MLPS Active/Active solution for Cisco 4500 Core switches

[Bhardwajp]

Hi Team,

Hope you are doing well

I have existing MPLS Fiber link in environment and planning for new Microwave link for redundancy as well as Fiber link is utilized 100% and want to do the load balance and want to run both link as active/Active.

All the SVI are created on both Core devices and HSRP running  and LAN are pass on distribution and access

Kindly provide your valuable feedback please find the  diagram attahced

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Insufficient information has been provided to be 100% certain, or provide a specific way to accomplish this in your network, but, often, you can (statically) LB using two WAN links (including, possibly using BGP).  If using a dynamic routing protocol for LB, you should be able to have active/active, which, also for redundancy, will "automatically" deal with failure/recovery of either path.

If you want to have dynamic load balancing, including, possibly, balancing based on actual performance across each link, you'll need to look into something like Cisco's PfR technology.

Lastly, as you mention your fiber link is utilized 100%, if not already doing so, you might want to look into how QoS might possibly better manage such high, and sustained, utilization.

[balaji.bandi]

is this just source and destination? or you need any NAT.

What I suggest here, is you can do active /active (but again depends on MW Link how stable and what kind of capacity)

instead, I would suggest prioritising the traffic going via Fibre links and Low priority traffic going via MW Link (is this work?)

[Bhardwajp]

Thanks for the feedback

Is it possible to configure VSS in Cisco 4500 switches and enable the multipath in BGP however i dont know how HSRP will react. I need to pick one out of HSRP or VSS. which solution will be as per the best practice

[Joseph W. Doherty]

VSS?

Hmm, not something that jumped to mind.  Again, insufficient information, about your environment, to say whether VSS would be any huge benefit, especially just for a second WAN link.

Of course, depending on other network needs VSS might be of benefit.  However, if you've never used it, it's not just like a 2 member 3K stack.

If you move to VSS, with it you no longer need HSRP, for the VSS pair, but I believe you can still use it, you'll just not have a standby gateway.

[Joseph W. Doherty]

BTW, when considering a VSS approach, keep in mind, with VSS, you want EVERYTHING connected to both VSS peers.  (VSS, of course, functions without this being done, but the goal of VSS is to avoid all VSS inter peer traffic, except in failure situations.)

Since your diagram shows BGP being used between ISP's PE and your 4500 (correct?), you might be thinking that VSS will make multipath easier as each PE would have a connection to your "logical" VSS device.  Well yes, but those PW routers should also be, with VSS, physically connected to both VSS peers.  Further, if you use a VLAN, with your current setup, you can logically have both your 4500s and PEs on neighbors on the same network.  I.e. both 4500 would have both PEs as a next hop.  (Again, insufficient information to make really solid suggestions.)

If you've been considering VSS to have all you distribution devices with a connection to each 4500, Etherchanneled, that's more likely better cause to pursue using VSS.

[balaji.bandi]

we are really not following what are you looking to do here. OP was to load share - if the BGP you have you can do Traffic engineering, expect that other side BGP config also with your hand.

Let us what you looking to in steps.

[MHM Cisco World]

Yes you can 
but it need some work 
Dist1,2,3,4 <<-are these SW have same vlan