To be able to use a FEX with ACI. Two things must be done:
1. Attach the FEX to the fabric
2. Configure host interface of FEX.
1. Attaching FEX to the ACI Fabric
Remark: At the time of this writing(end of July 2014):
- we only support straight-through attachment of FEX to a leaf
- we only support the following fex model :
N2K-C2248PQ-10GE
N2K-C2248TP-E-1GE
N2K-C2248TP-1GE
N2K-C2232PP-10GE
N2K-C2232TM-E-10GE
In the example below a FEX has been attached to Leaf 1 port 1/33-34.
Configuration using GUI
1. On the top menu bar, click on Fabric, and then click on Access Policies
2. Select Quick start in the left navigation pane and then click on the link "Configure interface, PC and VPC"
3. Click on the "+" green icon:
4. Click on the Advanced button and in the Switches section , click the small + and select the leaf on which the FEX is connected (in this case, leaf 101)
5. Complete the following:
- In the Switch Profile Name, enter the name for the FEX profile (In this case, fex101)
- In the FEX section, enter the FEX ID (this will be the FEX number) and the list of ports on the leaf that connect to that FEX (1/33-34)
- Click Update
6. Click Save
7. Click Submit in the bottom of the window
Your FEX is now attached to the fabric.
Checking FEX with the GUI
In the top menu bar, click on Fabric, and then click Access Policies
In the left Navigation Pane, you should see the following
- in Switch Policies --> Profiles : the name of the FEX you used in step 5
- in Interface Policies --> Profiles : an automatically generated interface policy name : name_ifselector
This contains the FEX attachment information in the work pane:
In the top menu bar, click Fabric, and then click Inventory
In the left Navigation Pane go to Pod 1 --> Fabric Extender : you should see your FEX and the FEX detail appearing in the work pane
Please note:
- this may take a moment between the time you configure it and the time it is visible in the inventory (around 1 minute)
- If it is the first time you attach or configure this FEX to the fabric or if the ACI fabric was just upgraded, it is likely that ACI will download new software to upgrade the FEX. In that scenario it takes much longer for the FEX to be visible (expect 10+ minutes). in that scenario if you ssh to the leaf and do show fex detail you show see software download occuring
While still in Fabric --> Inventory,
Expand Pod 1 --> Leaf1 --> Interfaces
You will see the list of interfaces on Leaf1 and that should list the host interfaces of the FEX:
Interface numbering start with 101/1/x where 101 is the FEX ID that we gave in step 4 in configuration above (the fex number)
Note:
the complete interface numbering for a FEX host port from the fabric point of view would include the node id. For example
port 1 on FEX 101 on leaf 101 would be 101/101/1/1
Verification on the switch CLI
SSH to the switch (Leaf1) and verify using the following commands:
- sh fex
- sh fex detail
leaf1# show fex
FEX FEX FEX FEX
Number Description State Model Serial
--------------------------------------------------
101 FEX0101 Online N2K-C2248TP-E-1GE SSI17030HF7
leaf1# show fex detail
FEX: 101 Description: FEX0101 state: Online
FEX version: 11.0(1) [Switch version: 11.0(1)]
FEX Interim version: 11.0(0.785)
Switch Interim version: 11.0(0.785)
Extender Model: N2K-C2248TP-E-1GE, Extender Serial: SSI17030HF7
Part No: 68-4059-01
Card Id: 149, Mac Addr: f0:29:29:b1:42, Num Macs: 64
Module Sw Gen: 22 [Switch Sw Gen: 21]
pinning-mode: static Max-links: 1
Fabric port for control traffic: Eth1/33
Fabric interface state:
Eth1/34 - Interface Up. State: Active
Eth1/33 - Interface Up. State: Active
Po1 - Interface Up. State: Active
Fex Port State Fabric Port
Eth101/1/1 Down Po1
Eth101/1/2 Down Po1
Eth101/1/3 Down Po1
Eth101/1/4 Down Po1
Eth101/1/5 Down Po1
Eth101/1/6 Down Po1
Eth101/1/7 Down Po1
Eth101/1/8 Down Po1
Eth101/1/9 Down Po1
Eth101/1/10 Down Po1
Eth101/1/11 Down Po1
Attaching a FEX to a leaf with REST API
The following XML code posted to x.x.x.x/api/uni.xml will add FEX101 to leaf 1 (sw 101) on port 1/33-34
<infraInfra>
<infraNodePdescr="GUI Interface Selector Generated Profile: FEX101" dn="uni/infra/nprof-FEX101" name="FEX101" ownerKey="" ownerTag="">
<infraLeafSdescr="" name="FEX101_selector_101" ownerKey="" ownerTag="" type="range">
<infraNodeBlk from_="101" name="single0" to_="101"/>
infraLeafS>
<infraRsAccPortPtDn="uni/infra/accportprof-FEX101_ifselector"/>
infraNodeP>
<infraFexPdescr="GUI Interface Selector Generated FexP Profile: FEX101_FexP101" dn="uni/infra/fexprof-FEX101_FexP101" name="FEX101_FexP101" ownerKey="" ownerTag="">
<infraFexBndlGrpdescr="GUI Interface Selector Generated FexBundleP Profile" name="FexBndleP101"ownerKey="" ownerTag="">
<infraRsMonFexInfraPoltnMonInfraPolName=""/>
infraFexBndlGrp>
infraFexP>
<infraAccPortPdescr="GUI Interface Selector Generated PortP Profile: FEX101" dn="uni/infra/accportprof-FEX101_ifselector" name="FEX101_ifselector" ownerKey="" ownerTag="">
<infraHPortSdescr="" name="FexCard101" ownerKey="" ownerTag="" type="range">
<infraRsAccBaseGrpfexId="101" tDn="uni/infra/fexprof-FEX101_FexP101/fexbundle-FexBndleP101"/>
<infraPortBlkfromCard="1" fromPort="33" name="block1" toCard="1" toPort="34"/>
infraHPortS>
infraAccPortP>
infraInfra>
2. Configuring Fex host interface (HIF)
At this stage the FEX HIF are visible by the leaf. Now we will be configuring physical properties of FEX HIF
We will show one way to do it here.
In this example we will set the interface 1 of FEX 101 to 1 Gigabit Ethernet speed.
1. in Fabric --> Access Policy
in navigation pane, go to : Switch Policies --> Profiles --> fex101 (or select the name of the fex switch profile you created earlier)
in work pane, click the + button next to "Associate Module Selector Profiles":
2. in Create Relation to Access module Profile window:
- Choose "Create Access Module Profile"
3. in Create Access Module Profile Window:
- choose a name : here Fex101_access_module
- click the + button next to Module Selectors
4. in the Create Access Module Selector Window:
- Choose a name, here : FEX_Card
- Create a new : Access Card Policy Group
5. in Create Access Card Policy Group:
- Choose a name, here : Fex101_access_card_pol
- click Submit
6.
- in Create Access Module Selector Window : click Submit
- in Create Access Module Profile Window : click Submit
- in Create Relation to Access module Profile window : clik Submit
7. In Navigation pane go to Interface Policies --> Profiles and select fex101_FexP101 (created earlier in this test plan).
in work pane click the + button in front of the Interface selector for FEX:
8. in Create Access Port selector window:
Note : In this step, we will select and configure the Host port. So interface ID choosen here are now HIF on FEX 101 and not anymore physical leaf ports.
- Choose a name for the group of port to configure, here : Fex101_access_port_select
- Choose interface IDs you want to configure : here 1/1-2
- Select an Interface Policy Group: here selecting a 1Gig policy configured earlier, you may choose to create a new policy for this group of ports.
- Click Submit
GUI Verification
Going to Fabric -- Inventory
in the navigation pane:
Pod 1 --> Leaf X (leaf where fex is attached) --> Interfaces --> select the FEX HIF :
