BFD (Bidirectional Forwarding Detection) is a protocol that can detect forwarding path failures.

BFD can back up sessions for BGP and static routes.

Note:

In NSX 4.0.0.1, only IPv4 is supported. Starting with NSX 4.0.1.1, both IPv4 and IPv6 are supported.

Caution: Note the following scenarios when there are connection failures involving BGP or BFD:
  • With only BGP configured, if all BGP neighbors go down, the service router's state will be down.
  • With only BFD configured, if all BFD neighbors go down, the service router's state will be down.
  • With BGP and BFD configured, if all BGP and BFD neighbors go down, the service router's state will be down.
  • With BGP and static routes configured, if all BGP neighbors go down, the service router's state will be down.
  • With only static routes configured, the service router's state will always be up unless the node is experiencing a failure or in a maintenance mode.

For more information about BGP, see Configure BGP.

For more information about static routes, see Configure a Static Route.

Procedure

  1. With admin privileges, log in to NSX Manager.
  2. Select Networking > Tier-0 Gateways.
  3. To edit a tier-0 gateway, click the menu icon (three dots) and select Edit.
  4. Click Routing and Set for Static Route BFD Peer.
  5. Click Add Static Route BFD Peer.
  6. Select a BFD profile. See Add an NSX BFD Profile.
  7. Enter the peer IP address and optionally the source addresses.
  8. Click Save.