Cumulus Linux Fundamentals, plus Ansible automation

Explore the open architecture of Cumulus Linux, its Linux-based networking, and the applications that run on switches, highlighting open ecosystem, hardware independence, and cost savings from open source.

Embrace open architecture in data center networking by using Cumulus Linux as the network operating system, enabling a choice of applications, operating systems, and hardware across vendors.

Open up your network with whitebox switching for flexible hardware, operating system, and application choices. Cumulus Linux breaks vendor lock-in, enabling multi-vendor ecosystems to install OS and applications you want.

Discover the disaggregation of networking components with Cumulus Linux, and learn to configure switches with Ansible while navigating the hardware compatibility list across vendors, CPU types, and 1g/10g/40g switches.

Explore how ONIE provides a single unified installer for all Cumulus hardware switches. Learn how boot loader, BIOS, and Pixie enable network installation of Cumulus Linux on standard switches.

Explore the cumulous Linux architecture and its core components to strengthen your understanding of cumulus Linux fundamentals.

Discover that Cumulus Linux is a native, open, Debian Wizzy based Linux distribution, delivering a full Linux environment on hardware switches with hardware acceleration.

Download a single binary package that expands to about 250 packages on a switch, including ten Cumulus-specific packages. Access main, add-on, testing, and Debian repositories for supported and experimental software.

Explore Debian packages on cumulous Linux through the community page, discover applications written by others, and learn that official support isn’t provided; some packages need specific libraries or Python versions.

Explore software partners and integrations with Cumulus Linux, including Quagga and Bird for routing, and automate switch configuration with Ansible, Puppet, Chef, and Salt Stack.

Explore Cumulus Linux architecture, where userspace configures routes and bridges, the kernel enforces them, and hardware offloads forwarding to Broadcom silicon for line-rate data plane performance.

Enable cumulus linux to receive switch feedback, including interface counters, drops, buffer overflows, crc errors, and hooks to forward traffic, send information to the switch, and extract hardware counters.

Learn to download and run Cumulus VX by logging into the Cumulus network, selecting the PVC version, and choosing an OVA or box image for VMware, VirtualBox, KVM, or Vagrant.

Explore Cumulus VX as a free, community-supported learning and testing platform for Cumulus Networks technologies. It supports VirtualBox, KVM, and VMware, is not production ready, and differs from the workbench.

Explore technical documentation and community support from the Cumulus Networks website and SINDA technical documentation, using the getting started guide to demo Cumulus vx with VirtualBox virtual machines.

Import the OVA image into VirtualBox, rename the first switch, reinitialize MAC addresses, and configure each VM with four adapters while enabling Genius three to use any adapters.

Build a cumulus linux topology by configuring devices as switches, changing symbols to ethernet switch, adding vox devices, and linking a PC to a switch and two switches.

Configure a basic Cumulus Linux network and explore a spine and leaf topology using Cumulus PVC resources, following labs in the Cumulus Linux course, starting with a smaller topology.

Set up the cumulus topology in virtual box and power on the switches and PCs. Observe that E0 is up on switch one, with no IPs yet as VMs boot.

Edit /etc/network/interfaces on Cumulus Linux to configure switchboard one and switchboard two ports with nano, then bring the interfaces up and verify VLAN connectivity.

Configure IP addressing on PCs and two Cumulus Linux switches, create a VLAN-aware bridge with ports on switch one and switch two, enable spanning-tree, and ensure ping connectivity.

Configure svi and ip addresses on switches to establish ip connectivity across devices, run ping tests to verify connectivity, and consider not placing pcs in the same vlan as switches.

Demonstrates creating vlan 100 and 200 across two switches, configuring bridge ports as access or trunk, and assigning ip interfaces for vlan 100 to enable cross-vlan pings via default gateways.

Install Cumulus Linux on a switch via the out-of-band management network, booting from an image hosted on a web server and retrieved over ethe0 with the ONIE installer.

Identify the essential components to install Cumulus Linux on a bare metal switch: the physical switch, a server for IP address allocation, and a web server hosting right binary image.

The switch boots, sends a dhp request for an ip, receives one and a url to the installer image, then downloads it via http and installs.

The switch contacts the web server to retrieve, download, and install the image on the local switch.

Onie intelligence enables model-specific image retrieval via a dhp configuration, using a default url and the only-installer file. Swap the symbolic link to update to cumulus linux releases without downtime.

Demonstrates installing ONIE on physical switches via console, automating network install from a web server with DHCP, rebooting to boot the new image, and returning to login prompt after reset.

Log into Cumulus Linux switches via ssl-enabled ssh after installation. Use the physical console at 115200 baud for initial messages, or ssh to the switch or bootloader.

Explore how default user accounts in Cumulus Linux grant the cumulus user pseudo access to run router level commands, with route privileges and logging for accountability.

Add a user named Student one, assign ID 1002, set a password, and grant sudo root access by adding the user to the sudo group via usermod.

License the switch with a bandwidth-based Cumulus Linux license to enable front panel ports and portable across models, then configure management with a static IP, time zone, and motd banner.

After installing the license, restart the switch process or reboot to enable the front panel ports, as the Broadcom A6 hardware abstraction layer checks the license at startup.

Cumulus Linux 2.5 introduces a simpler, single-line license hash usable across multiple switches. The old multi-line format will be deprecated; installation remains unchanged, and upgrades may warn; conversion is free.

this demo demonstrates installing a license on cumulus linux physical switches to enable switch ports, by fetching a license file from a server and restarting the switchd service.

Configure the switch's zero interface with a static IP by editing /etc/network/interfaces with vi or nano, set auto e0, address, and default gateway, then apply with ifreload -a.

Learn how Cumulus Linux uses a management MRF to place the switch's management interface in a separate routing table, effectively a VRF apart from the global table.

Learn how Cumulus Linux enables automation and scalability by automating the initial switch configuration with zero touch provisioning, DHCP, and automatic script execution on boot.

Automate the initial configuration of switches during the post-installation boot to boost efficiency and consistency. It enables scalable deployments across multiple switches.

Configure option 239 for automatic script provisioning; the switch downloads the script, verifies it with the Cumulus order provisioning value, then runs once and sets a complete flag.

Automate zero touch provisioning for initial switch setup, including hostname, time zone, and NTP, while installing a valid Cumulus Linux license and updating software.

Explains zero touch provisioning with ZTP scripts that prepare switches for automation tools like puppet agent and puppet master, enabling remote image install, license application, and self provisioning at scale.

Add the cumulous provision option to the subnet in the dhcpd.conf file and point to a web server hosting operating system image, script, and license file in the same directory.

This bash script enables zero touch provisioning of a Cumulus Linux switch by updating packages, installing the puppet agent, and applying the seal license from a web server.

Learn zero touch provisioning on Cumulus Linux by enabling the Cumulus provision option and specifying the ztp script location, then view the message of the day and interface dhcp settings.

Explore layer 2 features in this module of Cumulus Linux Fundamentals, plus Ansible automation. Identify the core layer 2 features highlighted in this module.

Learn to configure multiple network interfaces, including loopback interfaces, switch ports, bonds (lags/etherchannel) and bonders, and bridges in Cumulus Linux.

Explore whitebox switches, where vendors use identical hardware with different logos and similar port layouts, and 48 x 10 gig and 40 gig uplinks appear in the hardware compatibility list.

Examine port layouts across vendors, including front and back panel ports, serial console, and ethernet management ports, and learn about loopback, bridge, and bonded interfaces for aggregation.

Explore interfaces on Cumulus Linux switches, including the e0 management interface, the loopback interface, switch ports or front panel ports, VLAN bridges, and bonding (bond/lag) for aggregating physical links.

Explore the /etc/network/interfaces file to configure layer two and some layer three settings, including mtu, interface speeds, and ip addressing for network interfaces in cumulus linux fundamentals plus ansible automation.

Learn how to configure Cumulus Linux interfaces, including auto startup, interface naming for physical and logical ports, and inet types such as DHCP, lookback, or static.

Configure eth0 using dhcp by default, with option to use static by removing the dhcp line. Learn how UpDown two optimizes interface configuration, enabling IPv4/IPv6 and a separate management gateway.

Cumulus Linux uses a loop back interface and assigns multiple IP addresses; lo-1 and lo-2 commands map to the same lo interface, while an enhancement adds more loop back interfaces.

Configure physical switch ports by editing the ETSI network interfaces file and bringing interfaces up. Commit changes with ifreload -a to apply per-interface updates without disrupting all traffic.

Learn to define and activate switch port interfaces on Cumulus Linux, create a bonded LCP interface across two leaf switches, and verify connectivity with IP and log commands.

Configure a bond in Cumulus Linux to form a single logical interface by aggregating interfaces, enabling higher bandwidth, load balancing, and failover with LCP.

Configure a bond by designating physical interfaces as bond slaves and naming bond zero. Set LCP mode, failover frequency, minimum links, and layer 3+4 hash policy to suit hardware limits.

Inspect bond status with cat /proc/net/bonding/bond0 to view bond name, transmit policy, polling interval, and up or down status, plus both mac addresses for troubleshooting remote partner devices.

Configure bond zero with link aggregation control protocol across two physical switches, bonding two interfaces. Verify bond status and interface up state with ip link and net bonding output.

Explore the net show utility for Cumulus switches, a python-based troubleshooting tool that delivers concise bond status, speed, mtu, mode, and bond member details via net show commands.

Explore how Cumulus Linux implements a VLAN filtering bridge to support thousands of VLANs on a single bridge, replacing many bridges, with trunk ports tagged and access ports untagged.

Define a VLAN aware bridge in Cumulus Linux, enable VLAN aware mode, assign ports, and create VLANs 1–2000 with trunk ports carrying all VLANs and spanning tree enabled.

Enable spanning tree protocol on Cumulus Linux bridges to prevent bridge loops, since it is disabled by default. Use the bridge command to enable spanning tree on Cumulus Linux bridges.

Define a switch vlan interface (SVI) using dot notation, assign an IP address, and configure virtual router redundancy protocol on Cumulus Linux, noting it does not support HSP.

Configure 802.1q tagged interfaces to create a bridge that carries VLANs 100 and 200 over trunk ports, with native VLAN 1 and controlled VLAN permitting across the switch ports.

Prune switch port three to permit only vlan 200 on the trunk by configuring a vlan aware bridge and pruning the bridge vlans to 200.

Configure the bridge with untagged access ports on switch ports one and two, assigning VLANs 100 and 200 and enabling spanning tree, with results equivalent to Cisco configurations.

Enhance scalability by using port ranges, glob patterns, and regular expressions to define bridges and bonds, including breakout cables and 40 gig to 10 gig ports.

Learn how to view port state on a Cumulus Linux switch using ip link show for all interfaces or individual interfaces, and use ip addr show for IPv4 and IPv6.

Examine admin versus physical link state using ip link show outputs, illustrating interfaces that are up/up, up/down, or administratively shut down, and how admin state affects overall status.

Display bridge status with Cumulus Linux commands to view the bridge name, the bridge id, spanning trees, interfaces, and learned mac addresses, noting a 300-second default aging.

Display vlan allocation with the bridge and vlan show command to reveal tagged and untagged vlans on trunk ports, including switchboard examples of 100/200 tagged and 1 untagged.

Display stp bridge configuration using the bridge commands, view spanning tree information, timers, and per-port details, including designated ports, forwarding state, and bpd filtering status.

Compare traditional Linux bridges with VLAN aware bridges, showing multiple spanning trees and rapid spanning tree across VLANs, with BPDU on the native VLAN for scalability with many VLANs.

Use net show interface to inspect switch interfaces, trunk configurations, and native and tagged VLANs. The show command then summarizes IP, VLAN, and interface speeds.

Create a bridge named Bridge on two switches by adding switchboard three, five, and six on both. Enable untagged VLAN on VLAN 1 and verify layer two connectivity.

Configure a bridge to tag VLANs 100 and 200 on trunk ports by editing the bridge configuration, saving, restarting the bridge, and verifying with bridge vlan show and port associations.

Explore network troubleshooting in this module of Cumulus Linux fundamentals, plus Ansible automation. Get an overview of troubleshooting concepts and approaches.

Develop hands-on skills to monitor and troubleshoot a Cumulus Linux switch using multiple tools, within a course on Cumulus Linux fundamentals and Ansible automation.

Run ip -s link show to view interface statistics, revealing errors and drops such as CRC errors, missed errors, buffering errors, and receive and transmit errors beyond a simple summary.

Ethtool lets you query and control hardware settings on a device like switchboard one, printing current interface details, optics, link modes, speed, duplex, and statistics with -s and -m options.

Demonstrates using ethtool to troubleshoot physical Cumulus switches, displaying port-level statistics, multicast packets, and errors to diagnose discards and broadcasts.

lldp runs by default on cumulus linux switches, displaying directly connected neighbors, including hypervisors such as esx, with commands to view neighbor information.

Demonstrates how to view LLDP neighbors on a Cumulus Linux network, showing neighbor discovery with LDP details on switches and the management interface.

Explore how sensors monitor power, temperature, and fan speeds, and why sensor placement differences slow switch certification and hardware compatibility updates across manufacturers.

Demonstrates using sensors to view temperatures and settings on network switches, showing how to monitor the first switch and the temperature of the second switch.

Explore the cl-netstat feature to display, save, and compare interface counter statistics in a readable tabular format, enabling easier monitoring of drops over time.

Explore netstat options and learn to view outputs in a tabular format, showing packets received, transmitted, errors, and drops for interfaces such as bond zero or bridge aggregation.

Use netshow interface all to display interfaces and bridge topology. See lookback, ethernet zero, switchboard one and two, bridge membership, and IPv6 addresses via DHCP on management ethernet zero.

Demonstrate net show system to display switch information, highlighting installed components like the Broadcom chipset and how commands may fail when not installed.

Demonstrate bridge configuration by using the net show command to display interface bridge details, including the local bridge ID and root status in rapid spanning tree.

See how file generation may take time, then learn to send the completed file to cumulous support.

Ping verifies connectivity, and Cumulus Linux offers an option to test via a specified source interface, even when the management interface is on a different view in a virus scenario.

Trace a packet to a target to identify where routing fails, illustrated by a traceroute to google.com and presented alongside familiar vendor approaches like Cisco and ARRESTOR Juniper.

Explore ip route show to view the current routing table and default routes, and ip route get to trace the next hop for destinations.

Use tcpdump in Cumulus Linux to dump packets on bond zero from 10.3.3.1, capturing control plane traffic destined to switch, not data plane traffic; alternatives include span or Earthborn.

Explore arp -a to display the cache and arp -d to delete cache entries. The example shows three entries on switchboards 3, 4, and 1, with verification after deletion.

Explore traffic generation on Cumulus Linux with Malmaison from the Cumulus Linux repository to simulate diverse packet types between switches, or install iperf on the switch to test connectivity.

Generate a single export file containing the switch's diagnostic data, including call files, configurations, logs, and system info, for remote debugging, with automatic or manual seal support triggers.

Learn to generate a support file for a switch using pseudocode, mirroring a show tech output, and send it to Cumulus support for diagnostics.

Install a utility via a pseudo apt-get update on the switch. Use interface commands to view ports, identify a layer 2 trunk on port 3, and verify bond0 status.

Enable the platform watchdog to monitor switch health by updating dev watchdog file; 30-second interval, resets the switch if writes fail or interval is missed; configurations in ETSI watchdog file.

Explore log files in the far log directory to troubleshoot a Cumulus Linux switch, using the switch debug log for full process details and Quagga logs for routing protocols.

Review the PSU and fan status in the CIS log to monitor temperatures and hardware health. Use Esman CTL to assess fan status and supply issues on the switch.

Demonstrates using the pseudo decode eprom to reveal the vendor name, switch model, serial numbers, and other details.

Access free information, documentation, and support on the Cumulus Networks site by opening a support case. Learn to set up Cumulus Linux PVCs to simulate a network on your laptop.

Explore Quagga, the primary user-space method on Cumulus Linux switches for configuring and running BGP, OPF and static routing, and learn to set up and troubleshoot it.

Explore cumulus linux fundamentals with quagga, an open source routing suite mirroring Cisco IOS for configuring routing protocols such as BGP, OSPF, and ISIS.

Explore the cumulus linux architecture, detailing how zebra and xebra program IPv4 and IPv6 routes from BGP and OSPF into the kernel routing table and forward information base.

Learn to configure quagga via the command line interface on Cumulus Linux, using the CLI to manage quagga routing.

Enable routing protocols by editing the ETSI Khwaja Demons file, enable Zebra (the control plane) and select BGP and OPF, then restart the quagga service to bring routing protocols online.

Use the pseudo service quagga restart command to restart a single routing protocol process, such as BGP or EPF, instead of restarting the entire quagga suite.

Explore how ASICs and their TKM space determine switch routing, with 32000 IPv4 routes and 16000 IPv6 routes, and how the chipset determines hardware limits.

Configure quagga via cli with Cisco IOS-like commands; enter configure terminal for global-config, then interface mode to configure a port, and router ospf to configure ospf routing, noting modal contexts.

Learn how to use the question mark for command and parameter help in Cumulus Linux, with examples for interface configuration, IP options, and BGP options.

View the routing table with the show ip route command on cumulus, noting differences from other vendors and how quagga handles static routes and administrative distance.

Show running-config reveals the quagga running configuration. Write memory saves changes to the quagga file, and automation works by pushing a file and restarting the quagga service to reload it.

Configure quagga via the non-modal Seelie CLI by issuing single commands from the seal prompt with vte -C, in order: configure terminal, router ospf, area; verify with show ip route.

Compare vtysh modal mode with non-modal CLI in Cumulus Linux, showing how non-modal commands enable automation of BGP, route advertisement, and network configuration without strict mode or command order.

Explore configuration persistency with command line practices, distinguishing non persistent configurations. Be aware that modal and non modal commands are active, and right memory enables writing persistent configurations.

Explore how to use tab completion and the list command to view options, retrieve BGP neighbor information with show equivalents for OPF, and access outputs from the VTI shell.

Compare running-config viewing methods by using the show running-config command or the pseudo shell, then verify equivalent information with the ETSI quagga.conf file, noting changes aren't saved automatically.

Debug quagga via NHL or command line using CLB debug set and clear. Logs are written to files and can be tailed in real time, with background execution.

Use the zebra log to debug problems with the rip and troubleshoot kernel push issues, including rut not being installed in the writing information base.

Demonstrates configuring static IP addresses on loop back zero, bond zero, and bridges on two switches, enabling OSPF in area zero with Quagga, and verifying routing by pinging bridge interfaces.

Enable zebra on cumulus linux switches, then configure ospf with network statements, area zero, and redistribute connected; verify using show run, show ip neighbor, and pings.

Explore automation using devops tools and gain a basic understanding of agentless versus agent-based tools, push versus pull methodologies, and tools such as Ansible and Puppet.

Explore deeper automation techniques for Cumulus Linux fundamentals, building on basic automation and zero touch provisioning to automate the switch initial configuration, including Quagga interfaces, from start to finish.

Drive the network from a single management station using infrastructure as code and templated configurations, enabling rapid, repeatable deployments and automated testing across multiple devices.

Automate network tasks with Cumulus automation to configure ETSI interfaces, IP addressing, Quagga routing, MOTD updates, DNS and NTP, enabling programmatic changes across multiple switches and rerouting on failures.

Explore two network automation methodologies: agentless, via push-based configurations over ssh, and agent-based, deploying an on-switch agent (Puppet or Ansible) to the control server.

Compare push and pull configuration methods for switches, using Ansible's push to push files for immediate execution, versus Puppet pull with agents that fetch changes every 30 minutes.

Compare popular automation tools, highlighting Ansible's push, agentless model, and how modules and playbooks differ across Chef, Puppet, and SaltStack, including app stores Galaxy, Supermarket, Forge, and Formulas.

Automate zero touch provisioning by downloading and running a script that installs Ansible agent or SSA public keys on every switch, enabling automatic login from the management station.

Explore an Ansible automation example on Ubuntu PVM, detailing installation methods, using shell commands to pull switch release, show IP BGP summary, with zero touch provisioning and SSL keys.

Update the ZTP script to automate ssh key deployment by fetching the authorized_keys file and placing it in the home directory, enabling passwordless access to the switch.

Explore Ansible configuration files, built in a tree structure. After installing, create a project directory, move into it, and start adding your Ansible files, including the basic configuration file.

Configure Ansible defaults by pointing inventory to a dedicated host file and loading Cumulus Learning modules from Ansible 1.9. Disable host key checking in the lab to simplify SSH connections.

Explain the Ansible hosts file structure with groups and hosts, using DNS names or IP addresses, and show how to target the leaf group with a playbook.

Explore ansible modules as the building blocks of automation, from core modules shipped with ansible to galaxy-installed extensions, and learn to use playbooks and task examples.

Use Ansible ad hoc commands or playbooks to automate tasks with a correctly configured host file, and run the command module to execute net show system on a remote switch.

Explore three levels of Ansible complexity—from ad hoc commands to single-file playbooks and multi-folder structures—and learn to use the template module with interfaces.j2 to generate a network config.

Demonstrates an Ansible simple interface description playbook that substitutes a lookback IP into a template, updates interfaces data, and restarts networking via a handler on Cumulus Linux.

Run an ansible playbook with the ansible-playbook command, gather switch facts via the setup module, render the networking template to /etc/network/interfaces, restart networking, and recap three changes with no failures.

Run an Ansible playbook to configure the lookback ip on multiple switches by editing the etsi network interfaces file, then verify changes and automate across 50 to 100 devices.

Implement multi-file playbooks to configure dynamic routing between switches using OPF Ansible. Structure the playbook with designated roles, tasks, and separate files for variables and handlers.

Scale Ansible playbooks by using a standard directory structure with default files, the default templates, and roles to organize tasks and variables.

Learn to organize an Ansible project with common and OPF roles, manage hosts and playbooks, and render templates to configure interfaces, quagga, and DNS across switches.

Learn the order of playbook execution, starting with the common role and its tasks, then rendering templates with variables and pushing the configuration to the switch.

Explore a top level ansible playbook that runs leaf switches as root, applying common and numbered roles with a shared handlers file to restart networking, quagga, a.p., and ldp.

Configure interfaces, bonds, and bridges with Ansible using a variables file and templates, defining loopback and bond IPs, and rendering bridge VLANs 100 and 200 across leaf switches.

Run an ansible playbook to gather facts from leaf devices, license the switch, and configure the ETSI network interfaces file, with a color-coded recap showing reachable, changed, or unreachable tasks.

Access reference materials and official docs, and download all course examples from the Cumulous GitHub site to get started. The lecture also demonstrates Puppet and SIFF.

Watch Ansible automate configuration of two Cumulus Linux switches, including bond interfaces and bridges, with IP addresses and Quagga routing for quick, repeatable network setups.

Install and configure Ansible on Linux, install Cumulus modules from Ansible Galaxy, and enable zero touch provisioning to provision two Cumulus switches with a script hosted on a web server.

Clone a github directory, use the main playbook.yml to configure two leaf switches with bonds, bridges, svi, and ip addresses, then verify via ad-hoc ping and ospf neighbors.