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AlexWhit
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Vsphere 5.5 standard switch LACP

i wonder if anyone can help

i have a new HP-1910 48port gigabit switch.  in my host i have 8 physical nics.  i want to enable LACP on the switch to help speed up my network.  i have done the usual google and all i can find is distributed switches.  is it possible to enable it on a standard switch.  i have it already set to IP Hash.  one think i noticed when i set it up the ping was very intermittent.  if i was pinging 2 guests one would ping and the other would not.  and visa versa.

thanks for any help

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vfk
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I would create two vSwitches, 4 nics each, and connect the physicals to different switches to prevent switch failure and just use the standard vswitch default network teaming Route based on the originating port ID - and distribute your servers based IO traffic load.  As I said, don't complicate your design, keep it simple.  You have small environment.

--- If you found this or any other answer helpful, please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points. vfk Systems Manager / Technical Architect VCP5-DCV, VCAP5-DCA, vExpert, ITILv3, CCNA, MCP

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pratjain
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LACP is only available with VMware Distributed Switches , not possible on standard switches.

If the connectivity to guests is intermittent when you set it IP hash then there is a configuration issue on physical switches.

Regards, PJ If you find this or any other answer useful please mark the answer as correct or helpful.
AlexWhit
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thank you PJ.  its only when i setup the lacp on the switch it has issues.   unfortunately i am not licensed for VD switches.

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pratjain
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LACP is not supported on VMware Standard Switches , that could be a cause of the issue .I would recommend getting the required license before setting up LACP , you can etherchannel configuration in standard switches but not LACP.

Etherchannel configuration is supported on standard switches.

Reference KB - http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004048

Regards, PJ If you find this or any other answer useful please mark the answer as correct or helpful.
vfk
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You need to configure it as static bonded link, dynamic isn't supports on standard vSwitch.  Once you have configured static port-channel then set your vswitch to ip hash.  Please not that, you will have the aggregated bandwidth of the links but only the speed of one link

--- If you found this or any other answer helpful, please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points. vfk Systems Manager / Technical Architect VCP5-DCV, VCAP5-DCA, vExpert, ITILv3, CCNA, MCP
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AlexWhit
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hmmm so setting all 8 nics on one switch and putting all the guest servers on that one standard switch is not a good idea then?  looks like i may need to reconfigure.

thanks for your advice guys

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vfk
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it depends on the traffic type between servers and clients, but in most cases the defaults works really.  If you have enterprise plus license, consider using distributed switch with load bases teaming, again this does not require any changes to the switch and you will get load distribution.  Generally you want to keep you setup simple, don't configure something just because you can.  Also, ideally you want to separate you traffic types on different physical nics. i.e. backups, vmotions, storage and so on.

Kendric Coleman's blog has very very nice write up on different configuration, VMware vSphere 5 Host NIC Network Design Layout and vSwitch Configuration [Major Update] | Tech Blog...

I recommend checking out the above and think about your vNetwork design.

--- If you found this or any other answer helpful, please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points. vfk Systems Manager / Technical Architect VCP5-DCV, VCAP5-DCA, vExpert, ITILv3, CCNA, MCP
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AlexWhit
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I only have the standard licence..  what would the best solution be?

Guest servers

exchange 2010 (windows 2008 r2)

terminal server (windows 2008 r2)

SQL server (windows 2003 enterprise)

file server (windows 2008 r2)

proxy server (windows 2003 32bit)

all guest servers on 1 standard switch all nics assigned to it

or

standard switches, 2 nics assigned to each standard switch and 1 server per switch?

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vfk
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I would create two vSwitches, 4 nics each, and connect the physicals to different switches to prevent switch failure and just use the standard vswitch default network teaming Route based on the originating port ID - and distribute your servers based IO traffic load.  As I said, don't complicate your design, keep it simple.  You have small environment.

--- If you found this or any other answer helpful, please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points. vfk Systems Manager / Technical Architect VCP5-DCV, VCAP5-DCA, vExpert, ITILv3, CCNA, MCP
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AlexWhit
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thanks for all your help

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