Configuring Virtual Port Channels; Information About Vpcs; Vpc Overview - Cisco Nexus 3548 Configuration Manual

Configuring Virtual Port Channels

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Information About vPCs

vPC Overview

A virtual port channel (vPC) allows links that are physically connected to two different Cisco Nexus devices
or Cisco Nexus Fabric Extenders to appear as a single port channel by a third device (see the following figure).
The third device can be a switch, server, or any other networking device. You can configure vPCs in topologies
that include Cisco Nexus devices connected to Cisco Nexus Fabric Extenders. A vPC can provide multipathing,
which allows you to create redundancy by enabling multiple parallel paths between nodes and load balancing
traffic where alternative paths exist.
You configure the EtherChannels by using one of the following:
• No protocol
• Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
When you configure the EtherChannels in a vPC—including the vPC peer link channel—each switch can
have up to 16 active links in a single EtherChannel.
Note You must enable the vPC feature before you can configure or run the vPC functionality.
To enable the vPC functionality, you must create a peer-keepalive link and a peer-link under the vPC domain
for the two vPC peer switches to provide the vPC functionality.
To create a vPC peer link you configure an EtherChannel on one Cisco Nexus device by using two or more
Ethernet ports. On the other switch, you configure another EtherChannel again using two or more Ethernet
ports. Connecting these two EtherChannels together creates a vPC peer link.
Information About vPCs, on page 57
Guidelines and Limitations for vPCs, on page 67
Verifying the vPC Configuration, on page 67
vPC Default Settings, on page 73
Configuring vPCs, on page 73
Cisco Nexus 3548 Switch NX-OS Interfaces Configuration Guide, Release 9x
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