vPC and portchannel

[11212]

Can I config Portchannel and VPC in ACI together? Assume I have a Windows server with a team nic and load balancing algorithm.   Or there is no such a thing .   Thank you in advance

from cisco press book

Port Channel technology allows multiple links between two participating devices to be used to forward traffic by using a load-balancing algorithm. vPC (virtual port channel) technology allows multiple devices to form a port channel.

[Kasun Bandara]

@11212 hi, check below thread. it gives good explanation. regarding ACI, i assume you can configure both as you want.

https://community.cisco.com/t5/switching/lacp-vpc/td-p/2220185#:~:text=2%2D%20What%20is%20the%20difference,device%20to%20two%20upstream%20switches.

[11212]

Thank you. Can I interpret the response as a 'yes'?  I'm getting alerts about IP flapping. Attempting to identify the root cause, or determining whether we can disregard those warnings

[Kasun Bandara]

@11212 yes. i guess if your port channel sowing with correct status, it could not be reason to IP flaplings. make sure your server connected to same channel. and check for ip flapping logs to identify exact cause.

[RedNectar · Accepted solution]

Hi @11212 ,

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@11212 wrote:

Can I config Portchannel and VPC in ACI together?

Yes you can.  But not all vendors see "portchannel" as the same thing, so care needs to be taken.

ACI supports IEEE 802.3ad standard Link Aggregation.  So if your "portchannel" is configured to use IEEE 802.3ad standard Link Aggregation (which uses the Link Aggregation Configuration Protocol - LACP) amd you enable LACP on the ACI VPC you should be good to go. BUT... (see later)

Assume I have a Windows server with a team nic and load balancing algorithm.   Or there is no such a thing .   

Windows NIC Teaming does NOT necessarily mean IEEE 802.3ad standard Link Aggregation using LACP.  But you should be able to configure it on the windows server.

So let me summarise:

You can configure a vPC in ACI that connects to a host configured for NIC teaming, just make sure BOTH sides of the link are configured for LACP.

Many designs simply configure two ACI ports as Access/Trunk Ports and have the server's NIC teaming set up for active/standby, or if the server is a Hypervisor, ensure that the load balancing for the vSwtich is based on the source VM's MAC.

[11212]

Thanks Chris and KB. This forum is wonderful. I will do the following tomorrow In a lab, build a bond interface on my laptop with 2 Lan ports, simulate the traffic in a vpc, and hopefully that trigger a warning.

/etc/netctl/bond0

Description='Bond Interface in ACI vpc'
Interface='bond0'
Connection=bond
BindsToInterfaces=('eth0' 'eth1')
IP6=stateless
IP=static
Address=('10.9.9.4/24')
Gateway='10.9.9.1'
DNS=('1.1.1.1')

netctl switch-to bond0


archiso /etc/netctl % cat /proc/net/bonding/bond0

Ethernet Channel Bonding Driver: v6.3.8-arch1-1

Bonding Mode: load balancing (round-robin)
MII Status: down
MII Polling Interval (ms): 0
Up Delay (ms): 0
Down Delay (ms): 0
Peer Notification Delay (ms): 0