This blog was originally started to better help me understand the technologies in the CCIE R&S blueprint; after completing the R&S track I have decided to transition the blog into a technology blog.
CCIE #29033
This blog will continue to include questions, troubleshooting scenarios, and references to existing and new technologies but will grow to include a variety of different platforms and technologies. Currently I have created over 185 questions/answers in regards to the CCIE R&S track!! Note: answers are in the comment field or within "Read More" section.
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VEM (Virtual Ethernet Module)
VSM (Virtual Supervisor Module)
Nexus 1000v supports the following
-2 VSMs (High Availability)
-64 VEMs
-512 Active VLANs
-2048 Ports (Eth + vEth)
-256 Port Channels
VEM supports the following
-216 Ports (vETH
-32 Physical NICs
-8 Port Channels
The Nexus 5000 can run in two modes
Fabric Mode - The Nexus 5000 switch module runs as a typical switch in a fibre channel network.
NPV (N-Port Virtualization) Mode - Does not operate as a typical FC switch. Operates like a NPIV enabled host within a fabric.
Nexus 5000 Feature that needs to be licensed.
FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) - is leveraged to further unify I/O. FCoE allows fibre channel to operate over ethernet by encapsulating Fibre Channel into ethernet.
FCoE Ports
Virutal N_Port (VN_Port) - Node ports which exist on hosts or storage arrays and connect to a FC fabric. Operates over Ethernet links.
Virtual F_Port (VF_Port) - Switch or director ports that connct to node ports. Operates over Ethernet links.
Virtual E_Port (VE_Port) - Expansion port that is used to inter-connect two FC switches together. When two swithes are connected they form an ISL (interswitch link) Operates over Ethernet links.
Virtual SPAN empowers a network administrator to SPAN more than 1 VLAN and enables the network administrator the ability to selectively chose which VLAN goes to what destination SPAN port. Example: A network administrator wants to SPAN a trunk port with VLAN 10, 20, and 30 but wants to send VLAN 10 to SPAN port ethernet 1/1, send VLAN 20 to SPAN port ethernet 1/2. and send VLAN 30 to SPAN port ethernet 1/3. Virtual SPAN enables that flexibility. This also helps reduce the number of SPAN sessions required.
Nexus 7000/5000 SPAN Sessions
SPAN Session Limit - 18
Nexus 1000V
SPAN Session Limit (SPAN and ERSPAN) - 64
Nexus 5000 SPAN Sessions
Can SPAN Ethernet,Fibre Channel,PortChannel,SAN PortChannel,VLAN,VSAN (Virtual Storage Area Network)
ISSU (In-Service Software Update) - Provides the ability to upgrade software without disrupting operations. The system performs the following steps to ensure a non disruptive upgrade:
- Active and Standby Supervisors and all line cards BIOS's are upgraded
- Standby Supervisor is upgraded and rebooted
- Once the Standby Supervisor comes online with the upgraded version of NX-OS a stateful switchover is performed. All control plane traffic is now running on the former Standby Supervisor which is now the Active Supervisor.
- The new Standby Supervisor (former Active Supervisor) is now upgraded.
- Upgrade is performed on the Line Cards on are a time and then reloaded. The reload is non disruptive and is only performed on the CPU, no data plane components are impacted.
- CMP (Connectivity Management Processor) on both Supervisors are upgraded.
Having redundant supervisors and a software architecture like NX-OS provides the ability to switchover to the redundant supervisor. Common reasons to fail-over include:
-ISSU (In Service Software Update)
-System Manager Initiated
-User Initiated
To manually switchover perform the following:
#system switchover
Nexus 1000V can be installed within VMware using two methods
-Manual Installation
-Nexus 1000V Installer
When using an ISO image use the following settings for the VM
VMType: Other 64-bit Linux
1 Processor
2GB RAM
3 NICs
Minimum 3GB SCSI Disk
LSILogic adapter
Reserve 2 GB RAM for the VM
Configure VM Network adapters and attach ISO, power on
You can use and OVA/OVF (Open Virtualization Appliance/Open Virtualization Format) file to perform the install
Note: There is a Nexus 1000V plug-in that needs to be registered into VMware Virtual Center
VEM Virtual Ethernet Module supports 3 port types
Virtual Nic - Three types of virtual NIC types are supported in VMware
- virutal NIC (vnic) - Physical port of an ESC host which is plugged into an switch. Assigned to a VM
- virtual kernal NIC(vmknic) - bound to a virtual ethernet port and used by the hypervisor for management, iSCSI, NFS, VMotion, and other network access that may be needed by the kernel.
- vswif - Service console network interface, virtual management port and mapped to veth within the Nexus 1000V switch. vswif0 is the first service console created.
Virtual Ethernet (vETH) port - this is where the virtual cable is plugged into from the VM, veth are assigned to port groups and represent a port on the Nexus 1000V Distributed Virtual Switch
Local Virtual Ethernet (lvEth) port - Dynamically selected for vEth ports needed on a host. Local vEths ports do not move and are addressable by module/port number.
VEM Physical Ethernet supports 3 port types
VMware NIC
Uplink port
Ethernet port
GOLD - Generic Online Diagnostics empowers support staff to become proactive instead of reactive. GOLD helps identify hardware failures before they happen. This is not new to Cisco products but powerful feature to have included in the Nexus platform. GOLD tests and verifies the functionality of components at various times which enables support staff to become proactive. Tests that are performed can be executed with no system impact running in the background and other tests need to be run in a controlled environment as they may be disruptive to production.
GOLD suite of diagnostics include
-Bootup Diagnostics
-Runtime Diagnostics
-On-Demand Diagnostics
