EtherChannel PortChannel Configuration with QoS

[JASON SIMMONS]

reference: Configuring EtherChannels [Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Switches]

I hope one of you can clarify what I just read in the configuration guide.  I need to configure an EtherChannel of two 10G trunks (te1/1 & 1/2) with QoS & LACP on a 4506 running 12.2(53)SG2.  There's a note about Qos

Note QoS does not propagate to members. The defaults, QoS cos = 0 and QoS dscp = 0, apply on the portchannel. Input or output policies applied on individual interfaces are ignored.

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After you configure an EtherChannel, the configuration that you apply to the port-channel interface affects the EtherChannel; the configuration that you apply to the physical interfaces affects only the interface where you apply the configuration. To change the parameters of all ports in an EtherChannel, apply configuration commands to the port-channel interface (such commands can be STP commands or commands to configure a Layer 2 EtherChannel as a trunk).

This is how the trunk is currently configured.

interface TenGigabitEthernet1/1
 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
 switchport mode trunk
 qos trust dscp
 tx-queue 1
   bandwidth percent 10
 tx-queue 2
   bandwidth percent 30
 tx-queue 3
   bandwidth percent 2
   priority high
   shape percent 2
 tx-queue 4
   bandwidth percent 58
 service-policy output PLM-DBL
end

I think this is how the PortChannel should be configured

interface port-channel 1

  switchport

  switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

  switchport mode trunk

  qos trust dscp
   tx-queue 1
     bandwidth percent 10
   tx-queue 2
     bandwidth percent 30
   tx-queue 3
     bandwidth percent 2
     priority high
     shape percent 2
   tx-queue 4
     bandwidth percent 58
   service-policy output PLM-DBL

interface TenGigabitEthernet1/1

  switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

  switchport mode trunk

  channel-protocol lacp

  channel-group 1 mode active

interface TenGigabitEthernet1/2

  switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

  switchport mode trunk

  channel-protocol lacp

  channel-group 1 mode active

Is this correct?

[m.kafka]

I did this a few years ago intensively (we were configuring about 1600 switches worldwide for VoIP/QoS) and I gave up even trying to remember which commands are to be configured on the port channel or the channel members. Ether-channel configuration is quite a mess, some parameters are needed on the port-channel, some on the members only and others have to be configured on port-channel and members simultaneously. Some parameters propagate automatically from the port-channel to the members, others have to be configured explicitly... and I can't remember a single parameter for sure where it should be configured except for speed and duplex.

This strategy worked fine:

Configure an interface-range including the port-channel and all members. Queue and QoS settings, Service policies, physical and logical aspects etc. were only applied to those interfaces of the range which actually supported or needed the command, the other interfaces simply rejected the command without aborting the whole interface range.

Give it a try... the documentation is not fully satisfying, so trying to find out, what is needed where is mostly a waste of time. And different platforms e.g. Cat3k5, Cat3k7, Cat4k5 have again their specialties. My gut feeling is rather configuring Queue settings on the members instead of the port channel. But I might be wrong on that.

Rgds, MiKa

PS: we used mostly configuration compliance templates and self-written scripts to configure the bulk of the switches but working out the templates was quite a task.

PPS: channel-protocol lacp is not urgently needed on modern platforms...