L3Out Subnet Scope Options in Cisco ACI

 

L3Out Subnet Scope
Options in Cisco ACI

Scope Option

Purpose

Export Route
Control Subnet

Advertises specific
transit routes out of the ACI fabric. Used for controlling which
external routes are exported.

Import Route
Control Subnet

Allows specific
external routes to be imported into the ACI fabric using BGP or OSPF.

External Subnets
for External EPG
(Security
Import Subnet)

Enables data
plane traffic
between external EPGs and internal EPGs. Without this,
traffic is dropped even if routes are learned.

Shared Route
Control Subnet

Used in inter-VRF
route leaking
. Marks subnets that should be advertised across VRFs.

Shared Security
Import Subnet

Similar to External
Subnets, but for shared L3Outs. Enables traffic flow between shared
external and internal EPGs.

Aggregate
Export/Import/Shared Routes

Used to summarize
routes
, e.g., adding /32 in front of 0.0.0.0/0 for default route
aggregation.


🧠 Key Notes

  • These scope options are critical for controlling
    route advertisement
     and enabling secure communication between
    different parts of the network.
  • Cisco ACI uses a contract-based
    model
    , so even if routes are advertised, traffic will be dropped
    unless explicitly allowed by contracts and security prefixes