Configure a 5-Stage Clos Fabric

The 5-stage topology has three layers of devices: leaf, spine, and super-spine.

You can build a 5-stage Clos from top to bottom or bottom to top. The following example builds from top to bottom.

5-Stage Clos fabric topology

Tip

If any devices in a fabric are in "admin-down" state, use of the following commands in that same fabric will not add or delete devices in the fabric: efa fabric device add-bulk and efa fabric device remove.

1. Create the fabric.
   

   efa fabric create

2. Add a device to the fabric.
   

   efa fabric device add

   A device must be registered with the Inventory Service before you can add it to a fabric. However, if you provide a user name and password when you run the command, then the devices are automatically registered with the Inventory Service. See the examples at the end of this procedure.

   You can add multiple devices by using the efa fabric device add-bulk command. If you choose to add multiple devices in bulk, ensure you perform the following operations first:

   • Run the efa inventory device register --ip <list-of-device-ips> command.
   • Run the efa inventory device interface list --ip <device-ip> command. In the output of the command, verify that the states of the port links are as you expected (in the Admin Status and Oper Status fields). If not, manually check the physical cabling and fix any issues. Then continue with the efa fabric device add-bulk operation.
3. Configure the fabric.
   

   efa fabric configure

   Topology validation occurs during the addition of a device and during fabric configuration. The following validations are performed:

   • Leaf nodes must connect to all the spine nodes.
   • A spine node must connect to all the leaf nodes.
   • A border leaf node connects to all the spine nodes.
   • A spine node connects to all the border leaf nodes.
   • No more than two leaf nodes connect to each other.
   • No more than two border leaf nodes connect to each other.
   • Border leaf node and leaf node are not connected to each other.
   • Spine nodes are not connected to each other.
   • Super-spine nodes are not connected to each other.
   • A leaf node marked as "multi-homed" must have an MCT neighbor.
   • A leaf node marked as "single-homed" is not connected to other leaf nodes.
   • A border leaf node marked as "multi-homed" must have an MCT neighbor.
   • A border leaf node marked as "single-homed" is not connected to other border leaf nodes.
   • Device role (such as leaf, border-leaf, spine, and super-spine) is validated for a given device platform type (for example, SLX 9840 cannot be added as a leaf).

   

   Tip

   The validation process reports any errors as a response to the efa fabric device add or efa fabric configure operations. You can use the efa fabric error show command to export these errors to a CSV file.

Example

This example creates the fabric.

efa fabric create --name --stage5

Example

This example adds a device to the fabric.

efa fabric device add--name stage5 --username admin --password password 
--leaf 10.20.50.205,10.20.50.206,10.20.50.207 --spine 10.20.50.203,10.20.50.204 
--three-stage-pod podA --super-spine

Example

This example adds multiple devices to the fabric.

efa fabric device add-bulk --name stage5 --username admin --password password 
--leaf 10.20.50.205,10.20.50.206,10.20.50.207 --spine 10.20.50.203,10.20.50.204 
--three-stage-pod podA --super-spine 10.20.50.201,10.20.50.202 --five-stage-pod podC

Example

This example configures the fabric topology.

efa fabric configure --name stage5