Configure VLT and DCB across two Dell MXL 10/40GbE chassis switches
Home > Switch configuration notes > Configure VLT and DCB across two Dell MXL 10/40GbE chassis switches
Quite similar to Configure VPC between two Cisco Nexus switches, VLT can be configured across two Dell MXL 10/40GbE chassis swiches. Further since these switches support converged network adapter or FCoE, Data Center Bridging (DCB) can be configured to use 10gbps port as 2gbps network + 8gbps storage.
The configuration is explained with example for two switches A1 and A2.
Example configuration
Example configuration for A1 switch
VLT across two MXL-10/40GbE switches:
A1 - Configure hostname, required features, management IP and accounts
hostname MXL_A1_SW ! feature fc ! protocol lldp ! redundancy auto-synchronize full ! username admin password 7 <redacted> privilege 15 username root password 7 <redacted> privilege 15 role sysadmin ! protocol spanning-tree pvst no disable vlan 10,20,30 bridge-priority 61440 ! interface ManagementEthernet 0/0 ip address 10.0.0.1/24 no shutdown ! management route 0.0.0.0/0 10.0.0.3
A1 - VLT domain configuration
Create vlt domain for integrating both switches with vlt including heartbeat via management port as backup:
vlt domain 1 peer-link port-channel 100 back-up destination 10.0.0.2 primary-priority 1 delay-restore 5 ! stack-unit 0 provision MXL-10/40GbE ! interface fortyGigE 0/33 no ip address mtu 12000 no shutdown ! interface fortyGigE 0/37 no ip address mtu 12000 no shutdown ! interface Port-channel 100 description ### VLTi Peer link Port Channel connectivity ### no ip address channel-member fortyGigE 0/33,37 no shutdown !
A1 - Configure Fcoe-map and DCB-map
Configure VLAN for FCoE traffic, fcoe-map and dcb-map. DCB map is configured for 2gbps network, 8gbps fc traffic per port.
interface Vlan 1002 description FCOE_VLAN_FOR_A1 no ip address no shutdown ! fcoe-map SAN_FABRIC_A1 fc-map 0efc02 fabric-id 1002 vlan 1002 ! dcb-map FLEXIO_DCB_MAP_PFC_OFF no pfc mode on ! dcb-map SAN_DCB_MAP priority-group 0 bandwidth 20 pfc off priority-group 1 bandwidth 80 pfc on priority-pgid 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 !
A1 - Configure host or blade internal interfaces
Configure interface to use entire 10G for network
interface TenGigabitEthernet 0/1 description ### Connected Blade Server 1 NIC 1 ### no ip address portmode hybrid switchport spanning-tree pvst edge-port no shutdown !
Configure interface to use 2gbps for management network and 8gbps for SAN traffic:
interface TenGigabitEthernet 0/17 description ### Connected Blade Server 1 NIC 3 ### no ip address mtu 12000 portmode hybrid switchport spanning-tree pvst edge-port fcoe-map SAN_FABRIC_A1 dcb-map SAN_DCB_MAP no shutdown !
A1 - Configure external uplink interfaces
Configure LACP of uplink 10G ports for uplink using port-channel1:
interface Port-channel 1 description ### Uplink-to - core Switch ### no ip address portmode hybrid switchport vlt-peer-lag port-channel 1 channel-member te 0/41 - 42 no shutdown ! interface TenGigabitEthernet 0/41 no ip address ! port-channel-protocol LACP port-channel 1 mode active no shutdown ! interface TenGigabitEthernet 0/42 no ip address ! port-channel-protocol LACP port-channel 1 mode active no shutdown !
A1 - Configure external FC ports
Configure required fiber-channel ports for SAN while leaving other ports disabled:
interface FibreChannel 0/49 fabric SAN_FABRIC_A1 no shutdown ! interface FibreChannel 0/50 fabric SAN_FABRIC_A1 no shutdown ! interface FibreChannel 0/51 shutdown ! interface FibreChannel 0/52 shutdown !
A1 - Configure VLANs and port-to-VLAN mapping
Configure untagged and tagged VLANs per port. VLAN 1 should be on vlt-peer link port-channel 1. All VLANs (Eg 1,10,20,30) should be part of Uplink port-channel 100.
interface Vlan 1 no ip address !untagged TenGigabitEthernet 0/1-32 !untagged Port-channel 1,100 no shutdown ! interface Vlan 10 no ip address tagged TenGigabitEthernet 0/1-8 tagged Port-channel 1 no shutdown ! interface Vlan 20 no ip address tagged TenGigabitEthernet 0/1-8 tagged Port-channel 1 no shutdown ! interface Vlan 30 no ip address tagged TenGigabitEthernet 0/1-8 tagged Port-channel 1 no shutdown !
A1 - Configure console password
Set console password and disable timeout, if required:
line console 0 password 7 888dc89d1f1bca2882895c1658f993e7 exec-timeout 0 0
Example configuration for A2 switch
VLT across two MXL-10/40GbE switches:
A2 - Configure hostname, required features, management IP and accounts
hostname MXL_A2_SW ! feature fc ! protocol lldp ! redundancy auto-synchronize full ! username admin password 7 <redacted> privilege 15 username root password 7 <redacted> privilege 15 role sysadmin ! protocol spanning-tree pvst no disable vlan 10,20,30 bridge-priority 61440 ! interface ManagementEthernet 0/0 ip address 10.0.0.2/24 no shutdown ! management route 0.0.0.0/0 10.0.0.3
A2 - VLT domain configuration
Create vlt domain for integrating both switches with vlt including heartbeat via management port as backup:
vlt domain 1 peer-link port-channel 100 back-up destination 10.0.0.1 primary-priority 1 delay-restore 5 ! stack-unit 0 provision MXL-10/40GbE ! interface fortyGigE 0/33 no ip address mtu 12000 no shutdown ! interface fortyGigE 0/37 no ip address mtu 12000 no shutdown ! interface Port-channel 100 description ### VLTi Peer link Port Channel connectivity ### no ip address channel-member fortyGigE 0/33,37 no shutdown !
A2 - Configure Fcoe-map and DCB-map
Configure VLAN for FCoE traffic, fcoe-map and dcb-map. DCB map is configured for 2gbps network, 8gbps fc traffic per port.
interface Vlan 1003 description FCOE_VLAN_FOR_A2 no ip address no shutdown ! fcoe-map SAN_FABRIC_A2 fc-map 0efc03 fabric-id 1003 vlan 1003 ! dcb-map FLEXIO_DCB_MAP_PFC_OFF no pfc mode on ! dcb-map SAN_DCB_MAP priority-group 0 bandwidth 20 pfc off priority-group 1 bandwidth 80 pfc on priority-pgid 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 !
A2 - Configure host or blade internal interfaces
Configure interface to use entire 10G for network
interface TenGigabitEthernet 0/1 description ### Connected Blade Server 1 NIC 2 ### no ip address portmode hybrid switchport spanning-tree pvst edge-port no shutdown !
Configure interface to use 2gbps for management network and 8gbps for SAN traffic:
interface TenGigabitEthernet 0/17 description ### Connected Blade Server 1 NIC 4 ### no ip address mtu 12000 portmode hybrid switchport spanning-tree pvst edge-port fcoe-map SAN_FABRIC_A2 dcb-map SAN_DCB_MAP no shutdown !
A2 - Configure external uplink interfaces
Configure LACP of uplink 10G ports for uplink using port-channel1:
interface Port-channel 1 description ### Uplink-to - core Switch ### no ip address portmode hybrid switchport vlt-peer-lag port-channel 1 channel-member te 0/41 - 42 no shutdown ! interface TenGigabitEthernet 0/41 no ip address ! port-channel-protocol LACP port-channel 1 mode active no shutdown ! interface TenGigabitEthernet 0/42 no ip address ! port-channel-protocol LACP port-channel 1 mode active no shutdown !
A2 - Configure external FC ports
Configure required fiber-channel ports for SAN while leaving other ports disabled:
interface FibreChannel 0/49 fabric SAN_FABRIC_A2 no shutdown ! interface FibreChannel 0/50 fabric SAN_FABRIC_A2 no shutdown ! interface FibreChannel 0/51 shutdown ! interface FibreChannel 0/52 shutdown !
A2 - Configure VLANs and port-to-VLAN mapping
Configure untagged and tagged VLANs per port. VLAN 1 should be on vlt-peer link port-channel 1. All VLANs (Eg 1,10,20,30) should be part of Uplink port-channel 100.
interface Vlan 1 no ip address !untagged TenGigabitEthernet 0/1-32 !untagged Port-channel 1,100 no shutdown ! interface Vlan 10 no ip address tagged TenGigabitEthernet 0/1-8 tagged Port-channel 1 no shutdown ! interface Vlan 20 no ip address tagged TenGigabitEthernet 0/1-8 tagged Port-channel 1 no shutdown ! interface Vlan 30 no ip address tagged TenGigabitEthernet 0/1-8 tagged Port-channel 1 no shutdown !
A2 - Configure console password
Set console password and disable timeout, if required:
line console 0 password 7 888dc89d1f1bca2882895c1658f993e7 exec-timeout 0 0
Other useful commands
Other useful commands related to VLT:
show vlt brief show vlt detail show vlt role show running-config vlt show vlt statistics show vlt backup-link
Other useful command related to FCoE operation:
show npiv devices show fcoe-map show fc switch
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