Nexus 5000/2000 connected to ESX host with 2 teamed NICS

[Conrad Laus]

Hi,

I have a question regarding a configuration we have in our Datacenter (see above)

The issue is with the Server configuration on the switch (Please note this is an ESX host with 2 NICs (active/active, same vSwitch), 1 NIC each connected to a different FEX)

Currently we have removed the 'channel-group x' from under the individual ports on each FEX and have full connectivity, i.e. no vPC configuration, how can this be working?

Rgds

Jake

[Marcel Zehnder · Accepted solution]

ESX uses per default the following NIC-teaming method:

"Route based on the originating port ID"  - Also know as vSwitch port-based load-balancing,  this method chooses an uplink based on the virtual port where the  traffic entered the virtual switch

(check out this PDF: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/virtual_networking_concepts.pdf)

With this method you don't need to configure a channel on your Nexus switches. If you configure a port-channel (vPC) you should reconfigure the ESX vSwitch teaming to "Route based on IP hash" and make sure your port-channels on the nexus are configured as static ports (mode on) because ESX is not able to do LACP.

HTH

Marcel

[Conrad Laus]

Thanks Marcel,