Nokia DataCenter [IPFabric] EVPN/VXLAN with SR Linux

Set up your Nokia SR Linux lab using container lab or Gns3, prepare prerequisites, configure SR Linux images with a YAML file, deploy containers, and access the CLI.

Explore the container lab homepage to learn setup options, installation methods, and images for Fortigate, Palo Alto, Juniper, Cisco, Arista, Nokia; access commands, labs, and quick start guidance.

Install container lab on Ubuntu server, including GPG key, apt repo, and docker components. Deploy a leaf-spine topology from a YAML file, access devices with shr cli and docker exec.

Learn how to use container lab on macOS with UTM, download and deploy a Debian-based lab image, configure CPU and memory, and deploy topologies with container lab deploy and Docker.

Learn to add a container lab image to VirtualBox, set up Ubuntu on Windows, create Scilab project files, write the container lab YAML, and deploy via container lab.

Install the Gns3 VM on M-series and Intel Macs using UTM, start the image, access the VM at 192168.64.9:80, and configure resources and preferences as needed.

Install Gns3 on a Windows PC, import the Gns3 VM via VMware, run the Gns3 client, create a test network with PCs and a switch, and verify connectivity with ping.

Import and configure the Nokia SR Linux image in GNS3 by creating a QEMU template, assigning RAM and CPUs, and wiring nine bridge interfaces.

Explore the Nokia SR Linux CLI, mastering running, candidate, and info modes, using set commands, diff checks, and commit workflows to configure interfaces, BGP, and routing tables.

Navigate the CLI to complete the initial setup. Configure the hostname and banners, assign a static management IP, create users, enable NTP, DNS, SSH, and FTP, then commit.

Configure and view Linux and Nokia syslog logs, including messages and buffers, using show system logging, with filters, rotation, and trace options for BGP and OSPF, and TCP dumps.

Explore Nokia SR Linux network instances, including ip vrf, mac vrf, and the default and management instances, with interface assignment and irb sharing across vrfs.

Configure L3 interfaces and subinterfaces on Nokia SHR Linux for EVPN-VXLAN, including loopback, system, IRB, and physical interfaces, with IP addresses and VRF network instances.

Explore L2 interfaces and VLAN tag disabled traffic on Nokia and Linux, where a bridge in a Mac VRF accepts all frames and travels unmodified across trunk and access ports.

Configure Nokia SR Linux to accept only untagged traffic on l2 interfaces, using untagged vlan encapsulation and a native vlan, dropping tagged frames and validating with native-to-native pings.

Demonstrates how a single tagged VLAN flows across access and trunk ports, with tag removal on ingress and tag addition on egress to connect hosts.

A single tagged VLAN range on Nokia SR Linux ingress accepts only VLANs 10–14. Frames are forwarded unmodified to the next hop and later stripped at the destination access port.

Demonstrate L2 interfaces with tagged VLAN any on Nokia SR Linux, showing ingress and egress without frame modification and trunk and access VLAN configuration across VLANs 30, 14, and 40.

Understand how IRB interfaces act as logical inter-subnet routers for inter VRF routing, using mac vref and IPv4 instances, and implement a router on a stick with IRB subinterfaces.

Understand Nokia Linux ACL filters as stateless controls for permit or drop traffic. Apply input or output ACL on interfaces and note version 24 differences.

Compare traditional architectures with IP fabric, highlighting scalable, multi-tenant design using underlay and overlay. EVPN over VXLAN, with BGP/OSPF/IS-IS control, enables fast convergence and large vlan scales.

Understand the underlay in a Nokia IPFabric data center, including how system zero addresses are shared, vxlan transport is carried, and dynamic routing connects leaf and border leaf devices.

Configure the Nokia data center underlay by setting ip interfaces for border leafs and hosts, enable underlay bgp with export/import policies, and propagate system zero interfaces.

Explore how the overlay builds a network on the underlay, using iBGP/MP-BGP to exchange EVPN MAC, IP, and ESI routes, with EVPN as the overlay control plane for VXLAN tunnels.

Configure the overlay using bgp, create an overlay bgp group, enable evpn, and add neighbors with local addresses to establish evpn sessions.

Learn how vxlan encapsulates layer 2 frames in layer 3 udp packets to extend data center networks, enabling multi-tenant separation with 24-bit vni and vtep endpoints, and evpn integration.

Learn how vxlan flood and learn works without an evpn control plane, including underlay routing, vni 1011 and 333, multicast groups, and mac learning via arp.

Explore EVPN fundamentals, components, and route types, learn address learning and redundancy, and see how VXLAN-based EVPN over IP enables layer two and layer three VPNs with BGP.

Explore evpn components in vxlan deployments, including edge devices, leaf or provider edge routers, evpn domain, spines, underlay protocols, evpn instances, ethernet segments, esi values, and single- or multihomed configurations.

Discover evpn route types: type 1 ethernet discovery for esis and evis, type 2 mac ip advertisement, type 3 multicast, type 4 ethernet segment, and type 5 ip prefix routes.

Explore how EVPN learns and removes addresses using type one and type two routes, including mac and ip reachability, multihoming, withdrawals, and mac mobility.

Explore how EVPN type 3 and type 4 routes enable redundancy and loop prevention in SR Linux, using ingress replication to handle BUM traffic and designated forwarders for multihomed ESIs.

Explore evpn type 5 routes and their role in interval routing across multi-tenant vnis, enabling selective customer access to diverse resources and exporting routes to external networks with bgp.

Learn how layer2 evpn operates and how to configure it with vxlan, mac vrf, and vni across leafs, including mac address learning and BGP evpn routes via vtep endpoints.

Configure layer 2 evpn over vxlan, including trunk interfaces, vlan tagging, and vni/bgp evpn routing with route targets. Validate with host pings and mac bridge tables.

Explore layer 3 evpn asymmetric with irb gateways, mac vrf mirroring, vni-aligned vxlan tunnels, and ebgp evpn, illustrating routing, bridging, and l3 vrf architecture for data center fabric.

Configure a L3 EVPN with asymmetric IRB across leaves, building VLAN ten, VLAN 20, and VLAN 30 network instances with IRB and tunnel interfaces, and verify reachability with ping tests.

Learn how to configure layer 3 EVPN with symmetric IRB, MP-BGP EVPN, and VXLAN tunnels for efficient east-west data center routing across leaf switches.

Configure symmetric IRB in a Nokia IPFabric EVPN/VXLAN lab, clean up previous asymmetric settings, apply IRB interfaces to leaves, commit, and verify with pings, noting ARP handling may be required.

See how l3 evpn external communication connects the l3 vpn to the internet through a border leaf, using vxlan tunnels, ipv4 instances, irb interfaces, and bgp or static routes.

Configure and troubleshoot l3 evpn across border leaves and external Juniper routers, building underlay with bgp, establishing peering, and validating with pings and routing policies.