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Extreme Fabric (Fabric Connect) study materials
Extreme Fabric (Fabric Connect) study resources

Extreme Fabric (Fabric Connect): Fabric implementation and configuration

Extreme Fabric (Fabric Connect) · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Fabric implementation and configuration

Domain 2 is the CLI layer: making IS-IS adjacencies form, binding VLANs to I-SIDs, building L3 VSNs and IP shortcuts, and attaching edge devices through Fabric Attach or UNI authentication. The exam expects you to know which commands are prerequisites for which service, and to confirm state from verification output instead of assuming a command worked.

Bringing up a VSP node

enable
configure terminal
spbm 1
spbm 1 nick-name 0.00.01.11
spbm 1 b-vid 4051,4052 primary 4051
spbm 1 ip enable
router isis
  isis
  spbm 1
  manual-area 49.0000
interface gigabitethernet 1/1
  no shutdown
  isis
  isis spbm 1
  • spbm 1 ip enable is what lets the node take part in IP shortcuts and L3 VSNs; without it L2 VSNs still work and routed services do not.
  • Every fabric-facing port needs both isis and isis spbm 1. Access ports get neither.

Creating services

  • L2 VSN: vlan create 300 name sales type port, then bind with vlan i-sid 300 10300 - VLAN ID first, I-SID second. Add UNI ports to the VLAN.
  • L3 VSN: create the VRF with its I-SID (ip vrf blue i-sid 20000), put the VLAN or brouter port inside that VRF, then address it.
  • IP shortcuts let a BEB route between I-SIDs without a full VRF, driven by ip shortcut.

Edge attachment

  • Fabric Attach: enable the FA server on the fabric edge and let it assign I-SIDs from a pool to requesting FA clients and proxies, so access switches need no per-port fabric configuration.
  • Auto-sense/UNI: the port stays unconfigured until EAP or NEAP authentication succeeds, then becomes a UNI in the assigned VLAN.

Worked example

VLAN 300 (I-SID 10300) already works on BEB-A; a second site needs the same service. On BEB-B: create VLAN 300, run vlan i-sid 300 10300, add the UNI ports to VLAN 300. Verification is two-sided: show isis spbm i-sid 10300 must report the I-SID active at both BEBs, and only then does a MAC learned on one side appear on the other. If only one end shows active, the binding or the VLAN is missing there - not an IS-IS fault.

Traps that cost marks

Reversing the vlan i-sid arguments; forgetting IS-IS on a transit port and blaming SPB; treating show vlan as proof of end-to-end service; putting an IP address on a VLAN that was never placed in the VRF; enabling the FA server on an access port instead of the fabric edge; omitting spbm 1 ip enable and then hunting a routing bug that does not exist.