Network Resilience with LACP in NGX Storage

NGX Storage systems are designed to have high availability and deliver sustained performance for file and object workloads. To eliminate single points of failure at the network layer, NGX supports Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP), which combines multiple physical network interfaces into a single logical channel. This approach provides two critical benefits: bandwidth scalability, allowing throughput to increase as additional links are added, and redundancy, ensuring continuous client access even if one or more physical connections fail. By leveraging LACP, NGX enables enterprises to achieve resilient, load-balanced network paths for SMB, NFS, and S3 protocols—meeting the reliability demands of modern data-intensive applications.

Physical Connections

Each controller (A and B) is equipped with multiple network interfaces (ix0–ix3), which are bonded into a logical LACP group and connected across redundant top-of-rack switches.

NGX Storage Configuration

Configuring LACP in the NGX Storage Web GUI is simple and intuitive. From the network settings, administrators can select the desired network interfaces and assign them to an LACP group, ensuring redundancy and aggregated bandwidth.

Network Switch Configuration

As an example, Cisco C9300X-12Y switches are used for this setup. 

vPC Global Configuration

From configuration mode (config t) run the following commands to configure the vPC global configuration for both switches:

Switch-1

vpc domain 1
 role priority 10
  peer-keepalive destination <<switch_2_mgmt0_ip_addr>> source <<switch_1_mgmt0_ip_addr>> vrf management
  peer-gateway
  auto-recovery
  ip arp synchronize
int hu1/1/1-2
  channel-group 10 mode active
int Po10
  description vPC peer-link
  switchport
  switchport mode trunk
  switchport trunk native vlan <<native_vlan_id>>
  switchport trunk allowed vlan <<data_vlan_id>>,<<mgmt_vlan>
  spanning-tree port type network
  vpc peer-link
  no shut
exit
copy run start

Switch-2 

vpc domain 1
  peer-switch
  role priority 20
  peer-keepalive destination <<switch_1_mgmt0_ip_addr>> source <<switch_2_mgmt0_ip_addr>> vrf management
  peer-gateway
  auto-recovery
  ip arp synchronize
int hu1/1/1-2
  channel-group 10 mode active
int Po10
  description vPC peer-link
  switchport
  switchport mode trunk
  switchport trunk native vlan <<native_vlan_id>>
  switchport trunk allowed vlan <<data_vlan_id>>,<<mgmt_vlan>>
  spanning-tree port type network
  vpc peer-link
no shut
exit
copy run start

Port Channel Configuration for Storage Controller Connections

Using vPC for port channels enables you to have active-active connections from storage controller to separate physical switches. 

From configuration mode (config t) run the following commands to configure port channels to connect storage controller network ports.

Switch-1 

int eth1/1-2
  channel-group 11 mode active
int Po11
  description vPC-Ctrl-A-ix0-ix2
  switchport
  switchport mode trunk
  switchport trunk native vlan <<native_vlan_id>>
  switchport trunk allowed vlan <<data_vlan_id>>,<<mgmt_vlan>>
  spanning-tree port type edge trunk
  vpc 11
  no shut
int eth1/7-8
  channel-group 12 mode active 
int Po12 
  description vPC-Ctrl-B-ix0-ix2 
  switchport 
  switchport mode trunk 
  switchport trunk native vlan <<native_vlan_id>> 
  switchport trunk allowed vlan <<data_vlan_id>>,<<mgmt_vlan>> 
  spanning-tree port type edge trunk 
  vpc 12 
  no shut

Switch-2 

int eth1/1-2
  channel-group 11 mode active
int Po11
  description vPC-Ctrl-A-ix1-ix3
  switchport
  switchport mode trunk
  switchport trunk native vlan <<native_vlan_id>>
  switchport trunk allowed vlan <<data_vlan_id>>,<<mgmt_vlan>>
  spanning-tree port type edge trunk
  vpc 11
  no shut
int eth1/7-8
  channel-group 12 mode active 
int Po12 
  description vPC-Ctrl-B-ix1-ix3 
  switchport 
  switchport mode trunk 
  switchport trunk native vlan <<native_vlan_id>> 
  switchport trunk allowed vlan <<data_vlan_id>>,<<mgmt_vlan>> 
  spanning-tree port type edge trunk 
  vpc 12 
  no shut

Verifying LACP Status on NGX Storage Web Interface

To verify LACP status, navigate to the network interface information section within the NGX storage web interface. Review the status of the highlighted fields in the output from both controllers.

lagg1: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 9000
options=67ecc7bb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,TSO6,LRO,TOE4,TOE6,VL
AN_HWTSO,LINKSTATE,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6,TXRTLMT,HWRXTSTMP,NOMAP,VXLAN_HWCSUM,VXLAN_HWTSO> 
        ether 00:07:43:64:b9:18 
        laggproto lacp lagghash l2,l3,l4 
        laggport: ix0 flags=1c<ACTIVE,COLLECTING,DISTRIBUTING> 
        laggport: ix1 flags=1c<ACTIVE,COLLECTING,DISTRIBUTING> 
        laggport: ix2 flags=1c<ACTIVE,COLLECTING,DISTRIBUTING> 
        laggport: ix3 flags=1c<ACTIVE,COLLECTING,DISTRIBUTING> 
        groups: lagg 
        media: Ethernet autoselect 
        status: active 
        nd6 options=9<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED>

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