VPC - Best Practices and Design Guidelines

Nexus 7000
virtual Port-Channel
Best Practices & Design Guidelines
Roberto Mari
Technical Marketing Engineer
Data Center Business Unit November 2009
version 1.1
2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 1

Agenda
Feature Overview & Terminology
vPC Design Guidance & Best Practices
Building a vPC domain
Attaching to a vPC domain
Layer 3 and vPC
Spanning Tree Recommendations
Data Center Interconnect (& Encryption)
HSRP with vPC
vPC and Services
vPC latest enhancements
ISSU
Convergence and Scalability

vPC Hands-on Lab Information
Reference Material

Intelligent L2 Domains POD Evolution
Inter-POD Connectivity across L3
(Failure Boundary Preservation)
Failure
IP Cloud Boundary
Core
L3
L3 Aggregation
L2 vPC
L2MP
Access
L2
vPC vPC
Servers
STP+ vPC Cisco L2MP

STP Enhancements NIC Teaming 16x ECMP
Bridge Assurance Simplified loop-free trees Low Latency / Lossless
2x Multi-pathing MAC Scaling
Operational Flexibility
vPC Definition
Allow a single device to use a

port channel across two upstream
switches
Eliminate STP blocked ports
Uses all available uplink
bandwidth Logical Topology without vPC
Dual-homed server operate in

active-active mode
Provide fast convergence upon
link/device failure
Reduce CAPEX and OPEX
Available on current and future
hardware for M1 and D1
generation cards.
Logical Topology with vPC
vPC Terminology vPC peer a vPC switch, one of a pair
vPC member port one of a set of ports
(port channels) that form a vPC
vPC peer-keepalive vPC peer-link
link vPC the combined port channel between
the vPC peers and the downstream device
CFS protocol
vPC peer-link Link used to synchronize
state between vPC peer devices, must be
vPC peer 10GbE
vPC peer-keepalive link the keepalive
vPC
vPC
vPC link between vPC peer devices, i.e., backup
member
member to the vPC peer-link
port
port
vPC VLAN one of the VLANs carried
over the peer-link and used to
communicate via vPC with a peer device.
vPC
non-vPC VLAN One of the STP VLANs
non-vPC
device
not carried over the peer-link
CFS Cisco Fabric Services protocol, used
for state synchronization and configuration
validation between vPC peer devices
Building a vPC Domain
Configuration Steps
Following steps are needed to build a vPC (Order does Matter!)
1. Configure globally a vPC domain on both vPC devices
2. Configure a Peer-keepalive link on both vPC peer switches (make sure is operational)
NOTE: When a vPC domain is configured the keepalive must be operational to allow a
vPC domain to successfully form.
3. Configure (or reuse) an interconnecting port-channel between the vPC peer switches
4. Configure the inter-switch channel as Peer-link on both vPC devices (make sure is
operational)
5. Configure (or reuse) Port-channels to dual-attached devices
6. Configure a unique logical vPC and join port-channels across different vPC peers
vPC peer- vPC peer-link
keepalive link
vPC peer
Standalone
Port-channel vPC vPC member port
Peer Link
Definition:
Standard 802.1Q Trunk
vPC peer-link
Can Carry vPC and non vPC VLANs*

Carries Cisco Fabric Services messages (tagged as CoS=4
for reliable communication)
Carries flooded traffic from a vPC peer
Carries STP BPDUs, HSRP Hellos, IGMP updates, etc.
Requirements:
Member ports must be 10GE interfaces one of the N7K-
M132XP-12 modules
Peer-link are point-to-point. No other device should be inserted
between the vPC peers.
Recommendations (strong ones!)
Minimum 2x 10GbE ports on separate cards for best
resiliency.
Dedicated 10GbE ports (not shared mode ports) *It is Best Practice to split vPC and non-vPC
VLANs on different Inter-switch Port-Channels.
Peer Link with Single 10G Module
Common Nexus 7000 configuration:

1x 10G, 7x 1G cards
vPC recommendation is 2 10G cards
Potential problem occurs if Nexus 7000 is L3 boundary with
single 10G card
Use Object Tracking Feature available in 4.2
More information from CCO:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/datacenter/sw/4_2/nx-
os/interfaces/configuration/guide/if_vPC.html#wp1529488

Peer Link with Single 10G Module Object Tracking
Scenario:
vPC deployments with a single N7K-
M132XP-12 card, where core and peer-
link interfaces are localized on the same
card.
e1/ e1/ e1/ e1/
This scenario is vulnerable to access- e1/ vPC PL e1/
layer isolation if the 10GE card fails on L3
e1/ e1/
the primary vPC. L2 vPC PKL
e2/ e2/
vPC Object Tracking Solution: vPC vPC
Primary Secondary
Leverages object tracking capability in
vPC (new CLI commands are added).
Peer-link and Core interfaces are
tracked as a list of boolean objects.
vPC object tracking suspends vPCs on
the impaired device, so traffic can get
diverted over the remaining vPC peer.
rhs-7k-1(config-vpc-domain)# track <object>

Cisco Fabric Services (CFS)
Definition/Uses:
Configuration validation/comparison CFS Messaging
MAC member port synchronization
vPC member port status
STP Management
HSRP and IGMP snooping synchronization
vPC status
Characteristics:
Transparently enabled with vPC features
CFS messages encapsulated in standard Ethernet
frames delivered between peers exclusively on the
peer-link
Cisco Fabric Services messages are tagged as
CoS=4 for reliable communication.
Based on CFS from MDS product development
Many years in service, robust protocol

Peer-Keepalive (1 of 2)
Definition:
Heartbeat between vPC peers vPC peer-
Active/Active (no Peer-Link) detection keepalive link
Messages sent on 2 second interval

3 second hold timeout on peer-link loss
Fault Tolerant terminology is specific to VSS and deprecated in
vPC.
Packet Structure:
UDP message on port 3200, 96 bytes long (32 byte payload),
includes version, time stamp, local and remote IPs, and domain ID.
Keepalive messages can be captured and displayed using the
onboard Wireshark Toolkit.
Recommendations:
Should be a dedicated link (1Gb is adequate)
Should NOT be routed over the Peer-Link
Can optionally use the mgmt0 interface (along with management
traffic)
As last resort, can be routed over L3 infrastructure
Peer-Keepalive (2 of 2)
Cautions/Additional Recommendations:
When using supervisor management interfaces to carry the vPC peer-
keepalive, do not connect them back to back between the two switches.
Only one management port will be active a given point in time and a
supervisor switchover may break keep-alive connectivity
Use the management interface only if you have an out-of-band
management network (management switch in between).
Management Standby Management
Management Network Interface
Switch Active Management
vPC_PK Interface
vPC_PK
vPC_PL
vPC1 vPC2

vPC Member Port
Definition:
Port-channel member of a vPC peer.
Requirements:
Configuration needs to match other vPC
peers member port config.
In case of inconsistency a VLAN or the
entire port-channel may suspend (i.e.
MTU mismatch).
Number of member ports on both vPC
vPC
peers is not required to match. member
port
Up to 8 active ports between both vPC
peers (16-way port-channel can be build
with multi-layer vPC)

VDC Interaction
vPC works seamlessly in any VDC based environment.
One vPC domain per VDC is supported, up to the maximum number of
VDCs supported in the system.
It is still necessary to have a separate vPC peer-link and vPC Peer-
Keepalive Link infrastructure for each VDC deployed.
Can vPC run between VDCs on the same switch?
This scenario should technically work, but it is NOT officially supported
and has not been extensively tested by our QA team.
Could be useful for Demo or hands on, but It is NOT recommended for
production environments. Will consolidate redundant points on the same
box with VDCs (e.g. whole aggregation layer on a box) and introduce a
single point of failure.
ISSU will NOT work in this configuration, because the vPC devices can
NOT be independently upgraded.

Agenda
Layer 3 and vPC
HSRP with vPC
vPC and Services
ISSU

Reference Material

The One and Only Rule
ALWAYS
dual attach
devices to a vPC
Domain!!!
Attaching to a vPC Domain
IEEE 802.3ad and LACP
Definition:
Port-channel for devices for devices dual-attached to
the vPC pair.
Provides local load balancing for port-channel
members
STANDARD 802.3ad port channel
Access Device Requirements
STANDARD 802.3ad capability
LACP Optional
vPC
Recommendations:
vPC
Regular
Use LACP when available for better failover and mis- member
Port-
port
channel
configuration protection port

My device cant be dual attached!
Recommendations (in order of preference):
1. ALWAYS try to dual attach devices using vPC (not applicable for routed links).
PROS: Ensures minimal disruption in case of peer-link failover and consistent behavior with vPC dual-
active scenarios. Ensures full redundant active/active paths through vPC.
CONS: None
2. If (1) is not an option connect the device via a vPC attached access switch (could use VDC to create a
virtual access switch).
PROS: Ensures minimal disruption in case of peer-link failover and consistent behavior with vPC dual-
active scenarios. Availability limited by the access switch failure.
CONS: Need for an additional access switch or need to use one of the available VDCs. Additional
administrative burden to configure/manage the physical/Virtual Device
3. If (2) is not an option connect device directly to (primary) vPC peer in a non-vPC VLAN* and provide
for a separate interconnecting port-channel between the two vPC peers.
PROS: Traffic diverted on a secondary path in case of peer-link failover
CONS: Need to configure and manage additional ports (i.e. port-channel) between the Nexus 7000
devices.
4. If (3) is not an option connect device directly to (primary) vPC peer in a vPC VLAN
PROS: Easy deployment
CONS: VERY BAD. Bound to vPC roles (no role preemption in vPC) , Full Isolation on peer-link failure
when attached vPC toggles to a secondary vPC role.
* VLAN that is NOT part of any vPC and not present on vPC peer-link
vPC and non-vPC VLANs (i.e. single attached .. )
P S P S
1. Dual Attached 2. Attached via VDC/Secondary Switch
Orphan
Ports
P S
P S
P Primary vPC
S Secondary vPC
3. Secondary ISL Port-Channel 4. Single Attached to vPC Device

My device only does STP!
Recommendations (in order of preference):
1. ALWAYS try dual attach devices using vPC
PROS: Ensures minimal disruption in case of peer-link failover and consistent behavior with
vPC dual-active scenarios. Ensures full redundant active/active paths through vPC.
CONS: None
2. If (1) is not an option connect the device via two independent links using STP. Use non-
vPC VLANs ONLY on the STP switch.*
PROS: Ensures minimal disruption in case of peer-link failover and consistent behavior with
vPC dual-active scenarios. Ensures full redundant Active/Active paths on vPC VLANs.
CONS: Requires an additional STP port-channel between the vPC devices. Operational
burden in provisioning and configuring separate STP and vPC VLAN domains. Only
Active/Standby paths on STP VLANs.
3. If (2) is not an option connect the device via two independent links using STP. (Use vPC
VLANs on this switch)
PROS: Simplify VLAN provisioning and does not require allocation of an additional 10GE
port-channel.
CONS: STP and vPC devices may not be able to communicate each other in certain failure
scenarios (i.e. when STP Root and vPC primary device do not overlap). All VLANs carried
over the peer-link may suspend until the two adjacency forms and vPC is fully
synchronized".
* Run the same STP mode as the vPC domain. Enable portfast/port type edge on host facing ports
vPC Design principles
Attaching to a vPC Domain - vPC and non-vPC VLANs (STP/vPC Hybrid)
Non vPC port-channel
P S SR PR
P S
1. All devices Dual Attached via vPC 2. Separate vPC and STP VLANs
SR PR
P S
P Primary vPC
S Secondary vPC
PR Primary STP Root
SR Secondary STP Root
3. Overlapping vPC and STP VLANs

16-way Port-Channel (1 of 2)
Multi-Layer vPC can join 8 active

ports port-channels in a unique 16-
way port-channel*
vPC peer side load-balancing is Nexus
LOCAL to the peer 7000
Each vPC peer has only 8 active 16-way port

channel
links, but the pair has 16 active load
balanced links Nexus
5000
* Possible with any device supporting

vPC/MCEC and 8-way active port-channels

16-way Port-Channel (2 of 2)
16 active ports between 8

active port-channel devices
and 16 active port-channel
devices?
Nexus
vPC peer side load-balancing 7000
is LOCAL to the peer
Each vPC peer has only 8 16-port port-channel
active links, but the pair has 16 Nexus
active load balanced links to 5000
the downstream device
supporting 16 active ports
D-series N7000 line cards will
also support 16 way active
port-channel load balancing, Nexus 5000 16-port port-channel
providing for a potential 32 support introduced in 4.1(3)N1(1a)
way vPC port channel! release

Agenda
Layer 3 and vPC
HSRP with vPC
vPC and Services
ISSU

Reference Material

Layer 3 and vPC
Recommendations
Use separate L3 links to hook up routers to a vPC domain is still standing.
Dont use L2 port channel to attach routers to a vPC domain unless you can
statically route to HSRP address
If both, routed and bridged traffic is required, use individual L3 links for routed
traffic and L2 port-channel for bridged traffic
Switch Switch
Po2 Po2
7k1 7k2
L3 ECMP
Po1
Router Router
Layer 3 and vPC
What can happen (1 of 3)
vPC view Layer 2 topology Layer 3 topology
7k vPC
7k1 7k2 7k1 7k2
R
R
R
R could be any router, Port-channel looks like Layer 3 will use ECMP
L3 switch or VSS a single L2 pipe. for northbound traffic
building a port-channel Hashing will decide
which link to chose

Layer 3 and vPC
1) Packet arrives at R
S
2) R does lookup in routing table and sees 2
Po2
equal paths going north (to 7k1 & 7k2)
3) Assume it chooses 7k1 (ECMP decision)
4) R now has rewrite information to which
router it needs to go (router MAC 7k1 or
7k2)
5) L2 lookup happens and outgoing 7k1 7k2
interface is port-channel 1
Po1
6) Hashing determines which port-channel
member is chosen (say to 7k2)
7) Packet is sent to 7k2
R
8) 7k2 sees that it needs to send it over the
peer-link to 7k1 based on MAC address

Layer 3 and vPC
9) 7k1 performs lookup and sees that it

needs to send to S S
Po2
10) 7k1 performs check if the frame came
over peer link & is going out on a vPC.
11) Frame will only be forwarded if outgoing
interface is NOT a vPC or if outgoing
vPC doesnt have active interface on
other vPC peer (in our example 7k2)
7k1 7k2
Po1

Agenda
Layer 3 and vPC
HSRP with vPC
vPC and Services
ISSU

Reference Material

Overview STP Interoperability
STP Uses:
Loop detection (failsafe to vPC)
Non-vPC attached device
Loop management on vPC addition/removal
Requirements:
Needs to remain enabled, but doesnt dictate vPC member
port state
Logical ports still count, need to be aware of number of
VLANs/port-channels deployed!
Best Practices:
Not recommended to enable Bridge Assurance feature on
vPC channels (i.e. no STP network port type). Tracked by
CSCsz76892. vPC
STP
vPC is running to manage
Make sure all switches in you layer 2 domain are running loops outside of vPCs
with Rapid-PVST or MST (IOS default is non-rapid PVST+),
to avoid slow STP convergence (30+ secs) direct domain, or before
initial vPC configuration
Remember to configure portfast (edge port-type) on host
facing interfaces to avoid slow STP convergence (30+
secs)

Port Configuration Overview N Network port
E Edge or portfast port type
- Normal port type
B BPDUguard
R Rootguard
Data Center Core
L Loopguard
Primary Secondary
vPC vPC
vPC
HSRP Domain HSRP Layer 3
ACTIVE STANDBY
Aggregation
N N Secondary
Primary
Root Root
Layer 2 (STP + Rootguard)
- - - - - - - -
R R R R R R R R
-
Access
- - L
E E E E E
B B B B B
Layer 2 (STP + BPDUguard)

Agenda
Layer 3 and vPC
HSRP with vPC
vPC and Services
ISSU

Reference Material

N Network port
Data Center Interconnect E
-
Edge or portfast port type
Normal port type
Multi-layer vPC for Agg and DCI B BPDUguard
F BPDUfilter
R Rootguard
DC 1 vPC domain 11
Long Distance
vPC domain 21 DC 2
CORE
CORE
- F F -
- -
N N
N N
- - F F - -
R R
- R -
- R
AGGR
AGGR
N N N N
- - vPC domain 10 vPC domain 20 - -

R R
R R
Key Recommendations
ACCESS
ACCESS
-
vPC Domain id for facing vPC layers should be different -
E No Bridge Assurance on interconnecting vPCs E

B BPDU Filter on the edge devices to avoid BPDU propagation B
No L3 peering between DCs (i.e. L3 over vPC)
Server Cluster Server Cluster

Data Center Interconnect
Encrypted Interconnect
DC-1 DC-2
Nexus 7010 Nexus 7010
vPC vPC
CTS Manual Mode
(802.1AE 10GE line-rate
encryption)
No ACS is required
Nexus 7010 Nexus 7010

Agenda
Layer 3 and vPC
HSRP with vPC
vPC and Services
ISSU

Reference Material

HSRP with vPC
FHRP Active/Active
Support for all FHRP protocols
in Active/Active mode with vPC
No additional configuration HSRP/VRRP
Active:
HSRP/VRRP
Standby:
required Active for Active for
shared L3 MAC shared L3 MAC
Standby device communicates L3

with vPC manager produces to
L2
determine if vPC peer is
Active HSRP/VRRP peer
General HSRP best practices
still applies.
When running active/active
aggressive timers can be
relaxed (i.e. 2-router vPC
case)
HSRP with vPC
Do NOT use Object Tracking
Cautions:
Not recommended using HSRP link tracking in a vPC configuration
Reason: vPC will not forward a packet back on a vPC once it has
crossed the peer-link, except in the case of a remote member port
failure
L3 CORE
ACTIVE HSRP STANDBY HSRP

GW
GW VLAN 100, 200 GW L2/L3
Aggregation
VLAN 100 VLAN 200

HSRP with vPC
L3 Backup Routing
Use an OSPF point-to-point adjacency (or equivalent L3 protocol)
between the vPC peers to establish a L3 backup path to the Core
through in case of uplinks failure
A single point-to-point VLAN/SVI will suffice to establish a L3
neighborship.
OSPF
OSPF
VLAN 99
L3 OSPF
L2
Primary Secondary
vPC vPC

HSRP with vPC
Dual L2/L3 Pod Interconnect
Scenario:
Provide L2/L3 interconnect between
L2 Pods, or between L2 attached
Datacenters (i.e. sharing the same
HSRP group).
A vPC domain without an active
HSRP instance in a group would not
able to forward traffic. Active Standby Listen Listen
Multi-layer vPC with single HSRP:
L3 on the N7K supports
Active/Active on one pair, and still
allows normal HSRP behavior on
other pair (all in one HSRP group)
L3 traffic will run across Intra-pod
link for non Active/Active L3 pair

Agenda
Layer 3 and vPC
HSRP with vPC
vPC and Services
ISSU

Reference Material

vPC and Services
Catalyst 6500 Services Chassis w. Services VDC Sandwich
Two Nexus 7000 Virtual Device Contexts used to sandwich
services between virtual switching layers
Layer-2 switching in Services Chassis with transparent
services
Services Chassis provides Etherchannel capabilities for
interaction with vPC
vPC running in both VDC pairs to provide Etherchannel for
both inside and outside interfaces to Services Chassis
Design considerations:
Access switches requiring services are connected to sub-
aggregation VDC
Access switches not requiring services may be connected to
aggregation VDC
May be extended to support multiple virtualized service
contexts by using multiple VRF instances in the sub-
aggregation VDC
Design Cautions:
Be aware of the Layer 3 over vPC design caveat. If Peering at
Layer 3 is required across the two vPC layers an alternative
solution should be explored (i.e. using STP rather than vPC to
attach service chassis)
Agenda
Layer 3 and vPC
HSRP with vPC
vPC and Services
ISSU

Reference Material

vPC Latest Enhancements
Summary
Several enhancements to vPC:
vPC Object Tracking
vPC Peer-Gateway
vPC Delay Restore
Multi-layer vPC with single HSRP group
vPC unicast ARP handling
vPC Exclude Interface-VLAN
vPC single attached device Listing
vPC Convergence and Scalability
For more details:
4.2 Release Notes
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/datacenter/sw/4_2/nx-os/release/notes/42_nx-
os_release_note.html#wp218085

vPC Latest Enhancements
vPC Peer-Gateway for NAS interoperability
Local Routing for peer
Scenario: router mac Traffic
Interoperability with non RFC

compliant features of some NAS devices
(i.e. NETAPP Fast-Path or EMC IP-
vPC PL
Reflect) L3
NAS device may reply to traffic using L2
vPC PKL
the MAC address of the sender device
rather than the HSRP gateway.
Packet reaching vPC for the non local
Router MAC address are sent across the
peer-link and can be dropped if the final
destination is behind another vPC.
vPC Peer-Gateway Solution:
Allows a vPC switch to act as the
active gateway for packets addressed
to the peer router MAC (CLI command
added in the vPC global config) N7k(config-vpc-domain)# peer-gateway
Agenda
Layer 3 and vPC
HSRP with vPC
vPC and Services
ISSU

Reference Material

In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU)
vPC System Upgrade/Downgrade
4.1(3)
4.2(1) 4.1(3)
4.2(1)
ISSU is still the recommended system
upgrade in a multi-device vPC environment
vPC system can be independently upgraded
with no disruption to traffic. 4.1(3)
4.2(1)
Upgrade is serialized and must be run one at
the time (i.e. config lock will prevent
synchronous upgrades)
Configuration is locked on other vPC peer
during ISSU.
Begin End Caveats

4.1(x) 4.2(x) None
4.2(x) 4.1(x) None

Agenda
Layer 3 and vPC
HSRP with vPC
ISSU

Reference Material

4.2(1) vPC Enhancements
Convergence Topology 20 flows @1000 pps
OSPF L3 Core
Nexus 7000
N7K-1 N7K-2 L2/L3

OSPF Aggregation
Po10
Nexus 7000 vPC
16-way port-channel 4-way port-channel

Po160 Po20
L2 Access
Nexus 5000
vPC Peer Link LACP

Channel (2x10 GigE)
vPC Peer-Keepalive (GigE) 20 flows @1000 pps 20 flows @1000 pps

vPC on Nexus 7000
Convergence Numbers
Failover case Failure Topology Convergence Time
Failure Restoration
Failure of 4.1(4) 4.1(4)
secondary vPC
P S North-Bound: ~700 ms North-Bound: ~3 sec
peer*
South-Bound: ~2.5 sec South-Bound: ~3.4 sec
4.2(1) 4.2(1)
North-Bound: ~50 ms. North-Bound: 100 900 ms
South-Bound: ~100 ms South-Bound: 1.2 -2 s
Failure of a 4.1(4) 4.1(4)
primary vPC peer*
P S North-Bound: ~150 ms North-Bound:~4.5 secs
South-Bound: ~3 sec South-Bound: ~5 secs
4.2(1) 4.2(1)
North-Bound: ~50 ms North-Bound: ~400 ms-1.5 s
South-Bound: ~100 ms South-Bound: ~1.5 s
Failover of the 4.1(4) 4.1(4)
vPC Peer Link
P S North-Bound: ~1.3 s North-Bound: ~900 ms
South-Bound: ~1.8 s South-Bound: up to 10+ s (CSCsz88998)
4.2(1) 4.2(1)
North-Bound: 100-300 ms North-Bound: 150 - 900 ms
South-Bound: 50-500 ms South-Bound: ~ 900 ms1.5 s
NOTE: Convergence numbers may vary depending on the specific configuration (i.e. scaled
number of VLANs/SVIs or HSRP groups) and traffic patterns (i.e. L2 vs L3 flows).
vPC on Nexus 7000
Scalability Number Improvements
Release Supported Scalability
4.1(5) 192 vPCs (2-port) with the following,

200 VLANs
200 HSRP Groups
40K MACs & 40K ARPs
10K (S,G) w. 66 OIFs (L3 sources)
Latest 256 vPCs (4-port) with the following,

Ankara 260 VLANs
4.2(1) 200 SVI/HSRP Groups
40k MACs & 40K ARPs
NOTE: Supported numbers of VLANs/vPCs are NOT related to an hardware or software limit but reflect what
has been currently validated by our QA. The N7k BU is planning to continuously increase these numbers as
soon as new data-points become available.

Agenda
Layer 3 and vPC
HSRP with vPC
vPC and Services
ISSU

Reference Material

On Demand vPC Lab Overview
N7K-Aggr N7K-Aggr
N7K-1 N7K-2
POD 1-2 VPC POD 1-2 VPC
Pod 1 Pod 2
Pod 1 Pod 2
Instructor-led hands-on lab N7K-3

POD 3-4 VPC
N7K-4
POD 3-4 VPC
introducing the vPC (virtual Port-
Pod 3 Pod 4
channel) feature for the Nexus 7000.
Participants exposed to the
N7K-7 N7K-8
configuration of vPC with NX-OS. POD 5-6 VPC POD 5-6 VPC
Lab needs to be manually booked

Pod 6
through Nexus 7000 TMEs. Pod 5

vPC Lab Logistics and Timing
The vPC Laboratory consists of 6 independent PODs.
A group of 2 students is assigned to each Pod.
Each student will configure a vPC peer device.
PODs are logically independent. Two adjacent PODs are physically

bound to the same Nexus. Virtual Device Contexts (VDCs) are used to
define logically independent devices on the same Nexus 7010 box.
The vPC Lab session is expected to be completed in around two hours.

Agenda
Layer 3 and vPC
HSRP with vPC
vPC and Services
ISSU

Reference Material

Reference Material
vPC/VSS Interop Test Details
Physical Logical
L3 Core
N7K-1 N7K-2
L2/L3 Aggregation
Nexus 7000 vPC

Po10
E1/26 E1/25
Po100 Po100
Te1/2/1 Te2/2/1
6K-1 6K-2 L2 Access vPC Peer Link LACP

Channel (2x10 GigE)
6500 VSS
vPC Peer-
Keepalive (GigE)
VSS VSL Channel

(2x10 GigE)

Reference Material
vPC/VSS Interop Test Details
The following scenarios were tested:

VSS and vPC member failover and convergence
Dual active scenarios and behavior
Best practice guidelines for STP, L3 (NSF), Multicast
Catalyst 6500/Nexus 7000 interoperability:

Multiple ports per chassis act as one larger ether-channel

Reference Material
Other Solution Tests and Recent vPC Documentation
Enterprise Solutions Engineering:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/solutions/Enterprise/Data_Center/DC_3_0/DC-3_0_IPInfra.html
Implementing Nexus 7000 in the Data Center Aggregation

Layer with Services:
https://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/solutions/Enterprise/Data_Center/nx_7000_dc.html
Configuration Guide for Object Tracking Feature:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/docs/switches/datacenter/sw/4_2/nx-
os/interfaces/configuration/guide/if_vPC.html#wp1530133
vPC white Paper:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps9402/white_paper_c11-
516396.html

VPC - Best Practices and Design Guidelines

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VPC - Best Practices and Design Guidelines

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Nexus 7000

2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 1

Convergence and Scalability

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STP+ vPC Cisco L2MP

Allow a single device to use a

Dual-homed server operate in

Can Carry vPC and non vPC VLANs*

Common Nexus 7000 configuration:

2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 8

2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 9

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Messages sent on 2 second interval

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2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 13

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Convergence and Scalability

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1. Dual Attached 2. Attached via VDC/Secondary Switch

3. Secondary ISL Port-Channel 4. Single Attached to vPC Device

PR Primary STP Root

SR Secondary STP Root

3. Overlapping vPC and STP VLANs

Multi-Layer vPC can join 8 active

Each vPC peer has only 8 active 16-way port

* Possible with any device supporting

2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 22

16 active ports between 8

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Convergence and Scalability

2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 24

vPC view Layer 2 topology Layer 3 topology

2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 26

2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 27

9) 7k1 performs lookup and sees that it

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Convergence and Scalability

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Convergence and Scalability

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Data Center Interconnect E

- - vPC domain 10 vPC domain 20 - -

E No Bridge Assurance on interconnecting vPCs E

Server Cluster Server Cluster

Nexus 7010 Nexus 7010

2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 34

Convergence and Scalability

2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 35

Standby device communicates L3

ACTIVE HSRP STANDBY HSRP

VLAN 100 VLAN 200

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Convergence and Scalability

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Convergence and Scalability

2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 42

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Interoperability with non RFC

Convergence and Scalability