قابلیت پیشرفته LACP در vSphere 5.5
I recently realized that while I have been enjoying working with the enhanced LACP feature provided with the vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) version 5.5, I’ve never actually taken any time to document the process. For those who want to create a Link Aggregation Group (LAG) in 5.5, or have already been through the process in 5.1 or older, I will share that the process is incredibly different. While there are a few more steps in the process and numerous wizards to walk through, the end results are spectacular. I think you’ll find the resulting LAG much more transparent and flexible than the days of yore. But, you’ll have to be the judge – so let’s dig in!
Migrating to VDS version 5.5
First things first. If you haven’t taken the time to upgrade your VDS to 5.5, we’ll need to get that squared away. I’ll walk through the process in my lab with an existing VDS version 5.1that already has LACP enabled.
Start by navigating to VDS > Manage > Settings and verifying your properties. Make sure there are no errors on the switch, the hosts attached are healthy, and you have a backup (just in case).
Right click on the VDS and choose the Upgrade Distributed Switch… option from the contextual menu. My wizard had only one option: version 5.5.0 with new features (such as enhanced LACP support). Assuming that all of your attached hosts are running ESXi 5.5 or greater, the compatibility check will return green check marks and allow you to proceed as shown below:
The VDS I’m upgrading already uses LACP and needs to undergo feature conversion. You may not see this step if you don’t have LACP enabled. A final prompt in the wizard will confirm that I wish to include enhanced LACP support on my VDS. Check the box and click finish.
It’s time for … another wizard! Yay. ?
Enhanced LACP Support Wizard
It’s time to get schooled on enhanced LACP support by another wizard. It’s nifty that VMware has taken the time to educate folks on what the upgrade means and how to configure the new options.
The first screen, which I’ve included below, covers the new features:
Once you’ve assimilated all of the magical new toys at your disposal, it’s time to run a validation test for port group accessibility, LACP configuration, uplink teaming policy, host accessibility, and host connectivity. The wizard is picky about making sure you are really,really ready for this upgrade. So, don’t slack (and take a backup)!
If everything passes the test, move along to the next screen where we actually get to build a LAG. Make sure to choose a highly descriptive and business sounding name – like I did below:
The completion screen gives you a recap that covers the LAG creation. I especially like the “your LACP basic support is ready to be enhanced” part. I read it in the voice of the HAL 9000. Didn’t you?
A task will kick off that reconfigures your VDS. Once completed, you can now dig into the guts of your new LAG and make some changes. We’ll continue this process on the next page …
Editing the LACP Configuration
If you have a trained eye, you may notice that there’s a new menu option in the VDS >Manage > Settings area called LACP. In this area live all of your LAGs, as shown below:
If you select one of your LAGs – or in my case, the only LAG available – and then chooseEdit (the pencil icon), you can make a few changes to the LAG.
- The name of the LAG
- How many ports the LAG will use
- The LACP mode (I recommend Active)
- Load balancing mode – now with a bazillion new hashes!
Here’s an example of these options for my Spongebob-01 LAG:
Now that a LAG is created, we need to ensure the network adapters are bound correctly and then do something useful with the LAG.
Placing Network Adapters into a LAG
Because I’ve upgraded my VDS with an existing LAG on it, vSphere did all the heavy lifting for me. The wizard automatically assigned my two uplinks (network adapters) to the Spongebob-01 LAG. But what if you wanted to do this yourself? Let’s review the process.
Managing which uplinks are in the LAG is as simple as editing your physical network adapter relationships on the VDS. To begin, select your VDS and navigate to Actions > Add and Manage Hosts. Then choose Manage host networking and select the attached host(s) that you wish to edit. Finally, choose the Manage physical adapters check box and uncheck any other boxes. You should see a wizard screen like what I have below:
The two network adapters I have, vmnic3 and vmnic4, are both bound to the uplink named Spongebob-01. The trailing 0 and 1 denote the port number within the LAG. If this were not so, I could click on vmnic3, select the Assign uplink option, and put it onto a LAG. Then repeat the process for vmnic4. I’ve provided an example below:
Putting Your LAGs to Work
This is where things deviate significantly from what you may be used to with VDS 5.1 and older. Previously, we had to set the load balancing policy of all port groups to “Route based on IP Hash.” Now, the LAG is represented as an uplink and can be selected in the failover order. Additionally, the load balancing policy is rendered useless by the LAG.
Here’s an example with a port group on my VDS where I have included the informative warning on the load balancing policy:
You can also see the LAG ports in use by going to VDS > Manage > Ports. In this case, VMware uses the term port channel to denote the LAG and its members:
Keep in mind that you can only have one single LAG as an Active uplink. If you make other LAGs, they must remain Unused. Otherwise, you’ll see an error like so:
Thoughts
I’ve yet to encounter one of these bad boys in the wild. Perhaps it’s just too soon in the patch cycle for many folks to adopt ESXi 5.5? Either way, the upgrade process is relatively straight forward once you get the hang of it. Additionally, the new LACP management area on the VDS is much better than the old method of hunting for LACP on the dvUplinks group.
If you are looking to enable enhanced LACP support on an existing switch, check out Enhanced LACP Support missing in my Distributed Switch 5.5 by Romain Decker.