Home > Networking Solutions > Converged and Hyperconverged Solutions > VxRail Networking Solutions > Guides > Dell EMC Networking SmartFabric Services Deployment with VxRail 4.7 > Configure L2 uplinks to the external network
Uplinks to the existing network may be configured as L2, L3 routed, or L3 VLAN. This section covers L2 uplinks.
Note: If L3 uplinks are used, skip to Configure L3 routed uplinks to the external network. If there is no preference for the uplink type, L2 uplink configuration has fewer steps than L3 uplink configuration.
The switches are cabled as shown in Figure 22. When L2 uplink configuration is complete, Leaf1A and Leaf1B will connect with a VLT port channel to a switch pair named External-A and External-B. In this example, an existing DNS/NTP server also connects to the external switches using a VLT port channel. All VLT port channels use LACP in this guide.
Note: DNS and NTP server(s) do not have to connect in this manner as long as they are reachable on the network.
All ports on the four switches shown in Figure 22 are in the External Management VLAN, 1811.
Figure 22. L2 uplinks to the external network
Note: Any ports available on the leaf switches may be used as uplinks, provided they are compatible with the corresponding ports on the external switches. If leaf switch uplink ports will not use their native speeds, the interfaces must be first broken out to the correct speed before the uplinks are created. This is done using the Breakout Switch Ports option on the SFS GUI home page. A breakout example is shown in the Change the port-group speed in the SFS GUI section of this guide.
L2 uplinks to the external network are configured as follows:
Figure 23. Uplink details
Note: Be sure to configure the corresponding ports on the external switches with the same LAG mode. External switch configuration examples using LACP are provided in the Configure external switches for L2 connections section of this guide.
Figure 24. Uplink port configuration
VxRail Manager must be able to contact a DNS server to resolve hostnames during deployment. The External Management VLAN is created to enable this, and the uplinks are added to it as follows:
Figure 25. Network configuration page
Figure 26. Network details
Figure 27. Uplink ports tagged in the External Management Network
Note: Networks created through vCenter integration include the External Management, VSAN, vMotion, and VM Networks created during VxRail deployment. It also includes networks added through OMNI post-deployment.
After uplink configuration, the SFS GUI Home page appears, as shown in Figure 28.
Figure 28. SFS Home page after uplinks configured
The show smartfabric uplinks command may be used at the leaf switch CLI to view configured interfaces and networks on the uplink.
Note: The command output shown in the following command is for Leaf1A. The output for Leaf1B is the same.
S5248F-Leaf1A# show smartfabric uplinks
----------------------------------------------------------
Name : L2 to external network
Description :
ID : 5d790723-3b10-487f-987b-ab071113bb2d
Media Type : ETHERNET
Native Vlan : 0
Untagged-network :
Networks : network-1811
Configured-Interfaces : 68X00Q2:ethernet1/1/53, 68X00Q2:ethernet1/1/54, 690ZZP2:ethernet1/1/53, 690ZZP2:ethernet1/1/54
----------------------------------------------------------
This section shows example configurations for both external switches for L2 connections to the SmartFabric.
Note: The external switches used in this example are Dell EMC PowerSwitch systems.
Note: This is only an example. Modify your external switch configuration as needed for your network.
Configure the hostname, OOB management IP address, and OOB management route as shown.
External-A |
External-B |
configure terminal
hostname External-A
interface mgmt1/1/1 no ip address ip address 100.67.167.33/24 no shutdown
management route 100.67.0.0/16 100.67.167.254 |
configure terminal
hostname External-B
interface mgmt1/1/1 no ip address ip address 100.67.167.32/24 no shutdown
management route 100.67.0.0/16 100.67.167.254
|
Create the External Management VLAN. If traffic will be routed from the external switches to other external networks, assign a unique IP address on each switch and configure VRRP to provide gateway redundancy. Set the VRRP priority. The switch with the highest priority value becomes the master VRRP router. Assign the same virtual address to both switches.
External-A |
External-B |
interface vlan1811 description External_Mgmt ip address 172.18.11.252/24 vrrp-group 11 priority 150 virtual-address 172.18.11.254 no shutdown |
interface vlan1811 description External_Mgmt ip address 172.18.11.253/24 vrrp-group 11 priority 100 virtual-address 172.18.11.254 no shutdown |
Configure the interfaces for connections to the SFS leaf switches. Interfaces 1/1/25 and 1/1/26 are configured in VLT port-channel 100 in this example. Port-channel 100 is set as an LACP port-channel with the channel-group 100 mode active command.
Use the switchport mode trunk command to enable the port-channel to carry traffic for multiple VLANs. Configure the port-channel as tagged on VLAN 1811 (the External Management VLAN).
Optionally, allow the forwarding of jumbo frames with the MTU 9216 command.
In this example, interface 1/1/1 on each external switch is configured in VLT port-channel 1 for connections to the DNS/NTP server. Port-channel 1 is set as an LACP port-channel with the channel-group 1 mode active command.
Configure ports directly connected to nodes, servers, or other endpoints as STP edge ports. As a best practice, flow control settings remain at their factory defaults as shown.
External-A |
External-B |
interface port-channel100 description "To Leaf1A/1B" no shutdown switchport mode trunk switchport trunk allowed vlan 1811 mtu 9216 vlt-port-channel 100
interface range ethernet1/1/25-1/1/26 description "To Leaf1A/1B" no switchport channel-group 100 mode active mtu 9216 no shutdown
interface port-channel1 description "To DNS/NTP" no shutdown switchport access vlan 1811 vlt-port-channel 1 spanning-tree port type edge
interface ethernet1/1/1 description "To DNS/NTP" no switchport channel-group 1 mode active no shutdown flowcontrol receive on flowcontrol transmit off |
interface port-channel100 description "To Leaf1A/1B" no shutdown switchport mode trunk switchport trunk allowed vlan 1811 mtu 9216 vlt-port-channel 100
interface range ethernet1/1/25-1/1/26 description "To Leaf1A/1B" no switchport channel-group 100 mode active mtu 9216 no shutdown
interface port-channel1 description "To DNS/NTP" no shutdown switchport access vlan 1811 vlt-port-channel 1 spanning-tree port type edge
interface ethernet1/1/1 description "To DNS/NTP" no switchport channel-group 1 mode active no shutdown flowcontrol receive on flowcontrol transmit off |
This example uses interfaces 1/1/29 and 1/1/30 for the VLTi. Remove each interface from L2 mode with the no switchport command.
Create the VLT domain. The backup destination is the OOB management IP address of the VLT peer switch. Configure the interfaces used as the VLTi with the discovery-interface command.
As a best practice, use the vlt-mac command to manually configure the same VLT MAC address on both the VLT peer switches. This improves VLT convergence time when a switch is reloaded.
Caution: Be sure the VLT MAC address is the same on both switches to avoid any unpredictable behavior.
If you do not configure a VLT MAC address, the MAC address of the primary peer is used as the VLT MAC address on both switches.
Note: For more information about VLT, see the Dell EMC SmartFabric OS10 User Guide on the Dell EMC Networking OS10 Info Hub.
When the configuration is complete, exit configuration mode and save the configuration with the end and write memory commands.
External-A |
External-B |
interface range ethernet1/1/29-1/1/30 description VLTi no switchport no shutdown flowcontrol receive on flowcontrol transmit off
vlt-domain 255 backup destination 100.67.167.32 discovery-interface ethernet1/1/29-1/1/30 vlt-mac 00:00:01:02:03:20
end write memory |
interface range ethernet1/1/29-1/1/30 description VLTi no switchport no shutdown flowcontrol receive on flowcontrol transmit off
vlt-domain 255 backup destination 100.67.167.33 discovery-interface ethernet1/1/29-1/1/30 vlt-mac 00:00:01:02:03:20
end write memory |
Once the uplink interfaces have been configured on the external switches and in the SFS GUI, additional validation is done via the switch CLI.
Note: The command output shown in the following commands is for the External-A switch. The output for External-B is similar.
Run the show vlan command to verify ports are correctly assigned to the External Management VLAN. Port channel 100 connects to the SFS leaf switches and is a tagged member of the same VLAN configured on the SmartFabric uplinks (VLAN 1811). It is tagged because it is also tagged on the SmartFabric leaf switches. The DNS/NTP server is connected on port channel 1, which is an access member of VLAN 1811 in this example.
External-A# show vlan
Codes: * - Default VLAN, M - Management VLAN, R - Remote Port Mirroring VLANs,
@ – Attached to Virtual Network
Q: A - Access (Untagged), T - Tagged
NUM Status Description Q Ports
* 1 Active A Eth1/1/2-1/1/24,1/1/27-1/1/28
A Po100,1000
1811 Active External_Mgmt T Po100,1000
A Po1
4094 Active T Po1000
The show port channel summary command confirms port channel 100 connected to the leaf switches is up and active. Port channel 1000 is the VLTi, and port channel 1 is connected to the DNS/NTP server.
External-A# show port-channel summary
Flags: D - Down I - member up but inactive P - member up and active
U - Up (port-channel) F - Fallback Activated
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Group Port-Channel Type Protocol Member Ports
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 port-channel1 (U) Eth DYNAMIC 1/1/1(P)
100 port-channel100 (U) Eth DYNAMIC 1/1/25(P) 1/1/26(P)
1000 port-channel1000 (U) Eth STATIC 1/1/29(P) 1/1/30(P)
Note: The command output shown in the following commands is for Leaf1A. The output for Leaf1B is similar.
With SFS, port channel numbers are automatically assigned as they are created. Port channel 1 is the uplink connected to the external switches and is up and active. Port channel 1000 is reserved for the VLTi.
S5248F-Leaf1A# show port-channel summary
Flags: D - Down I - member up but inactive P - member up and active
U - Up (port-channel) F - Fallback Activated
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Group Port-Channel Type Protocol Member Ports
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 port-channel1 (U) Eth DYNAMIC 1/1/53(P) 1/1/54(P)
1000 port-channel1000 (U) Eth STATIC 1/1/49(P) 1/1/50(P) 1/1/51(P) 1/1/52(P)
The L2 uplink, port channel 1 in this example, is added as a tagged member of VLAN 1811. This is verified at the CLI using the show virtual-network command as follows:
S5248F-Leaf1A# show virtual-network
Codes: DP - MAC-learn Dataplane, CP - MAC-learn Controlplane, UUD - Unknown-Unicast-Drop
Un-tagged VLAN: 4080
Virtual Network: 1811
VLTi-VLAN: 1811
Members:
VLAN 1811: port-channel1, port-channel1000
VxLAN Virtual Network Identifier: 1811
Source Interface: loopback2(172.30.0.0)
Remote-VTEPs (flood-list):
Virtual Network: 3939
Description: In-band SmartFabric Services discovery network
VLTi-VLAN: 3939
Members:
VLAN 3939: port-channel1000, ethernet1/1/1, ethernet1/1/2, ethernet1/1/3
VxLAN Virtual Network Identifier: 3939
Source Interface: loopback2(172.30.0.0)
Remote-VTEPs (flood-list):
Virtual Network: 4091
Description: Default untagged network for client onboarding
VLTi-VLAN: 4091
Members:
Untagged: ethernet1/1/1, ethernet1/1/2, ethernet1/1/3
VLAN 4091: port-channel1000
VxLAN Virtual Network Identifier: 4091
Source Interface: loopback2(172.30.0.0)
Remote-VTEPs (flood-list):