EVPN-VXLAN Explainer 5 – Layer 3 with Asymmetrical IRB

Thus far, this series of posts have all been about Layer 2 over Layer 3 models; the customer ethernet frames encapsulated in UDP, traversing L3 networks. The routing has been confined underlay, the customer traffic has stayed within the same network.
No longer! In this post, things start getting a little more interesting, as we look at routing the customer traffic with an EVPN feature called Integrated Routing and Bridging, or IRB.
- First we look at the concept of routing in VXLAN networks.
- Then we have an in-depth look at asymmetrical IRB (I'll be dealing with symmetrical in the next post).
✅ L2 is intra-subnet, L3 is inter-subnet
📥 Intra-subnet
To define terms, when I say 'intra-subnet', that is L2 traffic transferred between nodes in the same subnet.
📤 Inter-subnet
'Inter-subnet' refers to a traffic flow that traverses subnet boundaries.
☎️ The Centralized IP L3 Gateways of Old
- With VXLAN networks in the past, inter-subnet communication was often performed by a centralized, IP only, gateway on behalf of the rest of the network.
- Traffic from customer-side networks would need to be sent to this central device for routing, which often created inefficient traffic flows, and possibly a bandwidth choke-point.
- Imagine Continue reading

