NetApp Appliances support Link Aggregation of their network interfaces, they call the Link Aggregation a VIF (Virtual Interface) and this provides Fault Tolerance, Load Balancing and higher throughput.

NetApp supports the following Link Aggregation modes:

From the NetApp documentation:
Single-mode vif
In a single-mode vif, only one of the interfaces in the vif is active. The other interfaces are on standby, ready to take over if the active interface fails.
Static multimode vif
The static multimode vif implementation in Data ONTAP is in compliance with IEEE 802.3ad (static). Any switch that supports aggregates, but does not have control packet exchange for configuring an aggregate, can be used with static multimode vifs.
Dynamic multimode vif
Dynamic multimode vifs can detect not only the loss of link status (as do static multimode vifs), but also a loss of data flow. This feature makes dynamic multimode vifs compatible with high-availability environments. The dynamic multimode vif implementation in Data ONTAP is in compliance with IEEE 802.3ad (dynamic), also known as Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP).

In this guide I will set up a Dynamic multimode vif between the NetApp system and the Cisco switches using LACP.

I am working with following hardware:

  • 2x NetApp FAS3040c in an active-active cluster
    With Dual 10G Ethernet Controller T320E-SFP+
  • 2x Cisco WS-C6509 configured as one Virtual Switch (using VSS)
    With Ten Gigabit Ethernet interfaces

Cisco Configuration:

Port-Channel(s) configuration:
// I am using Port-Channel 8 and 9 for this configuration
// And I need my filers to be in VLAN 10

!
interface Port-channel8
description LACP multimode VIF for filer1-10G
switchport
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
!
interface Port-channel9
description LACP multimode VIF for filer2-10G
switchport
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
!

Interface Configuration:
// Since I am using VSS, my 2 Cisco 6509 look like 1 Virtual Switch
// For example: interface TenGigabitEthernet 2/10/4 means:
// interface 4, on blade 10, on the second 6509

!
interface TenGigabitEthernet1/10/1
description “filer1_e1a_net 10G”
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
channel-group 8 mode active
spanning-tree portfast
!
!
interface TenGigabitEthernet2/10/1
description “filer1_e1b_net 10G”
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
channel-group 8 mode active
spanning-tree portfast
!
!
interface TenGigabitEthernet1/10/2
description “filer2_e1a_net 10G”
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
channel-group 9 mode active
spanning-tree portfast
!
!
interface TenGigabitEthernet2/10/2
description “filer2_e1b_net 10G”
switchport access vlan 10
switchport mode access
channel-group 9 mode active
spanning-tree portfast
!

Check the Cisco configuration

NetApp Configuration:

filer1>vif create lacp net10G -b ip e1a e1b
filer1>ifconfig net10G 10.0.0.100 netmask 255.255.255.0
filer1>ifconfig net10G up

filer2>vif create lacp net10G -b ip e1a e1b
filer2>ifconfig net10G 10.0.0.200 netmask 255.255.255.0
filer2>ifconfig net10G up

Don’t forget to make the change persistant

Filer1:: /etc/rc
hostname FILER1
vif create lacp net10G -b ip e1b e1a
ifconfig net hostname-net mediatype auto netmask 255.255.255.0 partner net10G
route add default 10.0.0.1 1
routed on
options dns.domainname example.com
options dns.enable on
options nis.enable off
savecore

Filer2:: /etc/rc
hostname FILER2
vif create lacp net10G -b ip e1b e1a
ifconfig net hostname-net mediatype auto netmask 255.255.255.0 partner net10G
route add default 10.0.0.1 1
routed on
options dns.domainname example.com
options dns.enable on
options nis.enable off
savecore

Check the NetApp configuration