Port-channel configuration for VMWare

May 5th, 2008

I received some e-mails from people asking for configuration examples for Cisco switch in conjunction with VMWare servers. That is why I post the configuration (I normally use) beneath. This configuration enables a 802.1Q trunk connection between the switch and the VMWare server. This configuration requires the VMWare server to use VLAN tagging. The Port-channel consist two physical GigabitEthernet interfaces.

Configuration Example:

port-channel load-balancing src-dst-ip
!
interface Port-channel1
description 802.1Q to VMWare
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport nonegotiate
switchport mode trunk
spanning-tree portfast trunk
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/1
description Member Po1
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport nonegotiate
switchport mode trunk
no cdp enable
channel-group 1 mode on
spanning-tree portfast trunk
!
interface GigabitEthernet2/0/1
description Member Po1
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport nonegotiate
switchport mode trunk
no cdp enable
channel-group 1 mode on
spanning-tree portfast trunk

CDP is the Cisco propriatery Cisco Discovery Protocol. CDP can be usefull when trying to discover attached network components. VMWare supports CDP, so it could be enabled on the interfaces. The usage of CDP can help to see which switch port connects who which NIC on the ESX server.

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