So I think I’m done with theory, and now it’s time to practice some of the most important topics – firstly MC-LAG and EVPN.

Unfortunately I don’t have access to real QFX5100 gear, so I’m using vMX and vQFX virtual appliances. I built my lab in GNS3 using my home PC with 4-core CPU and 32 GB of RAM. I’m using vMX v17 (v16 doesn’t support all required EVPN functionality), vQFX v15; and also vMX v14 in CE and MPLS PE role.

Detailed instructions how to import vMX and vQFX in GNS3 can be found here. Important note – you don’t have to always use recommended RAM sizes for vMX VMs (2GB vMX vCP, 4GB vMX vFP). If you don’t have enough RAM, you can downsize it a little bit – I configured 1GB for vMX vCP and 3GB for vMX vFP. vQFX is pretty lightweight (1GB RAM for vRE and 1GB for vPFE), but it takes a lot of time to boot up its vPFE, so be patient and wait about 15-20 minutes. vMX v14 is also pretty lightweight, so I use it for emulating CE devices.

My lab topology looks like this:

I plan to practice this topics:

• MC-LAG: basic L2 connectivity and advanced IRB topics using a pair of vQFX and a pair of vMX in DC1;
• EVPN-VXLAN: basic L2 connectivity, various schemes of RT assignments, IRB routing using IP fabric of vMX and vQFX in DC1;
• EVPN DCI: EVPN-MPLS to EVPN-VXLAN stitching on vMX.

Not so much time left for preparation – I have my lab scheduled for August, 10. So I have just about two weeks for practice. I’ll share my notes in the following posts. Stay tuned.