The case of Nokia Virtual Service Router and the non-unique Chassis MAC Address

So I’m playing with eve-ng and have decided to work on a Layer 2 scenario and a few problems with my emulation environment came up which needed a way forward, which resulted in this rambling tale…

R1, R2 and R3 Will be the MPLS Core with VPLS configured, while R4 and R5 will be Layer 3 CE devices that talk to each other over the VPLS.

The CE Devices are pretty straight forward so we’ll get those up first

R4 is a single-ended configuration with Interface R5 on Port 1/1/1 having the IP 192.168.1.4/27
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R4 CE Config”]
configure
system
name “R4”
card 1
card-type iom3-xp-b
mda 1
mda-type m5-1gb-sfp-b
no shutdown
exit
no shutdown
exit
port 1/1/1
ethernet
exit
no shutdown
exit
router
interface “R5”
address 192.168.1.4/27
port 1/1/1
no shutdown
exit
interface “system”
no shutdown
exit
exit
exit all
[/python]

R5 is a a little more complex, it has a LAG toward – Interface R4 on LAG-1 with Ports 1/1/1 and 1/1/2 having the IP 192.168.1.5/27
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R5 CE Config”]
configure
system
name “R5”
exit
card 1
card-type iom3-xp-b
mda 1
mda-type m5-1gb-sfp-b
no shutdown
exit
no shutdown
exit
port 1/1/1
ethernet
autonegotiate limited
exit
no shutdown
exit
port 1/1/2
ethernet
autonegotiate limited
exit
no shutdown
exit
lag 1
port 1/1/1
port 1/1/2
lacp active administrative-key 32768
no shutdown
exit
router
interface “R4”
address 192.168.1.5/27
port lag-1
no shutdown
exit
interface “system”
no shutdown
exit
exit
exit all
[/python]
Multi-speed Ethernet interfaces when associated with a LAG must have autonegotiate set to limited to control the bundle member speed so they all bundle members operate the same speed

Now to Develop the MPLS Core Configuration on R1, R2 and R3 – this is quite straight forward, we are just going to use OSPF and LDP on the directly connected interfaces:

[codegroup]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R1 Core Base Config”]
configure
system
name “R1”
exit
card 1
card-type iom3-xp-b
mda 1
mda-type m5-1gb-sfp-b
no shutdown
exit
no shutdown
exit
port 1/1/1
ethernet
exit
no shutdown
exit
port 1/1/2
ethernet
exit
no shutdown
exit
port 1/1/3
shutdown
ethernet
exit
exit
router
interface “R2”
address 10.1.2.1/27
port 1/1/1
no shutdown
exit
interface “R3”
address 10.1.3.1/27
port 1/1/2
no shutdown
exit
interface “system”
address 10.10.10.1/32
no shutdown
exit
ospf
area 0.0.0.0
interface “system”
no shutdown
exit
interface “R2”
no shutdown
exit
interface “R3”
no shutdown
exit
exit
exit
ldp
interface-parameters
interface “R2”
exit
interface “R3″
exit
exit
targeted-session
exit
no shutdown
exit
exit
exit all
[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R2 Core Base Config”]
configure
system
name “R2”
exit
card 1
card-type iom3-xp-b
mda 1
mda-type m5-1gb-sfp-b
no shutdown
exit
no shutdown
exit
port 1/1/1
ethernet
exit
no shutdown
exit
port 1/1/2
ethernet
exit
no shutdown
exit
port 1/1/3
shutdown
ethernet
exit
exit
router
interface “R1”
address 10.1.2.2/27
port 1/1/1
no shutdown
exit
interface “R3”
address 10.2.3.2/27
port 1/1/2
no shutdown
exit
interface “system”
address 10.10.10.2/32
no shutdown
exit
ospf
area 0.0.0.0
interface “system”
no shutdown
exit
interface “R1”
no shutdown
exit
interface “R3”
no shutdown
exit
exit
exit
ldp
interface-parameters
interface “R1”
exit
interface “R3″
exit
exit
targeted-session
exit
no shutdown
exit
exit
exit all
[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R3 Core Base Config”]
configure
system
name “R3”
exit
card 1
card-type iom3-xp-b
mda 1
mda-type m5-1gb-sfp-b
no shutdown
exit
no shutdown
exit
port 1/1/1
ethernet
exit
no shutdown
exit
port 1/1/2
ethernet
exit
no shutdown
exit
port 1/1/3
shutdown
ethernet
exit
exit
router
interface “R1”
address 10.1.3.3/27
port 1/1/2
no shutdown
exit
interface “R2”
address 10.2.3.3/27
port 1/1/3
no shutdown
exit
interface “system”
address 10.10.10.3/32
no shutdown
exit
ospf
area 0.0.0.0
interface “system”
no shutdown
exit
interface “R1”
no shutdown
exit
interface “R2”
no shutdown
exit
exit
exit
ldp
interface-parameters
interface “R1”
exit
interface “R2″
exit
exit
targeted-session
exit
no shutdown
exit
exit
exit all
[/python][/codegroup]
The Layer 2 Service that we are going to build is a VPLS and will be using Spoke-SDPs that connected to each adjacent router (an alternate could be to use a full-mesh but I specifically want to test STP operation here)
[codegroup]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R1 SDP to R2 and R3″]
*A:R1>config>service# info
———————————————-
sdp 2 mpls create
far-end 10.10.10.2
ldp
keep-alive
shutdown
exit
no shutdown
exit
sdp 3 mpls create
far-end 10.10.10.3
ldp
keep-alive
shutdown
exit
no shutdown
exit
[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R2 SDP to R1 and R3″]
*A:R2>config>service# info
———————————————-
sdp 1 mpls create
far-end 10.10.10.1
ldp
keep-alive
shutdown
exit
no shutdown
exit
sdp 3 mpls create
far-end 10.10.10.3
ldp
keep-alive
shutdown
exit
no shutdown
exit
[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R3 SDP to R1 and R2″]
*A:R3>config>service# info
———————————————-
sdp 1 mpls create
far-end 10.10.10.1
ldp
keep-alive
shutdown
exit
no shutdown
exit
sdp 2 mpls create
far-end 10.10.10.2
ldp
keep-alive
shutdown
exit
no shutdown
exit
[/python][/codegroup]
Verifying the SDPs are up:
[codegroup]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R1 SDP State”]
A:R1# show service sdp

============================================================================
Services: Service Destination Points
============================================================================
SdpId AdmMTU OprMTU Far End Adm Opr Del LSP Sig
—————————————————————————-
1 0 8914 10.10.10.1 Up Up MPLS L TLDP
2 0 8914 10.10.10.2 Up Up MPLS L TLDP
—————————————————————————-
Number of SDPs : 2
—————————————————————————-
Legend: R = RSVP, L = LDP, B = BGP, M = MPLS-TP, n/a = Not Applicable
============================================================================
[/python]
[/codegroup]
With the transport infrastructure in place VPLS 100 without the customer access components can be set up:
[codegroup]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”Initial R1 VPLS 100 Config”]
*A:R1>config>service>vpls$ pwc
——————————————————————————-
Present Working Context :
——————————————————————————-

configure
service
vpls “100” customer 1 create
——————————————————————————-
A:R1>config>service>vpls$ info
———————————————-
stp
no shutdown
exit
spoke-sdp 2:100 create
no shutdown
exit
spoke-sdp 3:100 create
no shutdown
exit
no shutdown
[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”Initial R2 VPLS 100 Config”]
*A:R2>config>service>vpls$ pwc
——————————————————————————-
Present Working Context :
——————————————————————————-

configure
service
vpls “100” customer 1 create
——————————————————————————-
A:R2>config>service>vpls$ info
———————————————-
stp
no shutdown
exit
spoke-sdp 1:100 create
no shutdown
exit
spoke-sdp 3:100 create
no shutdown
exit
no shutdown
[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”Initial R3 VPLS 100 Config”]
*A:R3>config>service>vpls$ pwc
——————————————————————————-
Present Working Context :
——————————————————————————-

configure
service
vpls “100” customer 1 create
——————————————————————————-
A:R3>config>service>vpls$ info
———————————————-
stp
no shutdown
exit
spoke-sdp 1:100 create
no shutdown
exit
spoke-sdp 2:100 create
no shutdown
exit
no shutdown
[/python]
[/codegroup]
Verify that VPLS 100 is up and running:
[codegroup]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R1 VPLS 100 Spoke SDP State”]
*A:R1>config>service>*A:R1# show service id 100 base | match Ident post-lines 3
Identifier Type AdmMTU OprMTU Adm Opr
——————————————————————————-
sdp:2:100 S(10.10.10.2) Spok 0 8914 Up Up
sdp:3:100 S(10.10.10.3) Spok 0 8914 Up Up
[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R2 VPLS 100 Spoke SDP State”]
A:R2# show service id 100 base | match Ident post-lines 3
Identifier Type AdmMTU OprMTU Adm Opr
——————————————————————————-
sdp:1:100 S(10.10.10.1) Spok 0 8914 Up Up
sdp:3:100 S(10.10.10.3) Spok 0 8914 Up Up
[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R3 VPLS 100 Spoke SDP State”]
A:R3# show service id 100 base | match Ident post-lines 3
Identifier Type AdmMTU OprMTU Adm Opr
——————————————————————————-
sdp:1:100 S(10.10.10.1) Spok 0 8914 Up Up
sdp:2:100 S(10.10.10.2) Spok 0 8914 Up Up
[/python]
[/codegroup]
Looks good With 3 routers each connecting to each other using spokes will introduce a bridging loop so we need a loop avoidance mechanism – luckily we enabled STP, so lets see how STP is behaving:
[codegroup]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R1 VPLS 100 STP State” highlight=”6-7″]
*A:R1# show service id 100 stp

===============================================================================
Stp info, Service 100
===============================================================================
Bridge Id : 80:00.da:00:ff:00:00:01 Top. Change Count : 4
Root Bridge : This Bridge Stp Oper State : Up
Primary Bridge : N/A Topology Change : Inactive
Mode : Rstp Last Top. Change : 0d 00:10:13
Vcp Active Prot. : N/A
Root Port : N/A External RPC : 0

===============================================================================
Stp port info
===============================================================================
Sap/Sdp/PIP Id Oper- Port- Port- Port- Oper- Link- Active
State Role State Num Edge Type Prot.
——————————————————————————-
2:100 Up Designated Forward 2049 True Pt-pt Rstp
3:100 Up Backup Discard 2050 False Pt-pt Rstp
===============================================================================
[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R2 VPLS 100 STP State” highlight=”6-7″]
*A:R2# show service id 100 stp

===============================================================================
Stp info, Service 100
===============================================================================
Bridge Id : 80:00.da:00:ff:00:00:01 Top. Change Count : 3
Root Bridge : This Bridge Stp Oper State : Up
Primary Bridge : N/A Topology Change : Inactive
Mode : Rstp Last Top. Change : 0d 00:10:47
Vcp Active Prot. : N/A
Root Port : N/A External RPC : 0

===============================================================================
Stp port info
===============================================================================
Sap/Sdp/PIP Id Oper- Port- Port- Port- Oper- Link- Active
State Role State Num Edge Type Prot.
——————————————————————————-
1:100 DwnstrmLp Designated Discard 2049 False Pt-pt Rstp
3:100 Up Backup Discard 2050 False Pt-pt Rstp
===============================================================================
[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R3 VPLS 100 STP State” highlight=”6-7″]
*A:R3# show service id 100 stp

===============================================================================
Stp info, Service 100
===============================================================================
Bridge Id : 80:00.da:00:ff:00:00:01 Top. Change Count : 3
Root Bridge : This Bridge Stp Oper State : Up
Primary Bridge : N/A Topology Change : Inactive
Mode : Rstp Last Top. Change : 0d 00:10:54
Vcp Active Prot. : N/A
Root Port : N/A External RPC : 0

===============================================================================
Stp port info
===============================================================================
Sap/Sdp/PIP Id Oper- Port- Port- Port- Oper- Link- Active
State Role State Num Edge Type Prot.
——————————————————————————-
1:100 Up Designated Forward 2048 False Pt-pt Rstp
2:100 Up Designated Forward 2049 False Pt-pt Rstp
===============================================================================
[/python][/codegroup]
This doesn’t seem right, SDP 1:100 on R2 is saying that the downstream interface is looped and both interfaces are discarding!

If we look at the highlighted lines on each of the router outputs we notice that all Routers in the VPLS have the same Bridge ID, which is definitely a bad thing.

For SROS, the Bridge Id is partly derived from the chassis MAC address:
[python linenumbers=”false”]*A:R1# show chassis detail | match MAC
Base MAC address : da:00:ff:00:00:01[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false”]*A:R2# show chassis detail | match MAC
Base MAC address : da:00:ff:00:00:01[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false”]*A:R3# show chassis detail | match MAC
Base MAC address : da:00:ff:00:00:01[/python]
With real hardware, the Chassis MAC address actually is unique so this problem wont come up – however with the VSRs they’re all the same.

As an asside, the Chassis MAC address is used in a few places besides STP, one is with the SNMP engine id
[python linenumbers=”false” highlight=”2,4″]*A:R1# show chassis detail | match MAC
Base MAC address : da:00:ff:00:00:01
*A:R1# show system information | match Engine
SNMP Engine ID : 0000197f0000da00ff000001
SNMP Engine Boots : 11[/python]

It is possible within the configuration to manually set the Engine ID (I think it would probably be best to do this in production just in case you end up replacing faulty hardware)

With SROS version 14.0R4 a new option for the boot options file (or bof) was introduced which allows the manual setting of the chassis MAC address (followed by a reboot):
[python linenumbers=”false”]*A:R14# bof system-base-mac 00:11:22:33:44:02
*A:R14# bof save
Writing BOF to cf3:/bof.cfg … OK
Completed.
Writing configuration to cf3:\config.cfg
Saving configuration … OK
Completed.
A:R14# /admin reboot
Are you sure you want to reboot (y/n)? y[/python]
Which is great but this particular set up is using SROS 12.0R6 and that BOF option doesn’t exist an alternate method is required.

For STP we can cast our mind back to remember what the Bridge ID consists of… It’s both the Priority (which by default is 32768) and the Bridge MAC address.

So as a quick and nasty fix, I should just be able to change the STP Priority in VPLS 100 on R1/R2/R3 and resolve the STP problem, it also will allow me to specifically select a root bridge which is probably a good thing to do.
[python linenumbers=”false” tab= “R1 VPLS 100 STP”]*A:R1# configure service vpls 100 stp priority 4096[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab= “R2 VPLS 100 STP”]*A:R2# configure service vpls 100 stp priority 8192[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab= “R3 VPLS 100 STP”]*A:R3# configure service vpls 100 stp priority 16384[/python]
Lets see how things are going now:

[codegroup]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab= “R1 VPLS 100 STP”]*A:R1# show service id 100 stp

===============================================================================
Stp info, Service 100
===============================================================================
Bridge Id : 10:00.da:00:ff:00:00:01 Top. Change Count : 6
Root Bridge : This Bridge Stp Oper State : Up
Primary Bridge : N/A Topology Change : Inactive
Mode : Rstp Last Top. Change : 0d 00:00:35
Vcp Active Prot. : N/A
Root Port : N/A External RPC : 0

===============================================================================
Stp port info
===============================================================================
Sap/Sdp/PIP Id Oper- Port- Port- Port- Oper- Link- Active
State Role State Num Edge Type Prot.
——————————————————————————-
2:100 Up Designated Forward 2049 False Pt-pt Rstp
3:100 Up Designated Forward 2050 False Pt-pt Rstp
===============================================================================[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab= “R2 VPLS 100 STP”]*A:R2# show service id 100 stp

===============================================================================
Stp info, Service 100
===============================================================================
Bridge Id : 20:00.da:00:ff:00:00:01 Top. Change Count : 4
Root Bridge : 10:00.da:00:ff:00:00:01 Stp Oper State : Up
Primary Bridge : N/A Topology Change : Inactive
Mode : Rstp Last Top. Change : 0d 00:01:07
Vcp Active Prot. : N/A
Root Port : 2049 External RPC : 10

===============================================================================
Stp port info
===============================================================================
Sap/Sdp/PIP Id Oper- Port- Port- Port- Oper- Link- Active
State Role State Num Edge Type Prot.
——————————————————————————-
1:100 Up Root Forward 2049 False Pt-pt Rstp
3:100 Up Designated Forward 2050 False Pt-pt Rstp
===============================================================================[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab= “R3 VPLS 100 STP”]*A:R3# show service id 100 stp

===============================================================================
Stp info, Service 100
===============================================================================
Bridge Id : 40:00.da:00:ff:00:00:01 Top. Change Count : 4
Root Bridge : 10:00.da:00:ff:00:00:01 Stp Oper State : Up
Primary Bridge : N/A Topology Change : Inactive
Mode : Rstp Last Top. Change : 0d 00:01:52
Vcp Active Prot. : N/A
Root Port : 2048 External RPC : 10

===============================================================================
Stp port info
===============================================================================
Sap/Sdp/PIP Id Oper- Port- Port- Port- Oper- Link- Active
State Role State Num Edge Type Prot.
——————————————————————————-
1:100 Up Root Forward 2048 False Pt-pt Rstp
2:100 Up Alternate Discard 2049 False Pt-pt Rstp
===============================================================================[/python][/codegroup]
Success, all routers have different bridge IDs and all agree that R1 is the root and only one port is in discarding state.

Now we will create the CE router attachments (Service Access Points) on the Core starting with R3 which is facing R4 – by default Ethernet ports are in network mode, to be able to bind to a service, the port must be mode access (or hybrid)
[python linenumbers=”false”]*A:R3# /configure port 1/1/1
*A:R3>config>port# shutdown
*A:R3>config>port# ethernet mode access
*A:R3>config>port# ethernet encap-type null
*A:R3>config>port# no shutdown
*A:R3>config>port# /configure service vpls 100
*A:R3>config>service>vpls# sap 1/1/1 create
*A:R3>config>service>vpls>sap$ show service id 100 base

===============================================================================
Service Basic Information
===============================================================================
Service Id : 100 Vpn Id : 0
Service Type : VPLS
Name : (Not Specified)
Description : (Not Specified)
Customer Id : 1 Creation Origin : manual
Last Status Change: 04/21/2017 13:20:28
Last Mgmt Change : 04/21/2017 13:44:59
Etree Mode : Disabled
Admin State : Up Oper State : Up
MTU : 1514 Def. Mesh VC Id : 100
SAP Count : 1 SDP Bind Count : 2
Snd Flush on Fail : Disabled Host Conn Verify : Disabled
Propagate MacFlush: Disabled Per Svc Hashing : Disabled
Allow IP Intf Bind: Disabled
Def. Gateway IP : None
Def. Gateway MAC : None
Temp Flood Time : Disabled Temp Flood : Inactive
Temp Flood Chg Cnt: 0
VSD Domain :

——————————————————————————-
Service Access & Destination Points
——————————————————————————-
Identifier Type AdmMTU OprMTU Adm Opr
——————————————————————————-
sap:1/1/1 null 1514 1514 Up Up
sdp:1:100 S(10.10.10.1) Spok 0 8914 Up Up
sdp:2:100 S(10.10.10.2) Spok 0 8914 Up Up
===============================================================================[/python]
Now things are going to get a little more complicated on R1 and R2 as we are going to establish a Multi-Chassis LAG towards R5. R5 is unaware of the MC-LAG, it is just talking LACP to R1 and R2 thinking they are just one system. R1 and R2 require synchronisation between each other to set up the Active-Standby LAG.

We’ll start by creating regular LAG-1 Facing R5 on R1 and R2 with a single port in each:
[codegroup]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R1″]*A:R1# /configure port 1/1/3 shutdown
*A:R1# /configure port 1/1/3 ethernet mode access
*A:R1# /configure port 1/1/3 ethernet encap-type null
*A:R1# /configure port 1/1/3 ethernet autonegotiate limited
*A:R1# /configure port 1/1/3 no shutdown
*A:R1# /configure lag 1
*A:R1>config>lag$ mode access
*A:R1>config>lag$ lacp active
*A:R1>config>lag$ port 1/1/3
*A:R1>config>lag$ no shutdown[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R2″]*A:R2# /configure port 1/1/3 shutdown
*A:R2# /configure port 1/1/3 ethernet mode access
*A:R2# /configure port 1/1/3 ethernet encap-type null
*A:R2# /configure port 1/1/3 ethernet autonegotiate limited
*A:R2# /configure port 1/1/3 no shutdown
*A:R2# /configure lag 1
*A:R2>config>lag$ mode access
*A:R2>config>lag$ lacp active
*A:R2>config>lag$ port 1/1/3
*A:R2>config>lag$ no shutdown[/python]
[/codegroup]
Now to set up MC-LAG we need to set up a multi-chassis peering between R1 and R2 (multi-chassis redundancy supports more than just MC-LAG):
[codegroup]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R1 MC Peer with R2″]*A:R1>config>lag# /configure redundancy multi-chassis peer 10.10.10.2 create
*A:R1>config>redundancy>multi-chassis>peer# no shutdown[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R2 MC Peer with R1″]*A:R2>config>lag# /configure redundancy multi-chassis peer 10.10.10.1 create
*A:R2>config>redundancy>multi-chassis>peer# no shutdown[/python]
[/codegroup]
Then we create the MC-LAG itself, we require the lacp-key, system-id and priority to be the same on each router:
[codegroup]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R1 MC-LAG to R5″]*A:R1>config>redundancy>multi-chassis>peer# mc-lag
*A:R1>config>redundancy>mc>peer>mc-lag#lag 1 lacp-key 2468 remote-lag 1 system-id 00:00:be:ef:ca:fe system-priority 1000
*A:R1>config>redundancy>mc>peer>mc-lag#no shutdown[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R2 MC-LAG to R5″]*A:R2>config>redundancy>multi-chassis>peer# mc-lag
*A:R2>config>redundancy>mc>peer>mc-lag#lag 1 lacp-key 2468 remote-lag 1 system-id 00:00:be:ef:ca:fe system-priority 1000
*A:R2>config>redundancy>mc>peer>mc-lag#no shutdown[/python]
[/codegroup]
Now the MC-LAG should be up and running, first we’ll check the peering
[python linenumbers=”false”]*A:R1>config>redundancy>mc>peer>mc-lag# show redundancy multi-chassis all

===============================================================================
Multi-Chassis Peers
===============================================================================
Peer IP Peer Admin Client Admin Oper State
Src IP Auth
——————————————————————————-
10.10.10.2 Enabled MC-Sync: — — —
10.10.10.1 None MC-Ring: — — —
MC-Endpt: — — —
MC-Lag: Enabled Enabled —
MC-IPsec: — — Disabled
===============================================================================[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false”]*A:R2>config>redundancy>mc>peer>mc-lag# show redundancy multi-chassis all

===============================================================================
Multi-Chassis Peers
===============================================================================
Peer IP Peer Admin Client Admin Oper State
Src IP Auth
——————————————————————————-
10.10.10.1 Enabled MC-Sync: — — —
10.10.10.2 None MC-Ring: — — —
MC-Endpt: — — —
MC-Lag: Enabled Enabled —
MC-IPsec: — — Disabled
===============================================================================[/python]
Looks promising, lets check our LAG status
[codegroup][python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R1 LAG Status”]*A:R1>config>redundancy>mc>peer>mc-lag# show lag

===============================================================================
Lag Data
===============================================================================
Lag-id Adm Opr Weighted Threshold Up-Count MC Act/Stdby
——————————————————————————-
1 up down No 0 0 standby
——————————————————————————-
Total Lag-ids: 1 Single Chassis: 0 MC Act: 0 MC Stdby: 1
===============================================================================[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R2 LAG Status”]*A:R2>config>redundancy>mc>peer>mc-lag# show lag

===============================================================================
Lag Data
===============================================================================
Lag-id Adm Opr Weighted Threshold Up-Count MC Act/Stdby
——————————————————————————-
1 up down No 0 0 standby
——————————————————————————-
Total Lag-ids: 1 Single Chassis: 0 MC Act: 0 MC Stdby: 1
===============================================================================[/python][/codegroup]
Ummm… both of these are showing that they are in Multi-Chassis Standby

It turns out that within the MC-LAG configuration, the Base Chassis MAC needs to be unique too. While we cannot directly change the Base MAC prior to SROS version 14.0R4 there is actually an alternative method available. if we set the out-of-band management ethernet IP address, this will influence the chassis MAC address.
[python linenumbers=”false”]*A:R1>config>lag# show bof
===============================================================================
BOF (Memory)
===============================================================================
primary-image cf3:\timos\both.tim
primary-config cf3:\config.cfg
autonegotiate
duplex full
speed 100
wait 3
persist off
no li-local-save
no li-separate
console-speed 115200
===============================================================================
*A:R1>config>lag# /bof address 192.168.100.1/24
*A:R1>config>lag# /bof save
Writing BOF to cf3:/bof.cfg … OK
Completed.
*A:R1>config>lag# show bof
===============================================================================
BOF (Memory)
===============================================================================
primary-image cf3:\timos\both.tim
primary-config cf3:\config.cfg
address 192.168.100.1/24 active
autonegotiate
duplex full
speed 100
wait 3
persist off
no li-local-save
no li-separate
console-speed 115200
===============================================================================[/python]
Save and reboot
[python linenumbers=”false”]*A:R1>config>lag# /admin save
Writing configuration to cf3:\config.cfg
Saving configuration … OK
Completed.
A:R1>config>lag# /admin reboot
Are you sure you want to reboot (y/n)? y[/python]
We’ll do the same thing with R2 but give it a different IP so the MAC Addresses should be different:
[python linenumbers=”false”]*A:R2>config>lag# /bof address 192.168.100.2/24
*A:R2>config>lag# /bof save
Writing BOF to cf3:/bof.cfg … OK
Completed.
*A:R2>config>lag# /admin save
Writing configuration to cf3:\config.cfg
Saving configuration … OK
Completed.
A:R2>config>lag# /admin reboot
Are you sure you want to reboot (y/n)? y [/python]
After the reboot we can compare R1 and R2’s Base MAC Address
[python linenumbers=”false”]A:R1# show chassis detail | match MAC
Base MAC address : c8:01:ff:00:00:00[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false”]A:R2# show chassis detail | match MAC
Base MAC address : c8:02:ff:00:00:00[/python]
Okay they are different now – has it resolved our MC-LAG issue?
[codegroup][python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R1 LAG Port”]A:R1# show lag 1 port

[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R1 LAG Port”]A:R2# show lag 1 port

===============================================================================
Lag Port States
LACP Status: e – Enabled, d – Disabled
===============================================================================
Lag-id Port-id Adm Act/Stdby Opr Primary Sub-group Forced Priority
——————————————————————————-
1(e) 1/1/1 up active up yes 1 – 32768
1/1/2 up active down 1 – 32768
===============================================================================[/python][/codegroup]
Yes R1, R2 and R5 are in alignment, now lets put the LAG into VPLS 100 on R1 and R2
[python linenumbers=”false”]A:R1# /configure service vpls 100 sap lag-1 create[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false”]A:R2# /configure service vpls 100 sap lag-1 create[/python]
Lets see if R5 can ping R4
[python linenumbers=”false”]A:R5# ping 192.168.1.4 count 1
PING 192.168.1.4 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.1.4: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=12.3ms.

—- 192.168.1.4 PING Statistics —-
1 packet transmitted, 1 packet received, 0.00% packet loss
round-trip min = 12.3ms, avg = 12.3ms, max = 12.3ms, stddev = 0.000ms[/python]
Success!

Lets check the MAC address table in vpls 100 (Forwarding Data Base):
[codegroup]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R1 FDB” highlight “9,10”]*A:R1>config>service>vpls>sap$ show service id 100 fdb detail

===============================================================================
Forwarding Database, Service 100
===============================================================================
ServId MAC Source-Identifier Type Last Change
Age
——————————————————————————-
100 50:00:00:07:00:01 sdp:3:100 L/0 04/21/17 14:47:33
100 da:00:ff:00:01:42 sap:lag-1 L/0 04/21/17 14:52:57
——————————————————————————-
No. of MAC Entries: 2
——————————————————————————-
Legend: L=Learned O=Oam P=Protected-MAC C=Conditional S=Static
===============================================================================[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R2 FDB” highlight “9,10”]*A:R2>config>service>vpls>sap$ show service id 100 fdb detail

===============================================================================
Forwarding Database, Service 100
===============================================================================
ServId MAC Source-Identifier Type Last Change
Age
——————————————————————————-
100 50:00:00:07:00:01 sdp:1:100 L/90 04/21/17 14:53:01
100 da:00:ff:00:01:42 sdp:1:100 L/90 04/21/17 14:45:05
——————————————————————————-
No. of MAC Entries: 2
——————————————————————————-
Legend: L=Learned O=Oam P=Protected-MAC C=Conditional S=Static
===============================================================================[/python]
[python linenumbers=”false” tab=”R3 FDB” highlight “9,10”]*A:R2>config>service>vpls>sap$ show service id 100 fdb detail

===============================================================================
Forwarding Database, Service 100
===============================================================================
ServId MAC Source-Identifier Type Last Change
Age
——————————————————————————-
100 50:00:00:07:00:01 sap:1/1/1 L/0 04/21/17 14:52:42
100 da:00:ff:00:01:42 sdp:1:100 L/0 04/21/17 14:44:46
——————————————————————————-
No. of MAC Entries: 2
——————————————————————————-
Legend: L=Learned O=Oam P=Protected-MAC C=Conditional S=Static
===============================================================================[/python][/codegroup]
Now to check out the MC-LAG resiliency, we’ll start a continuous ping on R5 to R4 and then shutdown port 1/1/3 (LAG-1) on R1
[python linenumbers=”false”]*A:R1>config>service>vpls>sap$ /configure port 1/1/3 shutdown[/python]
And Check if R2 LAG 1 Port 1/1/3 goes from standby to active
[python linenumbers=”false”]*A:R2>config>service>vpls>sap$ show lag 1 port

===============================================================================
Lag Port States
LACP Status: e – Enabled, d – Disabled
===============================================================================
Lag-id Port-id Adm Act/Stdby Opr Primary Sub-group Forced Priority
——————————————————————————-
1(e) 1/1/3 up active up yes 1 – 32768
===============================================================================[/python]
We can see the interface has come up and there were a few packets lost but the link recovered – we could speed up the link convergence time but I think the general concept has been demonstrated sucessfully.

The moral of the story here – with Virtual SROS systems, it’s worth ensuring you have a unique chassis MAC address!

The case of Nokia Virtual Service Router and the non-unique Chassis MAC Address

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