Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller - Cluster Build

[paul1202]

Hello,

We are deploying a VXLAN Fabric at 2 Sites and will use Multisite to connect them for streched VLANs.

The plan is to use virtual appliances for a distributed deployment with 2 Master nodes at site A and 1 Master and 1 Standby at site B. We will use an OOB network to mange the switches via their mgmt0 / OOB interfaces.

I have not been able to find any information on how we build the cluster across the 2 seperate sites with regards to IP addressing.

I know we need a different subnet for the management and data networks, but do the nodes at each site have to have a L2 path for each subnet either at the local site or across sites or can we use L3 i.e different management and data subnets within and across the sites?

I read about being able to use BGP on the interfaces. How would that look / work?

Is there a clear document / diagram that shows what the options are please?

Thanks in advance.

[bunjiega]

I had similar questions recently...not sure if this will help, but it cleared a few things up for me, maybe good enough for getting started...

First, most of the docs I've seen have a 4-node cluster whenever they talk about splitting the nodes up across sites. There's not a huge advantage splitting up a 3-Node cluster because 2 nodes must be active for the system to work. (if the site with 2 nodes goes down, the whole system is down)

This has some options with deployment designs:
- https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/dcn/whitepapers/cisco-nexus-dashboard-fabric-controller-deployment-guide.html#DeploymentModesandDesignforLANFabrics

These talk about using BGP when the ND nodes are L3 adjacent, basically using BGP to advertise the persistent IP addresses.
- https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/dcn/ndfc/1211/release-notes/cisco-ndfc-release-notes-1211.html#Layer3ReachabilitybetweenClusterNodes

- https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/dcn/nd/2x/user-guide-22/cisco-nexus-dashboard-user-guide-221/infrastructure_management.html#_persistent_ip_addresses

[Deepak Bansal]

You cant have multiple IPs for data and mgmt in ND cluster. You need to have to have communication between the ND cluster L2 preferred.I would say keep the ND data and mgmt out of your network like OOB. There is not correct document but this document clear lots of my doubt.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/dcn/ndfc/1212/installation/cisco-ndfc-install-and-upgrade-guide-1212/overview.html

Extend L2 between two site and run HSRP.