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Enabling or disabling LACP on an Uplink Port Group using the vSphere Web Client (2034277)

Purpose

This article provides steps to enable or disable LACP on an Uplink Port Group using the vSphere Web Client
 
Note: For more information, see the vSphere Networking Guide. This guide contains definitive information. If there is a discrepancy between the guide and the article, assume the guide is correct.

Resolution

Beginning with vSphere 5.1, VMware supports Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) on vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) only.

LACP is a standards-based method to control the bundling of several physical network links together to form a logical channel for increased bandwidth and redundancy purposes. LACP enables a network device to negotiate an automatic bundling of links by sending LACP packets to the peer.

LACP works by sending frames down all links that have the protocol enabled. If it finds a device on the other end of the link that also has LACP enabled, it also sends frames independently along the same links, enabling the two units to detect multiple links between themselves and then combine them into a single logical link.

This dynamic protocol provides these advantages over the static link aggregation method supported by previous versions of vSphere:
  • Plug and Play – Automatically configures and negotiates between host and access layer physical switch
  • Dynamic – Detects link failures and cabling mistakes and automatically reconfigures the links

LACP limitations on a vSphere Distributed Switch

  • vSphere supports only one LACP group(Uplink Port Group with LACP enabled) per distributed switch and only one LACP group per host
  • LACP does not support Port mirroring
  • LACP settings do not exist in host profiles
  • LACP only works with IP Hash load balancing and Link Status Network failover detection
  • LACP between two nested ESXi hosts is not possible

Enabling or Disabling LACP on an Uplink Port Group

Note: All port groups using the Uplink Port Group enabled with LACP must have the load balancing policy set to IP hash load balancing, network failure detection policy set to link status only, and all uplinks set to active.
 
To enable and disable LACP on an Uplink Port Group:
  1. Locate an Uplink Port Group in the vSphere Web Client.

    To locate an uplink port group:

    1. Select a distributed switch and click the Related Objects tab.
    2. Click Uplink Port Groups and select an uplink port group from the list.

  2. Click the Manage tab and click Settings.
  3. Click Edit.
  4. In the LACP section, use the dropdown to enable or disable LACP.
  5. When you enable LACP, a Mode dropdown menu appears with these options:

    Active – The port is in an active negotiating state, in which the port initiates negotiations with remote ports by sending LACP packets.
    Passive – The port is in a passive negotiating state, in which the port responds to LACP packets it receives but does not initiate LACP negotiation.

    Set this option to passive (disable) or active (enable). The default setting is passive.

    Note: This step is optional.

  6. Click OK.

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