Cisco Nexus EVPN-VXLAN: Complete Spine-Leaf Deployment

EVPN-VXLAN on Cisco Nexus: Complete Deployment Guide

April 15, 2026·2 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

Order from OPTINOC

Turnkey Cisco Nexus EVPN-VXLAN deployment. Training + POC + migration. Data center quote within 48h.

Frequently Asked Questions

Quels modèles Cisco Nexus supportent EVPN-VXLAN ?

Les Nexus 9300-EX, 9300-FX, 9300-FX2, 9300-FX3, 9300-GX, 9500-EX et 9500-FX en mode NX-OS. Les anciens Nexus 9300 (non-EX) supportent VXLAN mais pas EVPN. Les Nexus 7000 supportent VXLAN avec flood-and-learn uniquement.

Combien de VNI peut-on configurer sur un Nexus 9300 ?

Un Nexus 9300-FX3 supporte jusqu'à 4096 VNI L2 et 4096 VNI L3. Le nombre de VTEP peers est limité à 512 par défaut. Ces limites sont largement suffisantes pour la majorité des datacenters.

Peut-on mixer EVPN-VXLAN et STP classique ?

Oui, la coexistence est possible via des border leafs qui font le pontage entre le domaine VXLAN et le réseau legacy STP. Les VLANs legacy sont étendus dans la fabric via des VNI mappés. C'est l'approche recommandée pour une migration progressive.