A named VLAN creates a connection to a specific external LAN. The VLAN
isolates traffic to that external LAN, including broadcast traffic.
The name that you assign to a VLAN ID adds a layer of abstraction that
allows you to globally update all servers associated with
service profiles that use the named VLAN. You do not need to reconfigure the servers
individually to maintain communication with the external LAN.
You can create more than one named VLAN with the same VLAN ID. For
example, if servers that host business services for HR and Finance need to
access the same external LAN, you can create VLANs named HR and Finance with
the same VLAN ID. Then, if the network is reconfigured and Finance is assigned
to a different LAN, you only have to change the VLAN ID for the named VLAN for
Finance.
In a cluster configuration, you can configure a named VLAN to be
accessible only to one fabric interconnect or to both fabric interconnects.
Guidelines for VLAN IDs
Important:
You cannot create VLANs with IDs from 3968 to 4047. This range of
VLAN IDs is reserved.
VLANs in the LAN cloud and FCoE VLANs in the SAN cloud must have different IDs. Using the same ID for a VLAN and an FCoE VLAN in a VSAN results in a critical fault and traffic disruption for all vNICs and uplink ports using that VLAN. Ethernet traffic is dropped on any VLAN which has an ID that overlaps with an FCoE VLAN ID.
VLAN 4048 is user configurable. However, Cisco UCS Manager uses VLAN 4048 for the following default values. If you want to assign 4048 to a VLAN, you must reconfigure these values:
After an upgrade to Cisco UCS, Release 2.0—The FCoE storage port native VLAN uses VLAN 4048 by default. If the
default FCoE VSAN was set to use VLAN 1 before the upgrade, you must change it to a VLAN ID that is not used or reserved. For example, consider changing the default to 4049 if that VLAN ID is not in use.
After a fresh install of Cisco UCS, Release 2.0—The FCoE VLAN for the default
VSAN uses VLAN 4048 by default. The FCoE storage port native VLAN uses VLAN 4049.
The VLAN name is case sensitive.
Private VLANs
A private VLAN (PVLAN) partitions the Ethernet broadcast domain of a VLAN into subdomains and allows you to isolate some ports. Each subdomain in a PVLAN includes a primary VLAN and one or more secondary VLANs. All secondary VLANs in a PVLAN must share the same primary VLAN. The secondary VLAN ID differentiates one subdomain from another.
Isolated VLANs
All secondary VLANs in a Cisco UCS domain must be isolated VLANs. Cisco UCS does not support community VLANs.
Note
You cannot configure an isolated VLAN to be used together with a regular VLAN.
Ports on Isolated VLANs
Communications on an isolated VLAN can only use the associated port in the primary VLAN. These ports are isolated ports and are not configurable in Cisco UCS Manager. If the primary VLAN includes multiple secondary VLANs, those isolated VLANs cannot communicate directly with each other.
An isolated port is a host port that belongs to an isolated
secondary VLAN. This port has complete isolation from other ports
within the same private VLAN domain. PVLANs block all traffic
to isolated ports except traffic from promiscuous ports. Traffic
received from an isolated port is forwarded only to promiscuous
ports. You can have more than one isolated port in a specified
isolated VLAN. Each port is completely isolated from all other
ports in the isolated VLAN.
Guidelines for Uplink Ports
When you create PVLANs, be aware of the following guidelines:
The uplink Ethernet port channel cannot be in promiscuous mode.
Each primary VLAN can have only one isolated VLAN.
VIFs on VNTAG adapters can have only one isolated VLAN.
Guidelines for VLAN IDs
Important:
You cannot create VLANs with IDs from 3968 to 4047. This range of
VLAN IDs is reserved.
VLANs in the LAN cloud and FCoE VLANs in the SAN cloud must have different IDs. Using the same ID for a VLAN and an FCoE VLAN in a VSAN results in a critical fault and traffic disruption for all vNICs and uplink ports using that VLAN. Ethernet traffic is dropped on any VLAN which has an ID that overlaps with an FCoE VLAN ID.
VLAN 4048 is user configurable. However, Cisco UCS Manager uses VLAN 4048 for the following default values. If you want to assign 4048 to a VLAN, you must reconfigure these values:
After an upgrade to Cisco UCS, Release 2.0—The FCoE storage port native VLAN uses VLAN 4048 by default. If the
default FCoE VSAN was set to use VLAN 1 before the upgrade, you must change it to a VLAN ID that is not used or reserved. For example, consider changing the default to 4049 if that VLAN ID is not in use.
After a fresh install of Cisco UCS, Release 2.0—The FCoE VLAN for the default
VSAN uses VLAN 4048 by default. The FCoE storage port native VLAN uses VLAN 4049.
The VLAN name is case sensitive.
VLAN Port Limitations
Cisco UCS Manager limits the number of VLAN port instances that can be configured under border and server domains on a fabric interconnect to 6000.
Types of Ports Included in the VLAN Port Count
The following types of ports are counted in the VLAN port calculation:
Border uplink Ethernet ports
Border uplink Ether-channel member ports
FCoE ports in a SAN cloud
Ethernet ports in a NAS cloud
Static and dynamic vNICs created through service profiles
VM vNICs created as part of a port profile in a hypervisor in hypervisor domain
Based on the number of VLANs configured for these ports, Cisco UCS Manager keeps track of the cumulative count of VLAN port instances and enforces the VLAN port limit during validation. Cisco UCS Manager reserves some pre-defined VLAN port resources for control traffic. These include management VLANs configured under HIF and NIF ports.
VLAN Port Limit Enforcement
Cisco UCS Manager validates VLAN port availability during the following operations.
Configuring and unconfiguring border ports and border port channels
Adding or removing VLANs from a cloud
Configuring or unconfiguring SAN or NAS ports
Associating or disassociating service profiles that contain configuration changes
Configuring or unconfiguring VLANs under vNICs or vHBAs
Upon receiving creation or deleting notifications from a VMWare vNIC, from an ESX hypervisor
Note
This is outside the control of Cisco UCS Manager
Fabric interconnect reboot
Cisco UCS Manager upgrade or downgrade
Cisco UCS Manager strictly enforces the VLAN port limit on service profile operations. If Cisco UCS Manager detects that you have exceeded the VLAN port limit service profile configuration will fail during deployment.
Exceeding the VLAN port count in a border domain is less disruptive. When the VLAN port count is exceeded in a border domainCisco UCS Manager changes the allocation status to Exceeded. In order to change the status back to Available, you should complete one of the following actions:
Unconfigure one or more border ports
Remove VLANs from the LAN cloud
Unconfigure one or more vNICs or vHBAs
Configuring Named VLANs
Creating a Named VLAN Accessible to Both Fabric Interconnects (Uplink Ethernet Mode)
Important:
You cannot create VLANs with IDs from 3968 to 4047. This range of
VLAN IDs is reserved.
VLANs in the LAN cloud and FCoE VLANs in the SAN cloud must have different IDs. Using the same ID for a VLAN and an FCoE VLAN in a VSAN results in a critical fault and traffic disruption for all vNICs and uplink ports using that VLAN. Ethernet traffic is dropped on any VLAN which has an ID that overlaps with an FCoE VLAN ID.
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A#
scope eth-uplink
Enters Ethernet uplink mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /eth-uplink #
create vlanvlan-namevlan-id
Creates a named VLAN, specifies the VLAN name and VLAN ID, and
enters Ethernet uplink VLAN mode.
The VLAN name is case sensitive.
Step 3
UCS-A /eth-uplink/fabric/vlan #
set sharing{isolated | none | primary}
Sets the sharing for the specified VLAN.
This can be one of the following:
isolated—This is a secondary VLAN associated with a primary VLAN. This VLAN is private.
none—This VLAN does not have any secondary or private VLANs.
primary—This VLAN can have one or more secondary VLANs.
Step 4
UCS-A /eth-uplink/vlan #
commit-buffer
Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
The following example creates a named VLAN for both fabric
interconnects, names the VLAN accounting, assigns the VLAN ID 2112, sets the sharing to none, and commits
the transaction:
Creating a Named VLAN Accessible to Both Fabric Interconnects (Ethernet Storage Mode)
Important:
You cannot create VLANs with IDs from 3968 to 4047. This range of
VLAN IDs is reserved.
VLANs in the LAN cloud and FCoE VLANs in the SAN cloud must have different IDs. Using the same ID for a VLAN and an FCoE VLAN in a VSAN results in a critical fault and traffic disruption for all vNICs and uplink ports using that VLAN. Ethernet traffic is dropped on any VLAN which has an ID that overlaps with an FCoE VLAN ID.
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A#
scope eth-storage
Enters Ethernet storage mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /eth-storage #
create vlanvlan-namevlan-id
Creates a named VLAN, specifies the VLAN name and VLAN ID, and
enters Ethernet storage VLAN mode.
Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
The following example creates a named VLAN for both fabric
interconnects, names the VLAN accounting, assigns the VLAN ID 2112, creates a member port on slot 2, port 20, and commits
the transaction:
Creating a Named VLAN Accessible to One Fabric Interconnect (Uplink Ethernet Mode)
Important:
You cannot create VLANs with IDs from 3968 to 4047. This range of
VLAN IDs is reserved.
VLANs in the LAN cloud and FCoE VLANs in the SAN cloud must have different IDs. Using the same ID for a VLAN and an FCoE VLAN in a VSAN results in a critical fault and traffic disruption for all vNICs and uplink ports using that VLAN. Ethernet traffic is dropped on any VLAN which has an ID that overlaps with an FCoE VLAN ID.
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A#
scope eth-uplink
Enters Ethernet uplink mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /eth-uplink #
scope fabric{a |
b}
Enters Ethernet uplink fabric interconnect mode for the specified
fabric interconnect (A or B).
Creates a named VLAN, specifies the VLAN name and VLAN ID, and
enters Ethernet uplink fabric interconnect VLAN mode.
The VLAN name is case sensitive.
Step 4
UCS-A /eth-uplink/fabric/vlan #
set sharing{isolated | none | primary}
Sets the sharing for the specified VLAN.
This can be one of the following:
isolated—This is a secondary VLAN associated with a primary VLAN. This VLAN is private.
none—This VLAN does not have any secondary or private VLANs.
primary—This VLAN can have one or more secondary VLANs.
Step 5
UCS-A /eth-uplink/fabric/vlan #
commit-buffer
Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
The following example creates a named VLAN for fabric interconnect A,
names the VLAN finance, assigns the VLAN ID 3955, sets the sharing to none, and commits the transaction:
Creating a Named VLAN Accessible to One Fabric Interconnect (Ethernet Storage Mode)
Important:
You cannot create VLANs with IDs from 3968 to 4047. This range of
VLAN IDs is reserved.
VLANs in the LAN cloud and FCoE VLANs in the SAN cloud must have different IDs. Using the same ID for a VLAN and an FCoE VLAN in a VSAN results in a critical fault and traffic disruption for all vNICs and uplink ports using that VLAN. Ethernet traffic is dropped on any VLAN which has an ID that overlaps with an FCoE VLAN ID.
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A#
scope eth-storage
Enters Ethernet storage mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /eth-storage #
scope fabric{a |
b}
Enters Ethernet storage fabric interconnect mode for the specified
fabric interconnect.
Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
The following example creates a named VLAN for fabric interconnect A,
names the VLAN finance, assigns the VLAN ID 3955, creates a member port on slot 2, port 20, and commits the transaction:
If
Cisco UCS Manager includes a named VLAN with the same VLAN ID as the one you
delete, the VLAN is not removed from the fabric interconnect configuration
until all named VLANs with that ID are deleted.
If you are deleting a private primary VLAN, make sure to reassign the secondary VLANs to another working primary VLAN.
Before You Begin
Before you delete a VLAN from a fabric interconnect, ensure that the VLAN has been removed from all vNICs and vNIC templates.
Note
If you delete a VLAN that is assigned to a vNIC or vNIC template, the vNIC could allow that VLAN to flap.
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A#
scope eth-uplink
Enters Ethernet uplink mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /eth-uplink #
scope fabric{a | b}
(Optional)
Enters Ethernet uplink fabric mode. Use this command when you want to delete a named VLAN only from the specified fabric (a or b).
Step 3
UCS-A /eth-uplink #
delete vlanvlan-name
Deletes the specified named VLAN.
Step 4
UCS-A /eth-uplink #
commit-buffer
Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
The following example deletes a named VLAN accessible to both fabric
interconnects and commits the transaction:
Creating a Primary VLAN for a Private VLAN (Accessible to Both Fabric Interconnects)
Important:
You cannot create VLANs with IDs from 3968 to 4047. This range of
VLAN IDs is reserved.
VLANs in the LAN cloud and FCoE VLANs in the SAN cloud must have different IDs. Using the same ID for a VLAN and an FCoE VLAN in a VSAN results in a critical fault and traffic disruption for all vNICs and uplink ports using that VLAN. Ethernet traffic is dropped on any VLAN which has an ID that overlaps with an FCoE VLAN ID.
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A#
scope eth-uplink
Enters Ethernet uplink mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /eth-uplink #
create vlanvlan-namevlan-id
Creates a named VLAN, specifies the VLAN name and VLAN ID, and
enters Ethernet uplink VLAN mode.
The VLAN name is case sensitive.
Step 3
UCS-A /eth-uplink/vlan #
set sharing primary
Sets the VLAN as the primary VLAN.
Step 4
UCS-A /eth-uplink/vlan #
commit-buffer
Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
The following example creates a named VLAN for both fabric
interconnects, names the VLAN accounting, assigns the VLAN ID 2112, makes this VLAN the primary VLAN, and commits
the transaction:
Creating a Primary VLAN for a Private VLAN (Accessible to One Fabric Interconnect)
Important:
You cannot create VLANs with IDs from 3968 to 4047. This range of
VLAN IDs is reserved.
VLANs in the LAN cloud and FCoE VLANs in the SAN cloud must have different IDs. Using the same ID for a VLAN and an FCoE VLAN in a VSAN results in a critical fault and traffic disruption for all vNICs and uplink ports using that VLAN. Ethernet traffic is dropped on any VLAN which has an ID that overlaps with an FCoE VLAN ID.
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A#
scope eth-uplink
Enters Ethernet uplink mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /eth-uplink #
scope fabric{a |
b}
Enters Ethernet uplink fabric interconnect mode for the specified
fabric interconnect.
Creates a named VLAN, specifies the VLAN name and VLAN ID, and
enters Ethernet uplink fabric interconnect VLAN mode.
The VLAN name is case sensitive.
Step 4
UCS-A /eth-uplink/fabric/vlan #
set sharing primary
Sets the VLAN as the primary VLAN.
Step 5
UCS-A /eth-uplink/fabric/vlan #
commit-buffer
Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
The following example creates a named VLAN for fabric interconnect A,
names the VLAN finance, assigns the VLAN ID 3955, makes this VLAN the primary VLAN, and commits the transaction:
Creating a Secondary VLAN for a Private VLAN (Accessible to Both Fabric Interconnects)
Important:
You cannot create VLANs with IDs from 3968 to 4047. This range of
VLAN IDs is reserved.
VLANs in the LAN cloud and FCoE VLANs in the SAN cloud must have different IDs. Using the same ID for a VLAN and an FCoE VLAN in a VSAN results in a critical fault and traffic disruption for all vNICs and uplink ports using that VLAN. Ethernet traffic is dropped on any VLAN which has an ID that overlaps with an FCoE VLAN ID.
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A#
scope eth-uplink
Enters Ethernet uplink mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /eth-uplink #
create vlanvlan-namevlan-id
Creates a named VLAN, specifies the VLAN name and VLAN ID, and
enters Ethernet uplink VLAN mode.
The VLAN name is case sensitive.
Step 3
UCS-A /eth-uplink/vlan #
set sharing isolated
Sets the VLAN as the secondary VLAN.
Step 4
UCS-A /eth-uplink/vlan #
set pubnwnameprimary-vlan-name
Specifies the primary VLAN to be associated with this secondary VLAN.
Step 5
UCS-A /eth-uplink/vlan #
commit-buffer
Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
The following example creates a named VLAN for both fabric
interconnects, names the VLAN accounting, assigns the VLAN ID 2112, makes this VLAN the secondary VLAN, associates the secondary VLAN with the primary VLAN, and commits
the transaction:
Creating a Secondary VLAN for a Private VLAN (Accessible to One Fabric Interconnect)
Important:
You cannot create VLANs with IDs from 3968 to 4047. This range of
VLAN IDs is reserved.
VLANs in the LAN cloud and FCoE VLANs in the SAN cloud must have different IDs. Using the same ID for a VLAN and an FCoE VLAN in a VSAN results in a critical fault and traffic disruption for all vNICs and uplink ports using that VLAN. Ethernet traffic is dropped on any VLAN which has an ID that overlaps with an FCoE VLAN ID.
Procedure
Command or Action
Purpose
Step 1
UCS-A#
scope eth-uplink
Enters Ethernet uplink mode.
Step 2
UCS-A /eth-uplink #
scope fabric{a |
b}
Enters Ethernet uplink fabric interconnect mode for the specified
fabric interconnect (A or B).
Commits the transaction to the system configuration.
The following example creates a named VLAN for fabric interconnect A,
names the VLAN finance, assigns the VLAN ID 3955, makes this VLAN the secondary VLAN, associates the secondary VLAN with the primary VLAN, and commits the transaction:
Enters fabric interconnect mode for the specified fabric interconnect.
Step 2
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # show vlan-port-count
Displays the VLAN port count.
The following example displays the VLAN port count for fabric interconnect A:
UCS-A# scope fabric-interconnect a
UCS-A /fabric-interconnect # show vlan-port-count
VLAN-Port Count:
VLAN-Port Limit Access VLAN-Port Count Border VLAN-Port Count Alloc Status
---------- --------------- ---------------- ----------
6000 3 0 Available
VLAN Port Count Optimization
VLAN port count optimization enables mapping the state of multiple VLANs into a single internal state. When you enable the VLAN port count optimization, Cisco UCS Manager logically groups VLANs based on the port VLAN membership. This grouping increases the port VLAN count limit. VLAN port count optimization also compresses the VLAN state and reduces the CPU load on the fabric interconnect. This reduction in the CPU load enables you to deploy more VLANs over more vNICs. Optimizing VLAN port count does not change any of the existing VLAN configuration on the vNICs.
VLAN port count optimization is disabled by default. You can enable or disable the option based on your requirement.
Important:
Enabling VLAN port count optimization increases the number of available VLAN ports for use. If the port VLAN count exceeds the maximum number of VLANs in a non optimized state, you cannot disable the VLAN port count optimization.
VLAN port count optimization is not supported in Cisco UCS 6100 Series fabric interconnect.
UCS-A /eth-uplink#
show vlan-port-count-optimization group
Displays the vlan for port VLAN count optimization groups.
The following example shows port VLAN count optimization group in fabric a and b:
UCS-A# scope eth-uplink
UCS-A /eth-uplink # show vlan-port-count-optimization group
VLAN Port Count Optimization Group:
Fabric ID Group ID VLAN ID
-------- ------- -------
A 5 6
A 5 7
A 5 8
B 10 100
B 10 101
VLAN Groups
VLAN groups allow you to group VLANs on Ethernet uplink ports, by function or by VLANs that belong to a specific network. You can define VLAN membership and apply the membership to multiple Ethernet uplink ports on the fabric interconnect.
After you assign a VLAN to a VLAN group, any changes made to the VLAN group will be applied to all Ethernet uplink ports that are configured with the VLAN
group. The VLAN group also enables you to identify VLAN overlaps between disjoint VLANs.
You can configure uplink ports under a VLAN group. When you configure the uplink port for a VLAN group, that uplink port will only support all the VLANs in that group.
You can create VLAN groups from the LAN Cloud or from the LAN Uplinks Manager.
This name can be between 1 and 32
alphanumeric characters. You cannot use spaces or any special characters other than - (hyphen), _ (underscore), : (colon), and . (period), and
you cannot change this name after the object has been saved.
Displays the available groups in the organization.
The following example shows the available VLAN groups in the root org:
UCS-A# scope org
UCS-A# /org/# show vlan-group
VLAN Group:
Name
----
eng
hr
finance
VLAN Permissions
VLAN permissions restricts access to VLANs based on specified organizations. Based on the service profile organizations the VLANs belong to, VLAN permissions also restrict the set of VLANs you can assign to service profile vNICs. VLAN permissions is an optional feature and is disabled by default. You can enable or disable the feature based on your requirements. If you disable the feature, all the VLANs are globally accessible to all organizations.
Note
If you enable the org permission in LAN > LAN Cloud > Global Policies > Org Permissions, when you create a VLAN, you will see Permitted Orgs for VLAN(s) option in the Create VLANs dialog box. If you do not enable the
Org Permissions, you will not see the Permitted Orgs for VLAN(s) option.
If you enable org permission, when creating a VLAN you will specify the organizations for the VLAN. When you specify the organizations, the VLAN will be available to that specific organization and all the sub organizations beneath the structure. Users from other organizations cannot have access to this VLAN. You can also modify the VLAN permission at any point, based on any changes in your VLAN access requirements.
Caution
When you assign VLAN org permission to an organization at the root level, all sub organization can access the VLANs. After assigning org permission at root level, if you change the permission for a VLAN that belongs to a sub organization, that VLAN becomes unavailable to the root level organization.