Users Guide

• Internet group management protocol (IGMP) snooping.

• Jumbo frames: Ports are set to a maximum MTU of 12,000 bytes by default.

• Link tracking: Uplink-state group 1 is automatically congured. In uplink state-group 1, server-facing ports auto-congure as

downstream interfaces; the uplink port-channel (LAG 128) auto-congures as an upstream interface. Server-facing links are auto-

congured to be brought up only if the uplink port-channel is up.

• In VLT mode, port 9 is automatically congured as VLT interconnect ports. VLT domain conguration is automatic. This includes peer-

link, congured MAC, backup link and setting every port channel as VLT port-channel.

Data Center Bridging Support

To eliminate packet loss and provision links with required bandwidth, Data Center Bridging (DCB) enhancements for data center networks

are supported.

The aggregator provides zero-touch conguration for DCB. The aggregator auto-congures DCBX port roles as follows:

• Server-facing ports are congured as auto-downstream interfaces.

• Uplink ports are congured as auto-upstream interfaces.

In operation, DCBx auto-congures uplink ports to match the DCB conguration in the ToR switches to which they connect.

The Aggregator supports DCB only in standalone mode.

FCoE Connectivity and FIP Snooping

Many data centers use Fiber Channel (FC) in storage area networks (SANs). Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) encapsulates Fiber

Channel frames over Ethernet networks.

On an Aggregator, the internal ports support FCoE connectivity and connects to the converged network adapter (CNA) in servers. FCoE

allows Fiber Channel to use 10-Gigabit Ethernet networks while preserving the Fiber Channel protocol.

The Aggregator also provides zero-touch conguration for FCoE connectivity. The Aggregator auto-congures to match the FCoE settings

used in the switches to which it connects through its uplink ports.

FIP snooping is automatically congured on an Aggregator. The auto-congured port channel (LAG 128) operates in FCF port mode.

iSCSI Operation

Support for iSCSI trac is turned on by default when the Aggregator powers up. No conguration is required.

When an aggregator powers up, it monitors known TCP ports for iSCSI storage devices on all interfaces. When a session is detected, an

entry is created and monitored as long as the session is active.

The Aggregator also detects iSCSI storage devices on all interfaces and autocongures to optimize performance. Performance optimization

operations, such as Jumbo frame size support and disabling storm control on interfaces connected to an iSCSI equallogic (EQL) storage

device, are applied automatically.

Link Aggregation

All uplink ports are congured in a single LAG (LAG 128). Server-facing ports are auto-congured as part of link aggregation groups if the

corresponding server is congured for LACP-based network interface controller (NIC) teaming. Static LAGs are not supported.

NOTE

: The recommended LACP timeout is Long-Timeout mode.

Link Tracking

By default, all server-facing ports are tracked by the operational status of the uplink LAG. If the uplink LAG goes down, the aggregator

loses its connectivity and is no longer operational; all server-facing ports are brought down after the specied defer-timer interval, which is

Before You Start