QoS with Nexus 1000v/VIC and UCS Manager QoS System Class

[mmercier]

Is it possible to use Port Profiles at N1K level to classify and mark the traffic (set CoS) then let the VIC to place the packets in the right queues (configured in QoS System Class ) using the CoS in the arriving packets ?

[mipetrin]

Welcome to the forums!

To answer your question, YES it is possible to use.

If you are marking at the Nexus 1000v layer, the vNIC policy should be set as 'Host Control - Full' in the UCS QoS policy so that the CoS values set by Nexus 1000v are trusted and preserved by the Cisco VIC.

By default, the Cisco VIC has 'Host Control - None' meaning it will not pass the CoS values upstream. Therefore you need to make the appropriate changes and then the VMware ESX service profile must be rebooted for this function to operate correctly.

Best Practices in Deploying Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switches on Cisco UCS B and C Series Cisco UCS Manager Servers

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps9902/white_paper_c11-558242.html

However within this document, it mentions the need for the Host control in the following section:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps9902/white_paper_c11-558242.html#wp9000340

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Michael

[mmercier]

Thanks for your response Michael,

So, if I want to only mark traffic at the N1K layer (for example with a CoS = 2 for a group of VMs) is it the following configuration correct ?

QoS System Class on UCS Manager

============================

Priority  = Silver ; CoS = 2 ; Weight = 10%

vNIC policy in the system profile

=======================

Host Control = Full

Nexus 1000V

==========

policy-map type qos class-cos2
description [VM Customer1]
class class-default
set cos 2

port-profile type vethernet VMCust1
vmware port-group
service-policy type qos input class-cos2
...

Thanks for your help.

Regards,

Michel

[mipetrin]

Hi Michel,

Yep that looks good.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Thanks,

Michael

[mmercier]

Michael,

Can you tell me how I can check/monitor the Queues utilization on the VIC to verify if the packets are really placed on different queues in function of their CoS.

Many thanks,

Michel

[mipetrin]

Hi Michel,

I am not aware of a way to verify on the VIC itself. However, we can verify it from the Fabric Interconnect.

1) Identify the qos-group that is defined for the CoS level you are interested in.

Verify with: UCS-A(nxos)# show policy-map system

You should see something that equates to the following

   best-effort should be qos-group 0

   fcoe should be qos-group 1

   platinum should be qos-group 2

etc

2) Identify which fabric port the server in question is using to send/receive traffic to/from the Fabric Interconnect

UCS-A(nxos)# show fex <chassis> detail

Say for example we are interested in Blade 1/1 traffic, then

UCS-A(nxos)# show fex 1 detail

FEX: 1 Description: FEX0001   state: Online

  FEX version: 5.0(3)N2(2.02) [Switch version: 5.0(3)N2(2.02)]

...

  Fex Port        State  Fabric Port

         Eth1/1/1    Up      Eth1/7    <------ Here we see that it is utilizing Eth1/7 on the Fabric Interconnect

...

3) Lastly, view the statistics per qos-group for this interface

UCS-A(nxos)# show queuing interface eth 1/7

...

    qos-group 1

    q-size: 76800, HW MTU: 2240 (2158 configured)

    drop-type: no-drop, xon: 128, xoff: 240

    Statistics:

        Pkts received over the port             : 465638

        Ucast pkts sent to the cross-bar        : 465638

        Mcast pkts sent to the cross-bar        : 0

        Ucast pkts received from the cross-bar  : 934375

        Pkts sent to the port                   : 934375

        Pkts discarded on ingress               : 0

        Per-priority-pause status               : Rx (Inactive), Tx (Inactive)

...

You should see that the counters for the relevant qos-groups (matching your N1Kv marked traffic) should be incrementing.

Thanks,

Michael

[mmercier]

Hi Michael,

thanks for this useful information.

I tried to implement QoS on NK1 and I have a new question.

I can effectively class traffic on port-profile using service-policy but for control and packet VLAN there is not an existing service profile.

I cannot use "match protocol n1k-control" with a "class-map type qos ...".

So is there a way to mark control and packet traffic with a specific CoS on the egress of the N1K ?

Thanks,

Michel

[mipetrin]

Hi Michel,

The Nexus 1000V sets the control and packet frames to COS 6, by default, so there is no configuration is necessary

The command you are trying to use "match protocol n1k-control" is to be used with a class-map of type queuing. This is related to QOS Weighted Fair Queuing on the Nexus 1000V. More details regarding this feature is available via the following:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-15079

Hope that helps to clear things up for you.

Thanks,

Michael