EVPN-VXLAN on Cisco Nexus: Complete Deployment Guide
·2 min read·278 words
EVPN-VXLAN deployment on Cisco Nexus 9000 in standalone NX-OS mode (without ACI). Spine-leaf fabric configuration with a BGP underlay, BGP EVPN overlay, and VXLAN data plane. A step-by-step 2026 guide for experienced Cisco Nexus network engineers.
Prerequisites
- Nexus 9300-EX/FX/GX or 9500
- NX-OS 9.3.x or 10.x
- Licenses: NX-OS Advantage
- Lab or POC before production
Features to Enable
- feature bgp
- feature vn-segment-vlan-based
- feature nv overlay
- feature interface-vlan
- feature fabric forwarding
- nv overlay evpn
Lab Topology
- 2× spine (AS 65100)
- 4× leaf (AS 65200-65203, eBGP or iBGP)
- Loopback0: router ID + VTEP source
- Loopback1: anycast RP (if using multicast)
eBGP Underlay Configuration
- spine-01:
- router bgp 65100
- router-id 10.0.0.101
- neighbor 10.0.0.1 remote-as 65200 (leaf1)
- neighbor 10.0.0.2 remote-as 65201
- address-family ipv4 unicast
- redistribute direct route-map ALLOW-LOOPBACKS
BGP EVPN Overlay Configuration
- router bgp 65200 (on leaf)
- neighbor 10.0.0.101 (spine)
- remote-as 65100
- address-family l2vpn evpn
- send-community extended
- allowas-in
VXLAN + VNI Configuration
- interface nve1
- source-interface loopback0
- host-reachability protocol bgp
- member vni 10010
- ingress-replication protocol bgp
- member vni 20000 associate-vrf
- vlan 10
- vn-segment 10010
IRB Configuration (Routing)
- interface vlan 10
- vrf member TENANT-A
- ip address 10.10.10.1/24
- fabric forwarding mode anycast-gateway
VRF
- vrf context TENANT-A
- vni 20000
- rd auto
- address-family ipv4 unicast
- route-target both auto evpn
Anycast Gateway MAC
- fabric forwarding anycast-gateway-mac 0000.0000.abcd
- The same IP addresses + MAC address on all leaf switches for VM migration
ESI LAG Multihoming
- evpn multihoming
- interface Ethernet1/1
- ethernet-segment
- esi system-mac 0000.0000.1111 0001
- es-import-rt 0000.0000.1111
Troubleshooting
- show bgp l2vpn evpn summary
- show nve peers: active VTEP peers
- show nve vni: active VNIs
- show mac address-table dynamic vni 10010
- show ip route vrf TENANT-A
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