Configuring Nexus 5K with HP B22 Fex

[Vince Cannizzaro]

Hello,

We are currently configuring 2 Nexus 5K switches to connect to an HP B22 Fex in an HP c7000 enclosure.  We configured the B22 to connect as a vPC to the 5Ks for redundancy but having some problems communicating to the blade servers.

I was wondering if anyone has a sample configuration for this type of situation as there isn't much documentation on it? 

Does the HP Onboard Administrator need vlan 1 to be allowed through the switch and vPC peer link? 

[Oleksandr Nesterov]

Hi Vince
The config i standart for FEX: 

feature fex

fex 101
  pinning max-links 1
  description "FEX101"

interface port-channel1
  description FEX Link to FEX-A
  switchport mode fex-fabric
  fex associate 101

interface Ethernet1/6
  description FEX Link FEX-A
  switchport mode fex-fabric
  fex associate 101
  channel-group 1

interface Ethernet1/7
  description FEX Link to FEX-A
  switchport mode fex-fabric
  fex associate 101
  channel-group 1

HTH,

Alex

[Vince Cannizzaro]

Thanks so much Alex for your reply.  We have this configuration on the 5Ks and that looks good.  How about the ports that get created when associating the fex?  For example, in the configuration you outlined, is there anything we should know for the e101/1/1 - e101/1/16 ports going down from the B22 fex to the blades in the c7000? 

The config we have for e101/1/1 - e101/1/16 is similar to this:

interface Ethernet 101/1/1

switchport mode trunk

switchport trunk allowed vlan 399-410

HP is saying that nothing special has to be done on the Onboard Administrator side of things to be able to communicate to their blades. 

[Oleksandr Nesterov]

You can treat FEX ports as standart switch ports and check with HP docs whether there is a special requirements for their soft.

Just one hint - if you plan o configure trunks on the ports - add  bpdu filter config on the ports.

Alex.