Route Target Import and Export | Extending VRF's Across the Core | VRFs Part 3

It's great that we can segregate our customers into virtual routing tables using VRF's. But how do we enable this across many routers?

It would be difficult to manually configure VRFs on each router. Imagine the time and effort spent on this task!

Instead, we can use MP-BGP (Multiprotocol BGP) to tag each route as they're shared. These tags are called route-targets. Now routes can be exported out of a VRF on one router, shared with another router through BGP, and then imported into the correct VRF.

While we're on the topic, how do routes stay unique in the BGP database? VRF's can also be given a tag, called a route-distinguisher, which accomplishes this task.

In this video, we'll see how to configure route distinguishers and route targets to keep customer routes unique. We'll also see how to share routes across a core network. Maybe we'll even see a little introduction to MPLS!



This includes a lab you can follow along with.

You can download the labs, and practice on your own if you want (Patreon).
https://networkdirection.net/VRF+Lab+3




Part 1: VRF Lite - The Fundamentals of how VRF's work. This covers route separation, why you need it, and how it's configured
https://youtu.be/D0IT6ZKY3tg

Part 2: Dynamic Routing - Taking it a step further, we see how to add OSPF, EIGRP, and BGP routing, all while keeping it VRF-aware
https://youtu.be/7RtoNTK-mgE

Part 3: Route Targets - VRF's are local to each router. But, we can use route-targets and MP-BGP to share routes between VRF's on different routers. The ed result? VRF's are spanned across your network!
https://youtu.be/dW8JjcINgDg

Part 4: Route Leaking - VRF's keep routes separate, but what if you have some important services to share? How do you share the routes then? With Route Leaking!
https://youtu.be/GeIfsVPs4o0



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