Design Reference

Table Of Contents
Encapsulating customer MAC addresses in backbone MAC addresses greatly improves
network scalability (no end-user C-MAC learning required in the core) and also significantly
improves network robustness (loops have no effect on the backbone infrastructure).
The following figure shows the components of a basic SPBM architecture.
Figure 31: SPBM basic architecture
VLANs without member ports
The ERS 8800 manages VLANs without member ports differently than the VSP 9000 and VSP
4000.
The ERS 8800 always designates the VLAN as operationally up if there is an attached I-
SID.
The VSP 9000 and VSP 4000 designate the VLAN as operationally up only if there is a
matching I-SID in the SPBM network. For more information, see the following sections.
ERS 8800 implementation
If a VLAN has an IP address and is attached to an I-SID, the ERS 8800 designates that VLAN
as operationally up whether it has a member port or not. When the VLAN is operationally up,
the IP address of the VLAN will be in the routing table.
The ERS 8800 design behaves this way because the VLAN might be acting as an NNI in cases
of Layer 2 Inter-VSN routing. If the VLAN was acting as a UNI interface, it would require a
member port.
VLANs without member ports
Network Design Reference for Avaya VSP 4000 February 2014 75