Application Notes
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A Sample Configuration with Design Guidelines for Link Aggregation Between Avaya™ P580/P882 Gigabit Ethernet Switch Hunt Groups and Cisco EtherChannel - Issue 1.0 Abstract These Application Notes describe a sample Hunt Group/EtherChannel Link Aggregation Group (LAG) configuration between an Avaya™ P882 Gigabit Ethernet switch and a Cisco Catalyst 6509 switch. Design guidelines for deploying LAG in a mixed Avaya/Cisco infrastructure are included as an aid for network designers. A sample configuration diagram has been included along with provisioning notes. These Application Notes were created as a result of field requests for information on interoperability between Avaya P580/P882 Hunt group trunks and Cisco EtherChannel. GAK; Reviewed: Solution & Interoperability Test Lab Application Notes 1 of 15 WCH 7/18/2003 ©2003 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved. cislaginterop.doc 1. Introduction The Avaya™ P580/P882 Gigabit Ethernet Switch Hunt Group feature aggregates multiple switch ports together, combining the bandwidth into a single connection. This feature is normally deployed between switches to provide added bandwidth and fault tolerance. If one segment in a hunt group fails, the remaining active members will service the traffic for that segment. The Hunt Group Load-Sharing feature (enabled by default) distributes traffic load among the hunt group members for improved throughput performance. Hunt group member ports can be configured using various trunk modes including IEEE 802.1Q, Multi-layer, 3Com and Clear. Hunt group ports may also be assigned a router IP interface for layer 3 forwarding. The Avaya™ Hunt Group feature is a manual (or static) implementation of link aggregation. This means the feature does not support dynamic LAG configuration or binding via some standard or proprietary protocol. Examples of such protocols include Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) for dynamic 802.3ad and Cisco’s Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP) for dynamic EtherChannel negotiation. It is possible to configure Avaya™ Hunt Groups to interoperate with third-party vendors. Forcing a LAG to be formed statically with a third-party vendor device without dynamic protocol negotiation is normally used for interoperability. These Application Notes specifically address a sample configuration using a static 1000BaseT Hunt Group-to-EtherChannel trunk between an Avaya™ P882 Gigabit Ethernet switch and a Cisco Catalyst 6509 switch (Figure 1). Design guidelines for deploying hunt group/EtherChannel LAG trunks in a mixed Avaya/Cisco converged infrastructure environment have been included as an aid. Avaya (TM) P882 VLAN Cisco VLAN 200 Gigabit Ethernet 6509 100 Switch VLAN 100 2/7 Host 1 3/7 4/4 4/8 Host 3 5/4 4/9 1000Base 3/13 LAG 2/17 P882 Router IP VLAN 100 - Host 4 Host 2 VLAN 200 - Figure 1: Sample Avaya/Cisco LAG Configuration GAK; Reviewed: Solution & Interoperability Test Lab Application Notes 2 of 15 WCH 7/18/2003 ©2003 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved. cislaginterop.doc 2. Equipment and Software Validated The following equipment and software were used for the sample configuration provided: Equipment Software Avaya™ P882 Gigabit Ethernet Version 5.4 Gigabit Ethernet Switch Switch Software 1 – M8000R-SUP 1 – M8024R-100TX 1 – M8008R-1000T Cisco Catalyst 6509 Switch CatOS Version 7.4(2) 1 – WS-X6K-SUP1A-2GE 1 – WS-X6548-RJ-45 1 – WS-X6316-GE-TX 4 -PC’s with 100BaseTX Adapters Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional 2.1. Typical Mixed Deployments In mixed Avaya/Cisco infrastructure environments, network engineers may decide to implement Link Aggregation Groups (LAGs) between Avaya P580/P882 Gigabit Ethernet switches and Cisco Catalyst switches. The environment will typically be either an Avaya Core/Distribution Layer with Cisco at the Access Layer or vice versa (Figure 2). In either case, the simple guidelines in section 2.2 can be used as an aid for designing such deployments. Avaya P580/P882 Gigabit Ethernet Cisco Catalyst Sith Avaya Cisco Core/Distribution Core/Distribution Layer Layer Fast Ethernet or Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet Trunks Passive OSPF or Trunks Passive OSPF or RIP Interfaces LAG LAG RIP Interfaces LAG LAG Cisco Avaya Access Access Layer Layer Avaya P580/P882 Avaya P580/P882 Cisco Catalyst Cisco Catalyst Gigabit Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet Sith Sith Figure 2: Typical LAG Deployments for Mixed Avaya/Cisco Infrastructure GAK; Reviewed: Solution & Interoperability Test Lab Application Notes 3 of 15 WCH 7/18/2003 ©2003 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved. cislaginterop.doc 2.2. Guidelines for EtherChannel/Hunt Group Interoperability • All EtherChannel/Hunt Group member ports must be assigned to the same native/port VLAN, or they must all be configured as IEEE 802.1Q trunk ports • All EtherChannel/Hunt Group member ports must operate at the same speed and duplex • All EtherChannel/Hunt Group member ports must be enabled in order for each LAG segment to forward traffic • The Cisco EtherChannel Frame Distribution should be set to IP Both1 • Static VLANs should be used for all EtherChannel/Hunt Group trunk ports2 • The Cisco EtherChannel must be set to channel mode on 2.3. How to Optimize Hunt Group Performance and Survivability The following are suggestions for improving hunt group performance and survivability. It may be difficult to follow all of these guidelines simultaneously in a cost effective manner. In general, the suggestions higher on the list should be followed before those lower on the list when conflicts arise. • Client endpoint ports should be distributed across as many module ports as possible on the switch. The Hunt Group load-sharing distribution algorithm balances traffic more effectively when many clients are diverse spread across the switching fabric. The sample configuration provided demonstrates this by keeping half the hosts on ports 1-12 of an M8024-100TX module and the other half on ports 13-24. • Hunt group ports should be provisioned evenly across the extreme left and right sides (if possible) of a module in order to better distribute traffic across the switching fabric. This improves throughput performance and survivability, in the event of a fabric port failure. • The number of hunt group ports deployed on a switch should be kept to the minimum amount needed to satisfy the configuration. If the switch has many more client ports than hunt group ports its ability to load-share is greater. • Hunt group ports should reside on separate modules from client endpoints whenever possible. The sample configuration provided demonstrates this by keeping client ports on the M8024R-100TX module and hunt group ports on two M8008R-1000T modules. 1 Recommended in Cisco Catalyst Best Practices for Catalyst 4000, 5000, and 6000 Series Switches - Cisco Systems 2 Recommended in Cisco Catalyst 6000 Series Switches Configuring EtherChannel - Cisco Systems GAK; Reviewed: Solution & Interoperability Test Lab Application Notes 4 of 15 WCH 7/18/2003 ©2003 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved. cislaginterop.doc • Hunt group ports should be distributed across two or more media modules to improve survivability in the event of a module failure. The sample configuration provided demonstrates this by spreading the hunt group ports across two M8008R-1000T modules. For further technical details on the Hunt Group feature and its hardware dependencies please see the Appendix at the end of this document. 3. Avaya P882 Hunt Group Web Agent Administration The following configuration steps discuss configuring the hunt group and router IP interface for the P882 depicted in Figure 1. Please consult Avaya switch documentation for details on configuring the client ports if needed. These Application Notes describe two different ways to provision the Avaya™ P882 switch: • Section 3 - describes the setup using the Web Agent • Section 4 - describes the setup using the Command Line Interface (CLI) 3.1. Create a VLAN for the Hunt Group 1. Select Cajun Router ! L2 Switching ! VLANs ! Configuration from the Web Agent. The VLAN Configuration window opens. 2. Click the CREATE button. The Create VLAN window opens (Figure 3). Figure 3: Create VLAN 3. Enter a unique VLAN name (e.g. vlan100) in the Name field. 4. Enter the VLAN ID 100 in the ID field. 5. Click the APPLY button. 3.2. Create the Hunt Group 1. Select Hunt Groups under the Cajun Router ! L2 Switching folder. The Hunt Group configuration window opens. GAK; Reviewed: Solution & Interoperability Test Lab Application Notes 5 of 15 WCH 7/18/2003 ©2003 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved. cislaginterop.doc 2. Select CREATE. The Create Hunt Group window opens (Figure 4). Figure 4: Create Hunt Group 3. Enter a unique hunt group name (e.g. 1000) in the Name field. Note: The hunt group name can be a string consisting of numbers or letters. In this example 1000 was used in order to match with the Cisco EtherChannel Admin Group ID 1000 used by the Catalyst for easier identification. 4. Click the APPLY button. 3.3. Assign the VLAN and Hunt Group to Member Ports Attention: Manually disable all hunt group ports using the Web Agent or disconnect the physical cables used by the hunt group ports before executing the steps provided below. 1. Select Cajun Router ! Modules & Ports ! Configuration from the Web Agent. The Module Information window opens. 2. Select the switch ports for Module 4 under the Switch Ports column. The Switch Ports window opens. 3. Select port name Port 4.4 from the Name column. The Switch Port Configuration for Port 4.4 window opens (Figure 5). GAK; Reviewed: Solution & Interoperability Test Lab Application Notes 6 of 15 WCH 7/18/2003 ©2003 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved. cislaginterop.doc Figure 5: Switch Port Configuration for Port 4.4 4. Select vlan100 from the Port VLAN drop-down menu. 5. Select IEEE 802.1Q from the Trunk Mode drop-down menu. Note: If Cisco ISL tagging is desired select Multilayer instead. 6. Select 1000 from the Hunt Group drop-down menu.