Cisco Nexus Integration

Bridge supports Cisco Nexus 9K series switches using the same fabric lifecycle as NVIDIA Spectrum-X: LLDP-based topology discovery, BGP underlay configuration, per-tenant VxLAN/VRF overlay provisioning, and border leaf external connectivity. The key difference is the control plane — Cisco Nexus switches are configured through Cisco Nexus Dashboard rather than directly via switch APIs.

System Components

Component	Role
Bridge	Automation platform that manages the switch fabric lifecycle — discovery, underlay, and tenant overlay provisioning
Nexus Dashboard	Cisco's switch automation layer; receives configuration data models from Bridge and applies them to the Nexus switches
Cisco Nexus 9K Switches	AI data center class Ethernet switches that form the compute and converged network fabric

Bridge does not configure Nexus switches directly. Instead, Bridge prepares a structured data model for each operation and pushes it to Nexus Dashboard, which translates the model into switch configuration and reports the result back to Bridge.

Integration Architecture

Bridge ──► Nexus Dashboard ──► Cisco Nexus Switches
  ▲               │
  └───────────────┘
    (status / result)

Day N compute allocation flow:

1. A tenant user requests compute through the Bridge portal.
2. Bridge prepares the required network data model (VPC, VRF, VxLAN parameters).
3. Bridge pushes the data model to Nexus Dashboard.
4. Nexus Dashboard configures the Cisco Nexus switches to match the requested state.
5. Nexus Dashboard reports the configuration result back to Bridge.
6. Bridge marks the allocation as complete and provides access to the tenant.

Fabric Lifecycle

Discovery (Day 0)

Bridge initiates LLDP-based discovery of the Cisco Nexus switch fabric over the OOB management network. During discovery, Bridge:

• Traverses the entire switch fabric following LLDP adjacencies.
• Identifies all Nexus switches, their roles in the topology (spine, leaf, border leaf), and all inter-switch links.
• Records switch inventory, port mappings, and link information in the Bridge database for subsequent network configuration operations.

The discovery process produces a complete CLOS topology map identical in structure to the Spectrum-X topology, consisting of spine switches, leaf switches, and compute nodes connected through the East-West fabric.

Underlay Configuration (Day 0)

After discovery, Bridge creates a fabric in Nexus Dashboard and configures the BGP underlay:

• A fabric is created in Nexus Dashboard representing the discovered switch topology.
• BGP peering is established across all switches, forming the routing foundation for VxLAN overlay traffic.
• Loopback interfaces are configured on each switch to serve as VxLAN Tunnel Endpoints (VTEPs).

The BGP underlay is the prerequisite for all tenant overlay network creation.

Tenant Overlay Provisioning (Day N)

When a tenant creates a VPC and subnets through the Bridge portal, Bridge translates these into switch fabric configuration via Nexus Dashboard:

Tenant Construct	Switch Fabric Implementation
VPC	VRF (Virtual Routing and Forwarding) instance
Subnet	VxLAN segment with a unique VNI (VxLAN Network Identifier)

Bridge sends the VRF and VxLAN data model to Nexus Dashboard, which configures the corresponding constructs on all relevant Nexus switches. BGP EVPN propagates VxLAN routes across the fabric, providing L2 adjacency across the L3 spine-leaf topology.

Compute Allocation (Day N)

When a compute node is allocated to a tenant, Bridge extends the tenant's VPC network to include that node:

• Bridge creates the VPC network configuration for the tenant on the Nexus switches via Nexus Dashboard.
• The compute node's switch interfaces are added to the tenant's VxLAN segment.
• Communication between all nodes in the tenant's VPC network is enabled through the overlay.
• The tenant's in-band management network and storage node access are configured in the corresponding converged network VRF.

Border Leaf — External Connectivity (Day N)

Compute nodes allocated to tenants can be assigned external IP addresses. Bridge configures the border leaf switches via Nexus Dashboard to enable this:

Border Leaf Configuration	Purpose
Per-tenant external VRF	Isolated routing context for each tenant's external traffic
Route leaking: external VRF ↔ tenant in-band VRF	Enables compute nodes to reach and be reached from external networks

This is the same route-leak architecture used with NVIDIA Spectrum-X, applied to Cisco Nexus border leaf switches through Nexus Dashboard.

Observability

Bridge integrates an OpenTelemetry (OTEL) pipeline with Cisco Nexus switch telemetry. Switch metrics collected via the OTEL pipeline are displayed on the Bridge portal's switch dashboard, providing the NCP Admin with visibility into fabric health, interface utilization, and error counters across the Nexus switch fabric.

Comparison: Cisco Nexus vs. NVIDIA Spectrum-X

Both integrations follow the same fabric lifecycle and use identical tenant isolation concepts. The difference lies solely in the control plane:

Aspect	Cisco Nexus	NVIDIA Spectrum-X
Switch vendor	Cisco Nexus 9K	NVIDIA Spectrum-4 SN5000
Control plane interface	Nexus Dashboard API	NVUE (NVIDIA User Experience)
Topology (CLOS)	Identical	Identical
Tenant isolation	VRF + VxLAN + BGP EVPN	VRF + VxLAN + BGP EVPN
Discovery mechanism	LLDP over OOB	LLDP over OOB
Underlay	BGP	BGP EVPN
Border leaf / external connectivity	Route leaking via Nexus Dashboard	Route leaking via Cumulus NVUE
Observability	OTEL pipeline	OTEL pipeline + NVIDIA NetQ

Related Pages

• Ethernet Overview — Ethernet fabric lifecycle and tenant isolation architecture
• NVIDIA Spectrum-X — Spectrum-X switch fabric integration
• Networking Overview — Full tenant network isolation model and underlay creation