Community SONiC Finally is a Viable Option for Enterprise VXLAN EVPN Deployments

VXLAN EVPN has become the standard technology enterprises use to build data center and campus networks. Three factors drove its adoption over the last 10 years:

• Scalable L2 and L3 segmentation over a routed IP network
• VXLAN encapsulation and de-capsulation support in all major switch ASICs
• Deployment and design guides available from all major switch vendors, including Arista, Cisco, Dell, HPE/Juniper, Nokia, and NVIDIA

What enterprise network architects have lacked is the option to deploy VXLAN EVPN on Community SONiC at enterprise scale. Aviz Certified Community SONiC (CCS) release 1.2 now provides that option on Wistron switches with Marvell Teralynx ASICs. CCS 1.2 supports up to 4092 L2 VNIs and 64 L3 VNIs.

Marvell’s latest Teralynx SAI added VXLAN EVPN feature and scale support. That enables Aviz to build, validate, and support CCS images for enterprise VXLAN EVPN deployments.

Why this partnership matters

Migrating a production fabric is a high-stakes decision. Teams need more than a datasheet: they need confidence that the hardware, silicon, and software will hold up as the fabric scales. That confidence comes from the whole stack working together.

Marvell brings the silicon. Teralynx has run in large cloud and enterprise networks for years. The latest Teralynx SAI^[1] adds the VXLAN EVPN features and scale that enterprise designs need.

Wistron brings proven switching platforms and a long-standing role in open networking. Aviz CCS supports Wistron platforms, giving customers validated, supported hardware instead of a standard technology

Aviz ties it together. We build, validate, and support CCS images for VXLAN EVPN designs, and we are your single support provider for the whole stack.

What this means for the business

A viable option for VXLAN EVPN on SONiC. Aviz CCS gives enterprises a validated, supported way to run VXLAN EVPN with Community SONiC at production scale.

Lower total cost. Software-first operations and flexible hardware choices change the economics of a refresh. We typically see savings of more than 50 percent; results depend on your environment.

Scale without surprises. The VNI and VTEP figures above are validated on the platform, so you can plan for growth in tenants, segments, and endpoints from day one.

A migration you can actually execute. Because CCS uses standards-based BGP EVPN, it interoperates with existing EVPN infrastructure. You can migrate in phases instead of forcing a risky cutover.

The technical details

The scaling problem VXLAN EVPN solves

VXLAN encapsulates Layer 2 frames in UDP/IP so a segment can stretch across a routed underlay. Its 24-bit VNI supports roughly 16 million segments, compared with 4,094 usable VLANs. BGP EVPN advertises reachability explicitly:

• Type 2 routes carry MAC and IP reachability.
• Type 3 routes advertise VTEP and VNI membership for BUM traffic handling.
• Type 5 routes advertise IP prefixes for inter-subnet and external routing.

What scale actually stresses

At enterprise scale, these resources typically become the limiting factors:

• VTEP and VNI counts. How many remote tunnel endpoints and segments the silicon can program.
• MAC and host table capacity. Type 2 route volume grows quickly as endpoints and VMs multiply.
• Routing table depth per VRF. Type 5 prefixes and tenant counts add up in multi-tenant designs.
• Convergence behavior. How fast the fabric reprograms forwarding after a link or node failure.

This is where silicon and platform work matters. Marvell’s investment in Teralynx and the TL SAI, paired with Wistron’s platform engineering, turns these limits into validated numbers you can design around.

Migration tips

1. Build and validate the underlay first. Confirm loopback reachability between all VTEPs.
2. Plan MTU early. VXLAN adds about 50 bytes of overhead with an IPv4 underlay. Raise the underlay MTU, typically to 9214 bytes, to avoid fragmentation.
3. Choose your gateway model up front. Distributed anycast gateway with symmetric IRB is the common choice and simplifies host mobility.
4. Migrate by tenant or by pod. Stand up the new fabric alongside the old one and move workloads in phases.
5. Standardize your VLAN-to-VNI scheme. It pays dividends in troubleshooting and automation.
6. Verify after every step. Check VTEP peer state, VNI status, and the EVPN route tables for types 2, 3, and 5.

A viable option, backed by real engineering

Enterprises do not need another promise. They need an option that scales, backed by validation and support. Thank you to Marvell and Wistron for committing to VXLAN EVPN scale and for listening to enterprise customers. With CCS 1.2, Aviz delivers a supported and hardened OS image that makes Community SONiC a real choice for enterprise networks.

Get started today

Ready to see it for yourself? Download the Aviz CCS 1.2 image here and start building your VXLAN EVPN fabric today..