vPC from FEX interfaces

[Tyler Woods]

I am trying to create a vPC port-channel for two different FEX interfaces. We have two Nexus 5000 series switches connected via vPC and FEX 106 and 107 each with a connection to our Nexus 5000 switches (proda1 and proda2) connected via port-channel and vPC.

The following configuration is working at the moment:

interface port-channel201

  description pdxnas03

  switchport access vlan 100

interface Ethernet106/1/31

  description pdxnas03-e1a

  switchport access vlan 100

  speed auto

  channel-group 201 mode passive

interface Ethernet107/1/31

  description pdxnas03-e2a

  switchport access vlan 100

  speed auto

  channel-group 201 mode passive

interface port-channel202

  description pdxnas04

  switchport access vlan 100

interface Ethernet106/1/32

  description pdxnas04-e1a

  switchport access vlan 100

  speed auto

  channel-group 202 mode passive

interface Ethernet107/1/32

  description pdxnas04-e2a

  switchport access vlan 100

  speed auto

  channel-group 202 mode passive

Per this Cisco document I had attempted to port-channel201 in vpc 201 and port-channel202 in vpc 202 yet receive this error no matter how I try it:

ERROR: Operation failed: [vPC already exists]

When attempting to look up any details for vpc 201 or 202 the system says it does not exist yet I still get the above error. When I issue the followign commands I get the results below.

Command: show interface port-channel201

Pertinent Portion: vPC Status: Up, vPC number: 262344

Command: show interface port-channel202

Pertinent Portion: vPC Status: Up, vPC number: 262345

Can anyone explain what is going on here? The document I followed is the same I have followed when configuring vPC port-channel interfaces for all my FEX units. I have tried making these vPC with and without LACP.

Any advice or knowledge on helping me understand this would be greatly appreciated.

[Colby Beam · Accepted solution]

So from my understanding you have something similar to the following topology

If so, then you do not need to VPC the port-channels off the FEX, as they are already VPC on the 5k side

For example:

Step 7

Configure a host port channel on each FEX

Example:

NX-5000-1(config)# interface eth101/1/1, eth101/1/2
NX-5000-1(config-if)# channel-group 2 mode active
NX-5000-1(config-if)# interface eth102/1/1, eth102/1/2
NX-5000-1(config-if)# channel-group 2 mode active
NX-5000-1(config-if)# int po2
NX-5000-1(config-if)# switchport access vlan 10

NX-5000-2(config)# interface eth101/1/1, eth101/1/2
NX-5000-2(config-if)# channel-group 2 mode active
NX-5000-2(config-if)# interface eth102/1/1, eth102/1/2
NX-5000-2(config-if)# channel-group 2 mode active
NX-5000-2(config-if)# int po2
NX-5000-2(config-if)# switchport access vlan 10

This can be found in the following document.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/datacenter/nexus5000/sw/layer2/513_n1_1/b_Cisco_n5k_layer2_config_gd_rel_513_N1_1_chapter_01010.html

[Tyler Woods]

Yes! Thank you Colby Beam. Was not aware I have enhanced vPC here. This makes a lot of sense now given the errors I was getting back.

[Colby Beam]

Great! Could you mark this as resolved, so it helps other people in the future as well?