HP virtual connect Ethernet Module with HSRP

[Noobie]

Hi All,



I am facing a issue in using virtual connect (VC) with HSRP.



The setup is as below.



Router1 Router2

| |

| (Link 1) | (Link2

| |

VC1 ----------- VC2

| |

| ----- Blade1 ----------|

NIC1



Router1 is running HSRP with Router2, Link1 is connected from Router1 to VC1 and Link2 is connected from Router2 to VC2. Both the VCs are in the same enclosure and are connected via a internal chasis backplane. Currently, the link on the VC1 is showing active and the link on VC2 is showing standby. This is causing a problem as Router2 is not able to receive hello packets from Router1 which results in the HSRP not working properly.



Does anyone have similar setup, and is there any workaround to let Link2 become active so that Router2 can receive the hello packet from Router1 which will allow the HSRP to work properly?



Happy New Year in advance!

Regards,

[Noobie]

Redraw out the diagram

Router1 Router2

| |

| (Link 1) | (Link2)

| |

VC1 ----------- VC2

| |

| ----- Blade1 ------|

NIC1

[Adrian Clint · Accepted solution]

With VC you cannot have one NIC going out of two VCs to two different Switches (or a switch stack) and have both uplinks active.

You either have to have two NICs in two different VC networks (two separate paths)
or
One NIC with two uplinks out of the same VC module to a switch stack.

VC cannot have an active/active connection over two VC interconnects.

[Noobie]

Hi Adrian,

Thanks for the information. Is this stated anywhere in the HP documents?

[Noobie]

Hi Adrian,

One more query, are we able to have active/active over one VC instead since we cannot have it over two VCs?

[The Brit]

Try this.

Redraw out the diagram

R1 R2
| |
| \ / |
| \ / |
| \ / |
| / |
| / \ |
(L1)(L2) (L3)(L4)
| / \ |
VC1 VC2
| |
NIC1 NIC2
|-- Blade1--|

Note:, In general, the connection of NIC1 to VC1, and NIC2 to VC2, exists by default.

If you are using uplink sets, then create two on each VC Module and then point one uplink set to R1, and the other to R2.

Dave.

[Noobie]

Hi Dave,

Unfortunately, there is only 1 available port in each of the router right now. And also this does not allow the HSRP hello packet from Router1 to transverse to Router2, to let Router2 remain in standby state.

But may I check with you, with Uplink sets, does it create a active-active scenario, or is it still active within uplink set 1 and passive within uplink set 2?

[The Brit]

Hi Noobie,

All Uplink sets on the same VC module will be "active". So in the diagram that I gave above, L1 and L2 would be active, and L3 and L4 would be standby.

If VC1 was to fail, then L3 and L4 would become active.

I am not a network guy, so I am not intimately familiar with the requirements of HSRP, however as you have it set up right now (and as you have discovered), R1 will never be able to talk to R2 since only one of the links is active.

You clearly need a link to both R1 and R2 from the same VC module, since this is the only way they can both be active at the same time. You must have a port available on both routers which can be connected to the active VC module.

And if you want redundency, you really need to find second ports on both R1 and R2 and connect them to the other VC module.

Dave.