Cisco Nexus 1000v best practices

[rob_ellison]

are there any best practises around having the service console within

the DVS? i had a situation the other day when once the ESX server

rebooted the VEM didn't seem to come back online. as the service

console was within the DVS i lost access to the ESX server completely!

the only option was a complete reinstall as the 'remove custom

extensions' option in ESXi does give me access back but the VEM cannot

be reinstalled as vCenter thinks it is already there! very frustrating!

ideally i want to have 6 NICs all bundled in an etherchannel to carry every vlan and the service console / vmotion networks.

[RBurns-WIS]

If you service console is behind the 1000v, you need to ensure it's VLAN is defined as a "System VLAN" in both your Service Console Port Profile and the Uplink Port Profile. This will allow it to come online following a reboot, prior to each VEM being programmed by the VSM.

Here's a deployment guide (attached) that details best practices.

Cheers,

Robert

[ArsonSmith]

so on a standard ESX vSphear 4.0 box, how do you fix it if it was rebooted and now can't talk on the network due to not having the system vlan set up right?

[RBurns-WIS]

Assuming you've migrated all your vmnics to the DVS and have none connecting to a vSwitch in your case, the easiest way would be to get onto the console, KVM, or iLO of the box, create a standard vSwitch with a temporary service console, migrate one adapter from the DVS to the vSwitch then correct your 1000v config.

1. From the command line you'll need to find the DVPort ID, the DVS Switch name and the adapter (vmnic) you wish to migrate.

You can get this info by issuing:

esxcfg-vswitch -l | more

(This will list all the items above, take note of them).

2. Then issue:

esxcfg-vswitch -Q <vmnic#> -V <DVPort ID#> <DVS Switch Name>

(This will remove an adapter attached to the 1000v).

3. Next step is to create your temp vSwitch and Service Console and assign that vmnic to the vSwitch. You should be familiar with this procedure.

The first time you add a vSphere host to the DVS it will push the DVS configuration out over the Management VLAN (service console/VMKernel port) and then connect back to the 1000v using the Control VLAN. Since the Control VLAN is required for all communication between the VSM and VEM hosts, this VLAN needs to always be in a forwarding state (aka defined as a system VLAN).As I'vesaid before other VLANs that should be included as a System VLAN are those for IP Storage and Host Management)

Robert