Cisco Nexus 1000v on vSphere 5 - basic configuration (L3 Control)

By | July 15, 2015

In this post I will show a basic configuration of Cisco Nexus 1000v after deployment presented here. We have deployed two Nexus 1000v VSM machines. Let's configure it!

The following configuration is based on some requirements:

  • L3 control via mgmt0 interface
  • Five VLANs: 22 (system vlan, L3 capability), 150, 300, 450, 777
  • Port-Profile with LACP configured to the upstream switches

vCenter connection:

config t
svs connection vCenter
protocol vmware-vim
remote ip address 172.17.150.50
vmware dvs datacenter-name Datacenter1
connect

Switchname and VLAN database configuration:

conf t
switchname Nexus-Datacenter1
vlan 22
name vlan_system_control
vlan 150
name PROD1
vlan 300
name PROD2
vlan 450
name PROD3
vlan777
name PROD4

Port-Profile configuration for Virtual Machines:

port-profile type vethernet PROD_150
vmware port-group
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 150
vmware max-ports 512
no shutdown
state enabled
port-profile type vethernet PROD_300
vmware port-group
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 300
vmware max-ports 512
no shutdown
state enabled
port-profile type vethernet PROD_450
vmware port-group
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 450
vmware max-ports 512
no shutdown
state enabled
port-profile type vethernet PROD_777
vmware port-group
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 777
vmware max-ports 512
no shutdown
state enabled

Port-Profile configuration with L3 Capability:

port-profile type vethernet Nexus_Control
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 22
no shutdown
capability l3control
max-ports 20
system vlan 22
state enabled
vmware port-group

Port-Profile configuration to the upstream switches:

port-profile type ethernet PROD_UPLINK
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 22,150,300,450,777
switchport trunk native vlan 1
vmware port-group
state enabled
system vlan 22
no shutdown
channel-group auto mode on

LACP configuration:

feature lacp
lacp offload

The configuration shown above is a basic configuration. If you need more features just leave a comment.

Author: Mariusz

Architect (~ 15 years experience based on passion...) with strong background as a System Administrator and Engineer. Focused on Data Center Solutions: Virtualization/Cloud Computing and Storage/Backup Systems. Currently living in Poland.