Description

The article explains what does decapsulation kernel table ID unknown and when do we notice this message.


user@router> show evpn ip-prefix-database l3-context TEST309

L3 context: TEST309


IPv4->EVPN Exported Prefixes

Prefix                    EVPN route status

172.16.0.4/31                Created


IPv6->EVPN Exported Prefixes

Prefix                    EVPN route status

fd00:abcd:1234::4/127            Created


EVPN->IPv4 Imported Prefixes

Prefix                    Etag

192.168.0.2/32                0    

 Route distinguisher  VNI/Label Router MAC     Nexthop/Overlay GW/ESI  Route-Status Reject-Reason

 x.x.x.x:14       abcxyz  00:00:00:00:00:00    y.y.y.y       Rejected   decapsulation kernel table ID unknown   <<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Symptoms

decapsulation kernel table ID unknown will be reported in the command show evpn ip-prefix database l3-context command

Solution

The message indicates that the kernel table ID couldn't be found. The reason being it might be stuck in KRT table.


Please run show krt queue command and verify if there are any stuck entries.

If there are stuck entries, please verify the table where it corresponds.


From the KRT queue we can see the following stuck output


Routing table add queue: 2 queued

        ADD table index 9, gf 1 (16031) <<<< please refer the Index, which is 9 , which is with the kernel-id -1 from the show krt table

          error 'File exists'

          kqp '0x5630fe669180'

        ADD table index 10, gf 1 (16013)

          error 'File exists'

          kqp '0x5630fe669600'


On further looking at show krt table, the following can be noticed.


TEST309.inet.0     : GF: 1 krt-index: 7   ID: 0 kernel-id: 53 <<<<<<< Existing RI

TEST309.inet.0     : GF: 1 krt-index: 10  ID: 0 kernel-id: -1 <<<<<<< RI after RD has been modified on the fly, failed to configure properly


The most probable root cause is on the fly modification of Route Distinguisher for the existing routing-instance.


Its not recommended to modify the RD in the routing-instance on the fly, rather its recommended to modify the RD in the following sequence.


  1. Deactivate the routing instance.
  2. commit
  3. Change the RD
  4. Activate the routing instance.
  5. commit 





Modification History

2026-06-25 : Article Created