Plan for new link aggregation after implementation
Plan for new link aggregation after implementation
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If link aggregation was not configured against the VxRail cluster during initial implementation, then NIC teaming and link aggregation can be configured on the VxRail networks after this process is complete.
Figure 72. Enabling link aggregation for load balancing
The following rules are applicable for enabling link aggregation on VxRail networks after initial implementation:
- No more than two Ethernet ports can be configured in a link aggregation group.
- The Ethernet ports can be NDC/OCP ports, PCIe ports, or a mixture of NDC/OCP and PCIe ports.
- All VxRail node ports configured for link aggregation must be configured to run at the same speed.
- In VxRail versions earlier than 7.0.450, link aggregation can only be configured on the nonmanagement VxRail networks.
- The adjacent top-of-rack switches support LACP.
Only dynamic link aggregation is supported for VxRail networking. Dynamic link aggregation requires:
- Dynamic port channels are configured on the adjacent top-of-rack switches.
- LACP is enabled on the adjacent top-of-rack switches.
- An LACP policy is configured on the virtual distributed switch supporting the VxRail networks.
- The load balancing setting on the LACP policy is compatible with the supported load balancing hash algorithms on the adjacent top-of-rack switches.
Figure 73. LACP Policy configuration on virtual distributed switch
In addition, any unused network ports on the VxRail nodes that were not configured for VxRail network traffic use cases can be configured to support link aggregation. These ports can include any unused ports on the NDC/OCP or on the optional PCIe adapter cards. Updates to support these new networks can be configured on the virtual distributed switch deployed during VxRail initial build, or a new virtual distributed switch can be configured. Since the initial virtual distributed switch is under the management and control of VxRail, the best practice is to configure a separate virtual distributed switch on the vCenter instance to support these networking use cases.