Procurve 2810-24g trunking/lacp setup for newbie

[Makje]

We have a few 2810-24g switches and a 2810-48g switch in our company and up until now they haven't really been configured except for a 4 x 1gbit "highway" between the 48 port and the 24 port switches.

This has been setup by a external contractor that for a number of reasons won't be coming in any more so now it falls to me to add a new 24 port switch in our network.

Problem is, i'm not great on networking and terms link static (and nonstatic?)trunk and active or passive lacp are quite confusing.

Worse yet, that switch is allready in use with a standard 1x 1gbit networkcable connected to the 48 port switch but performance is at times a bit slow so we want it to have the same 4x 1gbit uplink as the other switches but i can't really experiment on the switch either as it is in use...

If i understand correctly our 24 port switches have ports 21-24 in dynamic lacp and the 48 port switch has ports 37 - 48 in lacp because it connects to 3 switches.

For example 1 of the currently configured switches (called Achter) is now configured as:

ProCurve 2810-24G Achter# show lacp

                           LACP

   PORT   LACP      TRUNK     PORT      LACP      LACP
   NUMB   ENABLED   GROUP     STATUS    PARTNER   STATUS
   ----   -------   -------   -------   -------   -------
   45     Active    Dyn1      Up        Yes       Success
   46     Active    Dyn1      Up        Yes       Success
   47     Active    Dyn1      Up        Yes       Success
   48     Active    Dyn1      Up        Yes       Success

ProCurve 2810-24G Achter# show trunks

 Load Balancing

  Port | Name                             Type      | Group Type
  ---- + -------------------------------- --------- + ----- -----
  45   | LACP Trunk                       100/1000T | Dyn1  LACP
  46   | LACP Trunk                       100/1000T | Dyn1  LACP
  47   | LACP Trunk                       100/1000T | Dyn1  LACP
  48   | LACP Trunk                       100/1000T | Dyn1  LACP

and on the 48 port switch (called Boven):

Procurve 2810-48g Boven# show lacp

                           LACP

   PORT   LACP      TRUNK     PORT      LACP      LACP
   NUMB   ENABLED   GROUP     STATUS    PARTNER   STATUS
   ----   -------   -------   -------   -------   -------
   37     Passive   Dyn3      Up        Yes       Success
   38     Passive   Dyn3      Up        Yes       Success
   39     Passive   Dyn3      Up        Yes       Success
   40     Passive   Dyn3      Up        Yes       Success
   41     Passive   Dyn2      Up        Yes       Success
   42     Passive   Dyn2      Up        Yes       Success
   43     Passive   Dyn2      Up        Yes       Success
   44     Passive   Dyn2      Up        Yes       Success
   45     Active    Dyn1      Up        Yes       Success
   46     Active    Dyn1      Up        Yes       Success
   47     Active    Dyn1      Up        Yes       Success
   48     Active    Dyn1      Up        Yes       Success

Procurve 2810-48g Boven# show trunks

 Load Balancing

  Port | Name                             Type      | Group Type
  ---- + -------------------------------- --------- + ----- -----
  37   | LACP Trunk TD                    100/1000T | Dyn3  LACP
  38   | LACP Trunk TD                    100/1000T | Dyn3  LACP
  39   | LACP Trunk TD                    100/1000T | Dyn3  LACP
  40   | LACP Trunk TD                    100/1000T | Dyn3  LACP
  41   | LACP Trunk achter                100/1000T | Dyn2  LACP
  42   | LACP Trunk achter                100/1000T | Dyn2  LACP
  43   | LACP Trunk achter                100/1000T | Dyn2  LACP
  44   | LACP Trunk achter                100/1000T | Dyn2  LACP
  45   | LACP Trunk voor                  100/1000T | Dyn1  LACP
  46   | LACP Trunk voor                  100/1000T | Dyn1  LACP
  47   | LACP Trunk voor                  100/1000T | Dyn1  LACP
  48   | LACP Trunk voor                  100/1000T | Dyn1  LACP

Om i correct to think that all is done here is a: interface 21-24 lacp active and no specific trunk is made??

Because when is do interface 21-24 lacp active on the new switch (called Stock) then i get:

Procurve 2810-24g Stock# show lacp

                           LACP

   PORT   LACP      TRUNK     PORT      LACP      LACP
   NUMB   ENABLED   GROUP     STATUS    PARTNER   STATUS
   ----   -------   -------   -------   -------   -------
   21     Active    21        Down      No        Success
   22     Active    22        Down      No        Success
   23     Active    23        Down      No        Success
   24     Active    24        Down      No        Success

Now if i also do a interface 33-36 lacp active on the 48 port switch Boven and then connect the 4 networkcables between the 2 switches then the trunk is automatically made and this setup is the same as the already configured switches, right?

[paulgear]

If networking is not your A-game, you've done pretty well to work all that out so far.  Here are some brief (non-official) definitions of the terms you were asking about:

• static vs. dynamic - ProCurves support two kinds of trunks: dynamic (LACP) and static (HP proprietary).  In LACP, the two devices on each end of the link negotiate the parameters of their connection, whereas HP trunking is fixed. The former is standards-compliant and therefore is what most people use.
• passive vs.active - This applies only to LACP trunks, and it's just a way of deciding which end starts off the negotiation.  Normally one end is set to active and the other end is set to passive.

The command to set up the trunk is called (unsurprisingly) "trunk" - search for all commands starting with that word in your "show run" output, and you should find them.  They're all set up as LACP at the moment, so you should make your new trunk the same.  I don't remember from my study whether a trunk will be added automatically if you have LACP set up (other forum members may be able to comment on this with more authority), but you should explicitly create it in the switch config anyway, for clarity.

I don't think you'll be able to implement this without a small downtime window.  There are two ways you could do it:

1. Leave the current link active, add a new trunk with 3 members, and then move the current port into the trunk.
2. Change the current link into a trunk, then add the 3 other members to the trunk.

In the first instance, you'll have an outage due to spanning tree reconvergence (and if you haven't set up your switch priorities explicitly, it might converge in an unexpected manner).  In the second, you'll have an outage due to the trunk negotiation.  I would probably opt for #2 as it is simpler and doesn't require you to have knowledge of spanning tree (although if you're responsible for these switches now, you should start learning about it).

Good luck!  :-)

[Makje]

thanks paulgear for your reaction.

When i do a show run on the allready configured switch (called Achter) i get:

-------------------------------------------------

ProCurve 2810-48G Achter# show run

Running configuration:

; J9022A Configuration Editor; Created on release #N.11.15

hostname "ProCurve 2810-48G Achter"
snmp-server contact "our company name"
time timezone 1
interface 45
   name "LACP Trunk"
   lacp Active
exit
interface 46
   name "LACP Trunk"
   lacp Active
exit
interface 47
   name "LACP Trunk"
   lacp Active
exit
interface 48
   name "LACP Trunk"
   lacp Active
exit

snmp-server community "public" Unrestricted
vlan 1
   name "DEFAULT_VLAN"
   untagged 1-48
   ip address 192.168.10.7 255.255.255.0
   exit
spanning-tree
password manager
-------------------------------------------------

Are you sure i need to make a trunk? i don't see it on the allready configured switch

If i do a trunk 21-24 trk1 (it seems it must have a name like trknumber) on the new switch and then do show run i get:

-------------------------------------------------

Procurve 2810-24g Stock(config)# show run

Running configuration:

; J9021A Configuration Editor; Created on release #N.11.06

hostname "Procurve 2810-24g Stock"
snmp-server contact "our company name"
interface 21
   name "LACP Trunk"
exit
interface 22
   name "LACP Trunk"
exit
interface 23
   name "LACP Trunk"
exit
interface 24
   name "LACP Trunk"
exit
trunk 21-24 Trk1 Trunk
snmp-server community "public" Unrestricted
vlan 1
   name "DEFAULT_VLAN"
   untagged 1-20,Trk1
   ip address 192.168.10.6 255.255.255.0
   exit
fault-finder bad-driver sensitivity high
fault-finder bad-transceiver sensitivity high
fault-finder bad-cable sensitivity high
fault-finder too-long-cable sensitivity high
fault-finder over-bandwidth sensitivity high
fault-finder broadcast-storm sensitivity high
fault-finder loss-of-link sensitivity high
fault-finder duplex-mismatch-HDx sensitivity high
fault-finder duplex-mismatch-FDx sensitivity high
spanning-tree
spanning-tree Trk1 priority 4
password manager
-------------------------------------------------

whereas a interface 21-24 lacp active on the new switch gives:

-------------------------------------------------

Procurve 2810-24g Stock(config)# show run

Running configuration:

; J9021A Configuration Editor; Created on release #N.11.06

hostname "Procurve 2810-24g Stock"
snmp-server contact "Intra-IT Automatisering"
interface 21
   name "LACP Trunk"
   lacp Active
exit
interface 22
   name "LACP Trunk"
   lacp Active
exit
interface 23
   name "LACP Trunk"
   lacp Active
exit
interface 24
   name "LACP Trunk"
   lacp Active
exit
snmp-server community "public" Unrestricted
vlan 1
   name "DEFAULT_VLAN"
   untagged 1-24
   ip address 192.168.10.6 255.255.255.0
   exit
fault-finder bad-driver sensitivity high
fault-finder bad-transceiver sensitivity high
fault-finder bad-cable sensitivity high
fault-finder too-long-cable sensitivity high
fault-finder over-bandwidth sensitivity high
fault-finder broadcast-storm sensitivity high
fault-finder loss-of-link sensitivity high
fault-finder duplex-mismatch-HDx sensitivity high
fault-finder duplex-mismatch-FDx sensitivity high
spanning-tree
password manager

-------------------------------------------------

It seems to me that the interface 21-24 lacp active looks a lot more like the allready configured switch?

But show trunks and show lacp differ from both switches as the allready configured switch has the 4 ports in a trunkgroup called Dyn1 whereas my new switch lists these ports as in their own individual trunkgroup called "their specific port number".

So i THINK i have configured the switch correct as show run is the same, but i will only see the actual same config (show trunks and show lacp) when i connect the 4 cables between both switches ?

(my collegue is dragging his feet about laying 4 new networkcables so i still can't connect them... shakes fist at collegue :P)

[paulgear]

Hi Makje,

I'm a bit confused as to which 'show run' relates to which 'show trunk' and 'show lacp', but it looks like "Achter" has auto-created the trunk based on the LACP negotiation with the other end.  Your initial configuration on "Stock" specified a different type of trunk: a static, HP-based trunk rather than an LACP trunk.

I think now that you've changed it to look like the other switch, it will be fine once you've got the cabling in place.  (It's to be expected that the output will look different if you've got no cables connected.)  If you don't get the results you want, come back with the output of 'show run', 'show trunk', and 'show lacp' on the working and non-working switch, and i'm sure we'll be able to figure it out.

[Makje]

Hi paulgear,

I'll wait and see what plugging the 4 networkcables in will do and then check back.

Thanks for your help so far!

[Makje]

finally got around to plugging in the cables yesterday and things worked at once.

So to recap: to make a lacp on ports 21 - 24 you need to do on the cli: interface 21-24 lacp active

You do this on ports that aren't connected yet, or you should disable these ports first.

Offcourse you do the same on the other switch, though those ports can be passive instead of active (don't know what the advantage of passive would be though)

Then if you do a "show lacp" on the cli these lacp settings won't yet show as there is not a lacp trunk yet.

Only way i know of to check if lacp has been set on the ports when it is not yet active is to look in the webinterface on diagnostics --> configuration report

when you connect the cables (or enable the ports) it sets up the trunk itself:

Procurve 2810-24g Stock# show lacp

                           LACP

   PORT   LACP      TRUNK     PORT      LACP      LACP
   NUMB   ENABLED   GROUP     STATUS    PARTNER   STATUS
   ----   -------   -------   -------   -------   -------
   21     Active    Dyn1      Up        Yes       Success
   22     Active    Dyn1      Up        Yes       Success
   23     Active    Dyn1      Up        Yes       Success
   24     Active    Dyn1      Up        Yes       Success


Procurve 2810-24g Stock# show trunks

 Load Balancing

  Port | Name                             Type      | Group Type
  ---- + -------------------------------- --------- + ----- -----
  21   | LACP Trunk                       100/1000T | Dyn1  LACP
  22   | LACP Trunk                       100/1000T | Dyn1  LACP
  23   | LACP Trunk                       100/1000T | Dyn1  LACP
  24   | LACP Trunk                       100/1000T | Dyn1  LACP

[paulgear]

Thanks for documenting your results!

By way of explanation: there's no advantage of using passive mode on one end of the LACP link; it works if both ends are active and it works if one is active and one is passive, so the rule is: when in doubt, use active.

[Steve_NetAdmin]

Will his setup with dynamic LACP allow for tagged VLan's to cross unscathed? 

[paulgear]

Hi Steve,

LACP trunks work just like a normal port when it comes to tagged VLANs. They show up as a trkX interface, and you can just use normal VLAN tagging, e.g.:

vlan 200
untagged 1,5
tagged trk3
...
vlan 300
untagged 2,6
tagged trk3
...

[Todd Simons]

Hello

I have (2) HP Procurve 2910al switches.   I have (1) Dell PowerEdge 1950 with dual broadcom nics.

What is the best setup to have a single IP balanced across one connection to each switch?  I don't need bandwidth, I need failover:

LOM1:   hp2910-1

LOM2:   hp2910-2

Options that may apply in the Broadcom BACS suite:

-Smart Load Balacing and failover

-Generid Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3ad-Draft Static

-NO: Link Aggregation (802.3ad)  [This is LACP, which we use when going to one hp chassis)

-SLB (Auto-Failback Disabked)

-<not configured>

Thanks all!