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Network Switches

The Switches in Inventory Data Centers allows cloud partners to register and manage all physical network switches used in their infrastructure. These switches form the backbone of data center connectivity—enabling provisioning, tenant isolation, and routing of compute traffic.

Cloud partners must onboard each switch into the system so that it can be identified and used during automated provisioning workflows. Each switch is assigned a role, and network details like loopback IP, management IP, and BGP ASN.

Why use the Switches section?

  • Centralized visibility into all network switches used in the infrastructure
  • Associate switch roles to define provisioning and traffic routing paths
  • Enable automated tenant isolation through role-aware network mapping
  • Support BGP-based routing and IP-level management of hardware

Manage Network Switches

The Network Switches tab provides a view of all switches currently onboarded. It includes basic metadata such as:

Field Description Example
Name Identifier for the switch oob-core-01
Roles Function assigned to the switch (can be multiple) OOB_CORE, GPU_COMPUTE_LEAF
Loopback IP IP used for internal routing and diagnostics 10.233.2.3/32
Management IP IP used for out-of-band management access 172.29.252.57/24
BGP ASN Autonomous system number used for routing 4200000005

From the Network Switches page, click the ellipsis icon at the far right of the required switch, and then select Edit or Delete.

Medium

Add a Switch

To onboard a new switch:

  1. Click Add Switch
  2. Provide the following details:
    • Name (e.g., cp-leaf-01)
    • Loopback IP (e.g., 10.255.0.7/32)
    • Management IP (e.g., 172.29.252.17/24)
    • BGP ASN (e.g., 4200000007)
  3. Assign one or more roles using the predefined tags (e.g., CPU_SERVER_LEAF, OOB_SPINE, etc.)
  4. Optionally, add Trunk Ports and Trunk VLANs to specify switch uplink configuration
  5. Click Save Switch to register

Medium

Additional Options

  • Refresh: Reloads the switch list to reflect any recent additions, deletions, or edits.
  • Upload CSV: Allows bulk creation of switches using a structured CSV file. Each row represents a switch definition.
  • Download Template: Downloads a sample CSV file with the correct format to help you structure your bulk import correctly.

Medium

Credentials

The Credentials tab allows administrators to securely store and manage login information required to access physical switches.

These credentials are used by the platform during automation workflows to configure and validate switch settings. Only cloud partner admins have access to this section.

Fields

Field Description Example
Username The login username for accessing the switch demouser1
Password Associated login password (hidden in UI) ********
Groups Logical grouping of switches for credential sharing and access control demo-group, dev-group, qa-group

Admins can add a new group, update credentials, or delete them entirely using the Update and Delete buttons.

Medium

Switch Roles

The Switch Roles tab lets administrators define reusable network schemes for switches. Each role captures settings such as VLAN/VNI ranges, subnet allocation, DHCP relay servers, and route map associations that are critical for consistent network provisioning.

Table View

The roles list displays:

Field Description Example
Name Name of the switch role HSS_STORAGE_LEAF
Scheme Encoded JSON object defining VLANs, VNIs, subnets, IP pools, and route policies See detailed example below

Medium

Add/Edit Role

Click Add Role or the edit icon to define or update a switch role.

Basic information

Field Description Example
Name Select a predefined switch role from the dropdown MISC_CP_LEAF, GPU_COMPUTE_LEAF
Shared VRF Optional VRF shared across tenants shared-hss
Route Policies Prefix Optional prefix for identifying associated route maps from_tenants_to_shared_hss

Scheme (Example)

{
  "vlanAllocationScheme": "100*",
  "l2vniAllocationScheme": "100*",
  "l3vniAllocationScheme": "4000*",
  "subnetAllocationScheme": "10.*.0.0/18",
  "ipAllocationScheme": "*.2.*.2",
  "vrrpVipAllocationScheme": "*.2.*.1",
  "dhcpRelayServerScheme": [
    "10.*.127.11",
    "10.*.127.12",
    "10.*.127.254"
  ],
  "vlanAllocationBlacklist": [
    1000, 1001, 1003, 1004, 1002
  ],
  "l2vniAllocationBlacklist": [
    1000, 1001, 1003, 1004, 1002
  ]
}

Import Route Maps (Example)

{
  "into_shared_hss": "from_tenants_to_shared_hss",
  "into_tenants": "from_shared_hss_to_tenants"
}

Medium

Additional Options

Users can perform the following actions:

  • Refresh: Click the refresh icon to reload the list of roles and reflect any recent changes.
  • Upload CSV: Bulk upload multiple roles using a CSV file formatted according to the system's expected structure.
  • Download Template: Click to download a sample CSV file with the correct structure for role definitions. This helps ensure your data matches the expected format before uploading.

Once saved, the role becomes selectable when adding or editing switches under the Switches tab, ensuring consistent policy application across the environment.

VRFs

The VRFs tab lets administrators manage Virtual Routing and Forwarding instances. A VRF defines isolated network paths within the same switch fabric, allowing multiple tenants or applications to use overlapping IP spaces without conflict.

Table View

The VRFs list displays:

Field Description Example
VRF Name Name of the VRF instance TenantVRF-Alpha-10
VLAN ID VLAN associated with the VRF 106
Subnet Subnet allocated to the VRF 192.168.14.0/24
Gateway Gateway IP address for the VRF 192.168.14.1
Switch Role Associated switch role (if applicable) T2_STORAGE_LEAF
Org ID Organization identifier associated with the VRF orgid1
Allocation Status Indicates whether the VRF is allocated or available Allocated, Available

Medium

Add/Edit VRF

Click Add VRF or the edit icon to define or update a VRF.

Field Description Example
VRF Name Unique name of the VRF TenantVRF-Alpha-001
VLAN ID VLAN assigned to the VRF 106
Subnet Subnet to be associated with the VRF 16
Gateway Gateway IP for the subnet 192.168.14.1
Org ID Organization identifier for the VRF orgid1

Medium

Click the refresh icon to reload the list of VRFs and reflect any recent changes.