Solved: Nexus 5k VPC Keep-Alives - Portchannel needed?

shamg1974 · ‎06-08-2011

I'm setting up 2 5548UP's for Layer 3 connectivity and was wondering about the VPC keep-alive configuration. What is best practice? Do I need to setup a layer 3 port-channel for this with separate interfaces (for example, e1/1-e1/2), or can I just do it from the Layer 3 Daughter card mgmt 0 port (via copper)?

And also, what are the L1 and L2 ports on the Layer 3 Daughter card for? I know that at some time there were not usable...

Thank you,

Bobby Grewal

Chad Peterson · ‎06-08-2011

Hi Bobby,

You can use the mgmt0 port for the keep-alives. The main reason for them is to determine what kind of failure occured if the VPC peer-link goes down. If keep-alives are up we know the peer switch is up, and the secondary switch needs to shut down its ports until peer-link comes back online. If keep-alives are also down, we know peer switch is no longer there and the remaining switch must be responsable for forwarding traffic.

Off hand I'm not sure about the L1 and L2 ports. I'll look into it, but mabey someone has the answer handy.

Chad

View solution in original post

Chad Peterson · ‎06-08-2011

Hi Bobby,

You can use the mgmt0 port for the keep-alives. The main reason for them is to determine what kind of failure occured if the VPC peer-link goes down. If keep-alives are up we know the peer switch is up, and the secondary switch needs to shut down its ports until peer-link comes back online. If keep-alives are also down, we know peer switch is no longer there and the remaining switch must be responsable for forwarding traffic.

Off hand I'm not sure about the L1 and L2 ports. I'll look into it, but mabey someone has the answer handy.

Chad

shamg1974 · ‎06-09-2011

Thanks Chad! Apparently, the L1 and L2 ports are not usable at this time. Perhaps in a future NX-OS release. Currently on the 5010, they are usable when connecting to 6120 Fabric Interconnects.