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Installing the JunosVM for CSD-Topology

The CSD-Topology runs Junos in a virtual machine (JunosVM) that uses routing protocols to communicate with the network and dynamically learn the network topology. To provide real-time updates of the network topology, the JunosVM, which is based on a virtual route reflector (VRR), establishes a BGP-link state (LS) peering session with one or more routers from the existing MPLS TE backbone network.

The VRR feature allows you to implement route reflector capability using a general purpose virtual machine that can be run on a 64-bit Intel-based blade server or appliance. Because a route reflector works in the control plane, it can run in a virtualized environment. A virtual route reflector on an Intel-based blade server or appliance works the same as a route reflector on a router, providing a scalable alternative to full mesh internal BGP peering. For more information regarding VRR, see Understanding Virtual Route Reflector

VRR supports different physical PCI devices such as E1000 and VRRNET3. The procedure in this section is specific to E1000 and VRRNET3 devices.

The JunosVM (VRR) software image is located at https://www.juniper.net/support/downloads/?p=vrr#sw.

The IP address of the JunosVM is configurable in the northstar.cfg file. The name of the property is ntad_host and it defaults to 172.16.16.2. In the sample configuration scenario described in this topic, an IP address is assigned to the Ethernet interface, eth1, of the CSD-Topology VM, and an IP address is assigned to the management Ethernet interface, em0, of the JunosVM.

Note:

The configuration discussed in this section assumes that the JunosVM can be reached at the 172.16.16.2 address. If a different address is used for the connection between the JunosVM and CSD-Topology VM, you must update the /opt/csd-topology/data/northstar.cfg file (the property name is ntad_host=172.16.16.2) to point to the correct address where the JunosVM can be reached.

The interfaces, eth0 and eth2, of the CSD-Topology VM must be connected to the management Ethernet interfaces, em1 and em2, respectively, of the JunosVM or the Hypervisor. The connection between eth0 and em1 is the router-facing link, whereas the connection between eth2 and em2 is the management link.

Note:

The procedure for installing the JunosVM for CSD-Topology bundle 5.1 has been validated only for Junos OS Release 18.4R3.

To install VRR with vSphere for E1000 and VRRNET3 adapters and configure the JunosVM (VRR VM) for CSD-Topology, perform these tasks:

Setting Up the Datastore

To upload VRR to the ESXi datastore:

  1. Download the VRR software package for VMware from the VRR page.
  2. Launch the vSphere Web Client for your ESXi server and log in to the server.
  3. Click the Summary tab, select the datastore under Storage, right-click, and select Browse Datastore.
  4. In the Datastore Browser, click the Upload button, select Upload File, and upload the jinstall64-vrr*.ova files for the package contents

Creating VRR VMs

To create a JunosVM or VRR VM:

  1. In the left navigation pane, select the ESXi server. In the Getting Started tab, click Create a new virtual machine.

    The Create New Virtual Machine wizard appears.

  2. In the Configuration pane, select the Custom button and click Next.
  3. In the Name and Location pane, specify the name of the VM and click Next. For example, CSD-Topology_JunosVM for the JunosVM.
  4. In the Storage pane, select appropriate datastore (for example, datastore1) for the destination storage of the VM and click Next.
  5. In the Virtual Machine Version pane, select the Virtual Machine Version: 8 button and click Next.
  6. In the Guest Operating System pane, select the Other button, select Other (64-bit) from the list, and click Next.
  7. In the CPUs pane, select 2 for the number of cores per virtual socket and click Next.
  8. In the Memory pane, select 2 GB from the Memory Size list for the VM and click Next.
  9. In the Network pane, select 3 from the list, assign the proper vswitch to the E1000 adapters, and click Next.
  10. In the SCSI Controller pane, select the LSI Logic SAS button (default option is LSI Logic Parallel) and click Next.
  11. In the Select a Disk pane, select the Use an existing virtual disk button and click Next.
  12. In the Select Existing Disk pane, click Browse to select the appropriate jinstall64-vmx* file from the datastore and click Next.
  13. In the Advanced Options pane, click Next to accept the default options.
  14. In the Ready to Complete pane, click Finish.

Configuring the JunosVM

To configure the JunosVM:

Enter the following commands from the Junos OS CLI interface. Replace the variables with actual values to suit your network needs

Configuring the CSD-Topology Server with the JunosVM IP Address

To associate the CSD-Topology VM with JunosVM:

  1. Establish an SSH session with the server running the CSD-Topology software.
  2. Edit northstar.cfg file as follows:

    where ntad_host is the name of the topology discovery process running on the JunosVM. In this example, the management IP address of the JunosVM is 172.16.16.2.

  3. Restart the JunosVM services.

Verifying the Connectivity Between the CSD-Topology Server and JunosVM

To verify the connectivity between the CSD-Topology server and JunosVM:

  1. Establish a session with the server running the CSD-Topology software.
  2. Run the netstat command to verify that connectivity is established between the CSD-Topology server and JunosVM.

Verifying That the CSD-Topology Services Are Running

To verify that the CSD-Topology services are running correctly:

  1. Access CSD-Topology server VM.
  2. Run the csd_topology status command.

Stopping Firewall on theCSD-Topology Server

You can optionally stop firewall services. To stop firewall services on the CSD-Topology server:

  1. Access CSD-Topology server VM.
  2. Stop firewall services on the CSD-Topology server.

Configuring Peer Routers and Topology Acquisition on the JunosVM

To configure the peer route settings on the JunosVM for BGP peering:

  1. Configure a policy.
  2. Configure BGP-link state (LS) distribution on the CSD-Topology for topology acquisition
    1. Specify the autonomous system (AS) number for the node (BGP peer).
    2. Specify the BGP group name and type for the node.
    3. Specify a description for the BGP group for the node.
    4. Specify the address of the local end of a BGP session.

      This is the IP address for the JunosVM external IP address which is used to accept incoming connections to the JunosVM peer and to establish connections to the remote peer.

    5. Enable the traffic engineering features for the BGP routing protocol.
    6. Specify the IP address for the neighbor router that connects with the CSD-Topology.
      Note:

      You can specify the router loopback address if it is reachable by the BGP peer on the other end. But for loopback to be reachable, usually some IGP has to be enabled between the CSD-Topology JunosVM and the peer on the other end.

  3. Import the routes into the traffic-engineering database.
  4. Configure a BGP group by specifying the IP address of the router that peers with the CSD-Topology as the local address (typically the loopback address) and the JunosVM external IP address as the neighbor.

Specifying the Topology Details in the Connectivity Services Director GUI

To specify the topology preferences on the Connectivity Services Director server:

  1. From the Junos Space user interface, click the System icon on the Connectivity Services Director banner.

    The options that you can configure in System mode are displayed in a drop-down menu.

  2. Select Preferences from the drop-down menu to open the Preferences page.

    The Preferences page opens with User Preferences as the default tab.

  3. Click the Topology tab to configure the CSD-Topology preference settings.

    The settings that you can configure on the Topology tab are displayed.

  4. In the L3 Topology Settings section, do the following:
    1. Select the Use PCEP check box to use the Path Computation Element Protocol (PCEP) for discovery of LSPs. PCEP enables communication between a PCC and the CSD-Topology to learn about the network and LSP path state and communicate with the Path Computation Clients (PCCs). If you select the Use PCEP check box, the LSP data is collected by using PCEP.

      By default, this check box is not selected. If you do not enable this option to use PCEP for discovery of LSPs, Connectivity Services Director discovers the LSPs by parsing the configuration statements and operational command outputs of the devices that it manages.

    2. In the Topology Server field, specify the topology server IP address, which is the IP address of the system on which the CSD-Topology application is running.
    3. In the UserName and Password fields, specify the username and password of the user to allow the Connectivity Services Director to connect to the topology server.
    4. Click Validate beside the Password field, which triggers a task to examine and verify the entered credentials for connecting to the CSD-Topology server. A dialog box is displayed to indicate whether the specified credentials are valid or not.
    5. Click OK to close the dialog box. If the login credentials for communicating with the CSD-Topology are invalid, correct the username and password values and revalidate them.
  5. Click OK to save the settings.

    You are prompted to confirm the changes you made to topology preferences.

  6. Click Yes to confirm.

    The Preferences page is closed. A dialog box is displayed to confirm the successful saving of topology preferences. Click OK to close the dialog box.

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