Introduction to FEX and Cisco Nexus

Commands

Submitted and Prepared By:

Prateek Jain
 Index
1. Introduction to FEX
2. Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Models
3. Command Guide:
Feature Command
Associating a FEX to an Ether Channel/Interface
Disassociating a Fabric Extender from an Interface
Configuring the Fabric Extender
Displaying Configuration Information (FEX)
Port Vlan Configuration
CONFIGURING PORT CHANNELS
PORT FAST COMMAND
Naming a Switch (Hostname)
Range COMMAND
VPC (Virtual Port Channel)
 FEX
FEX stands for Fabric Extender.
The fabric extender is essentially an extension of the parent Cisco
Nexus switch fabric in our case like Cisco Nexus 5000 series.
Logically, it behaves like a remote line card, with the fabric
extender and the parent Cisco Nexus switch together forming a
distributed modular system.
The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders forward all traffic
to the parent Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch over 10 Gigabit
Ethernet uplinks.
Passing all traffic to the parent switch allows traffic to be shaped
according to policies established on the parent Cisco Nexus 5000
Series Switch with a single point of management.
Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders Behave Like
Remote Line Cards for a Parent Cisco Nexus 5000 Series
Switch, together Forming a Distributed Modular System
 Cisco Nexus 2000 Series Models
The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series consists of these fabric extender models:

1. Cisco Nexus 2148T GE Fabric Extender: Provides 48 fixed ports of Gigabit Ethernet
interfaces for server connectivity and up to four 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplink interfaces
in a compact one rack- unit (1RU) form-factor
2. Cisco Nexus 2248TP 1GE Fabric Extender: Provides 48 Fast Ethernet and Gigabit
Ethernet (100/1000BASE-T) server ports and four 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplink ports
in a compact 1RU form factor
3. Cisco Nexus 2224TP 1GE Fabric Extender: Provides 24 Fast Ethernet and Gigabit
Ethernet (100/1000BASE-T) server ports and two 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplink ports
in a compact 1RU form factor
4. Cisco Nexus 2232PP 10GE Fabric Extender: Provides 32 Gigabit Ethernet and 10
Gigabit Ethernet (IEEE Data Center Bridging [DCB] and Fibre Channel over Ethernet
[FCoE] capable) Enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+) server ports and
eight 10 Gigabit Ethernet (IEEE DCB and FCoE capable) SFP+ uplink ports in a
compact 1RU form factor
Continued..

The Cisco Nexus 2000 Series connects to a parent Cisco

Nexus switch through fabric links using CX1 copper cable,
short-reach or long-reach optics, and the cost-effective Cisco
Fabric Extender Transceivers (FET). The complete range of
Cisco Nexus 2000 Series products can connect to parent
Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches to support large-scale
Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet environments over
a unified lossless fabric.
Cisco Nexus 2148T, 2248TP, 2224TP,
and 2232PP Fabric Extenders
 Command Guide
(Feature Command)
First of all we need to enable Features, functions that need to be enabled in the
Nexus Switch.
Some general features includes: fex, interface-vlan, lacp, lldp, sshServer, tacacs,
udld,vpc, vtp etc. the status of which (enabled/disabled) can be shown by using
show feature command in privileged mode as shown below.
N5020Sw#CDC-W3-A1-NX# sh feature
Feature Name Instance State
-------------------- -------- --------
fex 1 enabled
interface-vlan 1 enabled
lacp 1 enabled
Command to enable particular feature goes like: feature ABC in configuration
mode, where ABC is the particular feature to be enabled like say lacp.
Sw1-NX(config)# feature lacp
 Associating a Fabric Extender to an
Ether Channel
Commands for associating a FEX to an Ether Channel.

PS: Replace interface port-channel with the interface ethernet slot/port to

associate the particular ethernet interface to FEX Module.
Continued..
Sw1-NX# sh run | be port-channel117
interface port-channel117
description FEX0117 - Rack K7
switchport mode fex-fabric
fex associate 117

Sw1-NX# sh int port-channel 117 fex-intf

Fabric FEX
Interface Interfaces
---------------------------------------------------
Po117 Eth117/1/3 Eth117/1/5
Eth117/1/47 Eth117/1/48
PS: Only interfaces, Eth117/1/3, Eth117/1/5, Eth117/1/47 and Eth117/1/48
on FEX 117 are being used in Nexus 5000 Switch currently.
Continued..

Sw1-NX# sh run
interface Ethernet1/7
description Port Channel 117 member link to FEX-117
switchport mode fex-fabric
fex associate 117
Continued..
Sw1-NX# sh port-channel sum
Flags: D - Down P - Up in port-channel (members)
I - Individual H - Hot-standby (LACP only)
s - Suspended r - Module-removed
S - Switched R - Routed
U - Up (port-channel)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Group Port- Type Protocol Member Ports
Channel
--------------------------------------------------------------------
117 Po117(SU) Eth NONE Eth1/7(P)

PS: Only interfaces, Eth1/7 is the port associated with Port Channel 117
from Nexus 5000 to the FEX Module.
 Disassociating a Fabric Extender from
an Interface

Sw1-NX(config-if)# no fex associate

(Disassociates the Fabric Extender unit
attached to the interface.)
 Configuring the Fabric Extender

Sw1-NX(config)# fex 117

Sw1-NX(config-fex)# description "Rack_117"
Sw1-NX(config-fex)# pinning max-links uplinks

Uplinks - Defines the number of uplinks.The default is 1.The range is

from 1 to 4.This command is only applicable if the Fabric Extender is
connected to its parent switch using one or more statically pinned fabric
interfaces.There can only be one Ether Channel connection.
 Displaying Configuration Information

Sw1-NX(config)# sh fex

FEX FEX FEX FEX

Number Description State Model Serial
------------------------------------------------------------------------
117 Rack_K7_PC_117 Online N2K-C2248TP-
1GE JAF1502APNH
Continued..
Sw1-NX(config)# sh fex 117 d
FEX: 117 Description: Rack_117 state: Online
FEX version: 5.0(3)N1(1c) [Switch version: 5.0(3)N1(1c)]
FEX Interim version: 5.0(3)N1(1c)
Switch Interim version: 5.0(3)N1(1c)
Extender Model: N2K-C2248TP-1GE, Extender Serial: JAF1502APNH
Part No: 73-13232-01
Card Id: 99, Mac Addr: 50:3d:e5:a3:ff:82, Num Macs: 64
Module Sw Gen: 21 [Switch Sw Gen: 21]
post level: complete
pinning-mode: static Max-links: 1
Fabric port for control traffic: Eth1/7
Fabric interface state:
Po117 - Interface Up. State: Active
Eth1/7 - Interface Up. State: Active

06/20/2011 11:15:47.854372: Module register received

06/20/2011 11:15:47.855904: Registration response sent
06/20/2011 11:15:48.30196: Module Online Sequence
06/20/2011 11:15:50.394171: Module Online
Continued..
Command to display the switch interfaces that are connected to a Fabric
Extender uplink:

Sw1-NX# sh int fex-fab

Fabric Fabric Fex FEX
Fex Port Port State Uplink Model Serial
---------------------------------------------------------------
103 Eth1/5 Active 1 N2K-C2248TP-1GE
JAF1502BFKF
117 Eth1/7 Active 1 N2K-C2248TP-1GE
JAF1502APNH
Continued..

Command to display configuration information used on the

switch supervisor to manage the Fabric Extender:
 Configurations
Port Vlan Configuration:
Sw1-NX(CONFIG)#INT E0/1-10
Sw1-NX (CONFIG-IF-RANGE)# SWITCHPORT ACCESS VLAN 100

CONFIGURING PORT CHANNELS

Sw1-NX(CONFIG)#FEATURE PORT-CHANNEL
Sw1-NX(CONFIG)#FEATURE LACP
Sw1-NX(CONFIG)#INTERFACE PORT-CHANNEL PO1

Sw1-NX(CONFIG)#INTERFACE E0/10-20
Sw1-NX(CONFIG-IF-RANGE)#CHANNEL-GROUP 1
Sw1-NX(CONFIG-IF-RANGE)#CHANNEL-GROUP 1 MODE ACTIVE

Sw1-NX(CONFIG)#INTERFACE PO1
Sw1-NX(CONFIG-IF)#SWITCHPORT MODE TRUNK
Sw1-NX(CONFIG)#SHOW PORT-CHANNEL PO1
Continued..

Sw1-NX(CONFIG)#INT E0/1
Sw1-NX(CONFIG-IF)#SWITCHPORT HOST

//PORT FAST COMMAND//

Sw1-NX(CONFIG)#SWITCHNAME NEXUS5020

// NAMING A SWITCH //
Continued..
Sw1-NX(CONFIG)#INT E0/1-10
Sw1-NX (CONFIG-IF-RANGE)#SWITCHPORT ACCESS
VLAN 100

//Range COMMAND//
 VPC
(Virtual Port Channel)
A virtual PortChannel (vPC) allows links that are physically connected
to two different Cisco Nexus 5000 Series devices to appear as a single
PortChannel to a third device. The third device can be a Cisco Nexus
2000 Series Fabric Extender or a switch, server, or any other
networking device. A vPC can provide Layer 2 multipathing, which
allows you to create redundancy by increasing bandwidth, enabling
multiple parallel paths between nodes and load- balancing traffic where
alternative paths exist.
After you enable the vPC function, you create a peer keepalive link,
which sends heartbeat messages between the two vPC peer devices.
The vPC domain includes both vPC peer devices, the vPC peer
keepalive link, the vPC peer link, and all the PortChannels in the vPC
domain connected to the downstream device.You can have only one vPC
domain ID on each device.
Continued..
A vPC provides the following benefits:
Allows a single device to use a PortChannel across two
upstream devices
Eliminates Spanning Tree Protocol blocked ports
Provides a loop-free topology
Uses all available uplink bandwidth
Provides fast convergence if either the link or a device fails
Provides link-level resiliency
Helps ensure high availability
Continued..

The vPC deployment scenario shown below allows the Cisco

Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders to connect to a pair of
Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches and make all links active.

(vPC with Each Fabric Extender Dual-Connected to

Two Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches)
 vPC Concepts
The following list defines critical vPC concepts:

vPC: vPC refers to the combined PortChannel between the vPC peer
devices and the downstream device.
vPC peer switch: The vPC peer switch is one of a pair of switches that
are connected to the special PortChannel known as the vPC peer link. One
device will be selected as the primary device, and the other will be the
secondary device.
vPC peer link: The vPC peer link is the link used to synchronize states
between the vPC peer devices. The vPC peer link carries control traffic
between two vPC switches and also multicast, broadcast data traffic. In
some link failure scenarios, it also carries unicast traffic.You should have at
least two 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces for peer links.
vPC domain: This domain includes both vPC peer devices, the vPC peer
keepalive link, and all the PortChannels in the vPC connected to the
downstream devices. It is also associated with the configuration mode that
you must use to assign vPC global parameters.
Continued..
vPC peer keepalive link: The peer keepalive link
monitors the vitality of a vPC peer switch. The peer
keepalive link sends periodic keepalive messages
between vPC peer devices. The vPC peer keepalive link
can be a management interface or switched virtual
interface (SVI). No data or synchronization traffic moves
over the vPC peer keepalive link; the only traffic on this
link is a message that indicates that the originating switch
is operating and running vPC.
vPC member port: vPC member ports are interfaces
that belong to the vPCs.
vPC Configuration Example
Continued..
Thank you all for your valuable
presence..!!

Regards:
Prateek Jain