routers. See CLI Quick Configuration and Figure 2 to understand the interface IDs, IP addresses, and the loopback addresses used on these routers.

To configure R1:

  1. Configure the interfaces to enable IP (inet) and ISO family support.

  2. Create the loopback interface and configure the IP and NET addresses.

  3. Configure routing options to identify the router in the domain.

  4. Enable IS-IS on the interfaces.

Results

From configuration mode, confirm your configuration by entering the show interfaces, show routing-options, and show protocols commands. If the output does not display the intended configuration, repeat the instructions in this example to correct the configuration.

Configure R3

Step-by-Step Procedure

The following example requires you to navigate various levels in the configuration hierarchy. For information about navigating the CLI, see Using the CLI Editor in Configuration Mode in the CLI User Guide.

You can use the steps in this example to also configure the R4 router. See CLI Quick Configuration and Figure 2 to understand the interface IDs, IP addresses, and the loopback address used on the router.

To configure R3:

  1. Configure the interfaces connecting to R1, R2, and R5 to enable IP and ISO family support.

  2. Configure three subinterfaces (logical interfaces) connecting R3 and R4 (one IS-IS standard instance and two IS-IS metro instances (IS-IS metro-a and IS-IS metro-b)).

    Note:

    The standard IS-IS instance refers to the IS-IS IGP instance configured at the [edit protocols isis] hierarchy level.

  3. Create the loopback interface and configure the IP and NET addresses.

  4. Configure policies to redistribute loopback addresses of IS-IS metro-instance (IS-IS metro-a and IS-IS metro-b) and IS-IS standard-instance (core network) routers, so that the routes can be distributed across IS-IS domains as required.

    1. Configure policies to distribute the loopback address of R3.

    2. Configure policies to distribute the loopback addresses of the R5 and R6 routers (standard IS-IS instance).

    3. Configure policies to distribute the loopback addresses of R1 (IS-IS metro-a instance).

    4. Configure policies to distribute the loopback addresses of R2 (IS-IS metro-b instance).

  5. Enable IS-IS on the standard-instance interface (connecting R3 to R5) and on the subinterface (connecting R3 to R4).

  6. Configure IS-IS to export loopback addresses from IS-IS metro-a and IS-IS metro-b instances to the IS-IS standard instance. This configuration distributes specific routes instead of flooding the entire metro domain.

  7. Enable IS-IS on the IS-IS metro-b instance interface (connecting R3 to R2) and on the subinterface (R3 to R4).

  8. Configure IS-IS to export the loopback addresses of IS-IS metro-a and standard IS-IS instances to the IS-IS metro-b instance. This configuration distributes specific routes instead of flooding the entire standard IS-IS instances and metro-a domain instances.

  9. Enable IS-IS on the IS-IS metro-a instance interface (connecting R3 to R1) and on the subinterface (R3 to R4).

  10. Configure IS-IS to export the loopback addresses of IS-IS metro-b and standard IS-IS instances to the IS-IS metro-a instance. This configuration distributes specific routes instead of flooding the entire standard IS-IS instances and metro-b domain instances.

  11. Configure routing options to identify the router in the domain.

Results

From configuration mode, confirm your configuration by entering the show interfaces, show routing-options, and show protocols commands. If the output does not display the intended configuration, repeat the instructions in this example to correct the configuration.

Verification

To verify that the configuration is working properly, perform the following tasks:

Verify IS-IS Advertisements

Purpose

Verify the IS-IS advertisement entries in the IS-IS link-state database (LSDB), which contains data about PDU packets.

Action

From operational mode, run the show isis database level 2 command.

On R3

On R1

Meaning

This output on R3 illustrates that R3 sees the IS-IS advertisements from R4, R5, and R6 which is standard IS-IS instance. R3 also sees the IS-IS advertisements from R1 (IS-IS metro-a), R2 (IS-IS metro-b), and R4 (both IS-IS metro-a and IS-IS metro-b). Thus, you can see that R3 is a common router that redistributes IS-IS routes among the IS-IS metro-a instance, the IS-IS metro-b instance, and the standard IS-IS instance (core network).

The output on R1 illustrates that R1 sees the IS-IS advertisements only from R3 and R4. R1 does not see any IS-IS advertisements from R2. Thus, you see that IS-IS metro-a and IS-IS metro-b are separate IS-IS flooding domains. You can use this property to build more scalable networks.

Verify the Routing Table

Purpose

Verify the route entries in the routing table.

Action

From operational mode, run the show route table inet.0 route-destination address extensive command.

On R3

Meaning

The output illustrates that the loopback address of R1 (192.168.100.1) is mapped to the IS-IS metro-a instance (IS-IS-metro-a) and the loopback address of R2 (192.168.100.2) is mapped to the IS-IS metro-b instance (IS-IS-metro-b) as configured in R3.

Verify the Routes in the IS-IS Routing Table

Purpose

Verify the routes in the IS-IS routing table.

Action

From operational mode, run the show isis route command.

On R3

On R1

Meaning

The output on R3 shows the loopback addresses and the IS-IS instance mapping information of R1, R2, R4, R5, and R6.

The output on R1 shows the loopback addresses of R2, R3, R4, R5, and R6.

Verify IS-IS Interfaces

Purpose

Verify the status information about IS-IS-enabled interfaces.

Action

From operational mode, run the show isis interface command.

On R3

On R1

Meaning

The output shows the interfaces mapped to different IS-IS instances.