connect c7000 to cisco-based LAN

[ali eman]

Hi,

I've been asked to look at configuring the network connection on an c7000 blade. We have 2 GBE switches in the rack, but at present only 1 of the ports (21) is connected to our external switch (cisco 2960).

I assume this is not ideal so I was wondering what the recommended setup is? Is teaming/aggregating recommended?

I'd be grateful for any feedback on this - please bear with me as I'm new to blades!

Cheers,
Al

[Nick Eoannidis_1]

Hi Ali

Yes you can create a LAG with the LACP standard. What are the virtual connect models you have installed on your c7000 chassis?

To create a redundant lag with virtual connect you will need at least 2 links on each model that you want to aggregate.

All the cisco administrator scenarios including IOS config are provided in the following document.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01386629/c01386629.pdf

[ali eman]

We don't unfortuately have any "virtual connect" modules on our blade. If you look at the attachment on my original post you ca see that we only have 2x HP GbE2c Layer 2/3 Ethernet Blade Switch. Does this mean that I need to buy virtual connect modules to setup aggregation?

Thanks for you help with this.
Al

[Adrian Clint]

ali,

asking what is the recommended setup with the information you have is like asking for the recommended speed to drive your car.

Without knowing what you have and what you are trying to do there is no way the question could be answered.
Forget that this is blades. Its exactly the same question for rackmount servers.

Are you teaming your two onboard NICs?
Do you really only have one 2960?
When you say one of the ports (21) is connected - is that on each Gbe switch or just one switch?

How much bandwidth are all your servers needing to the cisco? You need to provide this. Teaming/aggregating is recommended - if you need it.
It could be that you dont need more than 1Gb - in this case what you have is recommended.

[ali eman]

Thanks for coming back.

I've basically been asked to setup a fast and fault tolerant connection from the blade to the cisco switch infratstructure. We don't want there to be a bottleneck between the blade switch and the cisco switched network. At present all blade traffic is via 1 cat 5 cable (to a fast ethernet switch)which is obviously pretty far from ideal!

to give you some background there are 14 servers running on the blade (not all are live at the moment). Some are ESX boxes with multiple VMs.

In answer to adrians Q's:

Are you teaming your two onboard NICs?
- not at present

Do you really only have one 2960? there are many cisco switches.
- We've bought 2 new 2960G's with a view to using them to link to the blades.

When you say one of the ports (21) is connected - is that on each Gbe switch or just one switch?
- All traffic is just going through port 21 on the the GBE switch in bay1.

How much bandwidth are all your servers needing to the cisco? You need to provide this. Teaming/aggregating is recommended - if you need it.
- I haven't calculated a figure but 14 servers are going to need a fair bit of bandwdith. I'd like to aggregate 4 ports - 4GB.

I'm more than happy to provide more info if needed. This is the first time I've worked with blades and there is obviously a learning curve.

-Al

[Adrian Clint]

Ok,

In that case I guess its pretty simple.
You want to use 4x 1Gb cables from one Gbe to one Cisco and 4x 1Gb cables from the other Gbe to the other Cisco.

You then need to configure each bunch of 4 as a Cisco etherchannel/LACP/802.3ad or as the Bnt Gbe switches call it "Multi-link trunking"
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00457828/c00457828.pdf
http://www.bladeconnect.com is also helpful for configuring switches.