H3C S5150-EI Series User manual

H3C S5150-EI Switch Series
IRF Configuration Guide
New H3C Technologies Co., Ltd.
http://www.h3c.com.hk
Software version: Release 510x
Document version: 6W101-20171222

Copyright © 2016-2017, New H3C Technologies Co., Ltd. and its licensors
All rights reserved
No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written
consent of New H3C Technologies Co., Ltd.
Trademarks
H3C, , H3CS, H3CIE, H3CNE,Aolynk, , H3Care, , IRF, NetPilot, Netflow, SecEngine,
SecPath, SecCenter, SecBlade, Comware, ITCMM and HUASAN are trademarks of New H3C Technologies
Co., Ltd.
All other trademarks that may be mentioned in this manual are the property of their respective owners
Notice
The information in this document is subject to change without notice. Every effort has been made in the
preparation of this document to ensure accuracy of the contents, but all statements, information, and
recommendations in this document do not constitute the warranty of any kind, express or implied.

Preface
This configuration guide describes how to set up an IRF fabric of multiple S5150-EI switches,
including:
•Plan the switch roles in the IRF fabric.
•Connect the IRF links.
•Detect IRF splits and maintain the IRF fabric.
This preface includes the following topics about the documentation:
•Audience
•Conventions
•Obtaining documentation
•Technical support
•Documentation feedback
Audience
This documentation is intended for:
•Network planners.
•Field technical support and servicing engineers.
•Network administrators.
Conventions
The following information describes the conventions used in the documentation.
Command conventions
Convention Description
Boldface Bold text represents commands and keywords that you enter literally as shown.
Italic Italic text represents arguments that you replace with actual values.
[ ] Square brackets enclose syntax choices (keywords or arguments) that are optional.
{ x | y | ... }
Braces enclose a set of required syntax choices separated by vertical bars, from which
you select one.
[ x | y | ... ]
Square brackets enclose a set of optional syntax choices separated by vertical bars,
from which you select one or none.
{ x | y | ... } *
Asterisk marked braces enclose a set of required syntax choices separated by vertical
bars, from which you select a minimum of one.
[ x | y | ... ] *
Asterisk marked square brackets enclose optional syntax choices separated by vertical
bars, from which you select one choice, multiple choices, or none.
&<1-n> The argument or keyword and argument combination before the ampersand (&) sign
can be entered 1 to n times.
# A line that starts with a pound (#) sign is comments.

GUI conventions
Convention Description
Boldface Window names, button names, field names, and menu items are in Boldface. For
example, the New User window opens; click OK.
> Multi-level menus are separated by angle brackets. For example, File > Create >
Folder.
Symbols
Convention Description
WARNING! An alert that calls attention to important information that if not understood or followed
can result in personal injury.
CAUTION: An alert that calls attention to important information that if not understood or followed
can result in data loss, data corruption, or damage to hardware or software.
IMPORTANT: An alert that calls attention to essential information.
NOTE: An alert that contains additional or supplementary information.
TIP: An alert that provides helpful information.
Network topology icons
Convention Description
Represents a generic network device, such as a router, switch, or firewall.
Represents a routing-capable device, such as a router or Layer 3 switch.
Represents a generic switch, such as a Layer 2 or Layer 3 switch, or a router that
supports Layer 2 forwarding and other Layer 2 features.
Represents an access controller, a unified wired-WLAN module, or the access
controller engine on a unified wired-WLAN switch.
Represents an access point.
Represents a wireless terminator unit.
Represents a wireless terminator.
Represents a mesh access point.
Represents omnidirectional signals.
Represents directional signals.
Represents a security product, such as a firewall, UTM, multiservice security
gateway, or load balancing device.
T
T
T
T





Convention Description
Represents a security module, such as a firewall, load balancing, NetStream, SSL
VPN, IPS, or ACG module.
Examples provided in this document
Examples in this document might use devices that differ from your device in hardware model,
configuration, or software version. It is normal that the port numbers, sample output, screenshots,
and other information in the examples differ from what you have on your device.
Obtaining documentation
To access the most up-to-date H3C product documentation, go to the H3C website at
http://www.h3c.com.hk/
To obtain information about installation, configuration, and maintenance, click
http://www.h3c.com.hk/Technical_Documents
To obtain software version information such as release notes, click
http://www.h3c.com.hk/Software_Download
Technical support
[e-mail]
http://www.h3c.com.hk/
Documentation feedback
You can e-mail your comments about product documentation to [e-mail].
We appreciate your comments.

i
Contents
Setting up an IRF fabric·····································································1
Overview··································································································································1
Network topology ················································································································2
Basic concepts ···················································································································2
Interface naming conventions ································································································4
File system naming conventions·····························································································4
Configuration synchronization································································································5
Loop elimination mechanism··································································································5
Master election ···················································································································6
Multi-active handling procedure······························································································6
MAD mechanisms ···············································································································7
Hardware compatibility··············································································································12
General restrictions and configuration guidelines ············································································12
Software requirements ·······································································································12
IRF physical interface requirements·······················································································12
Connecting IRF ports ·········································································································13
Configuration backup ·········································································································13
Setup and configuration task list··································································································13
Planning the IRF fabric setup······································································································14
Assigning a member ID to each IRF member device········································································15
Specifying a priority for each member device ·················································································15
Connecting IRF physical interfaces······························································································16
Binding physical interfaces to IRF ports ························································································16
Accessing the IRF fabric············································································································18
Bulk-configuring basic IRF settings for a member device··································································18
Configuring a member device description······················································································19
Configuring IRF link load sharing mode ························································································19
Configuring the global load sharing mode···············································································20
Configuring a port-specific load sharing mode ·········································································20
Configuring IRF bridge MAC persistence ······················································································20
Enabling software auto-update for software image synchronization·····················································21
Configuration prerequisites··································································································22
Configuration procedure ·····································································································22
Setting the IRF link down report delay ··························································································22
Configuring MAD ·····················································································································23
Configuring LACP MAD······································································································23
Configuring BFD MAD········································································································24
Configuring ARP MAD········································································································26
Configuring ND MAD··········································································································27
Excluding a port from the shutdown action upon detection of multi-active collision···························28
Recovering an IRF fabric···········································································································29
Displaying and maintaining an IRF fabric ······················································································30
Configuration examples·············································································································31
LACP MAD-enabled IRF configuration example·······································································31
BFD MAD-enabled IRF configuration example·········································································35
ARP MAD-enabled IRF configuration example·········································································39
ND MAD-enabled IRF configuration example ··········································································43
Index···························································································49

1
Setting up an IRF fabric
Overview
The Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF) technology virtualizes multiple physical devices at the
same layer into one virtual fabric to provide data center class availability and scalability. IRF
virtualization technology offers processing power, interaction, unified management, and
uninterrupted maintenance of multiple devices.
Figure 1 shows an IRF fabric that has two devices, which appear as a single node to the upper-layer
and lower-layer devices.
Figure 1 IRF application scenario
IRF provides the following benefits:
•Simplified topology and easy management—An IRF fabric appears as one node and is
accessible at a single IP address on the network. You can use this IP address to log in at any
member device to manage all the members of the IRF fabric. In addition, you do not need to run
the spanning tree feature among the IRF members.
•1:N redundancy—In an IRF fabric, one member acts as the master to manage and control the
entire IRF fabric. All the other members process services while backing up the master. When
the master fails, all the other member devices elect a new master from among them to take over
without interrupting services.
•IRF link aggregation—You can assign several physical links between neighboring members to
their IRF ports to create a load-balanced aggregate IRF connection with redundancy.
•Multichassis link aggregation—You can use the Ethernet link aggregation feature to
aggregate the physical links between the IRF fabric and its upstream or downstream devices
across the IRF members.
•Network scalability and resiliency—Processing capacity of an IRF fabric equals the total
processing capacities of all the members. You can increase ports, network bandwidth, and
processing capacity of an IRF fabric simply by adding member devices without changing the
network topology.

2
Network topology
An IRF fabric can use a daisy-chain or ring topology. IRF does not support the full mesh topology. For
information about connecting IRF member devices, see "Connecting IRF physical interfaces."
Basic concepts
IRF member roles
IRF uses two member roles: masterand standby (called subordinate throughout the documentation).
When devices form an IRF fabric, they elect a master to manage and control the IRF fabric, and all
the other devices back up the master. When the master device fails, the other devices automatically
elect a new master. For more information about master election, see "Master election."
IRF member ID
An IRF fabric uses member IDs to uniquely identify and manage its members. This member ID
information is included as the first part of interface numbers and file paths to uniquely identify
interfaces and files in an IRF fabric. For more information about interface and file path naming, see
"Interface naming conventions" and "File system naming conventions."
Two devices cannot form an IRF fabric if they use the same member ID.Adevice cannot join an IRF
fabric if its member ID has been used in the fabric.
IRF port
An IRF port is a logical interface that connects IRF member devices. Every IRF-capable device has
two IRF ports. The IRF ports are named IRF-port n/1 and IRF-port n/2, where nis the member ID of
the switch. The two IRF ports are referred to as IRF-port 1 and IRF-port 2 in this book.
To use an IRF port, you must bind a minimum of one physical interface to it. The physical interfaces
assigned to an IRF port automatically form an aggregate IRF link. An IRF port goes down when all its
IRF physical interfaces are down.
IRF physical interface
IRF physical interfaces connect IRF member devices and must be bound to an IRF port. They
forward traffic between member devices, including IRF protocol packets and data packets that must
travel across IRF member devices.
For more information about physical interfaces that can be used for IRF links, see "IRF physical
interface requirements."
MAD
An IRF link failure causes an IRF fabric to split in two IRF fabrics operating with the same Layer 3
settings, including the same IP address. To avoid IP address collision and network problems, IRF
uses multi-active detection (MAD) mechanisms to detect the presence of multiple identical IRF
fabrics, handle collisions, and recover from faults.
IRF domain ID
One IRF fabric forms one IRF domain. IRF uses IRF domain IDs to uniquely identify IRF fabrics and
prevent IRF fabrics from interfering with one another.
As shown in Figure 2, IRF fabric 1 contains Device Aand Device B, and IRF fabric 2 contains Device
C and Device D. Both fabrics use the LACP aggregate links between them for MAD. When a
member device receives an extended LACPDU for MAD, it checks the domain ID to see whether the
packet is from the local IRF fabric. Then, the device can handle the packet correctly.

3
Figure 2 A network that contains two IRF domains
IRF split
IRF split occurs when an IRF fabric breaks up into multiple IRF fabrics because of IRF link failures,
as shown in Figure 3. The split IRF fabrics operate with the same IP address. IRF split causes
routing and forwarding problems on the network. To quickly detect a multi-active collision, configure
a minimum of one MAD mechanism (see "Configuring MAD").
Figure 3 IRF split
IRF merge
IRF merge occurs when two split IRF fabrics reunite or when two independent IRFfabrics are united,
as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4 IRF merge
Device A Device B
IRF fabric 1
(domain 10)
IRF link
Core network
IRF fabric 2
(domain 20)
IRF link
Device C Device D
Access network

4
Member priority
Member priority determines the possibility of a member device to be elected the master. A member
with higher priority is more likely to be elected the master.
Interface naming conventions
An interface is named in the chassis-id/slot-number/port-index format.
•chassis-id—IRF member ID of the device. This argument defaults to 1. The IRF member ID
always takes effect, whether or not the device has formed an IRF fabric with other devices. If
the device is alone, the device is regarded a one-chassis IRF fabric.
•slot-number—Slot number of the front panel. This argument is fixed at 0.
•port-index—Index of the port on the device. Port index depends on the number of ports
available on the device. To identify the index of a port, examine its port index mark on the
chassis.
For example:
•On the single-chassis IRF fabric Sysname, Ten-GigabitEthernet 1/0/1 represents the first port
on the device. Set its link type to trunk, as follows:
<Sysname> system-view
[Sysname] interface ten-gigabitethernet 1/0/1
[Sysname-Ten-GigabitEthernet1/0/1] port link-type trunk
•On the multi-chassis IRF fabric Master, Ten-GigabitEthernet 3/0/1 represents the first port on
member device 3. Set its link type to trunk, as follows:
<Master> system-view
[Master] interface ten-gigabitethernet 3/0/1
[Master-Ten-GigabitEthernet3/0/1] port link-type trunk
File system naming conventions
On a single-chassis fabric, you can use its storage device name to access its file system.
On a multichassis IRF fabric, you can use the storage device name to access the file system of the
master. To access the file system of any other member device, use the name in the
slotmember-ID#storage-device-name format.
For example:
To access the test folder under the root directory of the flash memory on the master device:
<Master> mkdir test
Creating directory flash:/test... Done.
<Master> dir
Directory of flash:
0 -rw- 43548660 Jan 01 2011 08:21:29 system.ipe
1 drw- - Jan 01 2011 00:00:30 diagfile
2 -rw- 567 Jan 02 2011 01:41:54 dsakey
3 -rw- 735 Jan 02 2011 01:42:03 hostkey
4 -rw- 36 Jan 01 2011 00:07:52 ifindex.dat
5 -rw- 0 Jan 01 2011 00:53:09 lauth.dat
6 drw- - Jan 01 2011 06:33:55 log
7 drw- - Jan 02 2000 00:00:07 logfile
8 -rw- 23724032 Jan 01 2011 00:49:47 switch-cmw710-system.bin
9 drw- - Jan 01 2000 00:00:07 seclog