This second part of our series on Deploying Storage Spaces Direct will focus on the core Switch Configurations.
For this blog post series, we have chosen to use Cisco Nexus Switches and given the running configuration.
Obviously, not everyone is going to be using Cisco Switches for their infrastructure. The nice thing about this
post is that it is easy enough to configure other switches with a good running config example.
So let’s get started then….
Cisco Nexus 9372x Switch Configuration
Windows 2016 uses a feature called SMB Direct, which supports the use of network adapters that have RDMA capabilities. Network adapters that support RDMA can function at full speed with very low latency, while using very little CPU. When used for workloads like Hyper-V or SQL Server this can actually resemble locally attached storage.
All of the components listed earlier in this Blog Post support SMB Direct and RDMA. So, let’s go ahead and proceed with the switch configuration. If you remember SET teaming doesn’t support LACP also known as EtherChannel. So, we will configure the Switch Ports as trunk ports only.
We will use the following VLAN’s in this configuration:
VLAN |
VLAN Name |
VLAN Description |
2 |
VLAN2-Backup |
Backup and Replication |
4 |
VLAN4-SMB3 |
SMB3 Dedicated VLAN |
8 |
VLAN8-LiveMigration |
Hyper-V Live Migration |
9 |
VLAN9-CSV |
Cluster Communication |
10 |
VLAN10-MGMT |
Management VLAN |
# Create VLANs the for Switches
SWITCH#configure terminal
SWITCH(config)#vlan 2
SWITCH(config-vlan)#name VLAN2-Backup
SWITCH(config-vlan)#exit
SWITCH(config)#vlan 4
SWITCH(config-vlan)#name VLAN4-SMB3
SWITCH(config-vlan)#exit
SWITCH(config)#vlan 8
SWITCH(config)#name VLAN8-LiveMigration
SWITCH(config-vlan)#exit
SWITCH(config)#vlan 9
SWITCH(config-vlan)#name VLAN9-CSV
SWITCH(config-vlan)#exit
SWITCH(config)#vlan 10
SWITCH(config-vlan)#name VLAN10-MGMT
SWITCH(config-vlan)#exit
# Assigning IP addresses to VLANs
SWITCH#configure terminal
SWITCH(config)#interface vlan 10
SWITCH(config-if)#ip address 10.0.10.212 255.255.255.0
SWITCH(config-if)#exit
# Assigning SWITCH1 Interfaces to VLANs
switch#configure terminal
switch(config)#Interface Ethernet1/1
switch(config-if)#description S2D Node A – Riser P1
switch(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk native vlan 10
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan 2 to 10
switch(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
switch(config-if)#no shut
switch(config-if)#exit
switch(config)#Interface Ethernet1/2
switch(config-if)#description S2D Node B – Riser P1
switch(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk native vlan 10
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan 2 to 10
switch(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
switch(config-if)#no shut
switch(config-if)#exit
switch(config)#Interface Ethernet1/3
switch(config-if)#description S2D Node C – Riser P1
switch(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk native vlan 10
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan 2 to 10
switch(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
switch(config-if)#no shut
switch(config-if)#exit
switch(config)#Interface Ethernet1/4
switch(config-if)#description S2D Node D – Riser P1
switch(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk native vlan 10
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan 2 to 10
switch(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
switch(config-if)#no shut
switch(config-if)#exit
# Assigning SWITCH2 Interfaces to VLANs
switch#configure terminal
switch(config)#Interface Ethernet1/1
switch(config-if)#description S2D Node A – Riser P2
switch(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk native vlan 10
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan 2 to 10
switch(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
switch(config-if)#no shut
switch(config-if)#exit
switch(config)#Interface Ethernet1/2
switch(config-if)#description S2D Node B – Riser P2
switch(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk native vlan 10
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan 2 to 10
switch(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
switch(config-if)#no shut
switch(config-if)#exit
switch(config)#Interface Ethernet1/3
switch(config-if)#description S2D Node C – Riser P2
switch(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk native vlan 10
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan 2 to 10
switch(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
switch(config-if)#no shut
switch(config-if)#exit
switch(config)#Interface Ethernet1/4
switch(config-if)#description S2D Node D – Riser P2
switch(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk native vlan 10
switch(config-if)# switchport trunk allowed vlan 2 to 10
switch(config-if)# switchport mode trunk
switch(config-if)#no shut
switch(config-if)#exit
For the final configuration, we will configure an Inter-Switch Link (ISL) between our pair of switches to support the redundant cabling configuration. These will be connected using 2 x of the 40 Gbps QSFP+ cables.
Well folks that is where we will leave part #2 of this blog post. In the next post we will show you how to configure your Mellanox CX3-Pro Adapters with QoS and RMDA Configurations.
Thanks,
Cristal
Cristal Kawula
Cristal Kawula is the co-founder of MVPDays Community Roadshow and #MVPHour live Twitter Chat. She was also a member of the Gridstore Technical Advisory board and is the President of TriCon Elite Consulting. Cristal is also only the 2nd woman in the world to receive the prestigious Veeam Vanguard award.
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Twitter: @supercristal1