Nexus 93180YC-EX: TOR NXOS mode: HA options

[Frederik De Muyter]

Hi,

I have a question about the Nexus 93180YC ,  i want to have 2 of this in my POD(RACK). 

And connect this to the 7K core layer.   The 9K will be functioning as access layer for servers in the rack.
This is 9k in non ACI mode but in traditional NXOS mode.

To be able to have port channels between the 2 9K TOR switches i would configure a VPC domain for the 9K.

Is this the only way to accomplish this or can i stack/ virtual stackwise/ ..  these 9K models?

Or can they be used as FEX extenders for the 7K's?

Tnx,

Frederik

[Francesco Molino]

Hi

These nexus 9k aren't fex and they'll need to connected as a vpc domain together. Then you'll be able to connect them to your nexus 7k using a port-channel with members from the 2 nexus 9k (if your nexus 7k are also vpc). The same applies for port-channel to your server (1 member per physical devices).

Don't configure the same vpc domain on these nexus 9k as your nexus 7k.

They don't support stack or anything like that from the catalyst world. Their feature is called vpc.

[Frederik De Muyter]

Hi Francesco,

Thank you for the reply!  It's clear now for me how to continue.

For a 2 TOR switches inside the same rack I think is would be easier cheaper to use TWINAx cables voor the VPC peer links and keep alive?

Tnx.

Frederik.

[Francesco Molino]

Sure twinax are good and cheaper. You can have different length that could, I guess, match your use cases except if the 2 devices are really far from each others (more than 10m)

[Collin Clark]

A helpful link on vPC's-
https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/sw/design/vpc_design/vpc_best_practices_design_guide.pdf