ISR 4221 8 port NIM Card - doesn't support BDI?

[Brons2_]

Hello,

We have a number of ISR4221 routers in the field where we are using BDI mode to use ports that are built into the router as regular Ethernet ports, since these sites typically only have 1-2 workstations.  We bought some 8 port cards to put in one of the NIM slots but when we tried to configure it to add ports to our bridge domain per our past knowledge, the commands are literally not there.  I checked the reference at:  Understanding Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI) and Bridge Domain Interface (BDI) - Cisco

and the IOS-XE commands are exactly what we need to put the config that is on the built in ports gi0/0/0 and gi0/0/1 to ports on the NIM card gi0/1/0 though 0/1/7.  But when you go into config-if mode on the ports on the NIM card, the commands literally aren't there if you press question mark.

Do we have to upgrade the router software license to support this?

Super frustrating for just wanting to add a few workstations to a remote site.  But anyway.  

In case you were wondering, yes we need a 4xxx series router due to the routing requirements to get back to HQ, we're running VPLS through the telcom vendor.

[Giuseppe Larosa]

Hello @Brons2_ ,

the ports on the NIM are already L2 switchports you can associate them to a VLAN ( access ports)  or you can configure them as an 802.1Q trunk like on a stand-alone switch.

see for example the following thread

https://community.cisco.com/t5/routing/4221-router-l2-switching-nim-nim-es2-8-basic-q/m-p/4160865

and the mentioned

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/routers/access/interfaces/NIM/software/configuration/guide/4_8PortGENIM.html

So what you can do is to connect a built in port that is member of a bridge domain (with an associated L3  BVI interface) to a port in the NIM module. All ports in the same VLAN as the port where you have connected the built in port are actually additional ports in the bridge domain / VLAN.

Hope to help

Giuseppe