Using VRF in Your Network

Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) provides a method of partitioning your network into different routed domains. A VRF is a segregated domain for the routed forwarding of packets. VRFs are used to divide a router into multiple standalone forwarding domains that may contain unique IP networks, routes, and other configuration that would otherwise conflict if they were all deployed on the same router. VRFs can exchange routes between one another. An Interface may be configured to one and only one VRF. An interface configured to a particular VRF is considered a member of that VRF. One or more VRF(s) can be used as a gateway (or access point) to a larger Internet. On the S-Series platform, VRFs with overlapping IP networks that communicate to a larger Internet can coexist, using the Network Address Translation (NAT) feature NAT-inside-VRF.