Cisco APIC Forwarding Scale Profile Policy

New and Changed Information 2

Supported Platforms for Forwarding Scale Profile Policies 2

Forwarding Scale Profile Policy Overview 2

Configuring the Forwarding Scale Profile Policy Using the Cisco APIC GUI 5

Configuring the Forwarding Scale Profile Policy Using the NX-OS-Style CLI 6

Configuring the Forwarding Scale Profile Policy Using the REST API 9

Revised: June 10, 2019,

New and Changed InformationThe following table provides an overview of the significant changes to this guide up to this current release. The table does not providean exhaustive list of all changes made to the guide or of the new features up to this release.

Table 1: New Features and Changed Behavior

DescriptionFeatureCisco APIC Release Version

The High Dual Stack numbers forMulticast changed for Cisco APICRelease 4.0(1).

Updated High Dual Stacknumbers for Multicast.

Release 4.0(1)

New option providing scalabiltysimilar to the dual-stack policy,except that the longest prefix match(LPM) scale is 128,000 and thepolicy scale is 8,000.

High LPM scaling option andupdated profile scaling numbers.

Release 3.2(1)

The high dual stack option is addedto provide the scalability specifiedin the Forwarding Scale ProfilePolicy Overview, on page 2.

High Dual StackRelease 3.1(1)

The IPv4 scale profile policy wasadded.

IPv4 scale profileRelease 3.0(1)

Supported Platforms for Forwarding Scale Profile PoliciesThe forwarding scale profile policy is only supported on the following switches:

• Cisco Nexus 9300-EX Series switches

• Cisco Nexus 9300-FX Series switches

• Cisco Nexus 9300-FX2 Series switches

The Cisco Nexus 9358GY-FXP switch does not support the forwarding scale profiles.

Forwarding Scale Profile Policy OverviewThe Forwarding Scale Profile policy provides different scalability options. For example:

• Dual Stack—Provides scalability of up to 12,000 endpoints for IPv6 configurations and up to 24,000 endpoints for IPv4configurations.

• High LPM—Provides scalability similar to the dual-stack profile, except that the longest prefix match (LPM) scale is 128,000and the policy scale is 8,000.

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• IPv4 Scale—Enables systems with no IPv6 configurations to increase scalability to 48,000 IPv4 endpoints.

• High Dual Stack—Provides scalability of up to 64,000 MAC endpoints and 64,000 IPv4 endpoints. IPv6 endpoint scale canbe 24,000/48,000, depending on the switch hardware model.

The Cisco Nexus 9358GY-FXP switch does not support the forwarding scale profiles. The information in thisdocument is therefore not applicable for this switch.

Note

With Cisco APIC Release 3.2(1), depending on your TOR switch hardware, a Forwarding Scale Profile with theHigh Dual Stack option has different scales; for example:

• For Cisco Nexus 9000 Series TOR switches with FX in the switch name (except FX2), the high dual-stackoption has scalability of 48,000 IPv6 endpoints instead of 24,000 and 128,000 policies instead of 8,000.

• For Cisco Nexus 9000 Series TOR switches with FX2 in the switch name, the scale values are same as thoseof EX Series switches.

• For Cisco Nexus 9000 Series TOR switches with EX in the switch name, the high dual-stack option has thesame EP scale values as with earlier APIC releases.

Note

See the following table for more details.

Forwarding Scale Profile Policy Scalability for Cisco APIC Release 4.1(1)

TOR Switches with FX NamesTOR Switches with EX and FX2 NamesForwarding Scale Profile PolicyOptions

Has the same scalability numbers as DualStack scale on earlier switches.

• EP MAC: 24,000

• EP IPv4: 24,000

• EP IPv6: 12,000

• LPM: 20,000

• Policy: 64,000

• Multicast: 8,000

Dual Stack

• EP MAC: 64,000

• EP IPv4: 64,000

• EP IPv6: 48,000

• LPM: 38,000

• Policy: 128,000

• Multicast: 32,000

• EP MAC: 64,000

• EP IPv4: 64,000

• EP IPv6: 24,000

• LPM: 38,000

• Policy: 8,000

• Multicast: 512

High Dual Stack

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TOR Switches with FX NamesTOR Switches with EX and FX2 NamesForwarding Scale Profile PolicyOptions

Has the same scalability numbers as onearlier switches.

Provides scalability similar to the dual-stackprofile, except that the longest prefix match(LPM) scale is 128,000 and the policy scaleis 8,000.

High LPM

Has the same scalability numbers as IPv4scale on earlier switches.

• EP MAC: 48,000

• EP IPv4: 48,000

• EP IPv6: 0

• LPM: 38,000

• Policy: 64,000

• Multicast: 8,000

IPv4 Scale

• Because the IPv4 forwarding scale profile policy does not support IPv6 configurations, all IPv6 configurations must beremoved from switches that are configured with the IPv4 forwarding scale profile policy.

• For ToR switch models with EX at the end of the switch name, because the high dual stack profile has reduced-scalesupport for contract policies (8,000), the contracts scale must be reduced accordingly before deploying that profile.

• Before migrating to minimal tenant multicast scale leaf profiles, such as high dual stack, we recommend that you firstdisable Layer 2 IGMP snooping-, Layer 3 IGMP-, and PIM-related configurations to prevent having a stale multicaststate in your hardware.

• Applying a scale profile to a node requires a manual reload of that node. Any unsupported switches are ignored. For alist of supported switches, see Supported Platforms for Forwarding Scale Profile Policies, on page 2.

• VPCs associated with different scale profile settings are not supported. The VPC members must be configured with thesame scale profile settings.

Note

In Cisco APIC Release 4.1(1), the policy count updates that are reported by the leaf switches to the Cisco APIC through theMO actrlRuleHit5min is set to 0 for the High Dual Stack profile for all platforms.

Note

With the default deny model in Cisco ACI, the configured tenant or VRFs have implicit rules that consume several TCAMentries for each VRF. With an increase in the number of VRFs configured on a single switch, these TCAM entries that areused per VRF also count toward the overall policy TCAM usage.

Note

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Configuring the Forwarding Scale Profile Policy Using the Cisco APIC GUIThe Forwarding Scale Profile policy provides different scalability options. For more information on the scalability options, seeForwarding Scale Profile Policy Overview, on page 2.

Before you begin

• Access to the APIC GUI

• The forwarding scale profile policy requires supported switches. For a list of supported switches, see Supported Platforms forForwarding Scale Profile Policies, on page 2.

• The switches that support forwarding scale profile policies must be manually reloaded after the forwarding scaleprofile policy is applied.

• Changing the scale profile for individual members of a VPC is not allowed. If members of the same VPC areassociated with different leaf profiles, then a new leaf profile should be created with both members and the scaleprofile applied to it.

Note

Procedure

Step 1 To create the policy, perform the following steps:a) Click Fabric > External Access Policies.b) From the Navigation pane, expand Policies and Switch.c) Right-click Forwarding Scale Profile and choose Create Forwarding Scale Profile Policy.d) In the Create Forwarding Scale Profile Policy dialog, enter a name for the policy in the Name field and choose the

type.e) Click Submit.

Step 2 To add the policy to a policy group to enable it to be associated with fabric nodes, perform the following steps:a) Click Fabric > External Access Policies.b) Expand Switches and Leaf Switches.c) Right-click Policy Groups and choose Create Access Switch Policy Groupd) From the Create Access Switch Policy Group dialog, click the Forward Scale Profile Policy drop-down arrow

and choose the policy you previously configured.e) Click Submit.

Step 3 To associate the policy group to a node, perform the following steps:a) Click Fabric > External Access Policies.b) Expand Switches and Leaf Switches.c) Right-click Profiles and choose Create Leaf Profile.d) Enter a name for the profile in the Name field.e) From the Leaf Selectors table, click the + icon to access the Leaf Selectors table fields.f) Enter a name in the Name field.g) Choose one or more switches to associate the the profile from the Blocks drop-down list.

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h) Chose the policy group containing your Forwarding Scale Profile Policy from the Policy Group drop-down list.i) Click Update.j) Click Next.k) Click Finish.

What to do next

To enable the forwarding scale profile policy, you must manually reload the switches that are to consume it.

Configuring the Forwarding Scale Profile Policy Using the NX-OS-StyleCLI

Before you begin

The Forwarding Scale Profile policy provides different scalability options. For more information on the scalability options, seeForwarding Scale Profile Policy Overview, on page 2.

The forwarding scale profile policy requires supported switches. For a list of supported switches, see Supported Platforms forForwarding Scale Profile Policies, on page 2.

• The switches that support the forwarding scale profile policy must be manually reloaded after the forwarding scale profilepolicy is applied.

• Changing the scale profile for individual members of a VPC is not allowed. If members of the same VPC are associatedwith different leaf profiles, then a new leaf profile should be created with both members and the scale profile applied toit.

Note

This section demonstrates how to configure the forwarding scale profile policy using the NX-OS-style CLI.

Procedure

PurposeCommand or Action

Enters global configuration mode.configure

Example:

Step 1

apic1# configure

Defines the scale-profile policy.no scale-profile name

Example:

Step 2

apic1(config)# scale-profile testFwdScaleProf

Sets the Forwarding Scale profile type.profile-type {dual-stack | high-dual-stack | high-lpm |ipv4 }

Step 3

Example:apic1(config-scale-profile)# profile-type ipv4

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PurposeCommand or Action

Returns back to global configuration.exit

Example:

Step 4

apic1(config-scale-profile)# exit

Defines the leaf policy group.template leaf-policy-group leaf_group_name

Example:

Step 5

apic1(config)# template leaf-policy-groupsamplePolicyGrp

Configures the relation between the scale-profile policyand the leaf policy group.

scale-profile name

Example:

Step 6

The switches that support the forwarding scaleprofile policy must be manually reloaded afterthe forwarding scale profile policy is applied.For a list of switches that support the forwardingscale profile policy, see Supported Platformsfor Forwarding Scale Profile Policies, on page2.

Noteapic1(config-leaf-policy-group)# scale-profiletestFwdScaleProf

Returns back to global configuration.exit

Example:

Step 7

apic1(config-leaf-policy-group)# exit

Configures a leaf profile.leaf-profile leaf_profile_name

Example:

Step 8

apic1(config)# leaf-profile sampleLeafProf

Specifies a group of leaf switches.leaf-group leaf_group_name

Example:

Step 9

apic1(config-leaf-profile)# leaf-groupsampleLeafGrp

Adds leaf switches to the leaf group.leaf leaf_group_number

Example:

Step 10

apic1(config-leaf-profile)# leaf 201

Specifies the leaf policy group to be associated to the leafswitches.

leaf-policy-group leaf_policy_group_name

Example:

Step 11

apic1(config-leaf-group)# leaf-policy-groupsamplePolicyGrp

Exits command mode.exit

Example:

Step 12

apic1(config-leaf-policy-group)# exit

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PurposeCommand or Action

Displays the current running configuration.[show] running-config

Example:

Step 13

apic1(config)# show running-config# Command: show running-config scale-profiletestFwdScaleProf# Time: Thu Jul 27 22:31:29 2017scale-profile testFwdScaleProfprofile-type ipv4exit

apic1(config-scale-profile)#

Displays the current running configuration.[show] template leaf-policy-group

Example:

Step 14

Examples

This example shows how to configure a the IPv4 scale profile policy.

apic1# configureapic1(config)# scale-profile testFwdScaleProfapic1(config-scale-profile)# profile-type ipv4apic1(config-scale-profile)# exitapic1(config)# template leaf-policy-group samplePolicyGrpapic1(config-leaf-policy-group)# scale-profile testFwdScaleProfapic1(config-leaf-policy-group)# exitapic1(config)# leaf-profile sampleLeafProfapic1(config-leaf-profile)# leaf-group sampleLeafGrpapic1(config-leaf-profile)# leaf 201apic1(config-leaf-group)# leaf-policy-group samplePolicyGrpapic1(config-leaf-group)# show running-config scale-profile testFwdScaleProf# Command: show running-config scale-profile testFwdScaleProf# Time: Thu Jul 27 22:31:29 2017scale-profile testFwdScaleProfprofile-type ipv4exit

apic1(config-leaf-group)# show running-config template leaf-policy-group samplePolicyGrp# Command: show running-config template leaf-policy-group samplePolicyGrp# Time: Tue Aug 1 11:19:44 2017template leaf-policy-group samplePolicyGrpscale-profile testFwdScaleProfexit

apic1(config-leaf-group)# show running-config leaf-profile sampleLeafProf# Command: show running-config leaf-profile sampleLeafProf# Time: Tue Aug 1 11:19:58 2017leaf-profile sampleLeafProfleaf-group sampleLeafGrpleaf 201leaf-policy-group samplePolicyGrpexit

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Configuring the Forwarding Scale Profile Policy Using the REST APIThe forwarding scale profile policy requires supported switches. For a list of supported switches, see Supported Platforms forForwarding Scale Profile Policies, on page 2. The switches that support the forwarding scale profile policy must be manuallyreloaded after the forwarding scale profile policy is applied.

The Forwarding Scale Profile policy provides different scalability options. For more information on the scalability options, seeForwarding Scale Profile Policy Overview, on page 2.

This section explains how to create a forwarding scale profile policy and apply it to a leaf profile using the REST API.

Procedure

To apply a forwarding scale profile policy with IPv4 scaling, send a post with XML similar to the following example:

Example:

<polUni><infraInfra>

<topoctrlFwdScaleProfilePol name=“sampleFwdScaleProf" profType="ipv4"/><infraAccNodePGrp name=“sampleNodePolGrp">

<infraRsTopoctrlFwdScaleProfPol tnTopoctrlFwdScaleProfilePolName=“sampleFwdScaleProf"/></infraAccNodePGrp><infraNodeP name=“nodeProf_101">

<infraLeafS name=“leafS_101" type="range"><infraNodeBlk name="test" from_="101" to_="101"/><infraRsAccNodePGrp tDn="uni/infra/funcprof/accnodepgrp-sampleNodePolGrp "/>

</infraLeafS></infraNodeP>

</infraInfra></polUni>

To take effect, the switches that support the forwarding scale profile policy must be manually reloaded after the forwarding scaleprofile policy is applied.

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