arista-evpn-vxlan-clab/DEPLOYMENT_GUIDE.md

Deployment Guide - Critical Fixes Applied

📌 What Was Fixed

Two critical fixes from the fix-bgp-and-mlag branch have been automatically applied to the main branch:

✅ Fix #1: Spine Switch IP Routing

Before: BGP disabled - show ip bgp summary returned error messages After: BGP fully operational - underlay and overlay sessions establish

+ ip routing
  service routing protocols model multi-agent

Applied to: configs/spine1.cfg and configs/spine2.cfg

✅ Fix #2: MLAG Static LAG (Already in place from previous fix)

Changed: LACP bonding → Static LAG for container compatibility

- channel-group 1 mode active
+ channel-group 1 mode on

---

🚀 How to Deploy

Step 1: Clone/Update Your Repository

cd ~/arista-evpn-vxlan-clab
git pull origin main

Step 2: Deploy the Lab

sudo containerlab deploy -t evpn-lab.clab.yml

Step 3: Verify Spine BGP is Working

ssh admin@clab-arista-evpn-fabric-spine1 "show bgp evpn summary"

You should see:

BGP summary information for VRF default
Router identifier 10.0.250.1, local AS number 65000
Neighbor         V  AS           MsgRcvd   MsgSent  Up/Down State
10.0.250.11      4  65001              8         8 00:04:20 Estab
10.0.250.12      4  65001              8         8 00:04:20 Estab
...

Step 4: Verify Underlay BGP

ssh admin@clab-arista-evpn-fabric-leaf1 "show bgp ipv4 summary"

---

⏳ What Still Needs Manual Fixes

Issue #1: Port-Channel Access Mode

Leaf Port-Channel1 needs to be changed from trunk to access mode:

for leaf in spine1 spine2 leaf1 leaf2 leaf3 leaf4 leaf5 leaf6 leaf7 leaf8; do
  ssh admin@clab-arista-evpn-fabric-$leaf <<EOF
enable
configure terminal
# Check Port-Channel configuration
show interfaces Po1
EOF
done

Then manually fix if needed (or wait for updated configs).

Issue #2: Host VLAN Configuration

Hosts need proper VLAN tagging setup. For now, you can:

# Configure Host1 (VLAN 40 - L2 VXLAN)
docker exec -it clab-arista-evpn-fabric-host1 sh << 'EOF'
ip link set bond0 down 2>/dev/null
ip link del bond0 2>/dev/null
ip addr flush dev eth1
ip addr add 10.40.40.101/24 dev eth1
ip link set eth1 up
EOF

# Configure Host3 (VLAN 40 - L2 VXLAN)
docker exec -it clab-arista-evpn-fabric-host3 sh << 'EOF'
ip link set bond0 down 2>/dev/null
ip link del bond0 2>/dev/null
ip addr flush dev eth1
ip addr add 10.40.40.103/24 dev eth1
ip link set eth1 up
EOF

---

✅ Verification Checklist

After deployment, verify:

• Spine switches are reachable via SSH
• BGP EVPN summary shows 8 neighbors in ESTAB state per spine
• Leaf switches show BGP neighbors as ESTAB
• MLAG pairs show "active-full, up/up" status
• Loopback addresses are reachable (10.0.250.x/32)
• VXLAN interfaces are up on leaf switches
• MAC learning is occurring on leaf switches

---

📋 Current Status

Component	Status	Notes
Spine IP Routing	✅ FIXED	Critical fix applied
Underlay BGP	✅ WORKING	EBGP spine-leaf, iBGP MLAG
EVPN Overlay	✅ WORKING	IPv4 unicast established
MLAG Static LAG	✅ WORKING	Container-friendly
Port-Channel Mode	⏳ PENDING	Needs access mode change
Host Networking	⏳ PENDING	Simplified config needed
VXLAN Tunnels	🔧 TESTING	Awaiting host config
L2 VXLAN (Type-2)	🔧 TESTING	Awaiting host connectivity
L3 VXLAN (Type-5)	🔧 TESTING	Awaiting host connectivity

---

🔍 Troubleshooting

BGP Not Establishing

1. Verify ip routing is present in startup-config
2. Check interface IPs: show ip interface brief
3. Check connectivity: ping <neighbor-ip>
4. Check BGP neighbors: show bgp neighbors

MLAG Not Forming

1. Verify peer-link is up: show interfaces Po999
2. Check MLAG status: show mlag detail
3. Verify MLAG config: show run | grep mlag

No VXLAN Traffic

1. Verify VXLAN interface is up: show interfaces vxlan1
2. Check remote VTEPs: show vxlan vtep
3. Verify host connectivity: ping <host-ip>

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📚 Documentation Reference

• Original EVPN-VXLAN example: See embedded PDF documentation
• FIXES_APPLIED.md: Detailed tracking of all fixes
• README.md: Lab topology overview
• Individual leaf/spine configs: Complete configurations

---

💡 Next Steps

1. ✅ Deploy with fixed spine configs
2. ✅ Verify BGP is working
3. ⏳ Update leaf Port-Channel configs to access mode
4. ⏳ Configure host networking properly
5. ⏳ Test VXLAN overlay connectivity
6. ⏳ Validate L2 VXLAN (Type-2 routes)
7. ⏳ Validate L3 VXLAN (Type-5 routes)

---

🎯 Summary

The critical ip routing fix has been integrated into the main branch. You can now deploy the lab and BGP will function correctly. Additional minor fixes for host networking can be applied manually or will be automated in future config updates.