Dell SmartFabric OS10 User Guide Release 10.5.3

VxRail deployment with port channel

VxRail node bring up occurs in the following sequence:

• After ESXi host initialization, a VSS with a management port group is created. After this port-group is created, communication with vCenter is establishes.
  • Through vCenter, a VDS is created in the host.
  • All the uplinks and port-groups from VSS move to VDS. This operation is called VSS - to - VDS migration.

Perform the following steps to migrate VSS to VDS:

1. Create VDS and duplicate the port groups present in VSS to VDS.
2. Add hosts to VDS. ESXi hosts are added to VDS.
3. Assign redundant VMNICS to VDS. If there are two VMNICS, assign one to VDS. If there are four uplinks, then assign two of them to VDS.
   • Initially, all the uplinks (VMNICS) from the host are owned by VSS. VSS keeps half of the uplinks in Active mode and the rest of the half in Standby mode.
   • Moving these standby links to VDS does not disturb the traffic that is already running from VSS.
   • As a result, all the uplinks in Standby mode move to VDS when you assign redundant VMNICS to VDS.
   NOTE: To migrate the management network non-disruptively, keep the uplinks from VSS and VDS to be Active before you perform Step 4.
4. Migrate VMs and VM kernel ports to VDS.
   • As a result, port groups migrate from VSS to VDS one after the other.
5. Move the remaining NICs to VDS.

VDS supports LACP port-channels with load balancing. Dell Technologies recommends putting all the uplinks (VMNICS) corresponding to VDS in a LACP port-channel.

The following topology shows the VxRail deployment with port channel:

As traffic to VSS and VDS is destined to different end points, during migration links connected to VSS and VDS must not be a part of the same port channel that belongs to a data plane in a physical switch. This condition applies even though all the links are configured in the same port channel. As a result, the MACs and ARPs corresponding to the end points that are reachable through VSS must point to the links connected to VSS (and must not point to the port channel). Similarly, the MACs and ARPs corresponding to the end points that are reachable through VDS must point to the port channel (and must not point to the links connected to VSS).

In VxRail deployments with SFS, the VSS - to - VDS migration feature is not required. In a VxRail setup, SFS operates SmartFabric OS10 in Fabric mode. In Fabric mode, auto-port channel is created based on the LACP PDUs that are received from the host (server). Auto-port channel takes care of VSS - to - VDS migration without traffic loss.

However, in VxRail deployments without SFS, for example VCF on VxRail, SmartFabric OS10 works in Full-switch mode. In this deployment, you must enable the VSS-to-VDS migration feature on the port channel that is connected to the host (server).

VxRail deployment with VLT port channel

You can connect an ESXi host to a VLT-port-channel to achieve node-level redundancy.

The VxRail node bring up occurs in the following sequence:

1. After ESXi host initialization, a Vstandard Switch (VSS) with management group is created. After this event, communication with vCenter establishes.
2. Virtual distributed switch (VDS) is created in the host through vCenter.
3. All the uplinks and port-groups from VSS move to VDS.

To migrate VSS to VDS, perform the following steps in order:

1. Create a VDS and duplicate the port groups present in VSS to VDS.
2. Add hosts to the VDS. Exsi hosts are added to VDS.
3. Assign redundant VMNICS to VDS. If there are two VMNICS, assign one to VDS. If there are four uplinks, assign two of them to VDS.

The following topology depicts the VxRail deployment with VLT port channels:

As traffic to VSS and VDS is destined to different end points, during migration, links connected to VSS and VDS must not be a part of the same port channel that belongs to a data plane in a physical switch. This condition applies even though all the links are configured in the same port channel. As a result, the MACs and ARPs corresponding to the end points that are reachable through VSS must point to the links connected to VSS (and must not point to the port channel). Similarly, the MACs and ARPs corresponding to the end points that are reachable through VDS must point to the port channel (and must not point to the links connected to VSS).

In VxRail deployments with SFS, the VSS - to - VDS migration feature is not required. In a VxRail setup, SFS operates SmartFabric OS10 in Fabric mode. In Fabric mode, auto-port channel is created based on the LACP PDUs that are received from the host (server). Auto-port channel itself takes care of the VSS - to - VDS migration without traffic loss.

However, in VxRail deployments without SFS, for example VCF on VxRail, SmartFabric OS10 works in Full-switch mode. In this deployment, you must enable the VSS - to - VDS feature on the port channel that is connected to the host (server).

Scaling numbers during VSS to VDS migration

Following are the the VSS - to - VDS migration possibilities:

• The VSS - to - VDS migration occurs during VxRail cluster bring up.
• The VSS - to - VDS migration is not expected to happen later.
• During an ESXi host software upgrade, the VSS - to - VDS migration does not happen, as the host already has VDS configurations. As a result, during this migration only few VLANs or VXLANs (<50) are used.