Just wanted to post a quick post about how to configure 802.3ad port consolidation with a Cisco switch and VMware ESX (vSphere was used for this example). I was using an HP DL380 with 2 onboard NIC and 2 24 port Cisco 3750G connected with stackwise cables. Switch Configuration:
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interface GigabitEthernet1/0/1
description ESX NIC 2
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport mode trunk channel-group 1 mode on
end
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interface GigabitEthernet2/0/14
description ESX NIC 2
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport mode trunk channel-group 1 mode on
end
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interface Port-channel1
description ESX PortChannel
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport mode trunk
end
…
What I did was group two gigabit ports (1/0/14 and 2/0/14) into one port channel group (1). Then I applied the trunk settings to the port channel instead of the individual ports. As for the ESX side, I configured the virtual switch with more than one active adapter and set the “load balancing” to “Route based on IP hash.”
If this set up would not have been using a trunk, the following configuration would have been used:
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interface Port-channel1
description ESX PortChannel
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan <vlan for port group>
end
…
This configuration has seemed to be fairly reliable. I plan to do some load testing to investigate how balanced the load really is. I will post a follow-up if there are any interesting findings.
Whats the difference between a “port-channel” and a “channel-group”?Since you’re linked all your physical ports to “port-channel1″ what is the “channel-group” for?What wold be configured on a channel-group vs a port-group?
They are one in the same, the command to create a “port channel” in a Cisco switch is “channel-group” in IOS.I have no idea why Cisco makes it confusing, but thats what they do best it seems.
LOL – I found this on the cisco website – now I’m even more confused:http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12…If you scroll down to their examples, it seems as though some config happens on the channel-group and others on the port-channelsheesh! confusing indeed.
btw thanks for your quick reply
Somehow Cisco uses a logical port-channel interface, but have you add the (physical) ethernet interface to a channel-group with the same ID as the port-channel interface.Does anyone have any experience with a ESX-server with 4 NICs connected to two (non-stacked) switches with a dual-Gb port-channel to each switch?I.e. one channel consisting of two 1Gb links to SW01 and another such a channel to SW02?
If I understand you correctly, you are trying to connect 2 different port-channels to the same vSwitch? You really can’t do this, I don’t think that any of the port-channels would come up.