The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For the purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on RFP documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product. Learn more about how Cisco is using Inclusive Language.
This chapter contains the following sections:
Information About Interfaces
All interfaces on the Cisco Nexus 1000V are Layer 2 Ethernet interfaces, which include access ports, trunk ports, private VLAN ports, and promiscuous ports.
An access port carries traffic for one VLAN. This type of port is a Layer 2 interface only.
Private VLANs (PVLANs) are used to segregate Layer 2 ISP traffic and convey it to a single router interface. PVLANs achieve device isolation by applying Layer 2 forwarding constraints that allow end devices to share the same IP subnet while being isolated by Layer 2. The use of larger subnets reduces address management overhead. Three separate port designations are used. Each has its own unique set of rules that regulate the ability of each connected endpoint to communicate with other connected endpoints within the same PVLAN domain.
For more information about PVLANs, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide.
A promiscuous port can talk to all other types of ports. A promiscuous port can talk to isolated ports as well as community ports, and those ports can also talk to promiscuous ports.
For more information about promiscuous ports, see the Cisco Nexus 1000V Layer 2 Switching Configuration Guide
A trunk port carries traffic for two or more VLANs. This port type is a Layer 2 interface only.
Virtual Ethernet (vEthernet or vEth) interfaces are logical interfaces. Each vEthernet interface corresponds to a switch interface that is connected to a virtual port. The interface types are as follows:
vEthernet interfaces are created on the Cisco Nexus 1000V to represent virtual ports in use on the distributed virtual switch.
You can use the management Ethernet interface to connect the device to a network for remote management using a Telnet client, the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), or other management agents.
A port channel is a logical interface that aggregates multiple physical interfaces. You can bundle up to eight individual links to physical ports into a port channel to improve bandwidth and redundancy. You can also use port channeling to load balance traffic across these channeled physical interfaces.
You can offload operation of the Line Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) from the VSM to the VEMs to prevent a situation where LACP cannot be negotiated with the upstream switch when the VEM is disconnected from the VSM (referred to as headless mode). VEM management of LACP allows port channels to be reestablished after the reboot of a headless VEM.
You can use a port profile to simplify the interface configuration. You can configure a port profile and then assign it to multiple interfaces to give them all the same configuration. Changes to the port profile are propagated to the configuration of any interface that is assigned to it.
![]() Note | We do not recommend that you override port profile configurations by making changes to the assigned interface configurations. You should make configuration changes to interfaces only to quickly test a change or to disable a port. |
Interfaces support stateful and stateless restarts. A stateful restart occurs during a supervisor switchover. After the switchover, the Cisco Nexus 1000V applies the run-time configuration.