Deploying Cisco

Catalyst 6500
Series Virtual
Switching System

Rob Sloan—Product/Systems Marketing Manager

Balaji Sivasubramanian—Product Manager

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Presenters

Rob Sloan Balaji

Product/Systems Marketing
Sivasubramanian
Manager Product Manager

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 2

Overview

 Introduction

 Architecture

 Operational Manageability

 Deployment Considerations

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 3

 Catalyst 6500 Virtual Switching System 1440
Targeted Customer Issues
Campus and Data Center Networks

Distribution Access
Si Si Si Si
STP/HSRP

Access Servers NIC Teaming

Large, Complex Networks = Challenging Network Management

In-deterministic Recovery from Network Failure = Business Downtime

Inefficient Resource Utilization = Lost Investment

Increasing Real-time Applications = Latency Sensitive

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 4
 Virtual Switching System 1440
Network System Virtualization
Physical View Logical View
Active Control Plane Hot-Standby Control Plane
Active Data Plane Active Data Plane

Si Si

Features Benefits of VSS

Network System Virtualization Increased Operational Efficiency
via Simplified Network
Multi-Chassis EtherChannel (MEC) Scale the System Bandwidth
Capacity to 1.4 Tbps
Non-Stop Forwarding / Inter-Chassis Boost Non-Stop Communication
Stateful Switch Over (NSF/SSO)
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 5
 Virtual Switch System: Concepts
Cisco Catalyst 6500 that Defines Two Cisco
Operates as the Active Catalyst 6500s that Are
Control Plane for the Participating Together as
Virtual Switch a Virtual Switch

Virtual Switch Domain

Virtual Virtual
Switch Switch
Active Standby
Active Control Hot-Standby
Plane Control Plane
Active Data Active Data
Plane Virtual Switch Plane
Link

Standard 10GE Link Bundle Joining the Cisco Catalyst 6500 that
two Cisco Catalyst 6500s Allowing Them Operates as the Standby
to Operate as a Single Logical Device Control Plane for the
Virtual Switch
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 6
Increased Operational Efficiency
System Virtualization Simplifying the Network

Si Si
Si Si

Traditional L2/L3 VSS

Complex STP Configuration and Loop Free Topology with MEC Not
Management Dependant on STP
HSRP/VRRP- 3 IP Address No HSRP/VRRP- 1 IP Address
Manage Two Nodes and Config Manage Single Node and Config
Manage Additional Routing Peers Manage Reduced Routing Peers

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 7

Increased Operational Efficiency
System Virtualization Simplifying the Network

Si Si

Traditional L2/L3 VSS

Complex STP Configuration and Loop Free Topology with MEC Not
Management Dependant on STP
HSRP/VRRP- 3 IP Address No HSRP/VRRP- 1 IP Address
Manage Two Nodes and Config Manage Single Node and Config
Manage Additional Routing Peers Manage Reduced Routing Peers

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 8

 Scale the System Bandwidth Capacity to 1.4 Tbps
Multi-Chassis Etherchannel (MEC)
Core/Distribution Core/Distribution

Si Si
Si Si

Traditional L2/L3 VSS

Idling or Underutilized Links in Maximum Bandwidth with
Campus Access Etherchannel Load Balancing
Standby Links or NIC Teaming on Active/Active LACP to Servers to
Servers Redundant Switches
Unicast Flooding Due to No Unicast Flooding
Asymmetrical Routing
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 9
 Scale the System Bandwidth Capacity to 1.4 Tbps
Multi-Chassis Etherchannel (MEC)
Data Center Access Data Center Access

Si Si
Si Si

Traditional L2/L3 VSS

Idling or Underutilized Links in Maximum Bandwidth with
Campus Access Etherchannel Load Balancing
Standby Links or NIC Teaming on Active/Active LACP to Servers to
Servers Redundant Switches
Unicast Flooding Due to No Unicast Flooding
Asymmetrical Routing
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 10
 Boost Non-Stop Communication
Inter Chassis Stateful Failover
HSRP NSF
STP SSO
IGP Si

X
Si
Si
X
Si

Traditional L2/L3 VSS

Configure and Maintain Multiple Eliminate and Minimize Control
Control Protocols Protocols
Control Protocols not Sync Inter-chassis SSO - No
Needing Reconvergence Reconvergence
Indeterministic Multiprotocol- Deterministic sub-200ms
Based Convergence convergence
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 11
Non-Stop Communications: SSO
 As of 12.2(33)SXH, there are over 90 protocols that are SSO-aware; these
include information such as ARP, DHCP Snooping, IP Source Guard,
NAC Posture database, etc. In a VSS environment, failure of either VS will
not require this information to be re-populated again

Switch 1 Virtual Switch Switch 2

DHCP Snooping Binding Table

IP Add MAC Add VLAN Interface
10.10.10.10 00:50:56:01:e1:02 10 Po10
172.26.18.2 00:02:b3:3f:3b:99 18 Po10
172.26.19.34 00:16:a1:c2:ee:32 19 Po20
10.10.10.43 00:16:cb:03:d3:44 10 Po20

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 12

Non-Stop Communications: Link Failure

Access Uplink Failure

~200 msec

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 13

Non-Stop Communications: Link Failure

Active VS Failure
~200 msec

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 14

―Cisco's virtual switch smashes throughput records‖
―The results were impressive: VSS not only delivers a 20 fold improvement in
failover times but also eliminates layer-2 and layer-3 redundancy protocols at the
same time‖

―The performance numbers are even more startling: A VSS-enabled virtual switch
moved a record 770 million frames per second in one test, and routed more than
5.6 billion unicast and multicast flows in another‖

―Cisco's VSS is a significant advancement in the state of the switching art. It

dramatically improves availability with much faster recovery times, while
simultaneously providing a big boost in bandwidth.‖

4.65

http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/2008/010308-cisco-virtual-switching-test.htmlth
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Published Jan 7 2008
15
Virtual Switching System 1440
Reduces Latency and Conserves Bandwidth
Traditional L2/L3 VSS 1440

Si Si Si Si

VLAN X VLAN Y VLAN X VLAN Y

 VSS Simplifies Inter-VLAN Traffic Pattern

 Minimum Hop to Intra-Campus and Data Center Destination
Reduced Latency 50 % in distribution layer and simplifies traffic pattern
 All links forwarding resulting in no wasted bandwidth
EtherChannel on virtual switch member enhanced to prefer local link
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 16
 Architecture: Virtual Switch Link
 The Virtual Switch Link is a standard 10GE link joining each
physical switch together—it is used to exchange control packets
and protocols synchronization packets between the two chassis.
A Virtual Switch Link
Bundle Can Consist of up to 8 x 10GE Links

VS Header L2 Hdr L3 Hdr Data CRC

Virtual Switch
Link
Active Control Standby Control
Plane Plane

VSL is not a backplane bottleneck. Each switch fabric

independently operate at 720 Gbps for total system bandwidth
of 1.4T Gbps
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 17
Architecture: Forwarding
 In Virtual Switch Mode, while only one Control plane is active, both
Data Planes (Switch Fabrics) are active, and as such, each can actively
participate in the forwarding of data at 720 Gbps.

Switch 1: Control Plane Active Switch 2: Control Plane Hot Standby

Virtual Switch Domain

Switch 1: Data Plane Active Switch 2: Data Plane Active

Virtual Switch Domain

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 18
Architecture: Virtual Switch Domain
 A Virtual Switch Domain ID is allocated during the conversion process
and represents the logical grouping of the two physical chassis within a
VSS; it is possible to have multiple VS Domains throughout the network

VS Domain 10

VS Domain 20 VS Domain 30

 The configurable values for the domain ID are 1–255; it is always

recommended to use a unique VS Domain ID for each VS Domain
throughout the network
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 19
Operational Manageability: CLI
 Only Active Switch Console is enabled. Standby Console is
disabled. Remote access via Telnet/SSH is responded by Active
Switch
Virtual Switch Virtual Switch
Active Standby

Active Standby
Control Control
Plane Virtual Switch
Plane
Link

Note: The Standby Console

Is Disabled and Cannot be
Used for Normal Operational
Purposes

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 20

Operational Manageability:
SNMP Support
 Active Switch responds to SNMP ―Puts‖ and ―Gets‖ for both
physical chassis data.

SNMP Server

SNMP Put’s SNMP Get’s

Switch 1: Active Switch 2: Standby

SNMP
Modified MIBs

SNMP New
MIBs SNMP Process Active SNMP Process Inactive

Virtual Switch Domain

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 21

Operational Manageability: NetFlow
 In a VSS, with both Data Planes active, NetFlow data collection is
performed on each Supervisor’s PFC—while NetFlow export is only
performed by the Control Plane on the VS Active

Switch 1 Supervisor Virtual Switch Domain Switch 2 Supervisor

VSL

VS State: Active VS State: Standby

Control Plane: Active Control Plane: Standby
Data Plane: Active Data Plane: Active
NetFlow Collection: Active NetFlow Collection: Active
NetFlow Export: Active NetFlow Export: Inactive

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 22

Operational Manageability:
Slots and Ports
 After conversion, port definitions for switches within the Virtual Switch
Domain inherit the Chassis ID as part of their naming convention

PORT NUMBERING: <CHASSIS-ID><SLOT-NUMBER><PORT-NUMBER>

 Chassis-ID will always be either a ―1‖ or a ―2‖

VSS#show ip interface brief

Interface IP-Address OK? Method Status Protocol
Vlan1 unassigned YES NVRAM up up
Port-channel1 unassigned YES NVRAM up up
Te1/1/1 10.1.1.1 YES unset up up
Te1/1/2 192.168.1.2 YES unset up up
Te1/1/3 unassigned YES unset up up
Te1/1/4 unassigned YES unset up up
GigabitEthernet1/2/1 10.10.10.1 YES unset up up
GigabitEthernet1/2/2 10.10.11.1 YES unset up up
<snip>

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 23

Introducing CiscoWorks LAN Mgmt Solution
(LMS) 3.0.1 for Virtual Switching

 Support for IOS Modularity

 Centralized Mgmt of Virtual
Switching Systems
VSS setup wizard
Inventory, Configuration and
Software Image support of VSS
enabled switches
Physical view of each VSS
member switch
 Additional Enhancements
Identifies EOL/EOS devices
Simplifies IOS Modularity image
deployments
Open ―portal‖ framework and new
workflows for setup and
troubleshooting

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 24

Introducing Catalyst 6500
Virtual Switching Supervisor 720-10G
 Enabled by Virtual Switching  Investment Enhancement of
Supervisor 720-10G Catalyst 6500/6500-E Switches
 1.44 Terabit System Scalability  Rich services support such as
NAM, firewall, wireless controller,
 Two integrated, line rate 10
NetFlow, MPLS/ EoMPLS
Gigabit Ethernet Uplink ports

Enables End-To-End 10GbE Deployments with

Integrated Virtualized Services
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 25
Deployment: Hardware Requirements

 Only the 10GE ports on the following modules are able

to support a Virtual Switch Link

VS-S720-10G-3C WS-X6708-10G-3C
VS-S720-10G-3CXL WS-X6708-10G-3CXL

Virtual Switch
Link

Virtual Switch Virtual Switch

Active Standby
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 26
 Deployment: Hardware Requirements
Only WS-X67xx
Both Chassis Require Series Line Cards
Single Supervisor 720- Are Supported
10G at initial release
Virtual Switch
Link
Virtual Switch
Active Virtual Switch
Domain
Both E Series and Non-E
Series Chassis Are
Supported Both Supervisors
Must Be Running the
12.2(33)SXH1 or later
Release of Cisco IOS ®
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Only Services Modules
Supported at FCS Are
the WS-SVC-NAM-1
and WS-WVC-NAM-2
Services Modules
Virtual Switch
Standby
Dual Supervisor 720-10G
in Each Chassis Not
Supported at initial
release
27
 Deployment: Additional Considerations
Deployment Considerations
 Connected nodes should always
be dual-homed
MEC MEC  EtherChannel hash modified so that
local link will always have preference
over remote link in same bundle
 ECMP has also been modified
to choose local link over link in
other chassis
Virtual Switch  Use LACP or ―ON‖ mode of
Link EtherChannel to connect to Servers
and Non-Cisco devices
 Maximum number of EtherChannel
link bundles in Virtual Switch Domain
MEC MEC is 128 in 12.2(33)SXH1
 Minimal traffic expected to
cross VSL and hence Size number of
links in VSL to meet local redundancy
and traffic requirements

Traffic Flow #1
Traffic Flow #2
Traffic Flow #3
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 28
 Cisco Catalyst 6500 VSS 1440
Network System Virtualization Innovation

Before After

Si Si Si Si Si Si

Si Si

Si Si Si Si Si Si

WAN Internet WAN Data Internet

Data
Center Center

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 29

 Catalyst 6500 VSS1440 Key Benefits
• 50% less management Simplifies Boosts • Faster recovery
• LMS 3.0 integration Operational Non-Stop • No service disruption
Manageability Communications

Si Si

Maximizes Lowers
• Maximize system usage Bandwidth Latency • Optimized path selection
• Maximize server usage Utilization • Increased throughput

Exceptional Investment Protection and Enhancement

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 30

© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 31