Lenovo Flex System Fabric CN4093, Application Manual

Page: 270 / 634

270
CN4093 Application Guide for N/OS 8.4

For vNIC ports on the switch, because the outer vNIC group VLAN is
transparent to the OS/hypervisor and upstream devices, VLAN tagging
should be configured as normally required (on or off) for the those devices,
ignoring any outer tag.
 Virtual machines (VMs) and other VEs associated with vNICs are automatically
detected by the switch when VMready is enabled (see Chapter 16, “VMready ”).
However, vNIC groups are isolated from other switch elements. VEs in vNIC
groups cannot be assigned to VM groups.
vNIC Groups in Dedicated Mode
The vNIC group VLAN ID is placed on all vNIC group packets as an “outer” tag.
As shown in Figure 27 , the outer vNIC group VLAN ID is placed on the packet in
addition to any regular VLAN tag assigned by the network, server, or hypervisor.
The outer vNIC group VLAN is used only between the CN4093 and the NIC.
Figure 27.
Outer and Inner VLAN Tags
Within the CN4093, all Layer 2 switching for packets within a vNIC group is based
on the outer vNIC group VLAN. The CN4093 does not consider the regular, inner
VLAN ID (if any) for any VLAN ‐ specific operation.
The outer vNIC group VLAN is removed by the NIC before the packet reaches the
server OS or hypervisor, or by the switch before the packet egresses any internal
port or external uplink port which does not need it for vNIC processing.
Outbound
Packet
Inbound
Packet
Regular
VLAN ID
NIC attached outer
vNIC group VLAN ID
Switch adds outer
vNIC group VLAN ID
Outer tag sets vNIC;
NIC strips outer tag
Switching uses outer tag;
Ignores regular VLAN
Switching uses outer tag;
Ignores regular VLAN
Switch strips
outer tag
vNIC-Capable Server Lenovo Switch Ports without
vNICs
Ports with
vNICs
OS/Hypervisor NIC