FABRICPATH FOR CCIE DC

We’re all cut from the same cloth, or in other words, fabric. It only makes sense that we connect with each
other in the most immediate way, with all lines of communication open and inviting. In this blog post I’ll be
looking at FabricPath, it’s purpose and how it pertains to the CCIE Data Center lab exam. I’ll also run through
a configuration, observing behaviors along the way. For those just looking for a sample config, a full config is
provided at the bottom of this post.

What is FabricPath and why use it?

FabricPath is Layer 2 routing, also known as MAC-in-MAC routing. This is achieved by running IS-IS protocol
in the L2 control plane, where it is responsible for building the topology and Shortest Path Tree (SPT).
Routing protocols for the win!

FabricPath was designed to overcome the limitation of Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP). What
limitations? Some that come to mind are poor convergence, unnecessary flooding and maintenance of full
CAM tables. Oh, and did I mention no ability for equal-cost multipathing (ECMP)?!

With FabricPath, we have the capability to actively forward on all links. If there is a failure on one of the links,
traffic will be redistributed across all the others. When traffic comes into the FabricPath domain, a single
lookup is performed to identify the switch closest to the destination, providing optimal flows.

Starting Topology
We will be using this topology for this walkthrough.

The above topology is STP-only.  Before we dive into the configuration, let’s check out the current VLAN
database and Spanning-Tree on N7K3. We’ll take a look at this again in a few minutes.

VLANs and Spanning-Tree

N7K3# show vlan

VLAN Name Status Ports

---- -------------------------------- --------- -------------------------------
1 default active Eth4/13, Eth4/14, Eth4/15
Eth4/16
40 VLAN0040 active Eth4/13, Eth4/14, Eth4/15
Eth4/16
50 VLAN0050 active Eth4/13, Eth4/14, Eth4/15
Eth4/16
60 VLAN0060 active Eth4/13, Eth4/14, Eth4/15
Eth4/16
70 VLAN0070 active Eth4/13, Eth4/14, Eth4/15
Eth4/16
80 VLAN0080 active Eth4/13, Eth4/14, Eth4/15
Eth4/16

VLAN Type Vlan-mode

---- ----- ----------
1 enet CE
40 enet CE
50 enet CE
60 enet CE
70 enet CE
80 enet CE

Remote SPAN VLANs

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Primary Secondary Type Ports
------- --------- --------------- -------------------------------------------

N7K3# show spanning-tree vlan 40,50

VLAN0040
Spanning tree enabled protocol rstp
Root ID Priority 24616
Address e8ed.f339.4f44
This bridge is the root
Hello Time 2 sec Max Age 20 sec Forward Delay 15 sec

Bridge ID Priority 24616 (priority 24576 sys-id-ext 40)

Address e8ed.f339.4f44
Hello Time 2 sec Max Age 20 sec Forward Delay 15 sec

Interface Role Sts Cost Prio.Nbr Type

---------------- ---- --- --------- -------- --------------------------------
Eth4/13 Desg FWD 2 128.525 P2p
Eth4/14 Desg FWD 2 128.526 P2p
Eth4/15 Desg FWD 2 128.527 Network P2p
Eth4/16 Desg FWD 2 128.528 Network P2p

VLAN0050
Spanning tree enabled protocol rstp
Root ID Priority 24626
Address e8ed.f339.4f44
This bridge is the root
Hello Time 2 sec Max Age 20 sec Forward Delay 15 sec

Bridge ID Priority 24626 (priority 24576 sys-id-ext 50)

Address e8ed.f339.4f44
Hello Time 2 sec Max Age 20 sec Forward Delay 15 sec

Interface Role Sts Cost Prio.Nbr Type

---------------- ---- --- --------- -------- --------------------------------
Eth4/13 Desg FWD 2 128.525 P2p
Eth4/14 Desg FWD 2 128.526 P2p
Eth4/15 Desg FWD 2 128.527 Network P2p
Eth4/16 Desg FWD 2 128.528 Network P2p

FabricPath Topology
 

Our end-goal will look like this, with FabricPath running between the N7Ks, and Classical Ethernet running to
the bottom two switches.