Procurve 2848 trunk lacp vlan gvrp

[Carlos M. Perez]

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice here, as I've got a bit of a situation here where things aren't working the way they should.  More than likely a config error somewhere on my part.  Rather than post too much of the config, which is rather repetitive, I figured I'd outline what we're trying to accomplish and get some guidance.

- I have 3 HP 2848's and need to configure trunk ports between them and between servers connected to them.

- I'm going to use 4 ports to interconnect each of the switches (using a total 8) so that we have a complete "ring". 

- SW1 is the main switch which has the cross connects from our colo. 

- SW2,SW3 will have the interconnects from each server.  Each server will have 4 ports (lacp from OS side) and will have 2 ports to each of two switches.

- We have many vlans that we need to get working between these.

Existing Overview of connections:

- SW1 has ports 5-8 to SW2, ports 9-11 to SW3

- SW2 has ports 5-8 to SW1, ports 9-11 to SW3

- SW3 has ports 5-8 to SW1, ports 9-11 to SW2

- Server 1 has 13,14 on SW2, 13,14 on SW3

- Server 2 has 15,16 on SW2, 15,16 on SW3

Config overview

- I've attempted to use GVRP, but seems it only gets in the way when attempting to tag/untag vlans (ports and dyn).  I attempted to use the "unknown-vlans Block" on each of the ports on the main switch (SW1), and "learn" on the same ports on the other switches.  I'm not seeing the vlans automatically created on the other switches, so I think I'm going to give up on GVRP in general.  I don't mind having to create the same vlans on each of the switches, but if I can save the time of having to create on each switch, and then add to the trunks/ports on each switch, even better.

- vlans - before attempting to use lacp/trunk ports they are all working correctly, I can tag/untag at will, etc.  With the Dyn1 style trunks that are automatically created, seems it takes some "work" to get get the vlans the way they should be.  Sometimes I find that I need to get them out of "auto" mode (caused by gvrp) and then have to change them a few times before it sticks in the GUI.  probably need to do more of this in the CLI.  

- Switch "trunks" - Based on a few posts/articles I've seen/read, I should be using static "trunks" for the switch interconnects.  That would mean using the following on all switches "trunk 5-8 trk1 trunk" and "trunk 9-11 trk2 trunk".  Now, should I use lacp or trunk as the last parameter?  

- Server connections - I'm tempted to run "interface 12-48 lacp active" on all other ports on all switches, so that as servers are brought online, we get the fault tolerance we're looking for.  This should allow us to get the dynamic trunks, but at the same time, I prefer to have the static trunks so we can name these and keep track of it.  I don't want a disconnection of a server to cause all the trunks to renumber themselves.

Questions - 

Am I on the right path here?

For the dynamic trunks, how can we make sure that all vlans are always tagged on these?  Is this where gvrp comes into play?

Thanks in advance,

Carlos.

[Richard Litchfield]

You probably need a diagram to make sure we see the same thing.

Those 2848 switches have no concept of stacking, so you can't really connect a server to 2 switches at the same time unless the server has some NIC teaming mechanism for using 1 switch and then the other if the link fails.

There is also the small problem of a loop. At the very least you will need spanning tree to block one part of the loop so it becomes a chain.

You may want to talk to your local HP sales about getting some upgraded switches - maybe some 2920 or 3800s that can stack, or maybe more simply a 5400zl chassis.