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29317
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Etherchannel Flapping

VRAI
Level 1
Level 1

I have 2 Cisco 2960G Switches being used in an "active , passive" configuration. the switches are connected via 4 port etherchannel on each switch  (total of 8) Recently there have been some logs showing there is some "flapping" going on.This is some output:

1d: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 000c.297c.1111 in vlan 100 is flapping between port Po3 and port Po6
1d: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 000c.2958.2222 in vlan 100 is flapping between port Po2 and port Po6
1d: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 000c.290d.3333 in vlan 100 is flapping between port Po2 and port Po6
1d: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 0050.56a3.4444 in vlan 100 is flapping between port Po2 and port Po6
1d: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 000c.295b.5555 in vlan 100 is flapping between port Po2 and port Po6
1d: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 0050.56a3.6666 in vlan 100 is flapping between port Po3 and port Po6
1d: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 0050.56a3.7777 in vlan 100 is flapping between port Po6 and port Po1
1d: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 0050.56a3.8888 in vlan 100 is flapping between port Po6 and port Po1

now Im fairly sure that the configs have been changed and is causing these issues. But I wanted a sanity check.  I have attached the configs for both switches.

Also I would add that these switches are attached to ESX hosts using vmware in an ACTIVE PAssive config which is why they are in access mode

another thing that might be worth mentioning is that I am using inter-vlan routing

Router (802.1q)
   |
Switch
  | | | |
Switch
   ||||||||||
ESX Hosts

thanks for any help     

18 Replies 18

Thank you all for the fantastic help !!

I have never posted in a forum that has actually given me exactly the answers I needed and so quickly !!

This is what I sent my manager to explain what has happened:

"As I suspected all our vmnics are active and esx is using IP hash to loadbalance between them - so esx decides what interface to send vm traffic out based on the source/destination ip address of the traffic - this means vm traffic (from the same vm) will be spread out across all 4 vmnics, so this is why Jason was seeing  'flapping' on the switches.

This was a recent change as they were originally setup as active/passive

These need to be changed back to its originall configuration if we want stability back, unless they were changed for a reason ?"

This is the response I got for the above statement from a network guy my manager has asked to look into it.

"To load balance both ends must be configured in an etherchannel bundle. With this in place load balancing works and no flaps should be seen.

Can we verify the physical patching and also the ESX config as if all is present and correct we shouldn't see these flaps (which are continuing)"

I dont understand as it just looks like he is repeating what I said in a different way but not really clear what he meant

hello again

have a look at the following VMware forum thread.

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/279965

as far as i know you can't stack/cluster your physical switches (2960Gs?). using IP hash on ESX, your 4 teamed vmnics will be in  an etherchannel spanned across the 2 physical switches. from the VM forums, this is not a config supported by VM (although people do use it) - if you do use this config you will see the flapping messages in your physical switch logs.

hth

andy

dan
Level 1
Level 1

Feb 11 19:33:59.035: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 2c27.d716.a867 in vlan 1 is flapping between port Gi0/15 and port Gi0/16
Feb 11 19:34:03.724: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host d8d3.8569.c97d in vlan 1 is flapping between port Gi0/11 and port Gi0/12
Feb 11 19:34:06.073: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host d8d3.8569.c97d in vlan 1 is flapping between port Gi0/11 and port Gi0/12
Feb 11 19:34:29.015: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 2c27.d716.a867 in vlan 1 is flapping between port Gi0/15 and port Gi0/16
Feb 11 19:34:33.704: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host d8d3.8569.c97d in vlan 1 is flapping between port Gi0/11 and port Gi0/12
Feb 11 19:34:36.036: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host d8d3.8569.c97d in vlan 1 is flapping between port Gi0/11 and port Gi0/12
Feb 11 19:34:59.036: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 2c27.d716.a867 in vlan 1 is flapping between port Gi0/15 and port Gi0/16
Feb 11 19:35:03.691: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host d8d3.8569.c97d in vlan 1 is flapping between port Gi0/11 and port Gi0/12
Feb 11 19:35:29.023: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host 2c27.d716.a867 in vlan 1 is flapping between port Gi0/15 and port Gi0/16
Feb 11 19:35:33.679: %SW_MATM-4-MACFLAP_NOTIF: Host d8d3.8569.c97d in vlan 1 is flapping between port Gi0/11 and port Gi0/12

 

 

 

Switch(config-if-range)#switchport trunk allowed vlan except 1

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