Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Deployment Manual
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Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Deployment Manual

Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Deployment Manual

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Deployment Guide
Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switches Deployment Guide
© 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Summary of Contents for Cisco Nexus 1000V Series

  • Page 1 Deployment Guide Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switches Deployment Guide © 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 1 of 25...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Two-NIC Design Examples............................20 Four-NIC Design Examples ............................21 Single-PortChannel Alternative ........................... 22 Six-NIC Design Examples ............................23 For More Information ................................ 24 © 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 2 of 25...

  • Page 3: Overview

    Cisco Nexus 1000V Series manages a data center as defined in VMware vCenter Server. Each server in the data center is represented as a line card in the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series and can be managed as if it were a line card in a physical Cisco switch.

  • Page 4: Network Policy

    Network Policy A unique aspect of the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series is the way network policy is defined and deployed. Today, a network administrator would typically configure each interface on a switch one at a time. For Cisco switches, this typically means entering configuration mode and applying a series of switch commands that define the interface configuration.
  • Page 5 The virtual and physical NICs are all tied together by virtual switches. VMware provides two types of virtual switches. The standard vSwitch is individually created for each host. VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDSs) provides a consistent virtual switch across a set of physical hosts. The Cisco Nexus 1000V Series is implemented as a type of vDS.

  • Page 6: System Overview

    Virtual Chassis The Cisco Nexus 1000V Series uses a virtual chassis model to represent a pair of VSMs and their associated VEMs. Like any Cisco chassis base platform, the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series virtual chassis has slots and modules, or line cards, associated with it.

  • Page 7: Policy Mobility

    When a new virtual machine is provisioned, the server administrator selects the appropriate port profile. The Cisco Nexus 1000V Series creates a new switch port based on the policies defined by the port profile. The server administrator can reuse the port profile to provision similar virtual machines as needed.

  • Page 8: Cisco Nx-Os Software

    Cisco NX-OS makes zero-impact operations a reality and enables exceptional operational flexibility. Focused on the requirements of the data center, Cisco NX-OS provides a robust and rich feature set that fulfills the Ethernet and storage networking requirements of present and future data centers. With a CLI like that of ®...

  • Page 9: Control Interface

    Management Interface The management interface is the interface that appears as the mgmt0 port on a Cisco switch. As with the management interfaces of other Cisco switches, an IP address is assigned to mgmt0. Although the management interface is not used to exchange data between the VSM and VEM, it is used to establish and maintain the connection between the VSM and VMware vCenter Server.

  • Page 10: Packet Interface

    The packet interface is a Layer 2 interface that is used to carry network packets that need to be coordinated across the entire Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switch. This interface is used for only two type of control traffic: Cisco Discovery Protocol and Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) control packets.

  • Page 11: Opaque Data

    Downloading the XML Extension File Opaque Data Opaque data is a collection of Cisco Nexus 1000V Series configuration parameters that is maintained by the VSM and propagated to VMware vCenter Server when the link between the two is established. The opaque data contains configuration details that each VEM needs to establish connectivity to the VSM during VEM installation.

  • Page 12: Switch Port Interfaces

    Cisco interface notation (EthX/Y) using the Cisco NX-OS naming convention “Eth” rather than a speed such as “Gig” or “Fast,” as is the custom with Cisco IOS Software. These Eth interfaces are module specific and are designed to be fairly static within the environment.

  • Page 13: Mac Address Learning

    Every ingress packet on a physical Ethernet interface is inspected to help ensure that the destination MAC address is internal to the VEM. If the destination MAC address is external, the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series will drop the packet preventing a loop back to the physical network.

  • Page 14: Domain Id

    1000V Series implements a solution called domain IDs. A domain ID is a parameter of the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series that is used to identify a VSM and VEM as relating to one another. The domain ID of the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series is defined when the VSM is first installed and becomes part of the opaque data that is transmitted to VMware vCenter Server.

  • Page 15: Live Policy Changes

    NICs within an VMware ESX server. Uplink port profiles are applied to a physical NIC when a VMware ESX host is first added to the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series. The server administrator is presented with a dialog box in which the administrator can select the physical NICs to be associated with the VEM and the particular uplink port profiles to be associated with the physical NICs.

  • Page 16: Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Network Design

    Multiple design considerations must be addressed when deploying the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series. At a basic level, the design principles used when connecting the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series to a physical access layer are similar to those used when connecting two physical switches together. Some design considerations are specific to the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series.

  • Page 17: Vlan Consistency

    Multiple VEMs require a physical Ethernet switch for inter-VEM connectivity. Each VEM needs consistent connectivity to all VLANs that are defined on the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series. Thus, any VLAN that is defined on the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series must also be defined on all upstream switches connected to each VEM.

  • Page 18: Portchannels

    NIC. Another possible scenario is a host connected to a secondary network that does not require high availability, such as a single NIC connected to a dedicated backup network. Given the requirements of most data center networks, however, standard uplinks should rarely, if ever, be used in a Cisco Nexus 1000V Series design. PortChannels The Cisco Nexus 1000V Series implements a PortChannel mechanism that supports two modes;...

  • Page 19: Flow-Based Hashing

    Spanning Tree Protocol needs to converge. This process is unnecessary for ports connected to the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series. By using the PortFast feature on a switch port, a Cisco switch can suppress the progression of Spanning Tree Protocol states and move straight to a forwarding state.

  • Page 20: Adjacency

    Latency The control protocol used by the VSM to communicate with the VEMs is similar to those used in Cisco module chassis such as the Cisco MDS 9000 Family and the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series chassis. This protocol was designed to operate in a tightly controlled, lossless, low-latency Layer 2 network with no possibility of network contention (for example, the EoBC in a Cisco chassis).

  • Page 21: Four-Nic Design Examples

    Each vPC-HM subgroup consists of a single link. There is no need to run EtherChannel on the access switches. © 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 21 of 25...

  • Page 22: Single-Portchannel Alternative

    If flow-based hashing is used, each upstream switch will need be configured with an EtherChannel (as shown). If source-based hashing is used, the upstream switches are not required to run EtherChannel. © 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 22 of 25...

  • Page 23: Six-Nic Design Examples

    HM and consists of the two NICs dedicated for VMware VMotion as well as the service console and control and packet VLANs. © 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 23 of 25...

  • Page 24: For More Information

    EtherChannel on its respective access switch would contain an uneven number of links to hash between, which can lead to suboptimal load distribution. For More Information For more information about the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series, please refer to the following URLs: Cisco Nexus 1000V Product Information: http://www.cisco.com/go/1000v ●...
  • Page 25 Deployment Guide Printed in USA C07-556626-00 08/09 © 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 25 of 25...

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