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APPENDIX: WAN Router Integration into the Fabric

In general, there are several possible ways to attach a WAN router to a campus fabric.

  • Using a L2 forwarding method:
    • The fabric uplinks are configured as ESI-LAGs and contain one or more tagged VLANs (one for each VRF) to communicate with the WAN router.
    • It is also necessary that you configure the IP address of the WAN router interface manually as the next-hop IP address for default-forwarding on each fabric VRF as already shown above.
    • The WAN router itself needs to understand standard IEEE 802.3ad LAG with active LACP.
    • If you have more than one WAN router attached for redundancy, it is advised to provide failover mechanisms between them for the interface IP addresses towards the fabric. VRRP is recommended.
    • Routes between fabric and WAN router are only statically configured.
  • Using an L3 forwarding method:
    • The fabric uplinks are configured as L3 peer-to-peer IP links.
    • Per fabric VRF, a peer-to-peer link needs to be established with the WAN router.
    • Usually, there are multiple peer-to-peer links on a single physical uplink. Those are further segmented using tagged VLANs to provide isolation on the uplinks.
    • There is no need to manually configure next hops for each VRF inside the fabric as it is assumed that the propagation of the default gateways will be obtained from the WAN router through a routing protocol.
    • Between the fabric and the WAN router, a routing protocol must be established to exchange routes.
    • The campus fabric supports exterior BGP and OSPF as routing protocols towards the WAN router.
Note:

The details of such integration are explained in the following JVD extension for all fabric types. We kept the explanations in this chapter brief because it’s better documented along with the backgrounds in the referred extension.

In our lab, we decided to go with L3 eBGP forwarding integration with the SRX WAN router. Before doing this, we reviewed the routing table for the corp-it VRF on the access1 switch, as shown below:

For our lab with one WAN router and three VRFs, the configurations can be reviewed from the figure below:

Figure 1: Fabric WAN Router Integration via eBGP A diagram of a network Description automatically generated

Below, you see the integration information again as a table for each peering to be configured.

Switch Switch AS VRF Service P2P IP Service IF WAN Router WAN Router P2P IP WAN Router AS WAN Router IF VLAN-ID
service1 64911 corp-it 10.255.224.1/31 xe-0/0/36.1099 wanrouter 10.255.224.0/31 64901 xe-0/0/16.1099 1099
service1 64911 developers 10.255.224.3/31 xe-0/0/36.1088 wanrouter 10.255.224.2/31 64901 xe-0/0/16.1088 1088
service1 64911 guest-wifi 10.255.224.5/31 xe-0/0/36.1033 wanrouter 10.255.224.4/31 64901 xe-0/0/16.1033 1033
service2 64911 corp-it 10.255.226.1/31 xe-0/0/36.1099 wanrouter 10.255.226.0/31 64901 xe-0/0/17.1099 1099
service2 64911 developers 10.255.226.3/31 xe-0/0/36.1088 wanrouter 10.255.226.2/31 64901 xe-0/0/17.1088 1088
service2 64911 guest-wifi 10.255.226.5/31 xe-0/0/36.1033 wanrouter 10.255.226.4/31 64901 xe-0/0/17.1033 1033

Configuration of service1 Block Switch for WAN Router Integration

We have a verbal description of what needs to be configured on this system here:

Here are screenshots after the configuration has been done:

Figure 2: service1 Additional IP Configuration A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

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Figure 4: service1 BGP Summary A screenshot of a login Description automatically generated

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Figure 5: service1 First BGP Peering Group A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

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Figure 6: service1 Second BGP Peering Group A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

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Figure 7: service1 Third BGP Peering Group A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

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Figure 8: service1 Routing Policy Summary A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

Configuration of service2 Block Switch for WAN Router Integration

We have a verbal description of what needs to be configured on this system here:

Here are screenshots after the configuration is done:

Figure 9: service2 Additional IP Configuration A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

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Figure 11: service2 BGP Summary A screenshot of a login Description automatically generated
Figure 12: service2 First BGP Peering Group A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

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Figure 13: service2 Second BGP Peering Group A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

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Figure 14: service2 Third BGP Peering Group A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

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Figure 15: service2 Third BGP Peering Group A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

Verification Between Service Block Switches and WAN-Router After Integration

Note:

This step assumes you have also configured the WAN-Router to bring up the BGP route exchanges.

Service1 Switch:

Service1 switch must have established BGP peering with all three peers and obtained a default route from WAN-Router for each of the three VRF’s.

Service2 Switch:

Service2 switch must have established BGP peering with all three peers and obtained a default route from WAN-Router for each of the three VRFs.

Note:

Remember that we have a simulated broken Link still between service2 and core2. That is what we lesser routes and bfd sessions.

WAN-Router:

Below we captured the BGP and BFD summary as well as the routes known to the device. Important here are:

  • Route 10.99.99.0/24 from overlay=VLAN1099 assigned to VRF=corp-it
  • Route 10.88.88.0/24 from overlay=VLAN1088 assigned to VRF=developers
  • Route 10.33.33.0/24 from overlay=VLAN1033 assigned to VRF=guest-wifi
  • Route 172.16.192.4to9/32 from overlay for DHCP-Relay usage.
Figure 16: access1 Overlay Loopbacks for DHCP-Relay A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

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Figure 17: access2 Overlay Loopbacks for DHCP-Relay A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

Review the below information

Fabric VRF Route Updates

Now that we exchange routes with the WAN-Router, all Access Switches should have default routes obtained via the service block switches. In our example we review VRF corp-it on access1 switch to see the difference between before and after WAN-Router integration.

Client Communication Verification Repeated

The final test now is to repeat the client communication verification that we have performed here: Wired Client Verification. In contrast we can now ping clients in other VRFs as the WAN router hair-pins this traffic, communication to Internet is now possible and we also can obtain DHCP-Leases.