Nexus / UCS basics

[Richardkm]

Hello's,

It's been a while since I've been on the keyboard, and even longer since I've touched a Nexus. Even then, it was nothing in-depth.

I have a Nexus with a couple FI6454's attached, then going into the UCS-5108 with multiple blades. There is also some Storage attached to the FI's.

After some reading, I see that I need an IP for FI-A, FI-B, and the Cluster IP. This is a very basic lab type setup, so I'm throwing these into a /24. I assume the UCS-5108 (and blades) can pull whatever IP's they need from this /24.

My question is on the Nexus: How are the ports to the FI's configured? The Nexus will need to be the gateway to get out to the rest of the network. Does anyone have an example Nexus port config going to a couple FI's? I assume I'll want to support passing multiple Vlan/tags to virtual machines and whatever subnets the Storage needs, but it has been a long time since I touched Nexus. MyAllSaversConnect.com

Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you!

[balaji.bandi]

They need to Layer 2 Port-chanel : look at detailed deploytment guide, which give you good understand how they connected and work :

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/flexpod_datacenter_vmware_netappaffa.html

[Sergiu.Daniluk]

Hi @Richardkm 

The IP addresses you are referring to initially (the one with the cluster) are actually for management interface, and you will use the cluster IP to connect to UCS Manager.

The connection between Nexus and FIs are used for servers/VMs, that means you will have to configure the interfaces on Nexus as switchport trunks. You can also take advantage of the Nexus and VPC, and you can configure one vPC to each FIs. Something like this:

You will find config examples in the link shared by @balaji.bandi 

Here is another example: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/UCS_CVDs/flexpod_esxi60_n9k.html

Stay safe,

Sergiu