| Author |
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Not-My-Real-Name
Guest
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 Posted:
Tue Oct 05, 2004 5:58 pm Post subject:
Cisco 4506 to Nortel 8600. |
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Hi all.
How does one configure two Gig links between these devices (Etherchannel to
MLT on Nortel)?
I have one Gig Fiber link working fine between them using 802.1q, multiple
VLANs flowing through nicely.
I'd like to have two Gig connections aggregated between them. However if I
setup Multi-Link Trunking on the Nortel Side (it's version of Etherchannel),
the connection to the Cisco dies! What do you do on the Cisco side? I'm
new to Cisco, sorry.
If I can get this to work, the next step is to attempt connections from the
Cisco to the Nortel in a Split MLT config.
ie. Cisco has a 1Gig connection to two Nortel switches, one Nortel switch
dies, the Cisco should stay up! |
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Walter Roberson
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:09 pm Post subject:
Re: Cisco 4506 to Nortel 8600. |
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In article <DMx8d.3106$KF.24614@tor-nn1.netcom.ca>,
Not-My-Real-Name <someone@micros0ft.com> wrote:
:How does one configure two Gig links between these devices (Etherchannel to
:MLT on Nortel)?
:I have one Gig Fiber link working fine between them using 802.1q, multiple
:VLANs flowing through nicely.
:I'd like to have two Gig connections aggregated between them. However if I
:setup Multi-Link Trunking on the Nortel Side (it's version of Etherchannel),
:the connection to the Cisco dies! What do you do on the Cisco side? I'm
:new to Cisco, sorry.
In order to do link aggregation between those two devices, you
will need to configure both sides to use IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation
(LACP). Nortel has two kinds of link aggregation in their new software
releases, only one of which is 802.3aq compatable.
On the Cisco side, to use 802.3ad with the 450x series routers, you
need to have Supervisor Engine II Plus installed, and you need to be
using IOS release 12.2(20)EWA -- or so the feature navigator documents.
However, further research shows that it is supported in IOS for the 4500
series as early as 12.2(13)EW, and that it is also supported on
Supervisor Engine IV, and Supervisor Engine V. Furthermore, 802.3ad
is supported in some versions of CatOS with some supervisor engines
(the 720 at least.)
A configuration guide for 802.3ad in CatOS on the 4500 can be found at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/customer/products/hw/switches/ps4324/products_configuration_guide_chapter09186a00801eca09.html#wp1048854
--
"WHEN QUINED, YIELDS A TORTOISE'S LOVE-SONG"
WHEN QUINED, YIELDS A TORTOISE'S LOVE-SONG. (GEB) |
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Not-My-Real-Name
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Oct 05, 2004 9:33 pm Post subject:
Re: Cisco 4506 to Nortel 8600. |
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Thanks for the reply Walter.
I'm running CATos on the 4506, not IOS does that matter? 3.2 code on the
Nortel. |
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Walter Roberson
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Oct 05, 2004 10:14 pm Post subject:
Re: Cisco 4506 to Nortel 8600. |
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In article <kVA8d.3115$KF.24886@tor-nn1.netcom.ca>,
Not-My-Real-Name <someone@micros0ft.com> wrote:
:I'm running CATos on the 4506, not IOS does that matter? 3.2 code on the
:Nortel.
I did not check the documentation in detail, but what I did look at
did -suggest- that 802.3ad support on the Cisco 4506 lags requires
the newer more powerful Supervisor Engine, such as the 720. The easiest
way to find out if it is supported on your Cisco system with your software
release would be to follow the configuration instructions in the link I
gave in the last posting and see if all the commands needed are
recognized.
Also, I have not had a chance to look over the 8600 documentation to
see when it started supporting 802.3ad . My recollection (and I could
be wrong) is that what Nortel refers to as MLT is -not- 802.3ad, or
at least didn't start out as 802.3ad [which is a relatively recent
standard] but perhaps now has an 802.3ad mode you can configure.
--
Reviewers should be required to produce a certain number of
negative reviews - like police given quotas for handing out
speeding tickets. -- The Audio Anarchist |
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Michael Roberts
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Oct 05, 2004 10:44 pm Post subject:
Re: Cisco 4506 to Nortel 8600. |
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802.3ad (LACP) is supported on the Passport 8600 in the 3.7.x codestream. I
am not sure about the support for a 8100 though.
We have used this feature to interoperate between switches and hosts. It
appears to work really well.
As previously stated, Nortel's MLT is proprietary, and I can confirm that
you will have problems getting it interoperate with hosts and switches that
are using Etherchannel and the likes. I was able to get a Novell server
running the Etherchannel driver and a Nortel BS450 running MLT to work, but
I was never able to replicate that with a Windows box. It is wierd stuff,
and you will probably have much better luck with both sides of the link
running 802.3ad.
-mike
"Walter Roberson" <roberson@ibd.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca> wrote in message
news:cjuoak$k7b$1@canopus.cc.umanitoba.ca...
| Quote: | In article <kVA8d.3115$KF.24886@tor-nn1.netcom.ca>,
Not-My-Real-Name <someone@micros0ft.com> wrote:
:I'm running CATos on the 4506, not IOS does that matter? 3.2 code on
the
:Nortel.
I did not check the documentation in detail, but what I did look at
did -suggest- that 802.3ad support on the Cisco 4506 lags requires
the newer more powerful Supervisor Engine, such as the 720. The easiest
way to find out if it is supported on your Cisco system with your software
release would be to follow the configuration instructions in the link I
gave in the last posting and see if all the commands needed are
recognized.
Also, I have not had a chance to look over the 8600 documentation to
see when it started supporting 802.3ad . My recollection (and I could
be wrong) is that what Nortel refers to as MLT is -not- 802.3ad, or
at least didn't start out as 802.3ad [which is a relatively recent
standard] but perhaps now has an 802.3ad mode you can configure.
--
Reviewers should be required to produce a certain number of
negative reviews - like police given quotas for handing out
speeding tickets. -- The Audio Anarchist |
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Charles R. Anderson
Guest
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| Posted:
Wed Oct 06, 2004 1:50 pm Post subject:
Re: Cisco 4506 to Nortel 8600. |
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Michael Roberts <robertsmj@missouri.edu> wrote:
| Quote: | As previously stated, Nortel's MLT is proprietary, and I can confirm that
you will have problems getting it interoperate with hosts and switches that
are using Etherchannel and the likes. I was able to get a Novell server
running the Etherchannel driver and a Nortel BS450 running MLT to work, but
I was never able to replicate that with a Windows box. It is wierd stuff,
and you will probably have much better luck with both sides of the link
running 802.3ad.
|
I was under the impression that Nortel's MLT is statically compliant
with 802.3ad, even before 3.7.x code. It simply hashes on the MAC/IP
addresses to determine which outbound link to send on. Before 3.7.x,
there was no LACP support. Therefore, it should simply work with any
other device that works in a similar manner that can be statically
configured. I've used it with other vendor's switches, but not Cisco.
You may have issues with Spanning Tree, however, due to the different
ways Nortel and Cisco do multiple spanning trees and which links they
send the STP BPDU's out on. I believe Cisco sends them on all ports,
and Nortel only sends them on the lowest port of an MLT. Cisco
compatibility is added in Nortel 8600 v3.7.x code, with PVST+ support
and the ability to send STP BPDU's on all links of a 802.3ad bundle. |
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Michael Roberts
Guest
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| Posted:
Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:29 pm Post subject:
Re: Cisco 4506 to Nortel 8600. |
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That is what I thought as well, but I had a number of problems using MLT to
connect to a server that was configured to use 802.3ad. What is a
server/driver problem or a switch problem????? I was never able to
determine. Running that same server/river using 802.3ad on both sides
worked.....
Nortel's recommendation to us was to shutdown STP on MLT enabled ports,
which could be dangerous. We have STP enabled on our 802.3ad connections.
However, right now those connections are only Nortel-Nortel and
Nortel-Server configurations.
-mike
"Charles R. Anderson" <craIHateSpam@wpi.edu> wrote in message
news:slrncm7u1q.shs.craIHateSpam@angus.ind.WPI.EDU...
| Quote: | Michael Roberts <robertsmj@missouri.edu> wrote:
As previously stated, Nortel's MLT is proprietary, and I can confirm that
you will have problems getting it interoperate with hosts and switches
that
are using Etherchannel and the likes. I was able to get a Novell server
running the Etherchannel driver and a Nortel BS450 running MLT to work,
but
I was never able to replicate that with a Windows box. It is wierd
stuff,
and you will probably have much better luck with both sides of the link
running 802.3ad.
I was under the impression that Nortel's MLT is statically compliant
with 802.3ad, even before 3.7.x code. It simply hashes on the MAC/IP
addresses to determine which outbound link to send on. Before 3.7.x,
there was no LACP support. Therefore, it should simply work with any
other device that works in a similar manner that can be statically
configured. I've used it with other vendor's switches, but not Cisco.
You may have issues with Spanning Tree, however, due to the different
ways Nortel and Cisco do multiple spanning trees and which links they
send the STP BPDU's out on. I believe Cisco sends them on all ports,
and Nortel only sends them on the lowest port of an MLT. Cisco
compatibility is added in Nortel 8600 v3.7.x code, with PVST+ support
and the ability to send STP BPDU's on all links of a 802.3ad bundle. |
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Evan Cameron
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 1
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| Posted:
Mon Mar 14, 2005 6:18 pm Post subject:
re:Cisco 4506 to Nortel 8600. |
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I found this thread via Google.
I have the same problem ie a Cisco 4500 which I am connecting to two
Nortel 8600s (attached via an IST).
The 4500 has a gig link to each 8600 that is configured as a 802.3ad trunk.
The 8600s are configured with SMLT and LACP enabled both at the global
and port level.
The 8600s indicate a functional splitMLT where the 4500 reports its ports
are suspended.
Code versions on both units support LACP and every report that I've
read so far indicates that there is no vender compatibility problems.
I'm looking for a list of the configuration parameters from someone who
has successfully done this and has a working installation. |
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Not-My-Real-Name
Guest
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| Posted:
Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:36 pm Post subject:
Re: re:Cisco 4506 to Nortel 8600. |
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I tried this as well but couldn't keep the Cisco ports stable, spanning tree
kept shutting down the Cisco Etherchannels.
Now this might be doable with then newer Nortel 3.7 code if you put each
port in SMLT mode. Haven't tested it yet.
"Evan Cameron" <blackdogbyte@yahoo-dot-com.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:zsidne7SpNnIBavfRVn_vA@giganews.com...
| Quote: | I found this thread via Google.
I have the same problem ie a Cisco 4500 which I am connecting to
two
Nortel 8600s (attached via an IST).
The 4500 has a gig link to each 8600 that is configured as a 802.3ad
trunk.
The 8600s are configured with SMLT and LACP enabled both at the
global
and port level.
The 8600s indicate a functional splitMLT where the 4500 reports its
ports
are suspended.
Code versions on both units support LACP and every report that I've
read so far indicates that there is no vender compatibility problems.
I'm looking for a list of the configuration parameters from someone
who
has successfully done this and has a working installation.
|
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MC
Guest
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| Posted:
Wed Mar 16, 2005 5:14 am Post subject:
Re: re:Cisco 4506 to Nortel 8600. |
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IST and SMLT by default disables SPT on ports in those trunks.
You will want to make sure the ports in the trunk on the Cisco has SPT
disabled on those ports.
Also if using SMLT on two 8600's going to any single device and also doing
LAyer 3 routing protocols on that Trunk at the VLAN will need to enable the
RSMLT feature on the VLANS, This will make sure the routing protocols
distribure the routing over the trunk members evenly back to the 8600's. The
old way to do that is use ECMP, RSMLT is much easier. This of course is not
an issue with layer 2 traffic accross and MLT/SMLT. Since routing protocols
do not use the VRRP IP as the next hop when sending routing updates from the
8600's, The cisco would see the routes from two different sources (two
8600's) and use only one route/Link to one 8600 if not using either ECMP or
RSMLT.
In a hurry and not sure if expaining right or got my details correct but
should be able to research from there.
Good luck
MC
"Not-My-Real-Name" <someone@micros0ft.com> wrote in message
news:pxBZd.443$g4.8450@tor-nn1.netcom.ca...
| Quote: | I tried this as well but couldn't keep the Cisco ports stable, spanning
tree
kept shutting down the Cisco Etherchannels.
Now this might be doable with then newer Nortel 3.7 code if you put each
port in SMLT mode. Haven't tested it yet.
"Evan Cameron" <blackdogbyte@yahoo-dot-com.no-spam.invalid> wrote in
message
news:zsidne7SpNnIBavfRVn_vA@giganews.com...
I found this thread via Google.
I have the same problem ie a Cisco 4500 which I am connecting to
two
Nortel 8600s (attached via an IST).
The 4500 has a gig link to each 8600 that is configured as a 802.3ad
trunk.
The 8600s are configured with SMLT and LACP enabled both at the
global
and port level.
The 8600s indicate a functional splitMLT where the 4500 reports its
ports
are suspended.
Code versions on both units support LACP and every report that I've
read so far indicates that there is no vender compatibility problems.
I'm looking for a list of the configuration parameters from someone
who
has successfully done this and has a working installation.
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