NAD Configuring the Aggregate Switches, Configuring the Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3020s

Design Guide

RSPAN requires a VLAN to carry the mirrored traffic to the remote destination switch. In the recommended topology, the secondary aggregation switch is the RSPAN destination, where an analysis device, such as the integrated Cisco Network Analysis Module (NAM), resides. The RSPAN VLAN uses the uplink between the blade switch and the secondary aggregation switch. This uplink is blocking under normal conditions for regular VLANs. As a result, bandwidth usage is a concern only when the uplink is forwarding and sharing the path with production traffic.

Configuring the Aggregate Switches

Complete the following steps on the aggregate switches:

Step 1. VLAN configuration

Step 2. RPVST+ configuration

Step 3. Primary and secondary root configuration

Step 4. Configuration of port channels between aggregate switches

Step 5. Configuration of port channels between aggregate switches and Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3020s

Step 6. Trunking of port channels between aggregate switches

Step 7. Configuration of default gateway for each VLAN

Note: The “Configuration Details” section describes each of these steps.

Configuring the Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3020s

Complete the following steps on the Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3020s:

Step 1. VLAN configuration

Step 2. RPVST+ configuration

Step 3. Configuration of port channels between the Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3020 and aggregate switches

Step 4. Trunking of port channels between the Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3020 and aggregate switches

Step 5. Configuration of server ports on the Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3020

Additional Aggregation-Switch Configuration

The following recommendations help integrate the Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3020s into the data center:

Step 1. Enable Root Guard on the aggregate-switch links connected to the switches in the blade enclosure.

The spanning-tree topology is calculated, and one of the primary parameters involved in this equation is the location of the root switch. Determining the position of the root switch in the network allows the network administrator to create an optimized forwarding path for traffic. The Root Guard feature is designed to control the location of the root switch.

The aggregation switches should employ the spanning-tree guard root command on the port-channel interfaces connected to the blade switches.

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