The network used in this guide is configured using SmartFabric Services (SFS) automation. SFS is included with SmartFabric OS10. With SFS, you can easily deploy and automate data center networking fabrics. SFS automatically builds an L3 leaf-spine fabric which accelerates time to production while being fully interoperable with the existing data center infrastructure.
The deployment of a multirack SmartFabric with two spines and four leafs, can be done using the information provided in the Dell SmartFabric Services with PowerEdge Servers, PowerStore Storage Appliance, and Isilon Storage Guide.
The process for the SFS fabric build is performed as follows:
- Rack and cable the leaf and spine switches.
- Enable SFS from the OS10 command-line interface (CLI) using the smartfabric l3fabric enable command on each switch.
- Specify Virtual Link Trunking interconnect (VLTi) ports on leafs.
- Verify that the switches boot in SmartFabric mode.
- Ensure that the switches discover each other using Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP).
- Check that the leaf and spine connections are established using private IP addresses and external Border Gateway Protocol (eBGP).
- Confirm that leaf nodes are configured as hardware Virtual Tunnel End Points (VTEPs) for the infrastructure network overlay using BGP EVPN.
- When configuring links to the external network, keep in mind that they can be Layer 2 or Layer 3.
After the deployment is complete, use the OpenManage Network Integration vCenter plugin to perform additional configurations.