Updating a fabric with a new manual topology

  • You must have created a JSON file that describes the intended new topology.
  • You must have imported that topology file into the Fabric Services System so that it appears in the list of available manual topologies.
After you have deployed a fabric intent that is based on a manual, imported topology, you can update the fabric intent's topology by selecting and applying a different imported topology.

Like any change to a deployed fabric intent, you begin by creating a new candidate version of the fabric intent. A new candidate version of a fabric intent keeps the same fabric intent name, but the system assigns an incremented version number, date, and (if necessary) a new user association. You then apply the new topology to this new version of the fabric intent.

You can update a fabric topology in this way even if the fabric intent is already being used as part of an existing workload intent. However if the new topology deletes a node that is participating in a workload intent, the deployment of the new fabric intent fails. The reason for the failure is captured in the event log.

For this reason, before applying a topology update that deletes a node, ensure that any workloads using that node are first updated to eliminate that node from their configuration.

To update a fabric intent with a new manual topology:

  1. Click the menu.
  2. Select Fabric Intents.
  3. To open a specific fabric intent from the list, do one of the following:
    • Double-click the row for that fabric intent.
    • Select a row, click the icon at the right edge of that row, and select Open from the displayed action list.
  4. Click the menu at the upper right of the page.
  5. Select Create Candidate Version.
    The system saves a new version of the current fabric intent.

    You can now edit the fabric intent's parameters and save the result without affecting the original version.

  6. Use the Imported Topology From File drop-down to select a new topology from the topology list.
    If the new topology adds new nodes, the existing nodes retain their IDs in the new topology. Only new nodes are assigned new IDs.
  7. Click to save the fabric intent. When you save the fabric intent, the system:
    • updates the state of the fabric intent to Created.
    • updates the version number of the fabric intent to 1.0.
    • enables the GENERATE FABRIC button.
  8. Click GENERATE FABRIC to generate a new fabric diagram.
    You can now view the fabric intent, and eventually add it to the deployment pipeline and deploy it as you would for a new fabric intent.

    At any time before deploying the new version, you can discard this candidate version and revert to the previously deployed version by clicking on the More actions icon ( ) in the Fabric Design view and selecting Discard Changes.