ESXi 5 and Nexus 1000v

[remi2210]

Hi there,

I have an ESXi 5 but only one NIC. I am trying to migrate the vSS to Nexus 1000v. I have installed Nexus VEM correctly and have to VSMs Primary and Secondary, configured uplink port groups all according to the Cisco guides. When I try to add a host under the Nexus, first I migrate the vnic0 to the appropiate uplink port group and then it asks me to migrate the management port (I think it's vmk0) so if i create a port group on Nexus to migrate a management port or do not migrate it at all I always loose connectivity to ESXi.

Can anybody please share the configs of the Nexus 1000v and how to migrate correctly vnic0 and vmk0 (with only one physical NIC) so that I don't loose connectivity?

Thanks in advacne.

Remi

[lwatta]

Remi,

Can you show us the configuration for the uplink port-profile and vmk port-profile you are using in your config?

I know it works but suspect a configuration issue. Your config should look something like.....

n1kv-l3# show run port-profile uplink

port-profile type ethernet uplink
  vmware port-group
  switchport mode trunk
  switchport trunk allowed vlan 10-11,150-152
  no shutdown
  system vlan 10-11
  state enabled

n1kv-l3# show run port-profile vmk-mgmt

port-profile type vethernet vmk-mgmt
  vmware port-group
  switchport mode access
  switchport access vlan 10
  no shutdown
  system vlan 10
  state enabled

My management VMK interface is on VLAN 10. Note how I have system VLANs set for VLAN 10 in both the uplink and the vmk port-profile. These are needed for interfaces that always need network connectivity even when the VEM cannot talk to the VSM.

As far as the process to migrate..

When you add the ESXi host to the Nexus 1000V through vCenter, pick the NIC, and then on the next screen choose to migrate the vmk inteface to your vmk port-profile. This should do an all-in-one install and migration.

louis

[remi2210]

Hi Louis,

Thanks for the replay. You gave me some good clues. Let me verify my config later on today and do some tests according to your examples. I will post you a feedback afterwards.

Best regards,

Remi

[remi2210]

Hey Louis,

I changed my config according to your suggestion and it worked! The only problem is that I loose management access to the Nexus 1000v, loose the HA between the Primary and Secondary Nexus.

I migrated vSS to N1KV. My networks were as follow: (also see the attachment)

Control: N1KV_CONTROL (VLAN:51)

Management: N1KV_MGMT (VLAN:52) - IP: 10.2.52.11

Packet: N1KV_Packet (VLAN:53)

Management: vmk0: 10.2.40.11 (no vlan tagging set and native vlan between the physical switch and the ESXi server is set to 40)

My Nexus config:

vlan 1
vlan 40
  name DC_ESX_MGMT
vlan 51
  name N1KV_CONTROL
vlan 52
  name N1KV_MGMT
vlan 53
  name N1KV_PACKET

!

port-profile type ethernet system_uplink
  vmware port-group
  switchport mode trunk
  switchport trunk allowed vlan 1-3967,4048-4093
  no shutdown
  system vlan 1,40,51-53
  description SYSTEM_UPLINK
  state enabled
port-profile type vethernet esx_mgmt
  vmware port-group
  switchport mode access
  switchport access vlan 40
  no shutdown
  system vlan 40
  state enabled

!

Do you know where the problem could be? Why suddenly Nexus mgmt0 port with IP:10.2.52.11 does no longer respond to the physical switch? But here is the deal, to mantain the communication to the vmk0 port profile I need to change the native vlan to 1 on the physical switch, of course because we have set default native vlan on the system uplink on the Nexus. I tried removing vlan 1 and 52 as a system vlan from the system uplink port profile but it did not help.

What else can I try?

I am trying to put this server in producion asap so your help would be very appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Remi

[remi2210]

Another doubt I have is that after migrating the vmware vDS a nexus vDS I notice that the vmnic0 and vmk0 are migrated to nexus however the control, management and packet networks stay withing vSS which already has not any physical adapter assigned, is that OK? From nexus I can no longer ping the physical switch nor can it communicate with the Secondary nexus neither with VSM on vCenter server.

I attach the screenshot of the vSS before and after migration as well as the nexus vDS.

Thanks in advance for help.

Remi

[lwatta]

So the VSM is on the same host you are trying to migrate.

That makes it a little more complex.

Let me run through it my lab real quick.

louis

[remi2210]

Thanks a lot Louis. It's correct, I have VSM primary and secondary on the same server as VEM and only one NIC as you can see. I know it is possible from reading the docs and forums as well as from your experience.

The results of "show module"

N1KV-Primary#

N1KV-Primary# sh module
Mod  Ports  Module-Type                       Model               Status
---  -----  --------------------------------  ------------------  ------------
1    0      Virtual Supervisor Module         Nexus1000V          active *
2    0      Virtual Supervisor Module         Nexus1000V          ha-standby

Mod  Sw                  Hw     
---  ------------------  ------------------------------------------------ 
1    4.2(1)SV1(5.1)      0.0                                             
2    4.2(1)SV1(5.1)      0.0                                             

Mod  MAC-Address(es)                         Serial-Num
---  --------------------------------------  ----------
1    00-19-07-6c-5a-a8 to 00-19-07-6c-62-a8  NA
2    00-19-07-6c-5a-a8 to 00-19-07-6c-62-a8  NA

Mod  Server-IP        Server-UUID                           Server-Name
---  ---------------  ------------------------------------  --------------------
1    10.2.52.11       NA                                    NA
2    10.2.52.11       NA                                    NA

* this terminal session
N1KV-Primary#

I await your lab results.

Remi

[remi2210]

Louis,

In your config which vlan is your Control and Packet vlan?

Regards,

Remi

[lwatta]

I got it to work. I'm sure you aware that having everything one host with a single nic provides no High Availability?

My config

vmk mgmt - on vlan 10

vsm mgmt - on vlan 2

vsm control - on vlan 152

vsm packet - on vlan 153

My native vlan is 1

I created the following port-profiles on my VSM

port-profile type ethernet uplink
  vmware port-group
  switchport mode trunk
  switchport trunk allowed vlan 1-3967,4048-4093
  no shutdown
  system vlan 2,10,152-153
  state enabled

port-profile type vethernet vmk
  vmware port-group
  switchport mode access
  switchport access vlan 10
  no shutdown
  system vlan 10
  state enabled

port-profile type vethernet mgmt
  vmware port-group
  switchport mode access
  switchport access vlan 2
  no shutdown
  system vlan 2
  state enabled

port-profile type vethernet control
  vmware port-group
  switchport mode access
  switchport access vlan 152
  no shutdown
  system vlan 152
  state enabled

port-profile type vethernet packet
  vmware port-group
  switchport mode access
  switchport access vlan 153
  no shutdown
  system vlan 153
  state enabled

When you add your host to the Nexus 1000V in vCenter make sure to migrate the VM network. I attached a picture below to show the screen. This should work. It worked for me in my lab.

[lwatta · Accepted solution]

control is vlan 152 and packet is 153.

You can make them same vlan. We've been supporting using the same vlan for control and packet for several years now.

louis

[remi2210]

Hi Louis,

I just wanted to thank you ever so much for helping me out with this issue. Now everything works as expected.

Keep up with good work!

Best regards,

Remi