Recently, working on a customer environment, I discovered that their current Cisco 1000v implementation was not redundant. We quickly decided to convert the standalone setup to a HA-setup. This article shows how this can easily be done.

I can agree with the fact that this introduces more complexity. However, if you are familiar with Cisco products or you plan to install some products later on, such as ASA 1000v, then Nexus 1000v is a “want” or a “must”. And then, there is this thing called “role separation”.

Cisco Nexus 1000 V Oval

The current setup was a Cisco 1000v VSM (Virtual Supervisor Module) in L2 Control mode, but the same procedure can be applied to a Cisco 1000v in L3 Control mode.

Step 1. Change Cisco 1000v redundancy mode from standalone to HA (primary) on existing VSM. Confirm that role changed from standalone to primary.

Step 2. Retrieve existing domain ID from existing VSM & Admin-password from your local password database. Domain ID can be retrieved from current primary VSM by issuing the following command. The domain ID is printed in bold. Also check the port-groups the current VSM is using as you need them in deploying the Cisco 1000v OVA:

• Send document comments to nexus1k-docfeedback@cisco.com. B-7 Cisco Nexus 1000V Installation and Upgrade Guide, Release 4.2(1)SV1(5.1) OL-25792-01 Appendix B Installing the Cisco Nexus 1000V Software Using ISO or OVA Files Installing the Software from an OVA Image ssh server enable feature http-server svs-domain svs mode L2 control vlan 100.
• How to Deploy a Nexus 1000v lab with VMware Workstation. By Robert Burns – CCIE Data Center #37856.Details of third party OS & application installation is beyond the scope of this guide.
• The Cisco Nexus 1000V Switch optimizes the use of Layer 4 - 7 virtual networking services in virtual machine and cloud environments through Cisco vPath architecture services. Cisco vPath 2.0 supports service chaining so you can use multiple virtual network services as part of a single traffic flow.

Step 3. Install redundant VSM by deploying OVA (use same version as currently deployed VSM!) and choose deployment method secondary VSM. Only the relevant screenshots are shown below:

Step 4. After booting verify that the new deployed VSM is running as standby VSM:

Cisco Nexus 1000v Ova

And voila, the set-up is redundant now! It’s as easy as that.

Note: Don’t forget to configure the proper VMware DRS rules in order to separate the VSM’s.

Cisco Nexus 1000v Ova Download

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