[PATCH pve-docs v2 7/7] sdn: add bgp fabric section

Hannes Laimer
2026-04-15T11:12:39Z

---
pvesdn.adoc | 66 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 66 insertions(+)

diff --git a/pvesdn.adoc b/pvesdn.adoc
index 8f955e8..c993c6d 100644
--- a/pvesdn.adoc
+++ b/pvesdn.adoc
@@ -835,6 +835,72 @@ NOTE: The dummy interface will automatically be configured as `passive`. Every
interface which doesn't have an ip-address configured will be treated as a
`point-to-point` link.

+[[pvesdn_bgp]]
+BGP
+~~~
+
+BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) can be used as an eBGP unnumbered underlay
+fabric. Each node gets its own unique Autonomous System Number (ASN) and
+peers with its neighbors over physical interfaces without requiring IP
+addresses on the fabric links.
+
+Configuration options:
+
+[[pvesdn_bgp_fabric]]
+On the Fabric
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+IPv4 Prefix:: IPv4 CIDR network range (e.g., 192.0.2.0/24) used to verify that
+all router-IDs in the fabric are contained within this prefix.
+
+IPv6 Prefix:: IPv6 CIDR network range (e.g., 2001:db8::/64) used to verify that
+all node IPv6 addresses in the fabric are contained within this prefix.
+
+BFD:: Enable Bidirectional Forwarding Detection on all peering sessions in this
+fabric. BFD provides fast failure detection for links between nodes.
+
+[[pvesdn_bgp_node]]
+On the Node
+^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Options that are available on every node that is part of a fabric:
+
+Node:: Select the node which will be added to the fabric. Only nodes that
+are currently in the cluster will be shown.
+
+ASN:: A unique BGP Autonomous System Number for this node. Each node in the
+fabric must have a different ASN. It is recommended to use private ASN numbers
+(64512-65534 for 16-bit, 4200000000-4294967294 for 32-bit).
+
+IPv4:: A unique Router-ID used to identify this router within the BGP network.
+Each node in the same fabric must have a different Router-ID.
+
+IPv6:: An optional IPv6 address for dual-stack fabrics. If only an IPv6 address
+is configured (without an IPv4 address), the BGP router-id will be
+automatically derived from it.
+
+Interfaces:: Specify the interfaces used to establish peering connections with
+other BGP nodes. These interfaces run BGP unnumbered (no IP address assignment
+needed). A dummy "loopback" interface with the router-id is automatically
+created.
+
+NOTE: Unlike OSPF and OpenFabric, BGP unnumbered interfaces do not need IP
+addresses. Peering is established using IPv6 link-local addresses automatically.
+
+[[pvesdn_bgp_evpn]]
+Using BGP Fabrics with EVPN
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+When configuring an EVPN controller, a BGP fabric can be selected as the
+underlay instead of manually specifying peer addresses. The EVPN overlay
+sessions will run as iBGP, using the EVPN controller's ASN for the router
+process. The per-node fabric ASN is automatically applied via `local-as` on
+the underlay neighbor group.
+
+This means the EVPN controller ASN and the per-node fabric ASNs should be
+different. For example, with three nodes using ASNs 65001, 65002, and 65003
+for the underlay, the EVPN controller could use ASN 65000 for the overlay.
+
[[pvesdn_config_ipam]]
IPAM
----
--
2.47.3