Unified Wide Area Bonjour Solution integrating with Catalyst 9000s & DNAC
The enterprise networks are going through constant digital transformation, there’s an influx of devices that needs to be connected to each other and monitored continuously. The focus of an evolving infrastructure is to have operational simplicity with user centric applications. The IT administrator faces several challenges in large and complex enterprise networks to seamlessly introduce Bonjour technology that was originally designed to operate in a single Layer 2 broadcast domain. There is a constant need to introduce intent and policy-based networks to address new security and segmentation requirements. Enterprises face this continuous challenge to address the mDNS non-routable and flooding when deploying Bonjour solution at their layer 2 backbone infrastructure and across networks.
DNA Service for Bonjour – Solution Overview and Components
The Cisco Digital Network Architecture (DNA) Service for Bonjour solution is based on software-defined controller that enables network-wide distributed devices to advertise and discover Bonjour services across Layer 3 network boundaries-based policies. The key solution components are:
Cisco Service Peer
A Cisco Catalyst switch and Catalyst Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) in Layer 2 access function in Service Peer mode to support unicast-based communication with local attached endpoints and export service information to the upstream Cisco SDG agent in the distribution layer.
Cisco Service Discovery Gateway Agent
A Cisco Catalyst switch functions as an SDG agent and communicates with the Bonjour service endpoints or aggregates information from the downstream Cisco Service-Peer switch and WLC, and also exports information to the central Cisco DNA controller.
Endpoints
A Bonjour endpoint is any device that advertises or queries Bonjour services conforming to RFC 6762. The Bonjour endpoints can be in either LANs or WLANs. The Wide Area Bonjour application is designed to integrate with RFC 6762-compliant Bonjour services, including AirPlay, Google Chromecast, AirPrint, and so on.
Cisco DNA controller
The Cisco DNA controller provides a secure channel with trusted SDG agents, for centralized services management and controlled service routing.
DNA Controller - Wide Area Bonjour (WAB) Application
Cisco’s software defined cloud-based controller incubating the WAB application is the single source of truth for entire endpoint services and devices spread across the network
Evolution of DNA Service for Bonjour
DNA Service for Bonjour is the transformation of classic Bonjour, introducing end-to-end unicast service routing and removing mDNS flood across Bonjour solution domains. The DNA Service for Bonjour now has evolved to a multi-tier solution, adding enhancements at each integrated network tier. In the Local Area Domain, we have introduced the Service Peers which are mainly your L2 access switches interfacing northbound to your gateway and southbound to your Bonjour end points.
At Network level there was a defined boundary between Wired and Wireless devices, wired endpoints couldn’t discover or advertise to wireless endpoints and vice-versa. At Local Area, the introduction of Service Peer enables unicast based service routing, and this Service-Peer configuration is now introduced for even Wireless Controllers and Wired Switches deployed at layer 2 access level.
This finally enables service routing between wired and wireless endpoints located within the same network or spread across different networks.
The Cisco DNA Service for Bonjour supports a broad range of enterprise-grade networks. The end-to-end
unicast-based Bonjour service routing is supported on traditional, Cisco SD-Access, or BGP EVPN-enabled wired and wireless networks.
We have enabled service routing support in the emerging Overlay networks. In SD Access all the FABRIC EDGE devices are configured as Bonjour Service-Discovery gateways for local and wide area service routing. The underlying access nodes will be service peers enabling unicast based service routing at local area domains.
In BGP EVPN networks, the VTEPs are configured as Bonjour Service-Discovery gateways enabling wide area unicast service routing between VTEPS, and the underlying local network devices configured as Service peers enabling unicast service routing.
Classic Bonjour was known for its chattiness with mDNS messages flooding over local area domain and Bonjour’s mDNS being a non-routable protocol across wide area domain. The DNA Service for Bonjour has completely reimagined the classic Bonjour solution enabling complete unicast based service routing across both wide area and local area domains with multi-tier cache sync. The DNAC stitches the end-to-end network infrastructure and provides a platform through WAB Application to achieve template-based policing, zero touch configuration and a global connectivity and segmentation of Bonjour endpoints residing across the enterprise network.
Reference
DNA Service for Bonjour Landing page: https://www.cisco.com/go/dna/bonjour
Cisco Wide Area Bonjour Application on Cisco DNA Center User Guide: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/cloud-systems-management/network-automation-and-management/dna-center/1-3-1-0/user_guide/cisco_dna_service_for_bonjour/b_cisco-dna-service-for-bonjour_user_guide_2-1-1/m_about_cisco_dna-center_bonjour.html
DNA Service for Bonjour Configuration Guide: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst9300/software/release/17-3/configuration_guide/bonjour/b_173_bonjour_9300_cg/feature_history_for_dna_service_for_bonjour.html
