Router

Yesterday, we completed the router migration! We transitioned from a router running Debian on a VM to a router running FreeBSD on a dedicated server. The new server features ten 10 Gbit ports, and we’ve set up MLAG on multiple interfaces to multiple switches for redundancy. With this upgrade, rylx was able to add another node to the VM cluster, enabling seamless VM migrations between nodes.

Additionally, we successfully established peering with the SIX route servers, as mentioned in our Seattle IX Update.

Well, it’s been almost two months since we first mentioned we would be joining SIX, but we’ve finally made some progress! Just to be clear, the delay was with us, not SIX; they have been fantastic. We are now officially a member, and we have the IP configured on our new router.

We’re still planning on moving to the router on 2024-12-21. We don’t yet have a plan on how to accomplish this with minimal downtime, but we’re working on it.

I’ve installed FreeBSD on the hardware and am working on it as time allows. I plan to switch from the VM router to the hardware router on the weekend of 2024-12-21. This timeline gives me enough time to complete the configuration and ensure everything works smoothly. I chose FreeBSD for its stability, but I want to confirm it’s the right choice before making the transition.

The remote hands at the data center installed the new NICs on Friday. I was hoping iDRAC would be configured with DHCP so it would get an IP, but that wasn’t the case. Fortunately, the remote hands updated the DHCP setting for me. After that, I was able to remote in and install FreeBSD.

Next, I need to set up some MLAG ports on the switch and prepare to migrate from the VM router to this router. I have OOB access to it, which will help prevent me from getting locked out since I manage the network remotely.