Automatic fabric multicast group selection in a dynamic fabric automation network architecture

One or more non-transitory tangible media that includes code for execution and when executed by a processor is operable to perform operations comprising:

• establishing a pool of multicast group addresses reserved for assignment to Layer 2 (“L2”) and Layer 3 (“L3”) segment IDs of a network comprising an Internet protocol (“IP”) fabric;
• assigning a first multicast group address from the pool to an L3 segment ID of a Virtual Routing and Forwarding element (“VRF”) associated with a new partition established in the network;
• pushing the first multicast group address assignment to a database to provide arguments for configuration profiles;
• configuring a new tenant detected on a leaf node of the network using the configuration profiles, wherein the configuring comprises specifying multicast group to segment ID assignments for the tenant as specified in the configuration profiles;
• dividing the pool into a common pool and a mobility domain pool;
• for each multicast group address in the mobility domain pool, assigning one of the mobility domain multicast group addresses to at least one non-overlapping mobility domain of a group of mobility domains comprising the network if there are fewer mobility domain multicast group addresses than mobility domains;
• otherwise, assigning to each of the mobility domains at least one non-overlapping multicast group address from the mobility domain pool;
• and
• for each new partition, if the partition contains networks of the same mobility domain, assigning one of the multicast group addresses from the mobility domain pool assigned to the mobility domain to an L3 segment ID configured to the partition;
• otherwise, selecting a multicast group address from the common pool to be assigned to the L3 segment ID configured to the partition.

An apparatus comprising:

• a memory element configured to store data;
• a processor operable to execute instructions associated with the data;
• and
• a network manager element configured to:
• establish a pool of multicast group addresses reserved for assignment to Layer 2 (“L2”) and Layer 3 (“L3”) segment IDs of a network comprising an Internet protocol (“IP”) fabric;
• assign a first multicast group address from the pool to an L3 segment ID of a Virtual Routing and Forwarding element (“VRF”) associated with a new partition established in the network;
• pushing the first multicast group address assignment to a database to provide arguments for configuration profiles;
• configure a new tenant detected on a leaf node of the network using the configuration profiles, wherein the configuring comprises specifying multicast group to segment ID assignments for the tenant as specified in the configuration profiles;
• divide the pool into a common pool and a mobility domain pool;
• for each multicast group address in the mobility domain pool, assign one of the mobility domain multicast group addresses to at least one non-overlapping mobility domain of a group of mobility domains comprising the network if there are fewer mobility domain multicast group addresses than mobility domains;
• otherwise, assigning to each of the mobility domains at least one non-overlapping multicast group address from the mobility domain pool;
• and
• for each new partition, if the partition contains networks of the same mobility domain, assign one of the multicast group addresses from the mobility domain pool assigned to the mobility domain to an L3 segment ID configured to the partition;
• otherwise, select a multicast group address from the common pool to be assigned to the L3 segment ID configured to the partition.