- General Workflow
- play_arrow Apstra GUI
- play_arrow Design
- Logical Devices (Datacenter Design)
- Interface Maps (Datacenter Design)
- Rack Types (Datacenter Design)
- Templates (Datacenter Design)
- Config Templates (Freeform Design)
- play_arrow Configlets (Datacenter Design)
- play_arrow Property Sets (Datacenter Design)
- TCP/UDP Port Aliases (Datacenter Design)
- Tags (Design)
- play_arrow Devices
- Device Configuration Lifecycle
- play_arrow Managed Devices
- play_arrow System Agents
- play_arrow Pristine Configuration
- play_arrow Telemetry
- play_arrow Apstra ZTP
- play_arrow Resources Introduction
- play_arrow Datacenter Reference Design
- Create / Delete Datacenter Blueprint
- Datacenter Blueprint Summary and Dashboard
- Assign Physical Resources (Datacenter)
- Assign Device Profiles
- play_arrow Configlets (Datacenter Blueprint)
- Topology (Datacenter)
- play_arrow Nodes (Datacenter)
- Assign Device (Datacenter)
- Unassign Device (Datacenter)
- Set Deploy Mode (Datacenter)
- Generic Systems vs. External Generic Systems
- Add Generic System
- Add External Generic System
- Add Access Switch
- Update Node Tags
- Update Port Channel ID Range
- Edit Hostname (Datacenter)
- Edit Generic System Name
- Edit Device Properties (Datacenter)
- View Node's Static Routes
- Delete Node
- play_arrow Links (Datacenter)
- Add Links to Leaf
- Add Links to Spine
- Add Links to Generic System
- Add Links to External Generic System
- Add Leaf Peer Links
- Form LAG
- Break LAG
- Update LAG Mode
- Update Link Tags
- Update Link Speed
- Update Link Properties
- Delete Link (Datacenter)
- Import / Export Cabling Map (Datacenter)
- Edit Cabling Map (Datacenter)
- Fetch Discovered LLDP Data (Datacenter)
- play_arrow Racks (Datacenter)
- play_arrow Pods (Datacenter)
- play_arrow Planes (Datacenter)
- play_arrow Virtual Networks
- play_arrow Routing Zones
- Static Routes (Virtual)
- Protocol Sessions (Virtual)
- Data Center Interconnect (DCI) / Remote EVPN Gateways (Virtual)
- play_arrow Virtual Infra (Virtual)
- play_arrow Endpoints Overview (Virtual)
- play_arrow Policies (Datacenter) Staged
- Logical Devices (Datacenter Blueprint)
- Interface Maps (Datacenter Blueprint)
- play_arrow Property Sets (Datacenter Blueprint)
- AAA Servers (Datacenter Blueprint)
- Tags (Datacenter Blueprint)
- Tasks (Datacenter) Staged
- play_arrow Connectivity Templates
- play_arrow Primitives
- Virtual Network (Single) Primitive
- Virtual Network (Multiple) Primitive
- IP Link Primitive
- Static Route Primitive
- Custom Static Route Primitive
- BGP Peering (IP Endpoint) Primitive
- BGP Peering (Generic System) Primitive
- Dynamic BGP Peering Primitive
- Routing Policy Primitive
- Routing Zone Constraint Primitive
- User-defined
- Pre-defined
- Create Connectivity Template for Multiple VNs on Same Interface (Example)
- Create Connectivity Template for Layer 2 Connected External Router (Example)
- Assign Connectivity Template
- Edit Connectivity Template
- Delete Connectivity Template
- play_arrow Active (Datacenter Blueprint)
- BGP Route Tagging
- Commit Blueprint
- Time Voyager
- play_arrow Analytics
- Configure Auto-Enabled Dashboards
- Instantiate Predefined Dashboard
- Create Analytics Dashboard
- Edit / Delete Dashboard
- Anomalies (Analytics)
- Widgets Overview
- Create Anomaly Heat Map Widget
- Create Stage Widget
- Edit / Delete Widget
- Probes
- Instantiate Predefined Probe
- Create Probe
- Import / Export Probe
- Edit / Delete Probe
- play_arrow Providers (External Systems)
- play_arrow Platform
- play_arrow User/Role Management (Platform)
- play_arrow Security (Platform)
- Syslog Configuration (Platform)
- Receivers (Platform)
- Global Statistics (Platform)
- Event Log (Platform)
- play_arrow Apstra VM Clusters
- play_arrow Developers (Platform)
- play_arrow Juniper Technical Support
- Favorites & User
- play_arrow Apstra Server Management
- Monitor Apstra Server via CLI
- Restart Apstra Server
- Reset Apstra Server VM Password
- Reinstall Apstra Server
- Apstra Database Overview
- Back up Apstra Database
- Restore Apstra Database
- Reset Apstra Database
- Migrate Apstra Database
- Replace SSL Certificate on Apstra Server with Signed One
- Replace SSL Certificate on Apstra Server with Self-Signed One
- Change Apstra Server Hostname
- Apstra CLI Utility
- play_arrow Guides
- play_arrow References
- play_arrow Apstra Feature Matrix
- Qualified Devices and NOS Versions
- NOS Upgrade Paths (Devices)
- play_arrow Predefined Dashboards (Analytics)
- Device Environmental Health Summary Dashboard (New in 4.1.2)
- Device Health Summary Dashboard
- Device Telemetry Health Summary Dashboard (New in 4.1.2)
- Drain Validation Dashboard
- Throughput Health MLAG Dashboard
- Traffic Trends Dashboard
- Virtual Infra Fabric Health Check Dashboard
- Virtual Infra Redundancy Check Dashboard
- play_arrow Predefined Probes (Analytics)
- BGP Session Flapping Probe
- Bandwidth Utilization Probe
- Critical Services: Utilization, Trending, Alerting Probe
- Device Environmental Checks Probe (New in 4.1.2)
- Device System Health Probe
- Device Telemetry Health Probe
- Device Traffic Probe
- Drain Traffic Anomaly Probe
- ECMP Imbalance (External Interfaces) Probe
- ECMP Imbalance (Fabric Interfaces) Probe
- ECMP Imbalance (Spine to Superspine Interfaces) Probe
- ESI Imbalance Probe
- EVPN Host Flapping Probe
- EVPN VXLAN Type-3 Route Validation Probe
- EVPN VXLAN Type-5 Route Validation Probe
- External Routes Probe
- Hot/Cold Interface Counters (Fabric Interfaces) Probe
- Hot/Cold Interface Counters (Specific Interfaces) Probe
- Hot/Cold Interface Counters (Spine to Superspine Interfaces) Probe
- Hypervisor and Fabric LAG Config Mismatch Probe (Virtual Infra)
- Hypervisor and Fabric VLAN Config Mismatch Probe (Virtual Infra)
- Hypervisor MTU Mismatch Probe (Virtual Infra NSX-T Only)
- Hypervisor MTU Threshold Check Probe (Virtual Infra)
- Hypervisor Missing LLDP Config Probe (Virtual Infra)
- Hypervisor Redundancy Checks Probe (Virtual Infra)
- Interface Flapping (Fabric Interfaces) Probe
- Interface Flapping (Specific Interfaces) Probe
- Interface Flapping (Specific Interfaces) Probe
- Interface Policy 802.1x Probe
- LAG Imbalance Probe
- Leafs Hosting Critical Services: Utilization, Trending, Alerting Probe
- Link Fault Tolerance in Leaf and Access LAGs Probe
- MLAG Imbalance Probe
- Multiagent Detector Probe
- Optical Transceivers Probe
- Packet Discard Percentage Probe
- Spine Fault Tolerance Probe
- Total East/West Traffic Probe
- VMs without Fabric Configured VLANs Probe (Virtual Infra)
- VXLAN Flood List Validation Probe
- play_arrow Probe Processors (Analytics)
- Processor: Accumulate
- Processor: Average
- Processor: Comparison
- Processor: EVPN Type 3
- Processor: EVPN Type 5
- Processor: Extensible Service Data Collector
- Processor: Generic Graph Collector
- Processor: Generic Service Data Collector
- Processor: Interface Counters
- Processor: Logical Operator
- Processor: Match Count
- Processor: Match Percentage
- Processor: Match String
- Processor: Max
- Processor: Min
- Processor: Periodic Average
- Processor: Range
- Processor: Ratio
- Processor: Service Data Collector
- Processor: Set Comparison
- Processor: Set Count
- Processor: Standard Deviation
- Processor: State
- Processor: Subtract
- Processor: Sum
- Processor: System Utilization
- Processor: Time in State
- Processor: Traffic Monitor
- Processor: Union
- Processor: VXLAN Floodlist
- Configlet Examples (Design)
- Apstra-CLI Commands
- Apstra EVPN Support Addendum
- Apstra Server Configuration File
- Agent Configuration File (Devices)
- Graph
- Juniper Apstra Technology Preview
ON THIS PAGE
Freeform Reference Design
Freeform Overview
- Reference Designs
- Device Management
- Freeform Blueprints and Device Profiles
- Systems and Links
- Config Templates, Property Sets and Tags
Reference Designs
If your network architecture is comprised of a 3-stage Clos, 5-stage Clos or collapsed fabric, you’ll want to take advantage of the abstraction and automation that’s included with the Datacenter reference design. For all other topologies, you can use the Freeform reference design (new in Apstra version 4.1.1) to leverage any feature, protocol, or architecture.
Blueprints created in the Datacenter reference design use a set of design elements to abstract and automate many network activities. Blueprints created in the Freeform reference design consist of systems and links that you add and configure yourself, giving you complete control over your architecture. In Freeform we use the term system to represent all the types of devices that can be linked in the Apstra environment: switches, routers, Linux hosts and so on.
Device Management
Device management for Freeform blueprints is the same as for Datacenter blueprints. The process of installing agents and acknowledging them to bring them under Apstra management is the same in both reference designs. In Apstra version 4.1.1 and 4.1.2, only Juniper devices are supported in Freeform blueprints.
Freeform Blueprints and Device Profiles
A newly created Freeform blueprint is just an empty blueprint with a name. (Freeform doesn't use blueprint templates.) You’ll start building your blueprint by importing device profiles from the design (global) catalog. A device profile represents a device’s capabilities without specifying its system ID (serial number). This is what enables you to build your entire network ‘offline’ before deploying it.
Systems and Links
You’ll create internal systems and assign device profiles to them. Internal systems are devices that are managed in the Apstra environment. You can bring your devices under Apstra management at any time. If you have them ready, you can assign them as you're creating your internal systems. If they're not ready, that's OK. You can assign them any time before deploying your network.
The other type of system in Freeform blueprints are external systems. These are systems that are linked to internal systems, and are not under Apstra management.
When you link your systems, you’ll select ports and transformations, as applicable. You can also add IP addresses and tags as you're creating those links.
Config Templates, Property Sets and Tags
Config templates are text files used to configure internal systems in Freeform. You'll assign a config template to every internal system. You could paste configuration directly from your devices into a config template to create a static config template, but then you wouldn’t be using the potential of config templates. With some Jinja2 knowledge (and maybe some Python), you can parametrize config templates to do powerful things.
Property sets provide a valuable capability to fully parameterize config templates. Consisting of key-value pairs, they enable you to separate static portions of config templates from variables. You create property sets in the blueprint catalog. (Property sets used in Freeform blueprints are not related to property sets in the design (global) catalog.) You'll include property set names in your config template and then the values in those property sets will be used when configuration is rendered.
You can also create a property set and assign it directly to one system.
Tags are a way for you to assign metadata to Apstra-managed resources. They can help you identify, organize, search for, and filter Apstra systems and links. With tags, you can categorize resources by purpose, owner, environment, or other criteria. Because tags are metadata, they aren't just used for visual labeling; they are also applied as properties of nodes in the Apstra graph database. This node property (or device property) is then available for you to reference in Jinja config templates for dynamic variables in config generation and the Apstra real-time analytics via Apstra's Live Query technology and Apstra Intent-Based Analytics.
An example of when you might want to use tags is if you have bare metal servers
with SRIOV interfaces, and you need to produce specific configuration for those
interfaces. You would add the tag sriov
to the links, then
specify in the config template that links with that tag are to be configured a
certain way.
Freeform Workflow
Access the Apstra GUI.
Bring your devices under Apstra management (same procedure as for Datacenter blueprints). If you don't have your system IDs (serial numbers) yet, that's OK. You can build your entire network 'offline' in the Apstra environment and bring your devices under Apstra management any time before deploying your network.
Import device profiles for the internal systems you'll create.
Add internal systems for the systems that Apstra will manage.
Add external systems for unmanaged systems, as applicable.
Add links to your systems.
Create config templates, and property sets as needed.
Assign config templates to internal systems. In Apstra version 4.1.2, only internal systems with deploy mode set to Deploy require an assigned config template. In versions 4.1.0 and 4.1.1, ALL internal systems require an assigned config template regardless of deploy mode.
If you haven't brought your devices under Apstra management yet, it's time to do that now.
Assign system IDs (if you haven't already) and set the deploy mode on your systems to Deploy.
Before deploying your network, you can use the apstra-cli utility to validate config template syntax. For more information, see Juniper Support Knowledge Base article KB69779.
Deploy blueprint.