Virtual Port Channels
Ibrahim ElSawy
Telco Cloud Operation | IP Backbone Planning | Master of Engineering Telecom Networks | Red hat OpenShift Administration | Ansible Automation | CCNP Service Provider
A virtual port channel (vPC) allows links that are physically connected to two different Cisco Nexus 7000 or 9000 Series devices to appear as a single port channel by a third device. The third device can be a switch, server, or any other networking device that supports port channels. A vPC can provide Layer 2 multipathing, which allows you to create redundancy and increase the bisectional bandwidth by enabling multiple parallel paths between nodes and allowing load-balancing traffic.
vPC provides the following technical benefits:
Lab Environment: EVE-NG
Switches OS: nxos.9.3.1
Configuration?of the vPC on core Switches 01&02
NXS-SW-01# configure terminal?
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
NXS-SW-01(config)# feature vpc
NXS-SW-01(config)# vpc domain 100
NXS-SW-01(config-vpc-domain)# exit
NXS-SW-01(config)# interface mgmt 0
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# ip address 192.168.1.1/24
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# no shutdown
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# vrf member management
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# exit
NXS-SW-01(config)# vpc domain 100
NXS-SW-01(config-vpc-domain)# peer-keepalive destination 192.168.1.2 source 192.168.1.1 vrf management
NXS-SW-01(config-vpc-domain)# end
NXS-SW-01# show vpc peer-keepalive?
NXS-SW-01(config)# feature lacp?
NXS-SW-01(config)# interface ethernet 1/2-3
NXS-SW-01(config-if-range)# description *peer link*
NXS-SW-01(config-if-range)# no shutdown?
NXS-SW-01(config-if-range)# channel-group 10 mode active?
NXS-SW-01(config-if-range)# exit
NXS-SW-01(config)# interface port-channel 10
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# no shutdown?
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# description "peer link"
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# switchport?
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# switchport mode trunk?
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# vpc peer-link?
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# end
NXS-SW-01# show vpc
NXS-SW-02# configure terminal?
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
NXS-SW-02(config)# interface mgmt 0
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# ip address 192.168.1.2/24
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# no shutdown
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# vrf member management
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# exit
NXS-SW-02(config)# feature vpc
NXS-SW-02(config)# vpc domain 100
NXS-SW-02(config-vpc-domain)# peer-keepalive destination 192.168.1.1 source 192.168.1.2 vrf management
NXS-SW-02(config-vpc-domain)# end
NXS-SW-02# show vpc peer-keepalive?
NXS-SW-02(config)# feature lacp?
NXS-SW-02(config)# interface ethernet 1/2-3
NXS-SW-02(config-if-range)# description *peer link*
NXS-SW-02(config-if-range)# no shutdown?
NXS-SW-02(config-if-range)# channel-group 10 mode active?
NXS-SW-02(config-if-range)# exit
NXS-SW-02(config)# interface port-channel 10
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# no shutdown?
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# description "peer link"
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# switchport?
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# switchport mode trunk?
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# vpc peer-link?
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# end
Configuration of Po 20 on core switches 01&02
NXS-SW-01(config)# interface ethernet 1/4
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# no shutdown?
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# description "to access switch"
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# channel-group 20 mode active?
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# interface port-channel 20
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# no shutdown?
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# description "to access switch"
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# switchport?
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# switchport mode trunk?
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# vpc 100??
NXS-SW-01(config-if)# end
NXS-SW-02(config)# interface ethernet 1/4
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# no shutdown?
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# description "to access switch"
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# channel-group 20 mode active?
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# interface port-channel 20
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# no shutdown?
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# description "to access switch"
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# switchport?
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# switchport mode trunk?
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# vpc 100
NXS-SW-02(config-if)# end
Access switch configuration
NXS-SW-08# configure terminal?
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
NXS-SW-08(config)# feature lacp
NXS-SW-08(config)# interface ethernet 1/1-2
NXS-SW-08(config-if-range)# no shutdown?
NXS-SW-08(config-if-range)# description "to core switch"
NXS-SW-08(config-if-range)# channel-group 20 mode active?
NXS-SW-08(config-if-range)#
NXS-SW-08(config)# interface port-channel 20
NXS-SW-08(config-if)# no shutdown?
NXS-SW-08(config-if)# description "to core switch"
NXS-SW-08(config-if)# switchport mode trunk?
NXS-SW-08(config-if)# show port-channel summary?
NXS-SW-01# show vpc
NXS-SW-01# show vpc consistency-parameters vpc 100
For more details, please check below references