Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switches : Install and Upgrade Guides

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9902/prod_installation_guides_list.html

How to install the Cisco Nexus 1000v Switch Part 3- SysAdminTutorials.com

This is part 3 of the Cisco Nexus 1000v installation tutorials. You must of already completed part 1 and part 2 before starting on this section.
1. Let’s log into the Nexus 1000v console and type show module. Here you can see that the Virtual Supervisor Module is active and that the ip address is 192.168.1.80.

2. The first thing we need to do is configure our vlans.

3. Now we need to create a port-profile. This port profile is of type ethernet which means that it is assigned to physical interfaces of your ESX host. If you are going to be connecting multiple ESX or ESXi hosts to the Nexus switch you must create separate ethernet port-profiles for each, especially if you are using etherchannel. The other type we can create is vethernet which is for virtual machine networks. Type in the commands as you see them below including any vlans that you want included in the trunk. System vlans are priority vlans which always remain in a forwarding state. These types of vlans should include management/service console, nexus control, nexus packet and iSCSI. Because system vlans are always in a forwarding state they actually by pass any QOS or access-lists. Along with defining system vlans here they must also be defined on the vethernet port-profile like in step 4. In the example below i’ve added vMotion as a system vlan for demo purposes but you would not normally add vMotion as a system vlan in a production network.

4. To create a virtual ethernet or vethernet port-profile enter the commands below. As this demo shows my vMotion network as a system vlan, I have to include system vlan 20 in the config. However on a normal virtual machine network I would not include the system vlan command. As soon as you type in state enabled and press enter, you will see the tasks running in vCenter to create the network.

5. So now that we’ve completed the preliminary steps we can now move over to vCenter and start to add our ESX/ESXi host into the Nexus environment. Open up vCenter and in the address bar click Inventory and select Networking. Expand your datacenter – vsm1 (Name of your Nexus Switch) – vsm1 (Name of your Nexus Switch). Right click on vsm1 device and select Add Host.

6. In this Demo I will select all network adapters to migrate over to my system-uplink port profile in my Nexus Switch. However in a production network you would always leave 1 or 2 network adapters in your previous settings so that you can take your time migrating between the old and new. This also protects you if you have made any config errors on your nexus that don’t work after you migrate. In this demo i’ll select all my vmnic’s and under the DVUplink port group select the “port-profile ethernet” profile that we create earlier – “system-uplink”. When you use the same port-profile on multiple vmnic’s on the same host you should also create an etherchannel on the Nexus Switch and on your uplink switch. Click Next.

7. Configure the port-channel on your nexus switch using the commands below. We’ll add the system-uplink port-profile to this port-channel.

8. Migrate your vmk networks such as Service Consoles, vMotion and iSCSI to the vethernet port-profiles you created earlier. Click Next.

9. If you have virtual machines configured on the ESX hosts you will have the option to migrate it’s network to one of the vethernet port-profiles you created earlier. If you have not migrated all your vmnic’s to the system-uplink port-profile you can leave your virtual machines as “Do not migrate and it will still work”. However if you have migrated all your vmnic’s to the system-uplink port-profile you will need to migrate your virtual machine port-groups. Click Assign Port Group.

10. Select the vethernet port-profile for your virtual machine and click Ok.

11. The test-network vethernet port-profile is now selected and the virtual machine network will be migrated to this. Click Next.

12. A summary graphic will be presented highlighting the new settings. Click Finish to complete the install.

13. Now if we jump into the console of our Nexus 1000v switch and type show module we can see that our host vmcluster2.vmlab.local has been added.

14. Log into your ESX server and type in VEM Status (VEM = Cisco Nexus 1000v Virtual Ethernet Module). As you can see VEM is loaded on vmnic1 and 2.

Disclaimer:
All the tutorials included on this site are performed in a lab environment to simulate a real world production scenario. As everything is done to provide the most accurate steps to date, we take no responsibility if you implement any of these steps in a production environment.

How to install the Cisco Nexus 1000v Switch Part 2 - SysAdminTutorials.com

This is part 2 of the Cisco Nexus 1000v installation tutorials. You must of already completed part 1 before started on this section.
1. Now that you have your Cisco Nexus 1000v virtual machine installed, go ahead and power it up. Once it’s powered up, from your management station, open your web browser and browse to the management ip address of your Nexus 1000v that you set in part 1.


2. Click on Launch Installer Application. As a side note, this management station must have Java installed to run the application installer. Enter in the VSM password that you set in part 1. Click Next.


3. Enter in your vCenter information including vCenter IP, https port, user ID and password, select no for using a configuration file. Click Next.


4. Select your Vmware cluster and click Next.


5. Select the Nexus 1000v Virtual machine you create previously from the drop down menu, choose Advanced L2 and match the Control, Management and Packet port groups to the ones you created earlier. Click Next.


6. This part is pretty self explanatory. Just take note to enter Primary as the System Redundancy Role as we will be installing a second VSM as well. Take note of the Domain ID that you set as this will also be using this for the second VSM. During the second VSM install, select Secondary and enter in the same information as the Primary. You can optionally enable telnet. Click Next.


7. A configuration summary is displayed. Click Next to continue.


8. The configuration of the Nexus 1000v begins.


9. I’m going to select no at this stage so that I don’t migrate this host and its networks across to the Nexus 1000v just yet. I would like to manually do it and have more control of the options later on. Click Finish.


10. Installation is now complete, you are presented with an installation summary. Click Close.


11. The Cisco Nexus 1000v plug-in is installed now into vCenter. You can verify this by opening vCenter and click on the Plug-ins – Manage Plug-ins menu. You will see the plug-in under Available Plug-ins. You don’t click on Download and Install, if you do you will just get an error. It is designed to sit under Availabe Plug-ins and this is how the VSM interacts with vCenter.


Disclaimer:
All the tutorials included on this site are performed in a lab environment to simulate a real world production scenario. As everything is done to provide the most accurate steps to date, we take no responsibility if you implement any of these steps in a production environment.

How to install the Cisco Nexus 1000v Switch Part 1 - SysAdminTutorials.com

This 3 part tutorial guide will show you how to install the Cisco Nexus 1000v switch. I’m will be using this image for the install – Nexus1000v.4.2.1.SV1.4.zip which can be downloaded from the Cisco website. The lab setup is as follows: 1 x ESX 4.1, 1 x ESXi 4.1, vCenter Server and Domain Controller.
This Cisco Nexus 1000v requires 3 mandatory virtual machine port groups to be setup in vCenter before installing. Control, Packet and Management. These can sit in the same vlan though it is preferred to have them sitting in separate vlans. Check the Nexus 1000v documentation in the Resources section to determine what is best for you. Let’s begin!
1. Unzip the Nexus1000v.4.2.1.SV1.4.zip file. Go into vCenter and click on the file menu – Deploy OVF Template.

2. Browse to the location where you have unzipped the file and double click on the vsm folder, install folder, and select nexus-1000v.4.2.1.SV1.4.ova and click open.

3. The file location appears in the Deploy from field. Click Next.

4. Information is displayed about the OVF Template such as Product information, version number, size on disk etc. Click Next.

5. Click Accept for the End User License Agreement and then click Next.

6. Give the Nexus 1000v Virtual Supervisor Module a name and select the Datacenter where you would like it to be installed. Click Next.

7. As this is the first installation we can select Nexus 1000v Installer. This will also allow us to setup the Nexus switch via the gui. If you want to use CLI to setup the switch you can select Manually Configure Nexus 1000v. click Next.

8. Select your datacenter object again and click Next.

9. Select the datastore to install the Nexus switch to.

10. I will use Thin Provisioning though feel free to select Thick if you wish. Click Next.

11. Under Destination Networks select the Networks that you created earlier for Control, Management and Packet. Click Next.

12. Enter in the Virtual Switch Module Domain ID, Admin password, Management IP Address.

13. Also enter in the Management subnet mask and IP Gateway. Click Next.

14. A summary of all your setting is presented. If you are happy with these settings click Finish.

15. The deployment of the Nexus 1000v is started.

16. The installation is now complete and your Nexus switch is ready for powering on.