Ethernet Virtual Connections on Port Channels

A port channel bundles individual Ethernet links into a single logical link that provides an aggregated bandwidth of up to four physical links. The Ethernet Virtual Connection (EVC) Port Channel feature provides support for the Ethernet service instances on a port channel.

Information About Ethernet Virtual Connections on Port Channels

Usage Guidelines for Configuring an EVC on a Port Channel

Prior to configuring an EVC on a port channel, consider these usage guidelines:

  • All the member links of the port channel are on the Cisco ASR 1000 Fixed Ethernet Line card or on the shared port adapters (SPAs).

  • All the member links of the port channel must be configured such that they are of the same speed, and are in the same duplex mode.

  • EVC connect and IP subinterfaces are allowed to co-exist over the port-channel interface.

  • If you configure a physical port as part of a channel group, you cannot configure EVCs under that physical port.

  • You cannot use the bandwidth percent or police percent commands on EVC port channels in flat policy maps or in the parent of the Hierarchical quality of service (HQoS) policy maps.

Quality of Service Support

The following Quality of Service (QoS) policy settings are supported for egress traffic on the Cisco ASR 1000 Layer 3 port-channel interface:

  • The QoS on the subinterface of a port channel with a specific encapsulation, such as, VLAN.

  • The QoS on a member link.

  • Modular QoS CLI (MQC) policy aggregation is supported with VLAN-based load balancing on subinterfaces and member-link ports.

The following section describes the QoS support for the following interfaces:

Port-Channel Interface

  • Does not support any QoS policies on the port-channel interface.

Member-Link Interface

  • Supports egress queuing, policing, and marking for flow-based load balancing.

  • Supports egress queuing, policing, and marking for VLAN-based manual load balancing.

  • Supports egress queuing, policing, marking, and the configuration of similar policies on two links for LACP 1:1.

EVC on Port-Channel Interface

  • Does not support flow-based load balancing.

  • Supports ingress and egress policing and marking for VLAN-based manual load balancing.

  • Supports ingress and egress policing and marking for LACP 1:1.


Note

Ensure that you configure the QoS policies for the EVCs on a port channel and a member link separately.


Note

Service policies for ingress traffic are supported on EVC only.

Configuring a Basic EVC Port Channel

Configuring a Port Channel Interface with ethernet Service Instances

To configure a port-channel interface with Ethernet service instances, perform the following steps.

SUMMARY STEPS

    1.    enable

    2.    configure terminal

    3.    interface port-channel number

    4.    [no] ip address

    5.    no negotiation auto

    6.    [no] service instance id Ethernet [ service-name]

    7.    encapsulation { default | untagged | dot1q vlan-id [ second-dot1q vlan-id] }

    8.    [no] service instance id ethernet [ service-name]

    9.    encapsulation {default | untagged | dot1q vlan-id [ second-dot1q vlan-id] }


DETAILED STEPS
     Command or ActionPurpose
    Step 1enable


    Example: 
    Router# enable
     

    Enables the privileged EXEC mode. Enter your password if prompted.

     
    Step 2 configure terminal


    Example: 
    Router# configure terminal
     

    Enters the global configuration mode.

     
    Step 3 interface port-channel number


    Example: 
    Router(config)# interface port-channel 11
     

    Creates the port-channel interface.

     
    Step 4[no] ip address


    Example: 
    Router(config-if)# no ip address
     

    Removes an IP address or disables IP processing.

     
    Step 5 no negotiation auto


    Example: 
    Router(config-if)# no negotiation auto
     

    Disables the advertisement of speed, duplex mode, and flow control on a Gigabit Ethernet interface.

     
    Step 6[no] service instance id Ethernet [ service-name]


    Example: 
    Router(config-if)# service instance 1 ethernet
     

    Creates a service instance (an instantiation of an EVC) on an interface and sets the device to the config-if-srv submode.

     
    Step 7 encapsulation { default | untagged | dot1q vlan-id [ second-dot1q vlan-id] }


    Example: 
    Router(config-if-srv)# encapsulation dot1q 101
     

    Defines the matching criteria to be used in order to map ingress dot1q frames on an interface to the appropriate service instance.

     
    Step 8[no] service instance id ethernet [ service-name]


    Example: 
    Router(config-if)# service instance 2 ethernet
     

    Creates a second service instance on the interface.

     
    Step 9 encapsulation {default | untagged | dot1q vlan-id [ second-dot1q vlan-id] }


    Example: 
    Router(config-if-srv)# encapsulation dot1q 201
     

    Defines the matching criteria to be used in order to map ingress dot1q frames on an interface to the appropriate service instance.

     

    Adding a Port Channel Ethernet Flow Point to a Bridge Domain

    To add a port channel Ethernet Flow Point (EFP) to a bridge domain, perform the following steps.

    SUMMARY STEPS

      1.    [no] bridge-domain bridge-id

      2.    member port-channel interface id service-instance id

      3.    [no] bridge-domain bridge-id | xconnect vfi vfi name

      4.    member port-channel interface id service-instance id


    DETAILED STEPS
       Command or ActionPurpose
      Step 1[no] bridge-domain bridge-id


      Example: 
      Router(config-if-srv)# bridge-domain 100
       

      The bridge-domain command binds the service instance to a bridge domain instance, where bridge-id is the identifier of the bridge-domain instance. To disable bridging, use the no form of this command.

       
      Step 2 member port-channel interface id service-instance id


      Example: 
      Router(config-if-srv)# member Port-channel1 service-instance 1
       

      Creates a service instance on the interface.

       
      Step 3[no] bridge-domain bridge-id | xconnect vfi vfi name


      Example: 
      Router(config-if-srv)# bridge-domain 200
       

      The bridge-domain command binds the service instance to a bridge-domain instance, where bridge-id is the identifier of the bridge-domain instance. The xconnect vfi command specifies the Layer 2 virtual forwarding interface (VFI) that you are binding to the interface, where vfi name is the name of the VFI.

       
      Step 4 member port-channel interface id service-instance id


      Example: 
      Router(config-if-srv)# member Port-channel1 service-instance 2
       

      Creates a service instance on the interface.

       

      Adding an Ethernet Port to the Port Channel Interface

      To configure the channel group number on the Ethernet port and to add an Ethernet port to the port-channel interface, perform the following steps.

      SUMMARY STEPS

        1.    interface GigabitEthernet slot/port/sub-port

        2.    no ip address

        3.    no negotiation auto

        4.    channel-group channel-group-number

        5.    end


      DETAILED STEPS
         Command or ActionPurpose
        Step 1 interface GigabitEthernet slot/port/sub-port


        Example: 
        Router(config-if-srv)# interface GigabitEthernet0/2/0
         

        Specifies the Gigabit Ethernet port that is to be configured. This is the port in which the slot, port, or subport specifies the location of the Gigabit Ethernet port.

         
        Step 2 no ip address


        Example: 
        Router(config-if-srv)# no ip address
         

        Removes an IP address or disables IP processing.

         
        Step 3 no negotiation auto


        Example: 
        Router(config-if-srv)# no negotiation auto
         

        Disables the advertisement of speed, duplex mode, and flow control on a Gigabit Ethernet interface.

         
        Step 4 channel-group channel-group-number


        Example: 
        Router(config-if-srv)# channel-group 1
         

        Assigns a port-channel interface to a port-channel group.

         
        Step 5 end


        Example: 
        Router(config-if-srv)# end
         

        Exits the command-line interface and enters the privileged EXEC mode.

         

        Load Balancing the EVCs on Port Channels

        The load balancing of the EVCs in a port channel aims to load balance traffic across the member links of that port channel when the EVCs are configured. In the VLAN-based load-balancing method, if you do not assign EVCs to a member link, they will be statically mapped to one of the active port-channel member links, which will result in the outgoing traffic being limited to the bandwidth of the member link. In the flow-based load-balancing method, the traffic is distributed across all member links.

        EFPs are configured under a port channel. The traffic, which is carried by the EFPs, is load balanced across member links. Ingress traffic for a single EVC can arrive on any member of the bundle. All the egress traffic pertaining to an EFP uses only one of the member links. Load balancing is achieved by grouping EFPs and assigning them to a member link. The Cisco ASR 1000 Layer 2 port-channel interface supports flow-based load balancing by default. In default load balancing, you have no control over how the EFPs are grouped together, and sometimes, the EFP grouping may not be ideal. To avoid this, use VLAN-based manual load balancing to control the EFP grouping.

        Flow-Based Load Balancing

        Flow-based load balancing is the default load-balancing method that is applied on a specific system level or a specific port channel level. However, EVC port channel also supports the VLAN-based load-balancing method. You can configure either of the load balancing methods globally for all the port channels or directly on specific port channels.

        Load-Balancing Algorithm

        When you select flow-based load balancing, a global flow-based load-balancing algorithm is applied to the port channel by default. Using the packet header information, the corresponding port channel balances the traffic across all the member links. You can configure the device to use one of the following methods to load balance across the port channels:

        • Destination IP Address

        • Destination MAC Address

        • Source exclusive OR (XOR) Destination IP Address

        • Source XOR Destination MAC Address

        • Source IP Address

        • Source MAC Address

        The provision that you configure will be applied to all the egress traffic streams on all the port-channel interfaces that have flow-based load balancing.

        The following is a sample configuration of the flow-based load-balancing algorithm: 
        
Router(config)# port-channel load-balance-hash-algo ?
dst-ip Destination IP
dst-mac Destination MAC
src-dst-ip Source XOR Destination IP Addr
src-dst-mac Source XOR Destination MAC
src-ip Source IP
src-mac Source MAC


        Note

        Flow-based load balancing is enabled by default at the global level. You must explicitly configure VLAN-based load balancing; otherwise, the default load-balancing method is flow-based.

        To enable flow-based load balancing on a port channel, perform the following steps:

        SUMMARY STEPS

          1.    enable

          2.    configure terminal

          3.    interface port-channel port-channel number

          4.    load-balancing {flow | vlan}

          5.    end


        DETAILED STEPS
           Command or ActionPurpose
          Step 1enable


          Example: 
          Router# enable
           

          Enables the privileged EXEC mode.

           
          Step 2 configure terminal


          Example: 
          Router# configure terminal
           

          Enters the global configuration mode.

           
          Step 3 interface port-channel port-channel number


          Example: 
          Router(config)# interface port-channel 1
           

          Specifies the port channel to configure, and enters the configuration mode.

           
          Step 4 load-balancing {flow | vlan}


          Example: 
          Router(config-if)# load-balancing flow
           

          Applies the load-balancing method to the specific port channel.

           
          Step 5end


          Example: 
          Router(config-if)# end
           

          Exits the configuration mode.

           

          Configuring Flow Based Load Balancing

          To configure flow-based load balancing on an EVC port channel, perform the following steps.

          SUMMARY STEPS

            1.    enable

            2.    configure terminal

            3.    interface port-channel channel-number

            4.    port-channel load-balance flow-based

            5.    end


          DETAILED STEPS
             Command or ActionPurpose
            Step 1enable


            Example: 
            Router# enable
             

            Enables the privileged EXEC mode. Enter your password if prompted.

             
            Step 2 configure terminal


            Example: 
            Router# configure terminal
             

            Enters the global configuration mode.

             
            Step 3 interface port-channel channel-number


            Example: 
            Router(config)# interface port-channel 1
             

            Creates the port-channel interface.

             
            Step 4 port-channel load-balance flow-based


            Example: 
            Router(config-if)# port-channel load-balance flow-based
             

            Configures the specified port-channel interface in the flow-based load-balancing mode.

             
            Step 5end
             

            Exits the configuration mode.

             

            VLAN-Based Manual Load Balancing

            Configuring VLAN Based Manual Load Balancing

            Perform this task to link a VLAN port channel, and to enable VLAN load balancing on port channels:

            SUMMARY STEPS

              1.    enable

              2.    configure terminal

              3.    interface port-channel channel-number

              4.    no ip address

              5.    no negotiation auto

              6.    port-channel load-balancing link 1

              7.    backup link 2

              8.    service-instance 100,300

              9.    port-channel load-balancing link 2

              10.    backup link 1

              11.    service-instance 200,400

              12.    load-balancing vlan

              13.    service instance id ethernet

              14.    encapsulation { default | untagged | dot1q vlan-id [ second-dot1q vlan-id] }

              15.    service instance id ethernet

              16.    encapsulation { default | untagged | dot1q vlan-id [ second-dot1q vlan-id] }

              17.    service instance id ethernet

              18.    encapsulation { default | untagged | dot1q vlan-id [ second-dot1q vlan-id] }

              19.    service instance id ethernet

              20.    encapsulation { default | untagged | dot1q vlan-id [ second-dot1q vlan-id] }

              21.    interface type number

              22.    no ip address

              23.    no negotiation auto

              24.    channel-group channel-number link link-number

              25.    interface type number

              26.    no ip address

              27.    no negotiation auto

              28.    channel-group channel-number link link-number

              29.    end


            DETAILED STEPS
               Command or ActionPurpose
              Step 1enable


              Example: 
              Router> enable
               

              Enables the privileged EXEC mode.

              Enter your password if prompted.

               
              Step 2 configure terminal


              Example: 
              Router# configure terminal
               

              Enters the global configuration mode.

               
              Step 3interface port-channel channel-number


              Example: 
              Router(config)# interface port-channel 1
               

              Enters the interface configuration mode and defines the interface as a port channel.

               
              Step 4 no ip address


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# no ip address
               

              Removes an IP address or disables IP processing.

               
              Step 5 no negotiation auto


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# no negotiation auto
               

              Disables the advertisement of speed, duplex mode, and flow control on a port-channel interface.

               
              Step 6 port-channel load-balancing link 1


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# port-channel load-balancing link 1
               

              Enables port-channel load balancing on link 1.

               
              Step 7 backup link 2


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# backup link 2
               

              Assigns a backup link 2.

               
              Step 8 service-instance 100,300


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# service-instance 100,300
               

              Creates a service instance on the interface.

               
              Step 9 port-channel load-balancing link 2


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# port-channel load-balancing link 2
               

              Enables port-channel load balancing on link 2.

               
              Step 10 backup link 1


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# backup link 1
               

              Assigns a backup link 1.

               
              Step 11 service-instance 200,400


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# service-instance 200,400
               

              Creates a service instance on the interface.

               
              Step 12 load-balancing vlan


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# load-balancing vlan
               

              Enables port-channel load balancing on the router.

               
              Step 13 service instance id ethernet


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# service instance 100 ethernet
               

              Creates a service instance on the interface.

               
              Step 14encapsulation { default | untagged | dot1q vlan-id [ second-dot1q vlan-id] }


              Example: 
              Router(config-if-srv)# encapsulation dot1q 100
               

              Defines the matching criteria to be used in order to map the ingress dot1q frames on an interface to the appropriate service instance.

               
              Step 15 service instance id ethernet


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# service instance 200 ethernet
               

              Creates a service instance on the interface.

               
              Step 16encapsulation { default | untagged | dot1q vlan-id [ second-dot1q vlan-id] }


              Example: 
              Router(config-if-srv)# encapsulation dot1q 200
               

              Defines the matching criteria to be used in order to map the ingress dot1q frames on an interface to the appropriate service instance.

               
              Step 17 service instance id ethernet


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# service instance 300 ethernet
               

              Creates a service instance on the interface.

               
              Step 18encapsulation { default | untagged | dot1q vlan-id [ second-dot1q vlan-id] }


              Example: 
              Router(config-if-srv)# encapsulation dot1q 300
               

              Defines the matching criteria to be used in order to map the ingress dot1q frames on an interface to the appropriate service instance.

               
              Step 19 service instance id ethernet


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# service instance 400 ethernet
               

              Creates a service instance on the interface.

               
              Step 20encapsulation { default | untagged | dot1q vlan-id [ second-dot1q vlan-id] }


              Example: 
              Router(config-if-srv)# encapsulation dot1q 400
               

              Defines the matching criteria to be used in order to map the ingress dot1q frames on an interface to the appropriate service instance.

               
              Step 21 interface type number


              Example: 
              Router(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/2/6
               

              Specifies the interface type and number.

               
              Step 22 no ip address


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# no ip address
               

              Removes an IP address or disables IP processing.

               
              Step 23 no negotiation auto


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# no negotiation auto
               

              Disables the advertisement of speed, duplex mode, and flow control on a port-channel interface.

               
              Step 24channel-group channel-number link link-number


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# channel-group 1 link 1
               

              Assigns a Gigabit Ethernet interface to the specified channel group and link.

               
              Step 25 interface type number


              Example: 
              Router(config)# interface gigabitethernet0/2/7
               

              Specifies the interface type and number.

               
              Step 26 no ip address


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# no ip address
               

              Removes an IP address or disables IP processing.

               
              Step 27 no negotiation auto


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# no negotiation auto
               

              Disables the advertisement of speed, duplex mode, and flow control on a port-channel interface.

               
              Step 28channel-group channel-number link link-number


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# channel-group 1 link 1
               

              Assigns a Gigabit Ethernet interface to the specified channel group and link.

               
              Step 29end


              Example: 
              Router(config-if)# end
               

              Exits the interface configuration mode, and returns to the privileged EXEC mode.

               

              Example: Ethernet Virtual Connections on Port Channels

              Example: Ethernet Virtual Connections on Port Channels

              The following example shows how to configure flow-based load balancing on a port-channel interface: 

              
Router# enable
Router# configure terminal
Router(config)# interface Port-channel 1
Router(config-if)# port-channel load-balance flow-based
Router(config-if)# end

              The following example shows how to configure QoS on an EVC port channel: 

              
Router> enable
Router# configure terminal
Router(config)# class-map c1-cos2-cos4
match cos 2 match vlan 1
Router(config)# policy-map p1-ingress
Router(config-pmap)# class c1-cos2-cos4
Router(config-pmap-c)# police cir 100000 conform-action set-cos-transmit 4
Router(config)# interface Port-channel1
Router(config-if)# no ip address
Router(config-if)# no negotiation auto
Router(config-f)# load-balancing vlan
Router(config-if)# service instance 1 ethernet
Router(config-if-srv)# encapsulation dot1q 1
Router(config-if-srv)# service-policy input p1-ingress
Router(config-if)# port-channel load-balance link 1
Router(config-if)# backup link 2
Router(config-if)# service-instance 1
Router(config-if)# interface GigabitEthernet3/0/3
Router(config-if)# no ip address
Router(config-if)# no shutdown
Router(config-if)# negotiation auto
Router(config-if)# channel-group 1 link 1
Router(config-if)# interface GigabitEthernet5/0/0
Router(config-if)# no ip address
Router(config-if)# no shutdown
Router(config-if)# negotiation auto
Router(config-if)# channel-group 1 link 2
Router(config-if)# bridge-domain 1
Router(config-if)# member Port-channel1 service-instance 1

              The following example shows how to use the show running-config interface port-channel channel-number command to verify an EVC port channel's per-flow load-balancing configuration: 

              
Router# enable
Router# configure terminal
Router(config)# interface Port-channel 2
Router(config-if)# port-channel load-balance flow-based
Router(config-if)# end
Router# show running-config interface Port-channel 2

Building configuration...
Current configuration : 113 bytes
! 
interface Port-channel2
band width 1000000
no ip address
 port-channel load-balance flow-based
end

              Configuring LACP

              To configure the channel mode for each individual link in the LACP port channel, perform the following steps.

              SUMMARY STEPS

                1.    config t

                2.    interface type slot/port

                3.    channel-group number mode {active | on | passive}

                4.    lacp {port-priority | rate}

                5.    lacp {ratefast | normal}


              DETAILED STEPS
                 Command or ActionPurpose
                Step 1 config t


                Example: 
                Router# config t
Router(config)#
                 

                Enters the configuration mode.

                 
                Step 2interface type slot/port


                Example: 
                Router(config)# interface GigabitEthernet0/2/0
                 

                Specifies the interface to configure, and enters the interface configuration mode.

                 
                Step 3 channel-group number mode {active | on | passive}


                Example: 
                Router(config-if)# channel-group 1 mode active
                 

                Specifies the port mode for the link in a port channel. After the LACP is enabled, configure each link or the entire channel as active or passive. When you run port channels with no associated aggregation protocol, the port channel mode is always on.

                 
                Step 4 lacp {port-priority | rate}


                Example: 
                Router(config-if)# lacp port-priority 4000
                 

                Configures the port priority for use with the LACP.

                 
                Step 5 lacp {ratefast | normal}


                Example: 
                Router(config-if)# lacp rate fast
                                  		Configures the fast rate (one second) at which the LACP control packets are sent to an LACP-supported interface. To reset the timeout rate to its default, use the no form of this command.  

                Configuring the LACP Mode per Port Channel Interface

                To configure the LACP mode on an individual port-channel interface, perform the following steps.

                SUMMARY STEPS

                  1.    interface port-channel port-channel number

                  2.    lacp {fast switch-over | max-bundle | min-bundle}


                DETAILED STEPS
                   Command or ActionPurpose
                  Step 1 interface port-channel port-channel number


                  Example: 
                  Router(config)# interface port-channel 1
                   

                  Specifies the port channel to configure, and enters the configuration mode.

                   
                  Step 2lacp {fast switch-over | max-bundle | min-bundle}


                  Example: 
                  Router (config-int)# lacp max-bundle 4
                   

                  max-bundle-Specifies the maximum number of ports to bundle in this port channel.

                  fast switch-over-Enables fast switchover on this port channel.

                  min-bundle-Specifies the minimum number of ports to bundle in this port channel.

                  Configures four active links on the port channel. The remaining links are in standby mode. Traffic is load-balanced among the active links.