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vPC for servers switches non cisco

robertkwild
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hi all,

is it possible to assign a server or switch non cisco to a vPC and not a standard port channel

i have two nexus 7000 and want to connect a switch or server to both via a vPC and not via a port channel

is this possible?

thanks,

rob

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Hi Robert!

If a device (whether it's a server, switch, router, or anything in between) supports port-channels (also sometimes called EtherChannels, Link Aggregation Groups [LAGs], bonds, etc.) using either LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) or statically (meaning, no protocol is used to orchestrate port-channel members and coordinate bringing the link up), then you can connect the device to two Nexus switches in a vPC domain using a vPC.

One of the strategic advantages of vPC is that the vPC domain is transparent to the device connected through a vPC. In other words, the vPC-connected device (such as your server) has no knowledge that it is physically connected to two different switches. From the vPC-connected device's perspective, it believes it is connected to a single logical device (which is what the vPC domain emulates, even though in reality, the vPC domain consists of two separate Nexus switches).

If the Nvidia Mellanox ConnectX-4 NICs you plan on using support LACP or the operating system you plan on running on the server supports LACP, then you can connect the server to both of your Nexus switches through a vPC. For what it is worth, most hosts and operating systems created within the past decade will support LACP (and, therefore, can be connected to the network through a vPC).

I hope this helps - thank you!

-Christopher

View solution in original post

16 Replies 16

if SW or Server not support ether channel then you can use 
non-vPC VLAN, this make two nexus peer behave like any traditional SW.

basically i have a hp server, i want to connect it to both nexus 1 and nexus 2

so nexus 1 will have

po1 configured in a vpc

nexus2 will have

po1 configured in a vpc

so if nexus 1 goes down the server can still be contacted and will work via nexus 2

will the servers NIC have to support vpc for this to work?

can I know the model of HP server?

We put Nvidia mellanox connect x4 cards in them, I've heard if there compatible with LACP they should work, is that correct ?

Hi Robert!

If a device (whether it's a server, switch, router, or anything in between) supports port-channels (also sometimes called EtherChannels, Link Aggregation Groups [LAGs], bonds, etc.) using either LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) or statically (meaning, no protocol is used to orchestrate port-channel members and coordinate bringing the link up), then you can connect the device to two Nexus switches in a vPC domain using a vPC.

One of the strategic advantages of vPC is that the vPC domain is transparent to the device connected through a vPC. In other words, the vPC-connected device (such as your server) has no knowledge that it is physically connected to two different switches. From the vPC-connected device's perspective, it believes it is connected to a single logical device (which is what the vPC domain emulates, even though in reality, the vPC domain consists of two separate Nexus switches).

If the Nvidia Mellanox ConnectX-4 NICs you plan on using support LACP or the operating system you plan on running on the server supports LACP, then you can connect the server to both of your Nexus switches through a vPC. For what it is worth, most hosts and operating systems created within the past decade will support LACP (and, therefore, can be connected to the network through a vPC).

I hope this helps - thank you!

-Christopher

do you get any doc. that HP port channel protocol compatible with LACP of Nexus ? that is concern here.

anyway I find this link take look.
https://www.techieshelp.com/hp-and-cisco-link-aggregation-guide/

 

No I'm going to look into wether mellanox cards support lacp

https://safe.nrao.edu/wiki/pub/Beamformer/DDLTestingCommModeOne/MLNX-OS_SW_Eth_3.2.0506_Command_Reference_Guide.pdf

 

from this guide for mellanox it support LACP 
but again I don't have any doc. from cisco about the compatibility.

Thanks guys,

Is there a good how to on how to make a new vpc for this, also do I need the heartbeat link for this or not ?

As the main vpc to connect the two nexuses have got one vpc link and also a heartbeat link

heartbeat is one for all vPC.
you need only one heartbeat for whatever you have vPC.

for first Q can you more elaborate ?

oh ok so i have one heartbeat link to nexus to nexus, so i dont need another heartbeat link from nexus to server?

is there a good how to ie link on how to set up a vpc

Yes 
first double BW 
second no need to wait STP process to make port FWD, both port is FWD even if it connect to different SW "i.e. STP not BLK one port".

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