Creating Host-Side vPC for Server Links with LACP ..................17 Fibre Channel over Ethernet ..........................21 Configuring FCoE ..............................21 Configuring the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series and B22 for IBM for FCoE ..............22 iSCSI Configuration ............................... 27 Virtual Network Adapter Partitioning ........................30 Debug Commands ..............................
Cisco Nexus 5000 or 6000 Series Switch together form a distributed modular system. The Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM forwards all traffic to the parent Cisco Nexus 5000 or 6000 Series Switch over eight 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks. Low-cost uplink connections of up to 10 meters can be made with copper Twinax ®...
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Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM, or any connecting cable. This topology is widely used in FCoE deployments. The third blade chassis from the left in Figure 1 contains Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM fabric extenders that connect to both Cisco Nexus 5500 platform switches through vPC for redundancy. In this configuration, active-active load balancing using vPC from the blade server to the Cisco Nexus 5500 platform switch cannot be enabled.
Hardware Installation Installation of the Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM in the rear of the blade server chassis is similar to the installation of other connection blades. The layout of the blade server chassis, as well as the server types and mezzanine cards used, determines the slots that should be populated with the Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM for 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity.
Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM Fabric Extenders as Seen in the CMM Fabric Extender Management Model The Cisco Nexus fabric extenders are managed by a parent switch through the fabric interfaces using a zero- touch configuration model. The switch discovers the fabric extender by using a detection protocol.
Fabric Connectivity Options The Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM creates a distributed, modular chassis with the Cisco Nexus parent switch after a fabric connection has been made over standard 10-Gbps cabling. This connection can be accomplished using any of the following types of interconnects: ...
The Port Channel fabric interface provides an alternative way of connecting the parent switch and the Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM fabric extender. In this mode of operation, the physical fabric links are bundled into a single logical channel. This approach prevents a single fabric interconnect link loss from disrupting traffic to any one server.
Cisco Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) Software TAC support: http://www.cisco.com/tac Copyright (c) 2002-2011, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. The copyrights to certain works contained in this software are owned by other third parties and used and distributed under license. Certain components of this software are licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.0 or the GNU...
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4. Create the Port Channel, change the port mode, and associate the fabric extender with the Port Channel: N5548-Bottom(config-if)# interface port-channel N5548-Bottom(config-if)# switchport mode fex-fabric N5548-Bottom(config-if)# fex associate N5548-Bottom(config-if)# 5. Assign the Cisco Nexus parent switch ports to the Port Channel: N5548-Bottom(config-if)# interface ethernet 1/17 N5548-Bottom(config-if)# switchport mode fex-fabric N5548-Bottom(config-if)# fex associate N5548-Bottom(config-if)#...
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6. Repeat the steps on the second Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch connected to the fabric extender in interconnect bay 4: N5548-Top# configure terminal N5548-Top(config)# feature fex N5548-Top(config)# N5548-Top(config-if)# interface port-channel N5548-Top(config-if)# switchport mode fex-fabric N5548-Top(config-if)# fex associate N5548-Top(config-if)# interface ethernet...
Virtual Port Channel Connection vPCs allow links that are physically connected to two different Cisco Nexus switches to form a Port Channel to a downstream device. The downstream device can be a switch, a server, or any other networking device that supports IEEE 802.3ad Port Channels.
EtherChannel or Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) connection to a single switch. However, because the Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM fabric extender is an extension of the parent switch, EtherChannel or LACP connections can be created between the blade server and the virtual chassis. Dual Cisco Nexus switches can be used with vPC for additional switch redundancy while providing active-active links to servers, thus enabling aggregate 40- Gbps bandwidth with dual links (Figure 6).
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To verify that the vPC is formed, go to one of the Cisco Nexus switches to check the status of the server Port Channel interface. The pair of Cisco Nexus switches is in a vPC configuration, so each has a single port in the Port Channel.
FCoE combines LAN and storage traffic on a single link, eliminating the need for dedicated adapters, cables, and devices for each type of network, resulting in savings that can extend the life of the data center. The Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM is the building block that enables FCoE traffic to travel outside the blade chassis.
OneCommand FCoE Utility Showing Ports Configured for FCoE with Drivers Loaded Configuring the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series and B22 for IBM for FCoE This example assumes that a server in bay 2 is using connection blade bays 3 and 4 for FCoE connectivity.
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N5548-Bottom(config-zoneset)# zoneset activate name zoneset1 vsan 200 N5548-Top(config-zoneset)# zoneset activate name zoneset2 vsan 201 You can now use the following commands to check the connectivity between the blade server and the Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM: N5548-Bottom# show flogi database...
You can run these commands on a second Cisco Nexus Switches to verify the fabric. Figure 9 shows a server that has successfully connected to the SAN. Figure 9: Server with FCoE Connected to Volumes on a Fibre Channel Array iSCSI Configuration iSCSI provides an alternative to FCoE for block-level storage.
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N5548-Bottom(config-sys-qos)# service-policy type network-qos iSCSI-C1 5. Identify the iSCSI traffic on the other Cisco Nexus switch using the same process as for the first switch by defining a class map for each class of traffic to be used in the QoS policies:...
Debug Commands show fex This command displays the status of the fabric extenders that are powered on and connected. Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM installed but parent switch not configured: N5548-Bottom# show fex Number Description State Model Serial ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------...
191/1/1 This command displays detailed statistics for Cisco Nexus B22 for IBM fabric extender port 1. N5548-Bottom# show interface ethernet 191/1/1 Ethernet191/1/1 is up Belongs to Po201 Hardware: 1000/10000 Ethernet, address: f84f.57ce.3642 (bia f84f.57ce.3642) MTU 1500 bytes, BW 10000000 Kbit, DLY 10 usec...