Why vPC ?
vPC or virtual port channel allows
links that are physically connected to two different Cisco Nexus Series devices to appear as a single PortChannel
to the third device.
In my opinion vPC technology
is a smart way for MLAG (multichassis
link aggregation) designed for the nexus product line.
VSS on the other hand for
cisco 6500 product line has its own limitations:
Control plane in VSS:
VSS can have maximum of two
switches. The two switches are mamaged by one active switch and all
configuration and state is synchronized to
the standby switch over the VSL link. All control plane processing is handled
by the CPU on the active switch.
Control plane in vPC:
In vPC control plane is
separate. Nexus switches are managed separately and have individual processing
of control information. States are exchanged through the vpc peer-link.
some reasons why would I want to go with nexus ?
- Throughput and performance problems with the 6500 product line
- High port density and port speeds that can go till 100G
- Next generation platform with enhanced features and protocols
- vPC
