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title: EVPN Designs: Multi-Pod Fabrics « ipSpace.net blog
description: A deep-dive into EVPN multi-pod fabric design where two EVPN fabrics are connected via an EBGP session to form a unified, larger EVPN fabric. The setup uses...
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# EVPN Designs: Multi-Pod Fabrics « ipSpace.net blog

**[ipSpace.net Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

A deep-dive into EVPN multi-pod fabric design where two EVPN fabrics are connected via an EBGP session to form a unified, larger EVPN fabric. The setup uses OSPF and IBGP within each site, with EBGP between WAN edge routers exchanging both IPv4 and EVPN prefixes without changing next hops — allowing direct VXLAN traffic between leaf switches across sites. The post includes a netlab topology diff showing key configuration changes (switching from FRR to Arista EOS, enabling EVPN on EBGP sessions, propagating extended BGP communities), actual BGP EVPN table output from Arista EOS, and instructions for spinning up the lab using netlab with various device options including SR Linux and Aruba AOS-CX.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://blog.ipspace.net/2025/10/evpn-designs-multi-pod>

## Questions this post answers

### How do I connect two EVPN fabrics with EBGP to form a multi-pod fabric without changing EVPN next hops?

Configure an EBGP session between WAN edge routers with both IPv4 and EVPN address families enabled, and do not change the next hop on EVPN prefixes. This allows leaf switches in each site to exchange VXLAN traffic directly using the originating leaf's loopback as the next hop. Extended BGP communities must also be propagated over the EBGP session so route targets are preserved across AS boundaries.

_Network engineers building multi-pod EVPN fabrics track design patterns and gotchas like next-hop handling on daily.dev._

### Why does an EVPN multi-pod EBGP design require extended BGP communities to be sent over EBGP sessions?

EVPN route targets are encoded as extended BGP communities. By default, extended communities are not forwarded over EBGP sessions, so the receiving site cannot match route targets and import EVPN routes into the correct VRF or VLAN. Explicitly enabling extended community propagation on the EBGP session (bgp.community.ebgp: [standard, extended]) is required for the design to function.

_Keeping up with EVPN design nuances like community propagation is easier when BGP content surfaces where you already read on daily.dev._

### Why does the EVPN multi-pod netlab example use Arista EOS instead of FRR?

FRR has an IBGP loopback bug that prevents the multi-pod design from working correctly. The netlab topology switches the default device from FRR to Arista EOS specifically to avoid this issue, as the design relies on IBGP sessions between loopback addresses within each site.

_Developers and network engineers evaluating NOS options for EVPN labs find comparative notes like this on daily.dev._

## Similar posts on daily.dev

- [EVPN with SR-MPLS Core « ipSpace.net blog](https://daily.dev/posts/evpn-with-sr-mpls-core-ipspace-net-blog-taobtibzc) · ipSpace.net Blog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

---

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