VRRP and LAN side Switch

Product Discussion Peplink Balance
1

The documents showing a pair of Peplinks in VRRP mode all show a single switch on the LAN side. This makes the switch the single point of failure. It is my understanding that a set of stacked switches would remedy this.

With the Peplinks in VRRP mode, is it necessary for the stacked switches to be VRRP capable too? Or maybe it does not matter because the Peplinks are in VRRP mode?

I am looking at mid level switches which support stacking and do NOT mention VRRP like this: Stackable Smart Managed Switch Series
These cost around $300 each.

The switches which do mention VRRP seem to cost around $1400 each: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/datasheet/en/M5300.pdf
Maybe there is something is out there for less.

I talked with Netgear level 1 support and they basically said it looks like a layer 2 switch would be needed to support VRRP and if the Peplink is configured for VRRP, then I better get a switch which mentions VRRP in the documentation. Then they said they were not 100% sure and that level 2 support would contact me soon.

If the Peplink is doing the VRRP, is it necessary for the switch stack to do it too? What do you recommend?

2

Hi,

Switch VRRP & Peplink VRRP are two different entity. For Peplink HA design, single switch will do to archive the minimum requirement. Thus you will see that most of the user guide will only show you the minimum design.

If you are concern about the single point of failure for the LAN switch, you can add-in extra LAN switch.

After you have add-in extra LAN switches to the network, in-order the Peplink VRRP work, make sure the LAN interface for the Peplink HA devices (Connected to different LAN Switch) are able to communicate to each other in the same Layer 2 VLAN.

Thank you

3

Thank you for your answer. So I won’t worry about VRRP on the switches. As long as the Peplinks can communicate via the LAN, all should be good.

I am trying to configure a redundant path down to the dual port nics. Starting with two 305s in VRRP mode. Going into two switches. And then into dual port nic cards.

If the switches are stacked, I guess it would go something like this:

Peplink 1 Lan 1 -> Switch 1 Port 1
Peplink 1 Lan 2 -> Switch 2 Port 1

Peplink 2 Lan 1 -> Switch 1 Port 2
Peplink 2 Lan 2 -> Switch 2 Port 2

Switch 1 Port 3 -> Server 1 Nic 1
Switch 2 Port 4 -> Server 1 Nic 2

I don’t suppose this would do it:

Peplink 1 Lan 1 -> Switch 1 Port 1
Peplink 2 Lan 1 -> Switch 2 Port 1

Switch 1 Port 3 -> Server 1 NiC 1
Switch 2 Port 4 -> Server 1 NIC 2

After rereading your answer, the switches needs to be able to create a Layer 2 VLAN (hence the reason for the MAC address in the slave Peplink setup). Would you mind taking a look at switches’ manual to see if it has this ability:

Model: GS728TS

4

Hi,

Base on the description given, you are referring to the Peplink HA for “Fully Mesh Network” & “non Fully Mesh Mesh network” and both are supported by B305 (Make sure B305 is on HW2).

  1. HA for "Fully Mesh Network:

Peplink 1 Lan 1 -> Switch 1 Port 1
Peplink 1 Lan 2 -> Switch 2 Port 1

Peplink 2 Lan 1 -> Switch 1 Port 2
Peplink 2 Lan 2 -> Switch 2 Port 2

Switch 1 Port 3 -> Server 1 Nic 1
Switch 2 Port 4 -> Server 1 Nic 2

For more information, please refer to the attached diagram:

For Full Mesh Network, LACP feature is required (This will be scheduled new features for Firmware version 6.2.1), else you may consider to use LAN switch Spamming Tree Protocols to block one of the redundant LAN port to avoid looping.

  1. HA for “non Fully Mesh network”

Peplink 1 Lan 1 -> Switch 1 Port 1
Peplink 2 Lan 1 -> Switch 2 Port 1

Switch 1 Port 3 -> Server 1 NiC 1
Switch 2 Port 4 -> Server 1 NIC 2

For more information, please refer to the attached diagram:

We have no idea whether the Netgear Switch for the given link are capable to support the above design, possible please verify with Netgear support & they should be the expert that can provide you such info.

Thank You

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5

I got the Netgear Switches and they are working nicely. Very easy to configure. Note that these switches are mid-level switches costing around $300 each–very cheap to add switch redundancy and it was much easier to configure than I expected. At first the Netgear support said it would be necessary to buy a Layer 2 switch which does VRRP, which is not the case. In fact, with the Peplinks doing VRRP, I don’t think it’s necessary for the switches to do it too.

The setup is actually very easy, mostly plug and play.

At the moment I have have this working:

Peplink 305 1 Lan 1 -> Netgear GS728TSB Switch 1 Port 11
Peplink 305 2 Lan 1 -> Netgear GS728TSB Switch 2 Port 11

Switch 1 Port 1 -> Server 1 NiC 1
Switch 2 Port 1 -> Server 1 NIC 2

The switches are connected using two SPF cables (very cool that switches come with stacking cables–$140 if bought separately).

On the server, configure NIC teaming and put the 2 ports in Adapter Fault Tolerance mode. Originally I thought it might be necessary tell the Switch to LAG the two server ports, this is not the case. To make sure NIC cards are setup correctly, there is a “Test Switch” in the Settings tab of the Team’s Configuration. With LAG setup on the two server ports, there was a problem failing over to the other NIC. Without LAG set, the fail over works fine.

For the moment, the only thing I did on the Switches is change the password and set a static IP. I was thinking I would need to create VLANs, STP and who knows what else – not the case at all.

Once everything is setup and working, I unplugged the Master Peplink and things failover the other side. It takes a little bit of time, maybe 20-30 seconds. Then plug it back it it becomes the master again. Next I unplugged Switch 1 and everything fails over to Switch 2 / Peplink 2.

All in all, very easy to setup and get working. Just a lot of confusion wondering if all this would really work.

One more thing, make sure Peplink 1 and Switch 1 are on power supply A and Peplink 2 and Switch 2 are on power supply B and the server had dual power supply. In the event that PS1 goes out–all is still working.

6

Hi,

Good to heard that you manage to make the HA works as expected for the redundant switch environment using Netgear switch.

Thank You

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