802.3ad and multiple mac addresses

802.3ad and multiple mac addresses
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Subject Author Date
802.3ad and multiple mac addresses vsh 06-04-2007
Posted by vsh on June 4, 2007, 2:25 pm
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I have a question about multiple mac addresses and aggregator.

There can be multiple mac addresses per port if virtual interfaces are
created and in this situation physical nic and virtual nic have diff.
mac address and ip address and the data transmission works fine.

What if we have this scenario

vif 1 vif2 vif 3
| | |
team adapter
|
physical port 1 physical port 2 - aggregated

In this case vif1, vif2,vif3 will have diff. ip1,ip2,ip3 ip address
and mac1,mac2,mac3 mac address.
and physical port1 and port2 are aggregated.

But instead of assigning any mac address to team adapter , if we use
mac1,mac2,mac3 for data traffic,
will it work ?

If LACP is enabled , will aggregator take 3 mac addresses ?

(in server-server or server-switch environment)


Posted by anoop on June 4, 2007, 6:16 pm



> But instead of assigning any mac address to team adapter , if we use
> mac1,mac2,mac3 for data traffic,
> will it work ?

There's nothing in the 802.3ad standard that says data traffic
cannot use addresses different than that of the aggregator.
All of that is handled up virtual interfaces sitting above
the aggregator.

> If LACP is enabled , will aggregator take 3 mac addresses ?

The only time that the aggregator's MAC address should come
into play is when running L2 control protocols such as xSTP.
In that case, an aggregator will have only one MAC address.
In your example, the aggregator is simply forwarding traffic
on behalf of virtual interfaces sitting above the aggregator.

Anoop


Posted by vsh on June 5, 2007, 4:40 pm


>
> > But instead of assigning any mac address to team adapter , if we use
> > mac1,mac2,mac3 for data traffic,
> > will it work ?
>
> There's nothing in the 802.3ad standard that says data traffic
> cannot use addresses different than that of the aggregator.
> All of that is handled up virtual interfaces sitting above
> the aggregator.
>
> > If LACP is enabled , will aggregator take 3 mac addresses ?
>
> The only time that the aggregator's MAC address should come
> into play is when running L2 control protocols such as xSTP.
> In that case, an aggregator will have only one MAC address.
> In your example, the aggregator is simply forwarding traffic
> on behalf of virtual interfaces sitting above the aggregator.
>
> Anoop

So , if I have multiple aggregators in team and each aggregator will
have diff. mac address. and if I treat both the aggregators as active
and pass traffic from Virtual interface on both the aggregators , what
will happen on switch side ?


I mean

vip1/vmac1

|
team
| |
(mac1)aggregator1 aggregator2(mac2)

So vmac1 will go on mac1 as well as mac2
So 2 virtual ports on switch side will see same mac address.
Won't this confuse the switch ?


Posted by vsh on June 6, 2007, 12:23 pm


>
>
>
>
>
>
> > > But instead of assigning any mac address to team adapter , if we use
> > > mac1,mac2,mac3 for data traffic,
> > > will it work ?
>
> > There's nothing in the 802.3ad standard that says data traffic
> > cannot use addresses different than that of the aggregator.
> > All of that is handled up virtual interfaces sitting above
> > the aggregator.
>
> > > If LACP is enabled , will aggregator take 3 mac addresses ?
>
> > The only time that the aggregator's MAC address should come
> > into play is when running L2 control protocols such as xSTP.
> > In that case, an aggregator will have only one MAC address.
> > In your example, the aggregator is simply forwarding traffic
> > on behalf of virtual interfaces sitting above the aggregator.
>
> > Anoop
>
> So , if I have multiple aggregators in team and each aggregator will
> have diff. mac address. and if I treat both the aggregators as active
> and pass traffic from Virtual interface on both the aggregators , what
> will happen on switch side ?
>
> I mean
>
> vip1/vmac1
>
> |
> team
> | |
> (mac1)aggregator1 aggregator2(mac2)
>
> So vmac1 will go on mac1 as well as mac2
> So 2 virtual ports on switch side will see same mac address.
> Won't this confuse the switch ?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

can anybody answer my question ?


Posted by anoop on June 7, 2007, 2:22 pm



> So , if I have multiple aggregators in team and each aggregator will
> have diff. mac address. and if I treat both the aggregators as active
> and pass traffic from Virtual interface on both the aggregators , what
> will happen on switch side ?
>
> I mean
>
> vip1/vmac1
>
> |
> team
> | |
> (mac1)aggregator1 aggregator2(mac2)
>
> So vmac1 will go on mac1 as well as mac2
> So 2 virtual ports on switch side will see same mac address.
> Won't this confuse the switch ?

This is getting away from the realm of 802.3ad, but...

If you use a single MAC address on the VIP you
will confuse the switch. You would have to
instantiate 2 VIPs one for each aggregator.
The VIPs can then either differ in VLAN alone
or in both VLAN and MAC address.

The situation you describe about is akin to
having the same subnet configured on multiple
ports in a NIC. I don't think they exist (but
I could be wrong).

Anoop


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other useful resources:
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
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