DELL CONTROLLER · BUILD

Dell controller: build a fabric from one place

So far you typed each switch’s lines yourself. A fabric controller holds what you want, and works out the lines. FC1 is such a controller: a RouteBuddy teaching page, not a Dell product. The fabric mixes SONiC and OS10 leaves, because it compiles per OS. Use the page (select FC1, then Open fabric controller) or its console. Compare the plan with what you typed in earlier labs, then deploy it, and download the files for real switches.

Dell Controller track · Dell OS10-style + Dell SONiC-style + Cisco switch · 5 objectives

Open in simulator More Dell Controller labs

Objectives

The simulator ticks each one as soon as the network meets it.

Name the fabric DC1, and add spines S1 and S2.
Add leaf pairs L1+L2 (AS 65001, VTEP 10.10.10.1, domain 1) and L3+L4 (AS 65002, VTEP 10.10.10.2, domain 2).
Add network VLAN 100 with VNI 10100 on all leaves, physical domain PHY1 from switch PHY1 on L1+L2 carrying VLAN 100, and host port L3 7 in VLAN 100.
Deploy: every switch gets its lines.
Ping PC3 (192.168.100.30) from PC1, on the classic switch.

Start this lab

Before you start

show plan L1 lists the lines for one switch before anything changes. The controller reads port numbers from the cabling, so a missing cable appears in show problems, naming the fix. Downloads hold no passwords.

Concept

A fabric controller: intent to configuration

A controller holds what you want: spines, leaf pairs, tenants, networks. It works out each switch’s lines from that intent and the cabling. Change the intent once, and every switch follows. Because it knows what each switch should have, it can also find drift: a change made directly on a switch.

Concept

A leaf-spine fabric on Dell switches

Every leaf connects to every spine, and no leaf connects to another leaf, so any two leaves are two hops apart over several equal paths. eBGP routes between loopbacks form the underlay, usually with one ASN per leaf pair. EVPN then runs on the same BGP sessions: VTEPs announce their VNIs and hosts, and tunnels form from those routes. SONiC can peer without link addresses: ipv6 enable and neighbor interface are enough.