Vxlan_in_a_box

Inspired by NetDevOps Live I’m thinking if it is possible to build a VXLAN/EVPN network in my notebook so that I can test/code the network whenever/wherever Now, I can carry my vxlan network on the plane or in the submarine

youtube: https://youtu.be/GM7hpvsSFh8

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This project is to create two nx-osv instances and run vxlan between them. Connecting two linux guest system and they can connect together. ALL in a box (assuming you have at least 16GB (more is better) and descent CPU (mine is i7-8650U)

Use Case Description

While we learn Vxlan, we usually need two spine and two leaf and some hosts connecting to it. Usually a physical environment or VIRL is required. This lab can build a simplified Vxlan inside your notebook just using vagrant/virtualbox. You can test/learn some Vxlan features:

Underlay:

• Layer 3
• OSPF

Overlay:

• Anycast GW
• BGP
• L3VNI
• VRF
• RD & RT
• VTEP
• APR suppression

Technology used:

1. nx-osv v9.2.3 CUSTOMIZED box image
2. CVAC (Cisco Virtual Appliance Configuration) - Beginning with Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I5(2), Cisco Cisco Nexus 9000v supports the Cisco Virtual Appliance Configuration (CVAC). This out-of-band configuration mechanism is similar to the PowerOn Auto Provisioning (POAP) autoconfiguration, but instead of downloading the configuration across the network as POAP does, CVAC receives the configuration injected into the Cisco Cisco Nexus 9000v environment on a CD-ROM. The configuration is detected and applied at startup time.
3. vagrant
4. centos7 vagrant image
5. VritualBox on windows 10

Problem overcome:

1. NX-OSv doesn't require to reboot twice to accept the CVAC
2. NX-OSv doesn't vagrant up twice. Need to disable the auto-shared-folder, set the ssh.shell to "run bash" to avoid the issue that vagrant cannot recognize the nx-os shell. Thanks run bash!
3. Need to modify the nic promiscuous mode to "allow-vms" such that host can communicate to nx-osv ethernet port

Installation:

Pre-requisite:

1. Install Virtual Box
2. Install Vagrant
3. Download NX-OSv box image, Download from (https://software.cisco.com)
4. Download vagrant linux host eg centos/7 or ubuntu/xenial64

Installation steps:

1. Customized a NX-OSv box image

1. Vagrant up (use the box image download from CCO)
2. Modify the boot system image to the proper one (config)# boot system bootflash:///……
3. Copy run start
4. Vagrant halt -f
5. Vagrant package –output nxosv-new.box
6. Vagrant box add –name nxosv-new nxosv-new.box

2. Build a CVAC ISO for startup configuration file

By using a new box image, the CVAC works now. Reference link: NX-OSv Configuration The new image to build a vxlan_in_a_box with just vagrant up once.

Linux: mkisofs -output nxosconfig.iso -l --relaxed-filenames --iso-level 2 <file(s) to add>

Configuration

1. open a cmd prompt: "vagrant box list" to check the vx-osv box image and centos image are ready

      ### Example:
      -----------------------
      centos/7                        (virtualbox, 1811.02)
      nxosv/9.2.2-final               (virtualbox, 0)
   

2. Edit .\2_switches_cvac\Vagrant: Modify "node.vx.box" to boot the required nx-osv images

3. Edit .\centos7\Vagrant: Modify "node.vx.box" to boot the required centos7 image

Usage

Refer to the video

1. cd .\2_switches_cvac
2. open a cmd prompt: "vagrant up" and wait a few minutes to boot up two NX-OSv VM
3. cd .\centos7
4. open a cmd prompt: "vagrant up" and wait a few minutes to boot up two centos7 VM

How to test

Refer to the video

1. open a cmd prompt: "vagrant ssh n9k1" to check vxlan status
2. open a cmd prompt: "vagrant ssh n9k2" to check vxlan status
3. open a cmd prompt: "vagrant ssh host1" to do ping test to host2: "ping 192.168.0.12"

Known issues:

1. NX-OSv 9.2.3 required at least 6GB memroy instead of 4GB. 4GB wont bootup properly since v9.2.3
2. CVAC: CVAC won't work if you use the box image directly download from CCO, you have to follow the steps below to build a new box image in order to accept the CVAC

Getting help

If you have questions, concerns, bug reports, etc., please create an issue against this repository.

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Licensing info

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Credits and references

1. NetDevOps Live
2. Vagrant for Network Programmability