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CCNP Service Provider lab 8 of 23

High availability: graceful restart, BFD and link aggregation

Layer high availability on a provider network. Restart routing processes on IOS XR under graceful restart, bundle links with LACP, and catch a far-end failure in under a second with BFD.

Run this lab

It needs Lite: its 6 nodes are set to 6 vCPU and 7,680 MB in total. That fits the free demo too.

In your workspace: Shared, then CCNP Service Provider guided labs, then 08 - High availability - graceful restart BFD and link aggregation

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Level
Advanced
Time
About 75 minutes
Nodes need
6 vCPU, 7,680 MB
Smallest plan
Lite

The scenario

Fellgate Carrier has promised a customer 99.99% availability. That's about 52 minutes a year, and one line card failure with slow convergence could spend much of it. High availability comes in layers, and each answers a different failure:

FailureFeature
Routing process restarts, forwarding is fineNSF, graceful restart, NSR
Far end fails, the local port stays upBFD
One link in a group failsLink aggregation

R1 and R2 run IOS XR with IS-IS, LDP and iBGP. R3 and R4 are metro routers running OSPF across a Layer 2 link through SW1 and SW2. The switches are joined by two links that haven't been bundled yet.

What this image can't do. On this XRv release BFD accepts its configuration and forms no sessions, and Bundle-Ether interfaces never come up. So you'll do BFD and LACP on the IOS devices, and the pane shows the matching XR commands.

DeviceInterfaceAddressConnects to
R1Loopback010.255.0.1/32
R1Gi0/0/0/010.0.12.1/30R2 Gi0/0/0/0
R1Loopback10192.168.1.1/24
R2Loopback010.255.0.2/32
R2Gi0/0/0/010.0.12.2/30R1 Gi0/0/0/0
R3Loopback010.255.0.3/32
R3Gi0/010.0.34.3/24SW1 Gi0/0
R4Loopback010.255.0.4/32
R4Gi0/010.0.34.4/24SW2 Gi0/0

What you’ll practise

  • Enable NSF and graceful restart for IS-IS, BGP and LDP on IOS XR
  • Restart an IOS XR process and show that adjacencies stay up
  • Build an LACP bundle and see it hide a member failure
  • Use BFD with OSPF to catch a far-end failure
  • Say which failure each feature answers

The tasks

  1. Graceful restart on IOS XR
  2. Restart a process
  3. Bundle the switch links with LACP
  4. Fast failure detection with BFD
  5. Fail things and watch

The Lab Tasks pane has the scenario, these tasks, the checks to run, hints and the full solution.

Topology and devices

The network as it opens in EVE-NG, drawn from the lab’s own canvas, and the image each node runs.

Topology of High availability - graceful restart BFD and link aggregation6 nodes, 5 links. Every link is listed as text below the diagram.R1R2R3SW1SW2R4Gi0/0Gi0/0Gi0/0Gi0/0Gi0/1Gi0/1Gi0/2Gi0/2Gi0/0/0/0Gi0/0/0/0
6 nodes, with the interface names each link uses. On a narrow screen, scroll the diagram sideways.
Every link, as text
  • R1 Gi0/0/0/0 to R2 Gi0/0/0/0
  • R3 Gi0/0 to SW1 Gi0/0
  • SW1 Gi0/1 to SW2 Gi0/1
  • SW1 Gi0/2 to SW2 Gi0/2
  • SW2 Gi0/0 to R4 Gi0/0
Nodes in High availability: graceful restart, BFD and link aggregation, with the image each runs and the vCPU and RAM it’s set to
NodeDeviceImage in Add NodeSet to
R1Cisco IOS XRvxrv-k9-demo-6.3.11 vCPU, 2,560 MB
R2Cisco IOS XRvxrv-k9-demo-6.3.11 vCPU, 2,560 MB
R3Cisco IOSvvios-adventerprisek9-m.spa.159-3.m91 vCPU, 512 MB
SW1Cisco IOSvL2viosl2-adventerprisek9-m.ssa.high_iron_202009291 vCPU, 768 MB
SW2Cisco IOSvL2viosl2-adventerprisek9-m.ssa.high_iron_202009291 vCPU, 768 MB
R4Cisco IOSvvios-adventerprisek9-m.spa.159-3.m91 vCPU, 512 MB

How to open this lab

  1. Sign in to your workspace at lab.cloudlabbox.com.

  2. In File Manager, open Shared, then the folder CCNP Service Provider guided labs.

  3. Open 08 - High availability - graceful restart BFD and link aggregation and start its nodes, then open Lab Tasks for the scenario and the steps.

The lab is read-only. You can start the nodes and configure the devices, but changes to the topology can’t be saved. To change it, rebuild it in your own folder.

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CloudLabBox is independent of Cisco. The lab follows exam topics and isn’t vendor training material; vendor names identify the exams and the images in the workspace.