Ports connected to ESXi vSwitch can be PortChannel or normal SWport?

[Muhammed Midlaj]

Hello All,

I have been trying to set up PortChannel(using 2 ports) to ESXi vSwitch from Cisco Catalyst 3560G-48T and the connectivity is not coming up if I set up the Portchannel in Access mode. If I shut either of any interface I can reach. 

No problem if I removed the portchannel configuration or

No problem if I set the Channelgroup as Trunk mode. 

While I am doing some searches I found a article,: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1004127 where in this article, they are configuring the ports connected to ESXi are access port only without any portchannel.

So I just want to know whether configuring portchannel as Access port will work or not if it is connected to ESXi vSwitch.

Warm Regards

[Flavio Miranda]

This can be related to Port-channel mode. 

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1001938 

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3560/software/release/12-2_55_se/configuration/guide/3560_scg/swethchl.html 

[paul driver]

Hello

Is the ESXI side aggregated (teamed) otherwise it wont work

[Reza Sharifi]

So I just want to know whether configuring portchannel as Access port will work or not if it is connected to ESXi vSwitch.

Portchannel does not always work with every server vendor. So, if Portchannel does not work, simply trunk the interfaces to the switch and make sure NIC teaming is configured on the server-side. That usually solves the issue and gives you the redundancy you need.

HTH

[Elliot Dierksen · Accepted solution]

My understanding of this has to do with how you configure the vSwitch. If the vSwitch is set to load balance based on originating port, regular access or trunk ports (NOT port channel) is fine. If you set load balancing to IP Hash, it MUST be a port channel on the switch side.

[Muhammed Midlaj]

Thank You.! When I set the Portgroup NIC teaming as IP Hash, it worked.

Before it was load balance based on originating port. 

If possible, Can you please describe what is difference between these two and how changing affects the communication.?

Warm Regards

[Elliot Dierksen]

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@Muhammed Midlaj wrote:

If possible, Can you please describe what is difference between these two and how changing affects the communication.?

Bear in mind that I am not a VMware expert. I know enough to get things done for Collab deployments. That said, I will tell you what I think is the key thing. When the vSwitch is set to load balance based on originating port, it picks a port and sends all the traffic from that host out that port. What was breaking this with the port channel is it also expects the return traffic to come back on the port where it was sent out. If it gets traffic for that host on a different uplink port, it discards it. Once you set the load balancing to IP hash, it would accept traffic for any host on an uplink port.

[Muhammed Midlaj]

Thank you for the info! Got It