Michael McNamara

technology, networking, virtualization and IP telephony

802.1Q VLAN Tagging on a Cisco Catalyst 3750-E

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In the two previous posts I covered how to create multiple VLANs, trunk those VLANs between multiple stackable Avaya Ethernet Routing Switches utilizing Multi-Link Trunking and how to create Layer 3 IP interfaces to be used for routing IP packets between those VLANs.

In this post I thought I would expand the network topology of my previous two posts to include a Cisco Catalyst 3750-E. I’ll specifically cover how to trunk (bridge) multiple VLANs between a stackable Avaya Ethernet Routing Switch and the Cisco Catalyst 3750-E and how to configure multiple interfaces in a Link Aggregation Group (LAG) utilizing LACP similar to Avaya’s proprietary MLT feature.

Avaya Ethernet Routing Switch 4548

enable
config t

Let’s start by making ports 45 and 46 trunk ports which will utilize 802.1Q tagging;

vlan ports 45,46 tagging tagAll

Let’s add the VLANs we wish to bridge across the trunk ports;

vlan members add 1 45,46
vlan members add 100 45,46
vlan members add 200 45,46

Now we’ll enable LACP on ports 45 and 46 using the same LACP key which will automatically create the LAG;

interface fastEthernet 45
lacp key 10
lacp mode active
lacp timeout-time short
lacp aggregation enable
exit

interface fastEthernet 46
lacp key 10
lacp mode active
lacp timeout-time short
lacp aggregation enable
exit

Avaya Ethernet Routing Switch 4548 – Show Commands

4548GT-PWR#show lacp port 45,46
Admin Oper         Trunk Partner
Port Priority Lacp    A/I Timeout Key   Key   AggrId Id    Port    Status
---- -------- ------- --- ------- ----- ----- ------ ----- ------- ------
45   32768    Active  A   Short   10    12298 8224   32    302     Active
46   32768    Active  A   Short   10    12298 8224   32    303     Active

4548GT-PWR#show mac-address-table
Mac Address Table Aging Time: 300
Number of addresses: 26

   MAC Address    Vid  Source         MAC Address    Vid  Source
----------------- ---- -------     ----------------- ---- -------
00-02-B3-CB-77-A2    1 Port:19     00-04-61-9E-46-7E    1 Port:21
00-0C-29-64-33-F9    1 Port:19     00-0C-29-A5-CB-54    1 Port:19
00-0F-20-95-38-D5    1 Port:11     00-18-01-EA-F4-45    1 Port: 1
00-1C-11-6B-DC-6B    1 Port: 1     00-1C-11-6D-15-27    1 Port: 1
00-1C-11-6D-15-DC    1 Port: 1     00-1E-7E-7C-2C-00    1
00-1E-7E-7C-2C-40    1             00-1F-0A-CE-BC-01    1 Trunk:1
00-1F-0A-CE-BC-40    1 Trunk:1     00-1F-D0-D0-BE-2D    1 Port:17
00-23-EE-96-AA-21    1 Port: 1     00-24-B5-F6-94-02    1 Trunk:1
00-64-40-CF-4D-AD    1 Trunk:32    00-64-40-CF-4D-AE    1 Trunk:32
00-64-40-CF-4D-C0    1 Trunk:32    00-0A-E4-76-9C-C8    2 Port:44
00-24-DC-DF-0D-08    2 Port:43     00-A0-F8-5E-CE-BC    2 Port:39
00-1F-0A-CE-BC-41  100 Trunk:1     00-24-7F-99-84-70  100 Port:25
00-64-40-CF-4D-AD  100 Trunk:32    00-1E-CA-F3-1D-B4  200 Port:26
00-1F-0A-CE-BC-43  200 Trunk:1     00-64-40-CF-4D-AD  200 Trunk:32

4548GT-PWR#show mlt
Id Name             Members                Bpdu   Mode           Status  Type
-- ---------------- ---------------------- ------ -------------- ------- ------
1  MLT_to_ERS5520   47-48                  All    Basic          Enabled Trunk
2  Trunk #2         NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
3  Trunk #3         NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
4  Trunk #4         NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
5  Trunk #5         NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
6  Trunk #6         NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
7  Trunk #7         NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
8  Trunk #8         NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
9  Trunk #9         NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
10 Trunk #10        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
11 Trunk #11        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
12 Trunk #12        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
13 Trunk #13        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
14 Trunk #14        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
15 Trunk #15        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
16 Trunk #16        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
17 Trunk #17        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
18 Trunk #18        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
19 Trunk #19        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
20 Trunk #20        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
21 Trunk #21        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
22 Trunk #22        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
23 Trunk #23        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
24 Trunk #24        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
25 Trunk #25        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
26 Trunk #26        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
27 Trunk #27        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
28 Trunk #28        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
29 Trunk #29        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
30 Trunk #30        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
31 Trunk #31        NONE                   All    Basic          Disabled
32 Trunk #32        45-46                  Single DynLag/Basic   Enabled Trunk

You might be looking at the output above and asking yourself what’s “Trunk 32”? Let me provide some quick background. You can have a total of 32 MLT/LAG trunks on a stackable Avaya Ethernet Routing Switch. When you create LACP trunks the switch automatically creates a LAG in the MLT table dynamically from the bottom up. While in the previous post I created “Trunk 1” by trunking ports 47 and 48 together (see above), in this post I’ve created an LACP trunk on ports 45 and 46 which will be reported it the switch as “Trunk 32”. You can also see it in the MAC/FDB table above.

Cisco Catalyst 3750-E

enable
config t

Let’s give the switch an IP address in VLAN 1 for management;

vlan 1
ip address 192.168.1.25 255.255.255.0
no shut
exit

Let’s create VLAN 100 and VLAN 200 on the switch;

vlan 100
name "192-168-100-0/24"
exit
vlan 200
name "192-168-200-0/24"
exit

Let’s add the appropriate edge ports to each VLAN;

interface range gigabitEthernet 1/0/1-12
switchport access vlan 1
exit
interface range gigabitEthernet 1/0/13-24
switchport access vlan 100
exit
interface range gigabitEthernet 1/0/25-36
switchport access vlan 200
exit

Let’s configure ports 45 and 46 as trunk ports and bond them together in channel-group utilizing LACP;

interface gigabitEthernet 1/0/45
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport mode trunk
channel-protocol lacp
channel-group 1 mode active

interface gigabitEthernet 1/0/46
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport mode trunk
channel-protocol lacp
channel-group 1 mode active

Cisco Catalyst 3750-E – Show Commands

SW-3750-E#show lacp neighbor
Flags:  S - Device is requesting Slow LACPDUs
F - Device is requesting Fast LACPDUs
A - Device is in Active mode       P - Device is in Passive mode

Channel group 1 neighbors

Partner's information:

LACP port                        Admin  Oper   Port    Port
Port      Flags   Priority  Dev ID          Age    key    Key    Number  State
Gi1/0/45  FA      32768     001e.7e7c.2c00  16s    0x0    0x300A 0x2D    0x3F
Gi1/0/46  FA      32768     001e.7e7c.2c00  27s    0x0    0x300A 0x2E    0x3F

Switch#show mac address-table
          Mac Address Table
-------------------------------------------

Vlan    Mac Address       Type        Ports
----    -----------       --------    -----
 All    0100.0ccc.cccc    STATIC      CPU
 All    0100.0ccc.cccd    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.0000    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.0001    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.0002    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.0003    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.0004    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.0005    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.0006    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.0007    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.0008    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.0009    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.000a    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.000b    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.000c    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.000d    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.000e    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.000f    STATIC      CPU
 All    0180.c200.0010    STATIC      CPU
 All    ffff.ffff.ffff    STATIC      CPU
   1    0004.619e.467e    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    000c.2964.33f9    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    000c.29a5.cb54    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    000f.2095.38d5    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    0018.01ea.f445    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    001c.116b.dc6b    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    001c.116d.1527    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    001c.116d.15dc    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    001e.7e7c.2c01    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    001e.7e7c.2c2d    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    001e.7e7c.2c2e    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    001f.d0d0.be2d    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    0023.ee96.aa21    DYNAMIC     Po1
   1    00a0.f85e.cebd    DYNAMIC     Po1
 100    0024.7f99.84e9    DYNAMIC     Po1
 200    0008.02e4.890a    DYNAMIC     Gi1/0/25
 200    001e.caf3.1db4    DYNAMIC     Po1
Total Mac Addresses for this criterion: 37

You might be asking why didn’t I assign the VLANs to the trunk ports on the Cisco Catalyst 3750-E… well with Cisco switches a trunk port is by default a member of all the VLANs that exist on the switch. So you don’t need to specifically add a VLAN to a trunk port, however, you can override the default behavior by telling the switch to only carry specific VLANs on a specific trunk port – this is called VLAN pruning.

Please feel free to point out any inconsistencies or errors I might have made.

Cheers!

LACP Configuration Examples (Part 3)

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In part 3 of this series I’ll provide a relatively simple example of a LACP LAG between a HP GbE2c L2/L3 switch and two Nortel switches, we’ll terminate two different LAGs on the two ERS 8600 switches using Nortel’s proprietary SMLT (Split MultiLink Trunking) technology.

Example 2 – Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 to a set of HP GbE2c L2/L3 switches using LACP trunks with SMLT

As I said before a picture is worth a thousand words and can be very helpful in designing any network topology.

lacp-example3

I’m going to skip the configuration of the two Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8600s since you can refer to the earlier post for an example of how to configure them. In this design we need to disable the virtual cross connect that exists between the A and B sides of the two HP GbE2c switches. Please note that I’m working with the HP GbE2c (C-Class enclosure) not the GbE2 (P-Class enclosure). There are some slight differences between the two. The virtual trunk ports between the A and B sides are on ports 17 and 18 so those ports need to be disabled in order to prevent a loop.

HP-GbE2c-A / HP-GbE2c-B
/c/port 17/dis
/c/port 18/dis

With the virtual trunk cross connects disabled we can now wire each switch independently to the upstream switch(s) which in this case happens to be two ERS 8600s. As is usual for me I’ll create a network management VLAN and place the IP interface of each GbE2c switch in that VLAN (VLAN 200).

HP-GbE2c-A / HP-GbE2c-B
/c/l2/vlan 200
/c/l2/vlan 200/ena
/c/l2/vlan 200/name "10-101-255-0/24"

Let’s add VLAN 200 to the two ports, 21 and 22, that we’ll be using to uplink to the 8600 switches. We haven’t yet enabled tagging so the switch will ask you if you’d like to change the PVID from VLAN 1 (default) to VLAN 200, you can safely answer yes to this question.

HP-GbE2c-A / HP-GbE2c-B
/c/l2/vlan 200/add 21
/c/l2/vlan 200/add 22

Let’s enable tagging on both uplink ports along with RMON and set the PVID just to be safe;

HP-GbE2c-A / HP-GbE2c-B
/c/port 21/tag ena
/c/port 21/pvid 200
/c/port 21/rmon e
/c/port 22/tag ena
/c/port 22/pvid 200
/c/port 22/rmon e

Let’s turn off Spanning Tree on the uplinks, we only want Spanning Tree local to the switch since SMLT will take care of providing the loop free topology.

HP-GbE2c-A / HP-GbE2c-B
/c/l2/stp 1/port 21/off
/c/l2/stp 1/port 22/off

Now it’s time to configure LACP and create the LAG (Link Aggregation Group). We’ll using LACP key 50 but you could use any admin key (number) so long as both ports are configured with the same admin key.

HP-GbE2c-A / HP-GbE2c-B
/c/l2/lacp/port 21/mode active
/c/l2/lacp/port 21/adminkey 50
/c/l2/lacp/port 22/mode active
/c/l2/lacp/port 22/adminkey 50

Here’s the special sauce that will work in combination with the NIC teaming software to fail over in the event of an upstream switch problem or an uplink problem where the GbE2c continues to function but there’s a problem upstream. This configuration will cause the GbE2c switch to disable (admin-down) the server switch ports in the event that the LACP group goes down. This will cause the NIC teaming configuration on the servers to fail-over to the standby NIC.

HP-GbE2c-A / HP-GbE2c-B
/c/ufd/on
/c/ufd/fdp/ltm/addkey 50
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport  1
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport  2
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport  3
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport  4
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport  5
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport  6
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport  7
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport  8
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport  9
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport 10
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport 11
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport 12
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport 13
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport 14
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport 15
/c/ufd/fdp/ltd/addport 16

If you haven’t already let’s configure an IP address (for management) on VLAN 200;

HP-GbE2c-A
/c/l3/if 1/ena
/c/l3/if 1/addr 10.1.255.128
/c/l3/if 1/mask 255.255.255.0
/c/l3/if 1/broad 10.1.255.255
/c/l3/if 1/vlan 200

We need to use a different IP address for the B side switch on VLAN 200;

HP-GbE2c-B
/c/l3/if 1/ena
/c/l3/if 1/addr 10.1.255.129
/c/l3/if 1/mask 255.255.255.0
/c/l3/if 1/broad 10.1.255.255
/c/l3/if 1/vlan 200

As mentioned by a few other folks on this blog and in the forums this solution only provides an active/passive solution in terms of the NIC teaming configuration. This is because the GbE2c L2/L3 switches don’t support IST/SMLT technology. While this will only provide 1Gbps of bandwidth (2Gbps if you count full duplex) between the blade server and the network it will provide significant level of redundancy and high-availability. In this design the network is protected from a GbE2c switch failure, a Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 failure, and multiple uplink/downlink failures.

Please feel free to post comments and questions here about this post. Questions regarding specific configurations can be posted in the forums; http://forums.networkinfrastructure.info/nortel-ethernet-switching/

Cheers!

LACP Configuration Examples (Part 2)

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[ad name=”ad-articlebodysq”]In part 1 of this post I provided a pretty simple example of an LACP LAG between two Nortel switches. In this post I’ll provide another example with a small twist thrown in; we’ll terminate the LAG on two ERS 8600 switches using Nortel’s proprietary SMLT (Split MultiLink Trunking) technology. In this example I’ll substitute the Nortel Ethernet Switch 470 for a Ethernet Routing Switch 5520. You’ll notice that the LACP configurations (commands) are identical between the 470 and 5520 switches.

Example 2 – Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 to Ethernet Switch 5520 using LACP trunk with SMLT

As I said before a picture is worth a thousand words and can be very helpful in designing any network topology.

lacp-example2

As with the previous example we’ll start with the Ethernet Routing Switch 8600s and then progress to the Ethernet Routing Switch 5520s. In this example we’ll need to configure two ERS 8600 switches, I’ll assume that you already have an IST (InnerSwitch Trunk) built and running properly.

Let’s start by configuring a MLT group the same way we did so in the previous example. The ERS8600-A switch first;

ERS8600-A
config mlt 15 create
config mlt 15 name "SMLT_LACP"
config mlt 15 lacp key 15
config mlt 15 lacp enable

Now the ERS8600-B switch;

ERS8600-B
config mlt 15 create
config mlt 15 name "SMLT_LACP"
config mlt 15 lacp key 15
config mlt 15 lacp enable

In this example I’ve chosen to connect the uplinks to port 2/17 on each switch. I’ve chosen to use the same ports on both switches only to make the configuration easier to understand for myself. I would use whatever ports I wanted on either switch so long as they are all running at the same speed. In this case the ports are both 10/100Mbps ports and will auto-negotiate to 100Mbps with the MDI-X feature of the ERS 5520 switch.

I’ll enable tagging (802.1q) just like I did in my previous example and I’ll remove VLAN 1 and add VLAN 99. Outside of this example you would just add whatever VLANs you’ll be extended to the edge switch.

ERS8600-A
config ethernet 2/17 perform-tagging enable
config vlan 1 ports remove 2/17
config vlan 99 ports add 2/17

Now the ERS8600-B switch;

ERS8600-B
config ethernet 2/17 perform-tagging enable
config vlan 1 ports remove 2/17
config vlan 99 ports add 2/17

Next we’ll enable LACP on the specific ports and group them using the same admin key;

ERS8600-A
config ethernet 2/17 lacp key 15
config ethernet 2/17 lacp aggregation true
config ethernet 2/17 lacp timeout short
config ethernet 2/17 lacp enable

Now the ERS8600-B switch;

ERS8600-B
config ethernet 2/17 lacp key 15
config ethernet 2/17 lacp aggregation true
config ethernet 2/17 lacp timeout short
config ethernet 2/17 lacp enable

Now because we’re going to be running in an SMLT configuration we need to make a few global changes. We need to enable LACP globally, but we also need to make sure that both switches use the same LACP identifier when communicating with the edge switch. This is necessary so the edge switch won’t know that it’s actually connected to two different switches upstream. If the LACP identifiers didn’t match between the two ERS8600 switches the edge switch would become confused.

ERS8600-A
config lacp smlt-sys-id 00:01:81:28:84:00
config lacp enable

Now the ERS8600-B switch;

ERS8600-B
config lacp smlt-sys-id 00:01:81:28:84:00
config lacp enable

We need to configure the MLT to operate in an SMLT configuration. We also need to make sure that any VLANs we are extending to the edge switch are also bridged across the IST between the two ERS 8600 switches. In this example I’m extending VLAN 99 so I need to add VLAN 99 to the IST which happens to be MLT 1.

ERS8600-A
config mlt 15 smlt create smlt-id 15
config vlan 99 add-mlt 1

Now the ERS8600-B switch;

ERS8600-B
config mlt 15 smlt create smlt-id 15
config vlan 99 add-mlt 1

That’s all the commands required for the two ERS8600 switches.

With that said there are some best practices that should be applied to all downlinks when utilizing SMLT.

While I left this out of the previous example these settings are applicable to both examples.

Let’s make sure that we enable CP-LIMIT which will shutdown the port if the switch receives too many broadcast or multicast frames per second. While some users don’t like this feature it’s better to cut off an offending closet than loose an entire network due to a loop or misconfigured switch. A word of warning here! You do not want CP-LIMIT enabled on any ports used in your IST, you also don’t want it enabled on the uplinks of any ERS8600 switches that reside at the edge as they might cut themselves off from the network. Instead enable it in the core on the downlinks to the edge switches and closet switches.

ERS8600-A
config ethernet 2/17 cp-limit enable multicast-limit 2500 broadcast-limit 2500

Now the ERS8600-B switch;

ERS8600-B
config ethernet 2/17 cp-limit enable multicast-limit 2500 broadcast-limit 2500

Another feature that helps protect the network is SLPP (Simple Loop Protection Protocol). In my opinion this feature is a must for any serious network. I can’t tell you how many times this feature has saved the networks I manage today. This feature will detect a misconfigured MLT/LACP at the edge switch and shutdown one of the downlink ports to preventing a loop. With SLPP you need to pay attention to the threshold setting. You want different thresholds between the two ERS8600 switches so that only one uplink gets shutdown.

ERS8600-A
config slpp add 99
config slpp operation enable
config ethernet 2/17 slpp packet-rx-threshold 50
config ethernet 2/17 slpp packet-rx enable

Now the ERS8600-B switch with a threshold of 5;

ERS8600-B
config slpp add 99
config slpp operation enable
config ethernet 2/17 slpp packet-rx-threshold 5
config ethernet 2/17 slpp packet-rx enable

That’s it for the two ERS8600 switches.

I’m literally going to cut and past the configuration of the ERS5520 from the previous example as it should be identical.

vlan ports 33,34 tagging tagAll

Let’s add VLAN 99 to the ports, I’ve already created the VLAN ahead of time.

vlan members add 99 33,34

Now we just need to configure the LACP parameters for each port and then enable LACP.

interface fastEthernet 33-34
lacp key 13
lacp mode active
lacp timeout-time short
lacp aggregation enable
exit

Hopefully that’s been helpful!

Cheers!

LACP Configuration Examples (Part 1)

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I thought I would take a few minutes and outline a few quick LACP configuration examples using Nortel Ethernet Switch 470s, Ethernet Routing Switch 5520s and Ethernet Routing Switch 8600s. Nortel’s LACP implementation conforms to the IEEE 802.3ad standard and is known to inter-operate with the vast majority of major vendors, Cisco, HP, Juniper, Blade Technologies, Brocade, etc.

After writing this article for the past 90 minutes I decided to break it into multiple parts for multiple reasons, firstly because it’s getting long and secondly I don’t want to skimp on the content and want to get it right.

Example 1 – Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 to Ethernet Switch 470 using LACP trunk

In this example we’ll build an LACP trunk between a Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 and a Nortel Ethernet Switch 470. As we all know a picture is worth a thousand words so let’s start with a simple basic diagram of our two switches;

lacp-example1

We’ll start with the Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 and I’ll walk you through the commands.

In our first step we’ll create the MultiLink Trunk (MLT) table entry which is required for the ERS 8600, it’s not required for the the majority of Nortel’s other switches. We’ll be using LACP key 33, I chose 33 for no real specific reason. The value is important though because it also needs to be unique (not already used) and needs to be used later in the configuration. This value will identify the ports in the switch that should participate in the trunk configuration. You can have multiple LACP LAGs each with their own key, sometimes referred to as the admin key.

config mlt 13 create
config mlt 13 name "LACP-LAG"
config mlt 13 lacp key 33
config mlt 13 lacp enable

The next step is to configure the actual ports that will make up the trunk. In my example I’m using ports 7/33 and 7/34, again for no specific reason. I’ll enable tagging if for no other reason than to preserve any 802.1q headers such as the Priority Code Point (PCP) which is just the 802.1p bits. I’ll also add the ports to VLAN 99 which we’ll bridge between the two switches;

config ethernet 7/33-7/34 perform-tagging enable
config vlan 1 ports remove 7/33-7/34
config vlan 99 port add 7/33-7/34

With the basic port configuration complete we now need to turn our attention to the LACP specific parameters. We need to use the same key we used to create the MLT above.

config ethernet 7/33-7/34 lacp key 33
config ethernet 7/33-7/34 lacp timeout short
config ethernet 7/33-7/34 lacp aggregation true
config ethernet 7/33-7/34 lacp enable

Let’s not forget to enable LACP globally;

config lacp enable

That’s it.

Hopefully you’ll agree that it isn’t too hard. Now let’s focus on the configuration steps for the Ethernet Switch 470. First we’ll enable tagging on the ports we’re going to use on the Ethernet Switch 470;

vlan ports 33,34 tagging tagAll

Let’s add VLAN 99 to the ports, I’ve already created the VLAN ahead of time.

vlan members add 99 33,34

Now we just need to configure the LACP parameters for each port and then enable LACP.

interface fastEthernet 33-34
lacp key 13
lacp mode active
lacp timeout-time short
lacp aggregation enable
exit

That’s it.

Let’s just make sure that everything is working properly on both the 8600 and the 470 switches.

ERS-8610:6# show mlt info
================================================================================
Mlt Info
================================================================================
PORT    SVLAN  MLT   MLT        PORT         VLAN
MLTID IFINDEX NAME      TYPE    TYPE  ADMIN CURRENT    MEMBERS      IDS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13  6156  LACP-LAG     trunk   normal norm   norm     7/33-7/34         99

MULTICAST             DESIGNATED   LACP      LACP
MLTID IFINDEX  DISTRIBUTION  NT-STG  PORTS        ADMIN     OPER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13     6156     disable      disable  7/33       enable      up
ERS-8610:6# show mlt lacp info
================================================================================
LACP Aggregator Information
================================================================================
MAC               COLLECTOR     AGGR    PORT
MLTID IFINDEX       ADDR              MAXDELAY     ORINDI   MEMBERS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13    6156       00:0f:cd:f1:e1:30    32768        aggr    7/33-7/34

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPER        MIN        OPERLAST
MLTID IFINDEX     STATE       LINK       CHANGE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13    6156        up          1          6 day(s), 09:54:53

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTOR      ACTOR          ACTOR      ACTOR
MLTID IFINDEX    SYSPRIO     SYSID         ADMINKEY   OPERKEY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13    6156       32768   00:0f:cd:f1:e0:00    33      33

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PARTNER      PARTNER        PARTNER
MLTID IFINDEX    SYSPRIO      SYSID          OPERKEY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13    6156       32768   00:16:60:80:07:c0    8205

And now on the 470 switch;

ES-470#show mlt
Trunk Name                 Members             Bpdu   Mode   Status
----- -------------------- ------------------- ------ ------ --------
1     Trunk #1             NONE                All    basic  Disabled
2     Trunk #2             NONE                All    basic  Disabled
3     Trunk #3             NONE                All    basic  Disabled
4     Trunk #4             NONE                All    basic  Disabled
5     Trunk #5             NONE                All    basic  Disabled
6     Trunk #6             33-34               Single DynLag Enabled
ES-470#show lacp port 33,34
Admin Oper         Trunk Partner
Port Priority Lacp    A/I Timeout Key   Key   AggrId Id    Port    Status
---- -------- ------- --- ------- ----- ----- ------ ----- ------- ------
33   32768    Active  A   Short   13    8205  8193   6     480     Active
34   32768    Active  A   Short   13    8205  8193   6     481     Active

I think that’s enough for now… there’s a simple LACP configuration between two switches. Please know that you cannot add/remove VLANs from LACP LAG configurations dynamically on Nortel switches. You must disable the LACP configuration and then change the port configuration. So there’s a great benefit to use Nortel’s proprietary MultiLink Trunk (MLT) where possible. Please also note that you don’t need to enable VLACP since LACP already performs the same functionality provided by VLACP.

Please feel free to post specific questions in the discussion forums;
http://forums.networkinfrastructure.info/nortel-ethernet-switching/

Cheers!

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