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Vmware load balancing with Nexus 1000v

ADAman
Level 1
Level 1

With the vmware switches  vDS or vSS, I see many designs are using the Active-passive approach for uplink NIC-teaming, i.e one vmnic is active going to fabric A, and one vmnic is passive going to fabric B. This is configured in vSphere.

Se this article: http://bradhedlund.com/2010/09/15/vmware-10ge-qos-designs-cisco-ucs-nexus/

Is it correct we cannot set up such a scheme with the 1000V? All the network config is done on the 1000V, and as far as I know, we can only setup the uplink in these 3 modes:

1. LACP 2. vPC-Host Mode 3. vPC-Host Mode with Mac Pinning

and all of them are "active-active" based.

Message was edited by: Atle Dale

2 Accepted Solutions

Accepted Solutions

Yes.  All uplinks are used.  Each VM virtual interface is pinned to one of the uplinks.  If one uplink should fail, all pinned interfaces get dynamically re-pinned to remaining uplinks.  A mac address will only be see on a single interface at a time.  This is how MAC pinning avoids STP loops.

Robert

View solution in original post

Hello Atle,

UCS C-Series connected directly to a switch would support LACP for the 1000V.

With the B-Series and UCSM-mode C-Series, there is no switching logic built-in to the Fabric Interconnects when running in End-Host Mode.  So, the Nexus 1000V would not be able to negotiate LACP properly with them.

I hope that helps,

Trevor

======================================================================================

If my answers have been helpful in any way, please rate accordingly.  Thanks!

====================================================================================== If my answers have been helpful in any way, please rate accordingly. Check out my blog for useful vSphere & UCS tips: www.vmtrooper.com

View solution in original post

6 Replies 6

Robert Burns
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Atle,

The only uplink channeling method supported with the 1000v + UCS is Mac Pinning.  You can definately make use of all uplinks in this regard.

Regards,

Robert

ok, but MAC-pinning is a sort of active-active, isn't it?

Yes.  All uplinks are used.  Each VM virtual interface is pinned to one of the uplinks.  If one uplink should fail, all pinned interfaces get dynamically re-pinned to remaining uplinks.  A mac address will only be see on a single interface at a time.  This is how MAC pinning avoids STP loops.

Robert

ok, and it is built-in failover-redundancy, so this is pretty good. Do you know why Cisco does not support a setup with UCS and active-mode (LACP)? Or if it will be supported in the future, because clearly LACP is better, because of better bandwidt usage.

Hello Atle,

UCS C-Series connected directly to a switch would support LACP for the 1000V.

With the B-Series and UCSM-mode C-Series, there is no switching logic built-in to the Fabric Interconnects when running in End-Host Mode.  So, the Nexus 1000V would not be able to negotiate LACP properly with them.

I hope that helps,

Trevor

======================================================================================

If my answers have been helpful in any way, please rate accordingly.  Thanks!

====================================================================================== If my answers have been helpful in any way, please rate accordingly. Check out my blog for useful vSphere & UCS tips: www.vmtrooper.com

You may want to consult the "Nexus 1000v Port-Channel Best Practices" document for topologies and sample configurations.

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