Breakout ports

In the Fabric Services System, you can enable breakout mode for supporting ports as part of Edge Link Interface configuration for a fabric intent.

The Fabric Services System supports the configuration of breakout ports with the following methods:

When a port is configured in breakout mode, the original port itself can no longer be selected as a sub-interface for a workload VPN intent, nor can it be made part of a LAG. However, each of the broken-out sub-ports derived from it can:

  • participate in a LAG; however, a LAG cannot include a mixture of regular ports and broken-out sub-ports. All of the ports in a LAG must be of one type of the other.
  • be selected as a sub-interface for a workload VPN intent.

In lists of ports in the UI, the system displays the broken-out ports as a group of four sub-ports; for example, port 1/3 in breakout mode displays as ports 1/3/1 through 1/3/4.

You can un-configure breakout mode for a port, but only if none of the broken-out ports are currently members of a LAG or functioning as sub-interfaces.

Note: Breakout port configuration is not supported on the initial version of a fabric intent. To configure a breakout port, you must first save and deploy Version 1.0 of the fabric intent, and then create a new version of the intent. You can configure breakout ports for Version 2.0 and greater of a fabric intent.

Configuring a breakout port

To configure a single port in breakout mode, do the following:

  1. Choose one of the following:
    • If you are configuring ports for a fabric intent that is already deployed, begin by creating a new candidate version of the existing fabric intent. Then go to step 2.
    • If you are configuring breakout ports for Version 2.0 or greater of a fabric intent that has not yet been deployed, go to step 2.
  2. Click the menu.
  3. Select Fabric Intents.
  4. Use the Region Selector at the top of the page to select the region that includes the fabric intent.
  5. 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.
  6. From the View drop-down list, select Edge-Links.
  7. In the list of edge links, select a port by checking the box at the left edge of its row.
  8. At the right edge of the row for the selected port, click the More actions icon () and select Open.
  9. Click the Breakout Mode toggle to enable Breakout Mode for the port.
    The UI displays the following new properties for the port:
    • Num Channels (number of channels): set to 2 or 4.
    • Channel Speed: use the drop-down list to select 10G, 25G, or 100G.
  10. Click SAVE.

Configuring multiple breakout ports

To configure multiple ports in breakout mode with a single action, do the following:
  1. Choose one of the following:
    • If you are configuring ports for a fabric intent that is already deployed, begin by creating a new candidate version of the existing fabric intent. Then go to step 2.
    • If you are configuring breakout ports for Version 2.0 or greater of a fabric intent that has not yet been deployed, go to step 2.
  2. Click the menu.
  3. Select Fabric Intents.
  4. Use the Region Selector at the top of the page to select the region that includes the fabric intent.
  5. 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.
  6. From the View drop-down list, select Edge-Links.
  7. In the list of edge links, select a set of ports to configure as breakout ports by checking the box at the left edge of each row.
  8. At the upper right edge of the page, click the More actions icon () and select + Breakout Pattern.
    The UI displays the following new properties for the breakout ports:
    • Num Channels (number of channels): set to 2 or 4.
    • Channel Speed: use the drop-down list to select 10G, 25G, or 100G.
  9. Enter values for the number of channels and channel speed.
    Note: The same values are applied to all ports you selected.
  10. Click ADD.