IPv6 BGP Peering in Avi Vantage

Starting with Avi Vantage 18.1.1, Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) peering is supported for IPv6 in the VMware no access, VMware write access, VMware read access, Linux server, and bare-metal cloud ecosystems.

Configuring IPv6 BGP peer

Note: Similar to an IPv4 BGP peer, the IPv6 peer must be in the Service Engine’s directly-connected network. If it is an eBGP multihop peer, then you need to configure the IPv6 subnet of the Service Engine’s interface as subnet6, through which the multihop peer is reachable.

Using CLI

To configure an IPv6 BGP peer, login to the Controller shell, and execute the following commands:

Syntax


peer_ip6 ipv6_peer_address
subnet6 ipv6_subnet
remote_as AS_identity
md5_secret password

The following is an example of configuring an IPv6 BGP peer, with an IP address of 2006::54, and a subnet of 2006::/64.


 [admin:cntrlr]: > configure vrfcontext global
 [admin:cntrlr]: vrfcontext> bgp_profile
 [admin:cntrlr]: vrfcontext:bgp_profile> peers
 New object being created
 [admin:cntrlr]: vrfcontext:bgp_profile:peers> peer_ip6 2006::54
 [admin:cntrlr]: vrfcontext:bgp_profile:peers> subnet6 2006::/64
 [admin:cntrlr]: vrfcontext:bgp_profile:peers> remote_as 1
 [admin:cntrlr]: vrfcontext:bgp_profile:peers> md5_secret avi123
 [admin:cntrlr]: vrfcontext:bgp_profile:peers> save
 [admin:cntrlr]: vrfcontext:bgp_profile> save
 [admin:cntrlr]: vrfcontext> save
 [admin:cntrlr]:>

Using UI

To configure BGP IPv6 peer, on the Avi UI,

  1. Click the edit icon to edit an existing peer or click CREATE to create a new peer.

    1. Specify BGP Autonomous System (AS) ID.
    2. Select the Type as iBGP or eBGP.
    3. Specify the Keepalive Interval for Peers.
    4. Specify the Hold Time for Peers.
    5. Specify the Local Preference to be used for routes advertised.
    6. Specify the number of times the local AS should1. Navigate to Infrastructure > Cloud Resources > VRF Context and select the required cloud from the drop-down list. be prepended additionally.3. Navigate to BGP Peering tab and check Enable BGP Peering box to add the BGP details, routing options, Peers, community strings.
  2. Routing Options
    1. Specify the features that are applied to peers matching this label.
    2. Check the relevant checkboxes. If you check Learn Routes and Advertise Only Default Routes, then Learn Only Default Routes and Advertise Routes boxes will be disabled and vice-versa.
  3. Peer
    1. Specify IPv4 Prefix and Peer details.
    2. Specify IPv6 Prefix and Peer details.
    3. Specify MD5 digest secret key details.
    4. Specify advertisement interval, connection timer, keepalive interval, hold time for the peer.
    5. Check the relevant checkboxes.
      1. Enable Bi-Directional Forward Detection. Only asynchronous mode is supported.
      2. Advertise VIP to this Peer
      3. Advertise SNAT IP to this Peer
      4. Use iBGP as Local Override. This will override the profile level local_as with the peer level remote_as

Note: You can save the configuration by entering just the IPv6 prefix and peer details. Corresponding IPv4 details are optional. However, for either IPv4 or IPv6, both prefix and peer details are required.

  1. Click on Save to complete the configuration.

Configuring Dual Stack Peer

You can now configure both IPv4 and IPv6 BGP peers on Avi Vantage.

To configure both IPv4 and IPv6 BGP peers, on the Avi UI,

  1. Navigate to Infrastructure > Cloud Resources > VRF Context and select the required cloud from the drop-down list.
  2. Navigate to BGP Peering tab and check Enable BGP Peering box to add the BGP details, routing options, Peers, community strings.
  3. Enter the IPv4 peer details under IPv4 Prefix and IP4 Peer fields.

  4. Enter the IPv6 peer details under IPv6 Prefix and IPv6 Peer fields.

    The Edit BGP Peering screen is as shown below.

    dual_peer

    Notes:

    • A dual-stack VIP will only be placed on SE if BGP Peers are also dual-stack. Similarly, V4 VIPs will only be placed with V4 Peers and V6 VIPs will be placed with V6 Peers. So if the VIP is dual stack then BGP peers should also be configured as a dual stack and in case VIP is V4/V6 only, then corresponding peers should also be configured as V4 or V6. However, the peer IP/ subnet configured here should not be same as existing BGP dual stack peer as this will lead to a conflict.
    • Currently, V6 IPAM for management networks is not being supported.
  5. Click on Save to complete the configuration.

Note: Click on Add New Peer to add more peers.

You can configure the peer details using CLI as explained below:

Note: Similar to dual stack virtual service, the dual stack peer considered for BGP virtual service placement must have both its IPv4 (peer_ip/subnet) and IPv6 (peer_ip6/subnet6) located on the same interface. The IPv6 routes will be advertised over the IPv6 peering, and the IPv4 routes over the IPv4 peering.

Placement Behaviour of Dual Stack VIP and BGP Peers

If IPV6 Infrastructure Support is enabled, then the following behaviour is observed:

</tbody> </table> ## BGP Virtual Service Configuration To configure IPv6 BGP virtual service, 1. On the Avi UI, navigate to **Applications** > **Virtual Services**. 2. Click on **Create Virtual Service**. 3. Select **Advanced Setup**. 4. Enter **IPv4 VIP Address** and **IPv6 VIP Address**. The **New Virtual Service** screen is as below.
Dual_Stack_BGP_VS 5. Under **Pools**, provide the IPv4 and IPv6 server IP addresses.
Dual_Stack_BGP_Pool 6. Under **Step 4: Advanced**, click on the **Advertise VIP via BGP** option to enable BGP advertising for the configured virtual service, as shown below.
Dual_Stack_Advertise_VIP_via_BGP ## Verifying Configuration On the Avi CLI, use the show serviceengine service_engine_IP_address bgp command to verify the configuration. The following is an example of the show output: 

[admin:cntrlr]: > show serviceengine 10.140.1.13 bgp
+---------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Field               | Value                                                          |
+---------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| se_uuid             | 10-140-1-13:se-10.140.1.13-avitag-1                            |
| proc_id             | C0_L4                                                          |
| name                | global                                                         |
| local_as            | 65000                                                          |
| vrf                 | 1                                                              |
| active              | 1                                                              |
| peer_bmp            | 2147483648                                                     |
| peers[1]            |                                                                |
|   remote_as         | 1                                                              |
|   peer_ip           | 2006::54                                                       |
|   peer_id           | 1                                                              |
|   active            | 1                                                              |
|   md5_secret        | ****                                                           |
|   bfd               | True                                                           |
|   advertise_snat_ip | True                                                           |
|   bgp_state         | Established,                                                   |
|                     |                                                                |
|   advertise_vip     | True                                                           |
+++ Output truncated +++
The bgp_state value in **Established** verifies successful BGP peering.
VIP BGP Peer Placement SE Infra SE Remarks
IPV4 Only IPV4
IPV6		 Placed IPV6 Support enabled
IPV4 Only IPV4
IPV6		 Not Placed IPV6 Support not enabled
IPV6 Only IPV4
IPV6		 Placed IPV6 Support enabled
IPV6 Only IPV4
IPV6		 Not Placed IPV6 Support not enabled
IPV4 Only IPV4 Placed IPV6 Support enabled
IPV6 Only IPV6 Placed IPV6 Support enabled
IPV4
IPV6		 IPV4
IPV6		 Placed IPV6 Support enabled
IPV4
IPV6		 Peer 1: IPV4 only
Peer 2: IPV6 only		 Not Placed IPV6 Support enabled
IPV4
IPV6		 IPV4 Only Not Placed IPV6 Support enabled This is expected behaviour as no matching subnet for IPV6
IPV4
IPV6		 IPV6 Only Not Placed IPV6 Support enabled This is expected behaviour as no matching subnet for IPV4