Introduction

This configuration example describes how to establish a Port-Channel on a Cisco Nexus 5548 switch with a FEX and a host server.

Port-Channels allows multiple physical links to combine into one logical channel, which allows the links in the channel to share traffic load, as well as redundancy in the event that one or more links in the channel fail.

Prerequisites
Requirements

Ensure that you meet these requirements before you attempt this configuration:

• Server supports Dual NICs capable of running LACP (802.3ad)

Server hosts with NICs that are inoperable with LACP (802.3ad), consideration needs to be taken to make the next best teaming configuration such as Active/Passive.  If the host is not dual NIC capable use a stand alone switch such as a 4948 that has LACP to the 5548.

Related Products

This configuration example can also be used with other Cisco Nexus family switches that run Cisco NX-OS software, slight differences exist between hardware platforms i.e 9Ks, 5Ks, 2Ks.

Note: This document uses the NIC adapter which supports LACP and FEX uplink configurations.

Configure
Network Diagram

This document uses this network setup:

Note: Nexus environment is setup in a vPC domain.

Switch Configuration
In order to configure the switch, complete these steps. The following configuration needs to be done on both Nexus devices found in the same vPC domain.

Configure a Port-Channel

IMPORTANT: Port channel assignments take on the number of the first FEX or member port in the vPC domain.

Example:

Ports 101/1/1, 102/1/1 = po101
Ports 105/1/26, 106/1/26 = po526

Nexus1(config)int po101
Nexus1(config-if)description WEBSERVER 10.123.13.123
Nexus1(config-if)switchport
Nexus1(config-if) switchport mode access
Nexus1(config-if)switchport access vlan 100
Nexus1(config-if)vpc 101
Nexus1(config-if)no shut
Nexus1(config-if)exit

Per the Network Diagram, choose the ports to be grouped:
(Nexus 1) Eth 101/1/1
(Nexus 2) Eth 102/1/1

For each of the listed ports, complete these steps:
Nexus1#conf t
Nexus1(config)#int Eth101/1/1
Nexus1(config-if)#description WEBSERVER 10.123.13.123
Nexus1(config-if)#switchport
Nexus1(config-if)#switchport mode access
Nexus1(config-if)#switchport access vlan 100
Nexus1(config-if)#spanning-tree port type edge
Nexus1(config-if)#vpc orphan-port suspend
Nexus1(config-if)#channel-group 101 mode active
Nexus1(config-if)#no shut

Nexus2#conf t
Nexus2(config)#int Eth102/1/1
Nexus2(config-if)#description WEBSERVER 10.123.13.123
Nexus2(config-if)#switchport
Nexus2(config-if)#switchport mode access
Nexus2(config-if)#switchport access vlan 100
Nexus2(config-if)#spanning-tree port type edge
Nexus2(config-if)#vpc orphan-port suspend
Nexus2config-if)#channel-group 101 mode active
Nexus2(config-if)#no shut

That’s all there really is to it.  Your port-channel numbering scheme can be what ever you would like, I have adopted the style outline above for my numbering and seems to be intuitive and fitting for most.

Here are some helpful show commands.

Helpful show commands

Nexus1#show run int po101 membership
Nexus1#show vpc 101
Nexus1#show port-channel summary

 

Mike