Monday, June 17, 2013

Fex Identity-Mismatch (identity-mismatch error on nexus 5k)

While checking fex links, we got the " Identity-Mismatch" error as shown below in "sh int fex" output:

Nexus-5k-1# sh int fex-fabric 
     Fabric      Fabric       Fex                FEX           
Fex  Port      Port State    Uplink    Model         Serial    
---------------------------------------------------------------
103   Eth1/17        Active     1    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  JAX1122AAA
103   Eth1/18        Active     2    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  JAX1122AAA
103   Eth1/19        Active     3    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  JAX1122AAA
103   Eth1/20        Active     4    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  JAX1122AAA
105   Eth1/23        Active     1    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  MLX1122BBB
105   Eth1/24        Active     2    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  MLX1122BBB
105   Eth1/25  Identity-Mismatch     4    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  PQR3344DDD  <<<Notice this
105   Eth1/26        Active     4    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  MLX1122BBB


Nexus-5k-2# sh int fex-fabric 
     Fabric      Fabric       Fex                FEX           
Fex  Port      Port State    Uplink    Model         Serial    
---------------------------------------------------------------
102   Eth1/17        Active     1    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  LMN2244CCC
102   Eth1/18        Active     2    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  LMN2244CCC
102   Eth1/19        Active     3    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  LMN2244CCC
102   Eth1/20        Active     4    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  LMN2244CCC
104   Eth1/23        Active     1    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  PQR3344DDD
104   Eth1/24        Active     2    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  PQR3344DDD
104   Eth1/25        Active     3    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  PQR3344DDD
104   Eth1/26  Identity-Mismatch     3    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  MLX1122BBB  <<<Notice this

Basically this error is related to incorrect cabling..
As we know that a nexus 2k switch or FEX is connected to its parent Nexus 5k over fex links.
One Fex (2k) can be dual homed to two Nexus 5k switches. and when a nexus 2k is connected to Nexus 5k, a unique fex associate number is assigned to that particular 2k to identify it uniquely. 

So, i had four nexus 2k switches whose serial numbers are JAX1122AAA,MLX1122BBB, PQR3344DDD and LMN2244CCC.   JAX1122AAA and ,MLX1122BBB are FEX switches for Nexus5k1. and  PQR3344DDD and LMN2244CCC are part of Nexus-5k-2.  JAX1122AAA has been given FEX associate number 103 and MLX1122BBB has been given 105,LMN2244CCC is assigned 102  and PQR3344DDD is assigned 104. Each fex is connected to its parent switch via 4 fex links.

Idealy, all 4 fex links which are under same FEX ASSOCIATE NUMBER should be going to same 2k,however, one of our onsite engineer incorrectly cabled one of the fex link from 103 on Nexus-5k-1 to another 2k which was part of FEX number 104 on Nexus-5k-2 and we started getting identity mismatch. As you can see in above output,under FEX 105 on Nexus-5k-1, the Eth1/25 is showing PQR3344DDD serial number,however, all other interfaces showing MLX1122BBB and vice versa on Nexus-5k-2 for Eth1/26.

In order to verify cabling and make sure right fex or 2k is connected to correct parent 5k switch with respective to its FEX associate number, we can use "show interface fex-fabric" command and verify the same using serial number that all are correct switches.
once the cable were swapped, we started getting right serial number for Eth1/25. 


Nexus-5k-1# sh int fex-fabric 
     Fabric      Fabric       Fex                FEX           
Fex  Port      Port State    Uplink    Model         Serial    
---------------------------------------------------------------
103   Eth1/17        Active     1    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  JAX1122AAA
103   Eth1/18        Active     2    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  JAX1122AAA
103   Eth1/19        Active     3    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  JAX1122AAA
103   Eth1/20        Active     4    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  JAX1122AAA
105   Eth1/23        Active     1    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  MLX1122BBB
105   Eth1/24        Active     2    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  MLX1122BBB
105   Eth1/25       Active      3    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  MLX1122BBB  ---->>>>Correct now
105   Eth1/26        Active     4    N2K-C2248TP-1GE  MLX1122BBB

5 comments:

  1. Was helpful. met with similer issue and this helped

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just had the same issue and came across this post - very useful - thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Had this issue today and a google search got me to this page. Thanks for the post.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you..I am new in Nexus and had job where this seems to be exact issue.

    ReplyDelete