Nexus 5020 VPC configuration with Netapp LACP VIF

I was playing around with nexus 5020 for a while. I was setting up Netapp FAS3020 with LACP VIF and creating a VPC on the nexus ( 4 links from filer and 2 links to each nexus). I failed to make the port channel up when I configured the port channel and ethernet port as trunk port and LACP mode active .The port channel is down with status  No operational members.

The filer is able to communicate if I configured LACP mode as on and port channel and ethernet port as trunk, but this is not I want. I want the LACP to be active mode.

So I configured the port channel and ethernet as access and allowed a specific vlan and configured the LACP as active. Here is how I set it up

1) Enable VPC  and LACP feature on the switch ( both the switch)

NX-1#feature vpc
NX-1#feature lacp

NX-1# show system internal clis feature
 4 lacp                           enabled
 9 vpc                            enabled

2) Create a vpc domain on all the nexus switch. The domain id should be same. Then configure the destination peer ( mgt Ip address of the other switch) this should be done on both the switches

NX-1(config-if)# vpc domain 5
NX-1(config-vpc-domain)#peer-keepalive destination 172.25.1.xx  ( This is the mgt IP address of NX-2)

 3) At this point if you check the vpc status, it will show as peer-link not configured, so we have to configured the peer link
NX-1(config)# sh vpc
Legend:
                (*) - local vPC is down, forwarding via vPC peer-link

vPC domain id                   : Not configured
Peer status                     : peer link not configured
vPC keep-alive status           : Disabled
Configuration consistency status: failed
Configuration consistency reason: vPC peer-link does not exists
vPC role                        : none established
Number of vPCs configured       : 0
Peer Gateway                    : Disabled
Dual-active excluded VLANs      : -

4) Configure the peer-link. This is the link which connect both the nexus, Since i have only 1 link , i'm configuring only one link, recommended is 2 peer link between nexus. Here my peer link is eth 1/37. This link is used for high speed communication between nexus. The channel group is 100

NX-1(config)# int Ethernet1/37
NX-1(config)# switchport mode trunk
NX-1(config-if)# channel-group 100 mode active
NX-1(config-if)# interface po100
NX-1(config-if)# vpc peer-link

NX-1(config-if)# sh vpc

Legend:
                (*) - local vPC is down, forwarding via vPC peer-link

vPC domain id                   : 5
Peer status                     : peer adjacency formed ok
vPC keep-alive status           : peer is alive
Configuration consistency status: success
vPC role                        : primary
Number of vPCs configured       : 0
Peer Gateway                    : Disabled
Dual-active excluded VLANs      : -

vPC Peer-link status
---------------------------------------------------------------------
id   Port   Status Active vlans
--   ----   ------ --------------------------------------------------
1    Po100  up     1,51,53,105,112,117,252,521,777,820,940

5) Creating a port-channel 10 and assigning to vpc10 ( on both nexus). This port channel is of type access and allows vlan 53 which is my SAN vlan.

NX-2(config)# interface port-channel 10
NX-2(config-if)# vpc 10
NX-2(config-if)# switchport mode access
NX-2(config-if)# switchport access vlan 53
NX-2(config-if)# exit

6) Assigning ports to the port channel 10 ( on both nexus). I have 2 ports on each nexus and adding those ports to the port channel 10

NX-1(config)# int eth 1/1
NX-1(config-if)# switchport mode access
NX-2(config-if)# switchport access vlan 53
NX-1(config-if)# channel-group 10 mode active
NX-2(config-if)# exit

NX-1(config)# int eth 1/2
NX-1(config-if)# switchport mode access
NX-2(config-if)# switchport access vlan 53
NX-1(config-if)# channel-group 10 mode active
NX-2(config-if)# exit

7)  Check the lacp port channel status. The port channel should be up. if not delete the LACP VIF from the Netapp filer and recreate again at this point. On the Netapp side you should choose LACP

NX-1(config)# sh lacp port-channel

port-channel10
  System Mac=0-5-9b-7d-d-7c
  Local System Identifier=0x9c4,0-5-9b-7d-d-7c
  Admin key=0x800a
  Operational key=0x800a
  Partner System Identifier=0x1,2-a0-98-9-74-ab
  Operational key=0x1
  Max delay=0
  VPC ID=10
  Aggregate or individual=1
  Member Port List=1-2

8) Check for the VPC status

NX-1(config)# sh vpc

vPC status
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
id     Port        Status Consistency Reason                     Active vlans
------ ----------- ------ ----------- -------------------------- -----------
10     Po10        up     success     success                    53

9) Check for the last part of sh int brief comand

NX-1(config)# sh int brief

--trunkated----


Port-channel VLAN  Type Mode   Status  Reason                    Speed  Protocol
Interface
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Po10         53    eth  access up      none                      a-1000(D)  lacp
Po100        1     eth  trunk  up      none                       a-10G(D)  lacp

This is how I setup the port channel with Netapp LACP VIF. I'm not a network expert so if you found any mistake or alternative ways to enable the port channel as trunk please let me know.

If you find this useful, dont forget to leave a comment ....Happy to hear that I'm helping someone out there..

Jibby George

Last mile excellence

So  I'm all set to leave Kuwait. I was here for last 3.3 years and I have learned a lot. The biggest benefit I gained from here is the vmware. I consider this as a great achievement in my life as it takes months and years to master a new technology. I also sharpen my skills with Sun and Netapp.

 I was reading about this last mile excellence in Robin Sharma's article. I've seen most of the people once they resigned from the job , they tend to be lazy and hardly work because they don't have anything to gain or may be they don't care anymore. I was thinking how can I sign off with excellence from my employer. I was going through all my setup and check whether they need changes, patches, firmwares, make recommendation for future and so on. I helped my client to virtualised their data center with vmware vSphere and OVM(Ldoms) and implementation of FCoE over CNA cards and Nexus.

I got a chance to work with Nexus 5020 and my CCNA skills came handy here. I'm still trying to be the best and I want to sign-off with excellence.

Jibby