Manual fabric topologies

Although the Fabric Services System can automatically generate a fabric topology for you based on parameters you provide in the GUI, it is also possible to import a predefined topology to serve as the basis for future fabric intents.

This capability assumes that you have already created a file that describes a fabric topology. You can use the Topologies page in the Fabric Services System to import that topology.

The topology file you import must be in JSON or YAML format, and must include information about nodes, links, and device profiles. After you import the topology, you can use it as the basis for any number of fabric intents you create with the Fabric Services System.

For node configurations contained within the manual topology, the software version specified for each node must be among the software versions supported in the Fabric Service System's software catalog.

The types of configurations supported in such manual topologies vary depending on the hardware involved. For example, a manual topology consisting of WBX nodes can include LAGs, but one of SR Linux nodes cannot. (For SR Linux topologies, you can add LAGs afterward using conventional methods within the Fabric Services System).

After you create a fabric intent using a manual, imported topology, you can include it in workload intents as you would any other fabric intent. The special considerations for manual, imported topologies extend only to the design and updates for the fabric intent itself; subsequent workflow involving such fabric intents is unchanged.