Nexus 7k and 2K Fabric Extenders Design

[Aws Albayati]

Hi Folks, I am kind of lost here, is it a valid design to use N7k (as core) with 2k remote FEX (as TOR)?, in case yes, how the FEX will be connected to the 7K, will it be done by using VPC, appreciate your advice!!! 

[cassiolange]

Hello 

Yes this is a valid design.

This document has a bunch of topology with Nexus and Fex .

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/switches/nexus-2000-series-fabric-extenders/200363-nexus-2000-fabric-extenders-supported-un.html

Regards

[David Castro F.]

Hello Aws Albayati,

I hope you are doing great,

Basically you enable the feature "fex-fabric" on the nexus, and you can whether dual home them to the n7ks or single home, below there is a link that shows the insights of both designs:

- https://adamraffe.com/2013/05/22/single-homed-vs-dual-homed-fabric-extenders/

- https://www.egroup-us.com/cisco-nexus-7k-design-activeactive-fex/

See this supported ways:

Host Port Channel and Active-Active FEX (VPC) Design

Platform	Code	comment
Nexus 5K	any	Supported
Nexus 6K	any	Supported
Nexus 7K	any	Supported*
Nexus 9K	any	Supported**

 * Support introduced from 7.x release

** Supported in 7.0(3)I5(2) and later. Support is for N93XX models only as listed in the release notes. 

** FEX vPC is not supported between any model of FEX and the Cisco Nexus 9500 platform switches as the parent switches.

Host VPC (Dual Links) and FEX Single Homed (Port Channel Mode) Straight through VPC Design

Platform	Code	comment
Nexus 5K	any	Supported
Nexus 6K	any	Supported
Nexus 7K	any	Supported
Nexus 9K	any	Supported

Host VPC (Single Link) and Active-Active FEX (Enhanced VPC) Design

Platform	Code	comment
Nexus 5K	any	Supported
Nexus 6K	any	Supported
Nexus 7K	any	Not Supported
Nexus 9K	any	Not Supported

Keep us posted,

Please rate all of the helpful questions,!

David Castro,