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 an NSX 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.