VLAN Tagging and vSwitches

[techcontact]

I have a blade server with 6 NICS. 2 of the NICS are used for management and the other 4 are going to be used for networking traffic. I have two vSwitches. 0 and 1. 0 has the service console on it. On the other switch I am trying to get multiple VLANs configured. It doesnt seem to be working

I have 3 machines on vSwitch one. Each one is on a differnet network. We will call them 1,2,3.

The server on 1 network is fine. Default vlan no big deal. The server on network 2 or 3 cannot get on the network. If I create new vSwtich for each network and assign a NIC to each one they can get on.

What am I missing?

[mittim12]

You need to create a portgroup on the vswitch1 for each VLAN and then set your VM to use that specific portgroup. Make sure to hit specify the VLAN when creating the portgroup.

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[techcontact]

I should have been more clear. I have already set that part up.

On vSwtich 1 I have a port group per vlan and the servers are setup to the corresponding networks.

Thanks for the reply.

[mittim12]

Are your physical NICS associated with vSwitch1 set to trunk and did you specify the VLAN inside of the portgroup?

[techcontact]

Yes, All 4 nics are associated with vSwitch 1.

I have attached a screenshot. I have tried simplifying. Currently we are trying to get the machine on the 172.16.2.0 network working. Once I realize what I have set wrong, the others should fall into place

[mittim12]

Ok, if your tagging at the vSwitch level as it's show in the last screen shot than the four connected ports have to be configured for trunk mode on the phyiscal switch. The only time I have had issues with tagging at the vswitch level is when the ports were not trunked or when there was some type of vlan pruning involved on the ports.

When you setup the vSwitches for each guest and they worked were you specying the 2 as the VLAN ID then?

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[techcontact]

The physical switch ports were not setup for Trunking.

I have since setup the following on the switch

interface Port-channel3

switchport

switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

switchport trunk allowed vlan 1-3

switchport mode trunk

spanning-tree portfast trunk

interface GigabitEthernet2/34

switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

switchport trunk allowed vlan 1-3

switchport mode trunk

spanning-tree portfast trunk

channel-protocol lacp

channel-group 3 mode active

Is there a better way to do this? We are setting up from scratch so now is the time to make the change

[mittim12]

I think trunking the ports and tagging at the vSwitch level is the most flexible method of configuring the network. This is what we utilize in our environment and it works great for us.

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[techcontact]

Just so I am clear.

I should take 4 ports on the Physical Switch and set them to trunk.

Then on the vSwitch under VLAN ID (Optional) I should put the vlan # there

[mittim12]

That is correct. Here is a pdf document that will give you some information regarding the different ways to tag vlans in ESX.

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[mittim12]

Let me know if that works and remember to assign points if you found anything helpful.

[techcontact]

I think our configuration problem is on the Cisco side.

I cant figure out to setup the ports. We have a Cisco 4506 which cabled directly to our HP C7000 blade chassis.

I have read every vlan tagging article I can find and it just doesnt seem to work

[mittim12]

In our environment you have to set trunking enacpsulation and then code the mode to trunk for the ports.

Switchport trunk encap dot1q

Switchport mode trunk

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[techcontact]

I just realized that I was missing a huge piece. We are using a C7000 chassis so there are switches in the back of that.

So it goes

Cisco4506->HP Switches->HP Blade with ESX

So here is my config so far.

Cisco

interface Port-channel3

description LACP_HP-C7000-InterConnect3

switchport

switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,3000

switchport mode trunk

switchport nonegotiate

spanning-tree portfast trunk

interface GigabitEthernet2/33

description HP-C7000-InterConnect3_LINK1

switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,3000

switchport mode trunk

spanning-tree portfast trunk

channel-protocol lacp

channel-group 3 mode active

interface GigabitEthernet3/39

description HP-C7000-InterConnect3_LINK2

switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,3000

switchport mode trunk

spanning-tree portfast trunk

channel-protocol lacp

channel-group 3 mode active

interface GigabitEthernet4/35

description HP-C7000-InterConnect3_LINK3

switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,3000

switchport mode trunk

spanning-tree portfast trunk

channel-protocol lacp

channel-group 3 mode active

interface GigabitEthernet5/23

description HP-C7000-InterConnect3_LINK4

switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,3000

switchport mode trunk

spanning-tree portfast trunk

channel-protocol lacp

channel-group 3 mode active

The ports listed above are connected to ports 20-24 on the HP Switch

The blade we are using is in PORT 4 of the chassis

HP Config

Current port 4 configuration: enabled, PVID 3000

name Downlink4

The DLF rate control currently turned off

The Multicast rate control currently turned off

The Broadcast rate control currently turned off

802.1p priority: 0

ACL Port config is empty

VLANs:

Current VLAN 1:

name "Default VLAN", ports 1-3 5-18 20-24, enabled,

spanning tree 1

Current VLAN 4095:

name "Mgmt VLAN", ports 19, enabled,

spanning tree 128

Current VLAN 3000:

name "ESX Network", ports 4 21-24, enabled,

spanning tree 1

VMware Config

vSwitch1

Port Group 172.16.2.0 Network

1 Network Adaptor

1 Virtual Machine assigned to this network. Its IP is 172.16.2.31. ITs DG 172.16.2.254 which is the IP Of the Vlan on the Cisco Switch

What concerns me is that the Observed IP ranges are in the 1 network range, not the 2 as it should be

[mittim12]

I'm bumping this back up so maybe on of our networking experts can help you out. I did notice on the Cisco you have switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,3000 which only allows vlan 1 and 3000 but not sure how that plays into the HP config.

[techcontact]

Thanks, after working on it all weekend I have a better understanding of how it works. I know have trunking working from end to end. VLAN Tagging isnt working yet. I am trying a few things regarding Native Vlan on the Cisco side. I will post up when I have it working or run into a road block

[rogard]

I think your problem is your load balancing method..on the switch you currently have ti set to LACP however on the vmnics you have "load balancing by virtual port id"

you need to change it to "Route based on IP hash"

[techcontact]

Thanks Rogard, should that be set at the Switch level or at the port group level? I am assuming the switch level, but want to verify

[rogard]

Switch level.

Here is a helpful document for you too:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100404...

[techcontact]

Thanks for the help. I am still unable to get to a VM that is not on the 1 network.

I have made the change you mentioned and read the article. It appears everything is setup correctly. Is there any troubleshooting tips from the ESX side that you know of to see if the vlan tag is coming across?