Cisco ACI Multi-Site LAB Configuration Guide

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• Create Date May 19, 2025
• Last Updated May 19, 2025

🔧 Purpose of the Lab

This lab demonstrates how to configure a Cisco ACI Multi-Site environment using:

• Multiple ACI fabrics
• Nexus Dashboard Orchestrator (NDO)
• Inter-Site Network (ISN)

It walks through onboarding fabrics, configuring routing protocols (OSPF, MP-BGP EVPN), and verifying inter-site connectivity.

🧠 Key Concepts & Components

1. Cisco ACI Multi-Site Architecture

• Each site is an independent ACI fabric with its own APIC cluster.
• Nexus Dashboard Orchestrator (NDO) centrally manages policies across sites.
• ISN (Inter-Site Network) connects the sites using Layer 3 routing.

2. Routing Protocols

• OSPF: Used between spine switches and ISN routers.
• MP-BGP EVPN: Used between spines across sites for control-plane communication.

🛠️ Configuration Steps

✅ 1. Prepare ACI Fabrics

• Assign unique BGP AS numbers.
• Configure VLAN pools, routed domains, AAEPs, and interface policies.
• Set up BGP Route Reflector on spines.

✅ 2. Onboard Fabrics to Nexus Dashboard

• Add each ACI fabric using APIC IP and credentials.
• Verify fabric inventory and health.

✅ 3. Manage Fabrics in NDO

• Change fabric state from “Unmanaged” to “Managed”.
• Assign Fabric IDs.

✅ 4. Configure Fabric-to-Fabric Connectivity

• Define OSPF and BGP parameters:
  • Overlay Unicast TEP (O-UTEP): For unicast VXLAN traffic.
  • Overlay Multicast TEP (O-MTEP): For BUM traffic.
  • EVPN Router ID: For BGP EVPN peering.
• Configure spine interfaces with sub-interfaces (VLAN 4) for ISN connectivity.
• Enable OSPF and BGP peering.

✅ 5. Configure ISN Router

• Enable LLDP, OSPF.
• Create sub-interfaces with VLAN 4.
• Assign IPs and OSPF settings.
• Ensure OSPF neighbors are up with spines.

🔍 Verification Steps

🔄 OSPF Peering

• Use show ip ospf neighbor on spines and ISN to confirm adjacency.

🔄 BGP EVPN Peering

• Use show bgp l2vpn evpn summary to verify MP-BGP EVPN sessions.

🔄 Overlay Interface Status

• Check loopback interfaces for O-UTEP, O-MTEP, and EVPN Router-ID.

🔄 Route Propagation

• Confirm route advertisement and redistribution from OSPF to ISIS.

📊 Outcome

• Successful inter-site connectivity is indicated by:
  • Green line in NDO Global View.
  • BGP EVPN and OSPF peering status “Up”.
  • Verified route propagation across fabrics.