User GuidesSpectrum-X Overlay Lifecycle

Spectrum-X Overlay Deletion

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The Spectrum-X Overlay Deletion workflow removes the VRF, L3 VXLAN, and Overlay metadata for an existing overlay from Nautobot. It is the cleanup counterpart to Spectrum-X Overlay Creation and refuses to delete VRFs that are still in use — any VRF currently bound to interfaces on a device is reported in the result’s in_use_vrfs list rather than deleted. The Overlay object is only deleted once all of its VXLANs and member assignments are gone.

Prerequisites

Before running, confirm:

  • overlay is no longer in use on any device. Query Nautobot to confirm no interfaces remain bound to the overlay’s VRFs. The workflow’s interface_count > 0 guard will refuse to delete any in-use VRF; resolving the bindings up front is easier than retrying after the fact.
  • overlay_id and site are known. These are the same identifiers used at creation time.

Running the workflow

  1. Navigate to the Config Manager URL for your environment.
  2. Click the + in the top right and select SpXOverlayDeletionWorkflow.
  3. Fill in the form using the field reference below and submit.
FieldDescriptionRequired
SiteThe site the overlay belongs to.Yes
Overlay IDIdentifier of the overlay to delete. The form lists Spectrum-X overlays at the selected site.Yes
Namespace TagNautobot namespace tag used to identify the overlay namespace.Yes

After submission, a status page shows the single delete_spx_overlay stage. The result distinguishes deleted_vrfs from in_use_vrfs — the latter are VRFs the workflow refused to delete because they still had bound interfaces.

Execution stages

The workflow runs one stage. No human approval is required.

  1. delete_spx_overlay — Delete the overlay’s VRFs, VXLANs, and Overlay.

    Queries Nautobot for the overlay’s VRFs by overlay_id + namespace_tag + site. If none exist, the stage short-circuits — a successful no-op for an overlay that was never created or is already gone. For each VRF that does exist:

    • If the VRF’s interface_count > 0, it is added to in_use_vrfs and skipped.
    • Otherwise the workflow deletes the VRF’s bound L3 VXLAN (the VXLAN’s VRF FK is SET_NULL on VRF deletion, so explicit cleanup is required) and then deletes the VRF.

    All eligible VRF/VXLAN deletions run in parallel. After all VRFs are removed, the workflow attempts to delete the SpXTenant<VNI> Overlay — it is left in place if any VXLANs or member assignments still remain, and a message indicating the outcome is included in the stage display.

Verifying outcomes

After the workflow reports success, confirm:

  • delete_spx_overlay shows green and the result lists deleted_vrfs and in_use_vrfs as expected.
  • Nautobot no longer shows the deleted VRFs.
  • Nautobot overlays plugin shows the Overlay deleted (or still present with a note if members remain).
  • Any in_use_vrfs entries are VRFs still bound to interfaces. Unbind them directly in Nautobot, re-deploy the affected devices, then re-run Spectrum-X Overlay Deletion.

Common issues

Result lists VRFs as in_use_vrfs.

Those VRFs are still bound to interfaces on at least one device. Open Nautobot, remove the VRF binding from each interface, re-deploy the affected devices so the running configuration drops the VRF, then re-run Spectrum-X Overlay Deletion.

Workflow returns “No VRFs exist for this overlay at the site”.

The overlay was never created at this site, or it has already been fully deleted. Treat as a successful no-op.

Overlay left in place after VRF deletion.

The Overlay still has VXLANs or member assignments. This can happen if a VXLAN deletion failed mid-run or if there are assignments from another workflow. Inspect the Overlay in Nautobot’s overlays plugin and clean up manually, then re-run.

delete_spx_overlay fails with a Nautobot write error.

A Nautobot transaction failed mid-delete. Some VRFs may have been deleted; others not. Re-run — the workflow is naturally idempotent because already-deleted VRFs are simply absent on the second pass.