Virtual Connect and F5 BigIP

[Jason Loznak]

Apparently F5 states that their BigIP will not support HP NIC teaming. Any NIC teaming for that matter.

Given that (and the validation that it will not work properly) I have a question.

Will the HP VC module support an LACP trunk internal to the enclosure between the server and the VC module?

If so how would one configure this?

Alternatively if anyone has any experience with the C-Class enclosure and the BigIP I'd be very interested to hear what was encountered.

Thank you.

[HEM_2]

The VC module does not currently support forming an LACP trunk downstream to server ports. I tested it this morning with VC FW 1.16.

Not sure why BigIP will not support NIC Teaming. For the most part, NIC Teaming is transparent to other hosts/devices on the network. The only teaming mode that might cause problems is TLB, Transmit Load Balancing because it uses 2 or more different source MAC addresses for the same team IP address. TLB has caused confusion/access violations to other network devices before.

I haven't had any experience implementing c-Class with BigIP but the functionality should be the same as using BigIP with Proliant ML or DL Servers.

[Jason Loznak]

I was suprised to hear myself. When the call was made to F5 support I was directed to the following web link.

https://tech.f5.com/home/solutions/sol3009.html

Additionally with teaming enabled we experience erratic behavior in regards to what the server can reach on the network. It made no difference which mode of teaming was utilized.

As soon as NIC teaming is disabled connectivity and accessibility are both rock solid.