White Papers

Table Of Contents
If the VLT node elected as the designated router fails and you enable VLT Multicast Routing, multicast routes are synced to the
other peer for traffic forwarding to ensure minimal traffic loss. If you did not enable VLT Multicast Routing, traffic loss occurs
until the other VLT peer is selected as the DR.
VLT Routing
VLT Routing refers to the ability to run a dynamic routing protocol within a single VLT domain or between VLT domains (mVLT).
In a single VLT domain, VLT routing allows routing adjacencies to be formed across the VLTi link. In eVLT, routing adjacencies
are formed across the port-channel that connects the two VLT domains.
Because VLT ports are Layer 2 ports and not IP interfaces, VLT Unicast and VLT Multicast routing protocols do not operate
directly on VLT ports. You must add the VLT ports as a member of one or more VLANs and assign IP addresses to these VLANs.
VLT Unicast and VLT Multicast routing protocols require VLAN IP interfaces for operation. Protocols such as BGP, ISIS, OSPF,
and PIM are compatible with VLT Unicast Routing and VLT Multicast Routing.
Layer 2 protocols from the ToR devices to the server are intra-rack and inter-rack. Although no spanning tree is required,
interoperability with spanning trees at the aggregation layer is supported to prevent switching loops from forming due to any
incorrect configuration. . Communication between devices is active-active, with no blocked links. MAC tables are synchronized
between VLT nodes for bridging and you can enable IGMP snooping.
Spanned VLANs
Any VLAN configured on both VLT peer nodes is referred to as a Spanned VLAN. The VLT Interconnect (VLTi) port is
automatically added as a member of the Spanned VLAN. As a result, any adjacent router connected to at least one VLT node on
a Spanned VLAN subnet is directly reachable from both VLT peer nodes at the routing level.
VLT Unicast Routing
VLT unicast routing is a type of VLT peer routing that locally routes unicast packets destined for the L3 endpoint of the VLT
peer. This method avoids sub-optimal routing. Peer-routing syncs the MAC addresses of both VLT peers and requires two local
DA entries in TCAM. If a VLT node is down, a timer that allows you to configure the amount of time needed for peer recovery
provides resiliency. You can enable VLT unicast across multiple configurations using VLT links. You can enable ECMP on VLT
nodes using VLT unicast.
VLT unicast routing is supported on both IPv4 and IPv6. To enable VLT unicast routing, both VLT peers must be in L3 mode.
Static route and routing protocols such as RIP, OSPF, ISIS, and BGP are supported. However, point-to-point configuration is not
supported. To enable VLT unicast, the VLAN configuration must be symmetrical on both peers. You cannot configure the same
VLAN as Layer 2 on one node and as Layer 3 on the other node. Configuration mismatches are logged in the syslog and display
in the show vlt mismatch command output.
If you enable VLT unicast routing, the following actions occur:
L3 routing is enabled on any new IP address / IPv6 address configured for a VLAN interface that is up.
L3 routing is enabled on any VLAN with an admin state of up.
NOTE: If the CAM is full, do not enable peer-routing.
NOTE: The peer routing and peer-routing-timeout is applicable for both IPv6/ IPv4.
Configuring VLT Unicast
To enable and configure VLT unicast, follow these steps.
1. Enable VLT on a switch, then configure a VLT domain and enter VLT-domain configuration mode.
CONFIGURATION mode
vlt domain domain-id
2. Enable peer-routing.
VLT DOMAIN mode
peer-routing
3. Configure the peer-routing timeout.
Virtual Link Trunking (VLT)
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