With your switches added to your Site1 Greenfield fabric, the next Day0 task is to ensure each switch has assumed the correct role in the fabric. The importance of roles defines how and what best practice configuration templates should be used to deploy configuration to switches in the fabric. As part of the builtin automation of the discovery and import, default roles are automatically assigned based on the switch model. For Nexus 9300 switches, the default role is set to leaf whereas for Nexus 9500 switches, the default role is set to spine. In a production VXLAN EVPN fabric, these default roles will be correct for the vast majority of the switches in the fabric automatically. The switches that need to assume the roles of border leaf switches or border gateway leaf switches for example, need to have their role set appropriately. Your Site1 Greenfield fabric has a border leaf, Site1-BL1, and a border gateway leaf, Site1-BGW1 that needs their respective roles adjusted.

Step 1 - Set Switch Role for Border Gateway Leaf

Navigate back to the Switches view to set the role of the border gateway leaf, Site1-BGW1, correctly:

1. Click Switches
2. Locate and select the checkbox for Site1-BGW1
3. Click Actions
4. Click Set Role in the dropdown menu

5. In the Select Role popup, click Border Gateway
6. Then click Select



7. Click Ok in the warning popup that informs that you must perform a Recalulate and Deploy.

Step 2 - Set Switch Role for Border Leaf

After setting the border gateway leaf role, you will arrive back at the Switches tabular view. Now set the role of the border leaf, Site1-BL1, correctly:

1. Click Switches
2. Locate and select the checkbox for Site1-BL1
3. Click Actions
4. Click Set Role in the dropdown menu

5. In the Select Role popup, click Border
6. Then click Select



7. Click Ok in the warning popup that informs that you must perform a Recalulate and Deploy.

Step 3 - Review Switch Roles

Review the switch roles that were automatically assigned by NDFC and the roles you set. Again, each switch role will serve a purpose in the type and amount of exact configuration required to be deployed to a given switch.

For further reference, additional details for adding switches can be found here.

Continue to the next section to set create a vPC domain between your Site1-L1 and Site1-L2 switches in your Site1 fabric.