MPLS on Nexus 7000

[aviyoshi10]

Hi All,

i wanted to know if i can and when i will be able to run the nexus 7000 as a Fully MPLS PE router (L2VPN, L3VPN etc..) ?

the interfeces need to be 10Gbps so i need to use the 8 ports & the 32 ports M1 modules.

thanks,

Avi.

[Giuseppe Larosa]

Hello Avi,

the Nexus 7000 is a data center switch that doesn't support MPLS and that comes in two flavors:

L2 only

or L2 + L3 features

see

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/iosswrel/ps9494/ps9372/data_sheet_c78-437306_ps9402_Products_Data_Sheet.html

I may be wrong but I would not expect that it will achieve PE role in the near future.

If you need to perform PE role on 10GE ports, you should think of C7600 or 12000 with IOS XR but they haven't port density of 32 ports per linecard

Hope to help

Giuseppe

[ma4d]

We are interested in using our existing data center 7k as a PE as well.

It seems that Cisco wants you to think that the Nexus 7000 supports MPLS, but it doesn't yet.  Maybe it is coming soon?  The Nexus best practices guide even lists "Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS MPLS Configuration Guide" with all of the other guides like QoS and multicast, but I was not able to find the MPLS guide anywhere even though the others are available.  Cisco says MPLS is in 5.x, but doesn't say what the "x" is or will be.

More from the Nexus 7000 docs:
Multiprotocol Label Switching

Deploy Highly Secure Segmentation

With Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches, you get a comprehensive network-consolidation and virtualization feature set, with features such as:

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Layer 3 VPN
Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV)
Virtual Route Forwarding (VRF)
Virtual device context (VDC)
VLANs
MPLS provides enterprises and service providers another option for deploying highly secure segmentation over a consolidated network, enabling a cloud ready network infrastructure.

Highlights

Highly secure segmentation: Design flexibility with comprehensive MPLS Layer 3 VPN functionality
High availability: Modular Cisco NX-OS Software resiliency, including hitless In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU)
Investment protection: Supported on shipping M-series modules by software update

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS): Cisco NX-OS supports a comprehensive set of MPLS features including label switching, Layer 3 VPNs, MPLS Traffic Engineering with Fast Reroute (FRR), Multicast VPNs for IPv4, and IP v6 provider edge (6PE) and IPv6 VPN provider edge (6VPE). These features interoperate with Cisco IOS Software. These features provide the foundation for network consolidation and centralization of services and policy control for a securely segmented network fabric, enabling reduced capital expenditures (CapEx) and operating expenses (OpEx) for IT managers.

[paolo bevilacqua]

If the documenation has been released, the code exists, and some guys are already doing "beta" - typically in production

This said I would look more to the ASR as MPLS node.

[Giuseppe Larosa]

Hello Mad,

I have expressed my opinion some mounths ago on this platform, but I may be wrong as I'm not part of Cisco and not part of the Nexus Business Unit.

Up to now Nexus have provided high density of 10GE ports

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9402/products_installation_and_configuration_guides_list.html

we don't see any MPLS configuration guide here as you noted

OTV is based on IS-IS, and fabric path is a proprietary mechanism that is partially covered in some new standards.

L3 features are added with additional cards, the basic package is L2 only.

Clearly support of MPLS is requested by customers to setup DC replications but it is not seen up to now.

Current designs see C7600 or better like GSR  on the top to provide MPLS features.

Hope to help

Giuseppe

[vng]

Avi:

Yes, N7K / NX-OS will start supporting MPLS in upcoming 5.2 release.

NX-OS will support MPLS in phases, 1st phase in 5.2, here are the MPLS features supported:

MPLS
o   LDP
o   L3VPN
o   MVPN
o   TE (FRR is only supported on XL modules)
o   6PE/6VPE
o   MPLS OAM
o   QoS

Only M1 modules can be used for MPLS.

Hope this help.

Vin

[mkorourke]

Hi Vin,

Do you know if plans exist for VPLS support? In the context of multiple data centers OTV seems great yet scalability (128 vlans?) and use for multi-tenant data centers seems limited.

Mick

[Ivan Krimmel]

Hi,

yes, VPLS will be there in so called Phase II release. Keep anticipating! :)

HTH,

Ivan.

[szehnder]

Hi Ivan

What about Inter-AS MPLS? Obviously not Option A... ;-)

Regards

[Ivan Krimmel]

Hi Sam,

Happy New Year, thanks for the question :)

Inter-AS unicast support is on the edge of the radar, I mean there's no feasible date yet.

Regards,

Ivan.

[david.monaghan]

When is 'phase 2' and VPLS support scheduled for, anytime soon?

[Oleksandr Nesterov]

Hi David

This feature will be available quite soon.

I'd suggest you contact your local account team to describe business needs and get more info. I'm sure they will be glad to help you.

HTH,

Alex

[tiwang]

Hi out there

We have a similar problem - wasn't aware of that MPLS only was supported on M1 modules so we ordered 2 Nx7k with th 48 ports F2 module - so we have a problem now. I have heard that MPLS support on the F2 module is on the roadmap - but can somebody say if it comes and when?

best regards /ti

[Oleksandr Nesterov]

Hi

I would suggest you to reach your account team to get this information.

Regards,

Alex

[inderdeeps]

Hi All,

Check this..

MPLS is available soon on Nexus 7000

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps9402/at_a_glance_c45-647153.pdf

Regards

Inder