Configuring the 3rd APIC - Seperate POD

[Yannick Vranckx]

Hello Guys,

I'm in the process of setting up a Multi-Pod environment with ACI. Everything is going well, except for the 3rd APIC.

I'm a bit unclear on what to put into the script. I 'm configuring it from the 2nd POD, so do i just copy the information from the other APIC which live in a different pod or do i adjust.

So that means that i put pod2 in the pod identifier and a different TEP address range?

[Nik Noltenius]

Hi,

the POD ID needs to be adjusted but the VTEP pool is the same as for POD1 since the APIC will need an infrastructure address from that pool to communicate with the other controllers.

You can kind of confirm it here: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/aci/apic/sw/2-x/L3_config/b_Cisco_APIC_Layer_3_Configuration_Guide/b_Cisco_APIC_Layer_3_Configuration_Guide_chapter_010011.html

At the very bottom of the page at step 4 it notes "Do not modify the TEP Pool address information."

Different VTEP pools for different pods are configured in the GUI afterwards (or before, doesn't really matter) under Fabric > Inventory > Pod Fabric Setup Policy > Setup Pod

So basically you can copy everything from the other APIC except POD ID, Node ID and Mgmt-Address.

Regards,
Nik

[Yannick Vranckx]

Hello,

Thanks for the assistance.

I've wiped the APIC clean and adapted the script, now it's still not joining. I did notice from a acidiag avread that the software version of this APIC is different then the other 2 that are already in the fabric.

So I'm guessing I'll have to upgrade the APIC before I can join it into the fabric? Can I upgrade the APIC via the CIMC of the Cisco UCS?

[Nik Noltenius]

I believe it's possible, even though I've never done it.

The basic steps should be the same as for an CIMC Upgrade, so you can probably follow this guide:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/t5/data-center-documents/apic-cimc-upgrade-procedure/ta-p/3216002

However I think it's even easier to bring up a single-APIC-no-nodes fabric with this controller, do the upgrade via GUI, wipe it clear again and then let it join the original cluster.

[Yannick Vranckx]

Thanks,

That last sentence really got me :)

I have never thought about doing that, but yes. That would make it a lot less tedious.