Arista EVPN-VXLAN ContainerLab

A production-ready Arista BGP EVPN-VXLAN data center fabric topology using ContainerLab and cEOS.

🎯 Overview

This lab demonstrates a complete EVPN-VXLAN data center fabric with:

• 2 Spine switches (BGP Route Reflectors)
• 8 Leaf switches forming 4 VTEPs (MLAG pairs)
• BGP EVPN overlay with L2/L3 VXLAN
• MLAG configuration for high availability
• Test hosts for validation

📐 Topology

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• ContainerLab installed
• Docker installed
• Arista cEOS image: ceos:4.35.0

Deploy the Lab

# Clone the repository
git clone https://gitea.arnodo.fr/Damien/arista-evpn-vxlan-clab.git
cd arista-evpn-vxlan-clab

# Deploy the topology
sudo containerlab deploy -t evpn-lab.clab.yml

# Check status
sudo containerlab inspect -t evpn-lab.clab.yml

Access Devices

# SSH to any device (password: admin)
ssh admin@clab-arista-evpn-fabric-leaf1

# Or use docker exec
docker exec -it clab-arista-evpn-fabric-leaf1 Cli

📋 Configuration Details

AS Numbers

• Spine: AS 65000
• VTEP1 (Leaf1/2): AS 65001
• VTEP2 (Leaf3/4): AS 65002
• VTEP3 (Leaf5/6): AS 65003
• VTEP4 (Leaf7/8): AS 65004

IP Addressing

Management Network

• Subnet: 172.16.0.0/24
• Spine1: 172.16.0.1
• Spine2: 172.16.0.2
• Leaf1-8: 172.16.0.25-32

Loopback Interfaces

• Router-ID Loopbacks (Lo0): 10.0.250.0/24

  • Spine1: 10.0.250.1/32
  • Spine2: 10.0.250.2/32
  • Leaf1-8: 10.0.250.11-18/32

• VTEP Loopbacks (Lo1): 10.0.255.0/24

  • VTEP1: 10.0.255.11/32
  • VTEP2: 10.0.255.12/32
  • VTEP3: 10.0.255.13/32
  • VTEP4: 10.0.255.14/32

Underlay P2P Links

• Spine1 to Leafs: 10.0.1.0/31, 10.0.1.2/31, ... 10.0.1.14/31
• Spine2 to Leafs: 10.0.2.0/31, 10.0.2.2/31, ... 10.0.2.14/31
• MLAG iBGP peering: 10.0.3.0/31, 10.0.3.2/31, 10.0.3.4/31, 10.0.3.6/31

Host Network Addressing

Host	VLAN	VRF	IP Address	Gateway	Type
host1	40	default	10.40.40.101/24	-	L2 VXLAN
host2	34	gold	10.34.34.102/24	10.34.34.1	L3 VXLAN
host3	40	default	10.40.40.103/24	-	L2 VXLAN
host4	78	gold	10.78.78.104/24	10.78.78.1	L3 VXLAN

Notes:

• Host1 and Host3 are in VLAN 40 (L2 VXLAN only) and can communicate at Layer 2
• Host2 and Host4 are in VRF "gold" with different subnets, communicating via EVPN Type-5 routes (L3 VXLAN)
• All hosts use LACP bonding (802.3ad) with dual-homing to MLAG leaf pairs

VXLAN Network Identifiers (VNI)

L2 VNI (VLAN to VNI Mapping)

VLAN	Description	VNI	VTEPs	Route Target	Route Distinguisher
40	test-l2-vxlan	110040	VTEP1, VTEP3 (Leaf1/2, Leaf5/6)	40:110040	65001:110040, 65003:110040

L2 VNI Details:

• VLAN 40 is stretched across VTEP1 (Leaf1/2) and VTEP3 (Leaf5/6) for pure Layer 2 connectivity
• Hosts in VLAN 40 (host1 and host3) communicate at Layer 2 across the EVPN fabric
• EVPN Type-2 (MAC/IP) routes are used for MAC address learning and distribution

L3 VNI (VRF to VNI Mapping)

VRF	Description	VNI	VTEPs	Route Target	VLANs
gold	L3 VRF for inter-subnet routing	100001	VTEP2, VTEP4 (Leaf3/4, Leaf7/8)	1:100001	34, 78

L3 VNI Details:

• VRF "gold" uses VNI 100001 for Layer 3 VXLAN routing between different subnets
• VLAN 34 (10.34.34.0/24) on VTEP2 and VLAN 78 (10.78.78.0/24) on VTEP4 are both in VRF gold
• EVPN Type-5 (IP Prefix) routes are used for inter-subnet routing
• Each VTEP advertises its local subnets via EVPN, enabling routed connectivity between host2 and host4

VNI Summary

VNI Type	VNI	Purpose	EVPN Route Type
L2 VNI	110040	Layer 2 extension for VLAN 40	Type-2 (MAC/IP)
L3 VNI	100001	Layer 3 routing for VRF gold	Type-5 (IP Prefix)

Features Implemented

✅ Underlay

• BGP IPv4 Unicast
• ECMP with 4 paths
• eBGP between Spine-Leaf
• iBGP between MLAG pairs

✅ Overlay

• BGP EVPN address family
• VXLAN data plane
• EVPN Type-2 (MAC/IP routes)
• EVPN Type-5 (IP Prefix routes)

✅ High Availability

• MLAG dual-homing
• Dual-active detection
• Anycast VTEP gateway

🧪 Testing & Validation

Verify BGP EVPN Neighbors

# On any spine
show bgp evpn summary

# On any leaf
show bgp evpn summary

Verify VXLAN

# Check VXLAN interface
show interface vxlan1

# Check remote VTEPs
show vxlan vtep

# Check VXLAN address table
show vxlan address-table

Verify MLAG

# Check MLAG status
show mlag

# Check MLAG interfaces
show mlag interfaces

Test Connectivity

L2 VXLAN Testing (VLAN 40)

Test Layer 2 connectivity between host1 and host3 across the EVPN fabric:

# From host1 to host3 (same VLAN 40, different VTEPs)
docker exec -it clab-arista-evpn-fabric-host1 ping -c 4 10.40.40.103

# Check host1 interface
docker exec -it clab-arista-evpn-fabric-host1 ip addr show bond0

# From host3 to host1
docker exec -it clab-arista-evpn-fabric-host3 ping -c 4 10.40.40.101

L3 VXLAN Testing (VRF gold)

Test Layer 3 connectivity between host2 and host4 in VRF "gold":

# From host2 to host4 (different subnets via EVPN Type-5)
docker exec -it clab-arista-evpn-fabric-host2 ping -c 4 10.78.78.104

# From host4 to host2
docker exec -it clab-arista-evpn-fabric-host4 ping -c 4 10.34.34.102

# Check routing table on hosts
docker exec -it clab-arista-evpn-fabric-host2 ip route
docker exec -it clab-arista-evpn-fabric-host4 ip route

Verify EVPN Routes on Switches

# Check EVPN Type-2 routes (MAC/IP) - for VLAN 40
ssh admin@clab-arista-evpn-fabric-leaf1
show bgp evpn route-type mac-ip

# Check EVPN Type-5 routes (IP Prefix) - for VRF gold
ssh admin@clab-arista-evpn-fabric-leaf3
show bgp evpn route-type ip-prefix ipv4

# Verify VXLAN learned MACs
show vxlan address-table

# Check MAC addresses learned via EVPN
show mac address-table

📁 Repository Structure

arista-evpn-vxlan-clab/
├── README.md                    # This file
├── TROUBLESHOOTING.md           # Troubleshooting guide
├── END_TO_END_TESTING.md        # Testing procedures
├── evpn-lab.clab.yml            # ContainerLab topology
├── configs/                     # Device configurations
│   ├── spine1.cfg
│   ├── spine2.cfg
│   ├── leaf1.cfg
│   ├── leaf2.cfg
│   ├── leaf3.cfg
│   ├── leaf4.cfg
│   ├── leaf5.cfg
│   ├── leaf6.cfg
│   ├── leaf7.cfg
│   └── leaf8.cfg
└── hosts/                       # Host interface configurations
    ├── README.md
    ├── host1_interfaces
    ├── host2_interfaces
    ├── host3_interfaces
    └── host4_interfaces

🗑️ Cleanup

# Destroy the lab
sudo containerlab destroy -t evpn-lab.clab.yml

# Remove all related containers and networks
sudo containerlab destroy -t evpn-lab.clab.yml --cleanup

📚 References

• Original Configuration Guide
• Arista EOS Documentation
• ContainerLab Documentation
• RFC 7432 - BGP MPLS-Based Ethernet VPN
• RFC 8365 - A Network Virtualization Overlay Solution Using EVPN