HP 5900 User manual

HP 5920 & 5900 Switch Series
IRF
Configuration Guide
Part number: 5998-2892
Software version: Release2207
Document version: 6W100-20121130

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i
Contents
IRF overview ································································································································································· 1
Hardware compatibility····················································································································································1
IRF benefits·········································································································································································1
Application scenario·························································································································································1
Network topologies ··························································································································································2
Basic concepts···································································································································································2
IRF member roles ······················································································································································2
IRF member ID···························································································································································2
IRF port ······································································································································································3
Physical IRF port ·······················································································································································3
IRF domain ID ···························································································································································3
IRF split ······································································································································································4
IRF merge ··································································································································································4
Member priority························································································································································5
Interface naming conventions ··········································································································································5
File system naming conventions·······································································································································5
Configuration synchronization mechanism ····················································································································7
Master election··································································································································································7
IRF multi-active detection ··················································································································································7
Multi-active handling procedure ·····························································································································7
LACP MAD ································································································································································8
BFD MAD ··································································································································································9
ARP MAD ······························································································································································· 10
ND MAD ································································································································································ 11
Configuring IRF···························································································································································13
General restrictions and configuration guidelines······································································································ 13
Software requirements ·········································································································································· 13
IRF physical port restrictions and binding requirements···················································································· 13
IRF link redundancy··············································································································································· 13
MAD ······································································································································································· 13
Other configuration guidelines ···························································································································· 14
Setup and configuration task list ·································································································································· 14
Planning the IRF fabric setup········································································································································· 15
Assigning a member ID to each IRF member device ································································································· 16
Specifying a priority for each member device············································································································ 16
Connecting physical IRF ports······································································································································· 17
Binding physical ports to IRF ports ······························································································································· 17
Accessing the IRF fabric ················································································································································ 19
Configuring a member device description·················································································································· 20
Configuring IRF link load sharing mode······················································································································ 20
Configuring the global load sharing mode ········································································································ 20
Configuring a port-specific load sharing mode ································································································· 20
Configuring IRF bridge MAC persistence···················································································································· 21
Enabling software auto-update for software image synchronization ······································································· 22
Configuration prerequisites ·································································································································· 22
Configuration procedure ······································································································································ 22
Setting the IRF link down report delay ························································································································· 23
Configuring MAD··························································································································································· 23

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Configuring LACP MAD········································································································································ 24
Configuring BFD MAD·········································································································································· 25
Configuring ARP MAD·········································································································································· 27
Configuring ND MAD··········································································································································· 28
Excluding a port from the shutdown action upon detection of multi-active collision······································ 29
Recovering an IRF fabric ··············································································································································· 30
Displaying and maintaining an IRF fabric··················································································································· 31
Configuration examples ················································································································································ 31
LACP MAD-enabled IRF configuration example································································································· 31
BFD MAD-enabled IRF configuration example··································································································· 36
ARP MAD-enabled IRF configuration example··································································································· 41
ND MAD-enabled IRF configuration example···································································································· 45
Support and other resources ·····································································································································51
Contacting HP ································································································································································ 51
Subscription service ·············································································································································· 51
Related information························································································································································ 51
Documents······························································································································································ 51
Websites································································································································································· 51
Conventions ···································································································································································· 52
Index ···········································································································································································54

1
IRF overview
HP Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF) technology creates a large IRF fabric from multiple devices to
provide data center class availability and scalability. IRF virtualization technology offers processing
power, interaction, unified management, and uninterrupted maintenance of multiple devices.
This book describes IRF concepts and guides you through the IRF setup procedure.
Hardware compatibility
You can establish an IRF fabric that only comprises 5900 switches or 5920 switches, or establish a
heterogeneous IRF fabric that comprises both 5900 and 5920 switches.
IRF benefits
IRF delivers 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 works as the master to manage and control the
entire IRF fabric, and 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.
Application scenario
Figure 1 shows an IRF fabric that comprises two devices, which appear as a single node to the upper and
lower layer devices.

2
Figure 1 IRF application scenario
Network topologies
An IRF fabric can use a daisy chain topology or a ring topology. Full meshed topology is not supported.
For information about connecting IRF member devices, see "Connecting physical IRF ports."
Basic concepts
This section describes the basic concepts you might encounter when working with IRF.
IRF member roles
IRF uses two member roles: master and 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 from among them to take over. For more information about master election, see "Master
election."
While backing up the master, all subordinate devices process and forward traffic independently.
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."
If two devices have the same IRF member ID, they cannot form an IRF fabric. If the IRF member ID of a
device has been used in an IRF fabric, the device cannot join the fabric.

3
IRF port
An IRF port is a logical interface for the connection between IRF member devices. Every IRF-capable
device supports 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
for simplicity.
To use an IRF port, you must bind at least one physical port to it. The physical ports assigned to an IRF
port automatically form an aggregate IRF link. An IRF port goes down only if all its physical IRF ports are
down.
Physical IRF port
Physical IRF ports connect IRF member devices and must be bound to an IRF port. They forward the IRF
protocol packets between IRF member devices and the data packets that must travel across IRF member
devices.
For more information about physical ports that can be used for IRF links, see "IRF physical port restrictions
and binding requirements."
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, Device A and Device B form IRF fabric 1, and Device C and Device D form IRF
fabric 2. The fabrics have LACP MAD links between them. When a member device in one IRF fabric
receives an extended LACP packet for MAD, it looks at the domain ID in the packet to see whether the
packet is from the local IRF fabric or from a different IRF fabric. Then, the device can handle the packet
correctly.

4
Figure 2 A network that comprises two IRF domains
IRF split
IRF split occurs when an IRF fabric breaks up into two or more IRF fabrics because of IRF link failures, as
shown in Figure 3. The split IRF fabrics operate with the same IP address and cause routing and
forwarding problems on the network. To quickly detect a multi-active collision, configure at least one
MAD mechanisms (see "IRF multi-active detection").
Figure 3 IRF split
IRF merge
IRF merge occurs when two split IRF fabrics re-unite or when you configure and connect two independent
IRF fabrics to be one, as shown in Figure 4.
Device A Device B
IRF 1 (domain 10)
IRF link
Core network
IRF 2 (domain 20)
IRF link
Device C Device D
Access network

5
Figure 4 IRF merge
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.
The default member priority is 1. You can change the member priority of a member device to affect the
master election result.
Interface naming conventions
An interface is named in the chassis-id/slot-number/port-index format, where:
•chassis-id—IRF member ID of the switch. This argument defaults to 1.
•slot-number—Represents the slot number of the interface card. This argument always takes 0 on the
switch.
•port-index—Port index depends on the number of ports available on the device. To identify the
index of a port, look at its port index mark on the chassis.
For one example, on the standalone switch 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
For another example, on the IRF fabric Master, Ten-GigabitEthernet 3/0/1 represents the first fixed 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 standalone device, you can use its storage device name to access its file system. For more
information about storage device naming conventions, see Fundamentals Configuration Guide.
On an 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 on the master switch:
<Master> mkdir test
Creating directory flash:/test... Done.
<Master> dir
IRF link
Device A Device B
Device A Device B
IRF 1 IRF 2 IRF
+=

6
Directory of flash:
0 -rw- 43548660 Jan 01 2011 08:21:29 5900.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 license
7 drw- - Jan 02 2000 00:00:07 logfile
8 -rw- 23724032 Jan 01 2011 00:49:47 5900-r2108p03.bin
9 drw- - Jan 01 2000 00:00:07 seclog
10 -rw- 591 Jan 02 2011 01:42:03 serverkey
11 -rw- 4609 Jan 01 2011 00:07:53 startup.cfg
12 -rw- 3626 Jan 01 2011 01:51:56 startup.cfg_bak
13 -rw- 78833 Jan 01 2011 00:07:53 startup.mdb
14 drw- - Jan 01 2011 00:15:48 test
25 drw- - Jan 01 2011 04:16:53 versionInfo
524288 KB total (365292 KB free)
To create and access the test folder under the root directory of the Flash on member device 3:
<Master> mkdir slot3#flash:/test
Creating directory slot3#flash:/test... Done.
<Master> cd slot3#flash:/test
<Master> pwd
slot3#flash:/test
Or:
<Master> cd slot3#flash:/
<Master> mkdir test
Creating directory slot3#flash:/test... Done.
To copy the file test.ipe on the master to the root directory of the Flash on member device 3:
# Display the current working path. In this example, the current working path is the root directory of the
Flash on member device 3.
<Master> pwd
slot3#flash:
# Change the current working path to the root directory of the Flash on the master device.
<Master> cd flash:/
<Master> pwd
flash:
# Copy the file to member device 3.
<Master> copy test.ipe slot3#flash:/
Copy flash:/test.ipe to slot3#flash:/test.ipe?[Y/N]:y
Copying file flash:/test.ipe to slot3#flash:/test.ipe... Done.

7
Configuration synchronization mechanism
IRF uses a strict running-configuration synchronization mechanism so all chassis in an IRF fabric can work
as a single node, and after the master fails, other members can operate normally.
In an IRF fabric, all chassis get and run the running configuration of the master. Any configuration you
have made is propagated to all members.
For more information about configuration management, see Fundamentals Configuration Guide.
Master election
Master election is held each time the IRF fabric topology changes, for example, when the IRF fabric is
established, the master device fails or is removed, the IRF fabric splits, or IRF fabrics merge. Adding new
member devices or the merge of an Active IRF fabric and a Recovery IRF fabric does not trigger master
election.
Master election uses the following rules in descending order:
1. Current master, even if a new member has higher priority.
When an IRF fabric is being formed, all members consider themselves as the master, and this rule
is skipped.
2. Member with higher priority.
3. Member with the longest system uptime.
Two members are considered starting up at the same time if the difference between their startup
times is equal to or less than 10 minutes. For these members, the next tiebreaker applies.
4. Member with the lowest bridge MAC address.
The IRF fabric is formed on election of the master.
During an IRF merge, the members of the IRF fabric that fail the master election will automatically reboot
to rejoin the IRF fabric that wins the election.
After a master election, all subordinate members reboot with the configuration on the master, and their
original configuration, even if it has been saved, is removed.
IRF multi-active detection
An IRF link failure causes an IRF fabric to split in two IRF fabrics operating with the same Layer 3
configurations, 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.
Multi-active handling procedure
The multi-active handling procedure includes detection, collision handling, and failure recovery.
Detection
The device's MAD implementation detects active IRF fabrics with the same Layer 3 global configuration
by extending the LACP, BFD, ARP, or IPv6 ND protocol.

8
These MAD mechanisms identify each IRF fabric with a domain ID and an active ID (the member ID of
the master). If multiple active IDs are detected in a domain, MAD determines that an IRF collision or split
has occurred.
You can use at least one of these mechanisms in an IRF fabric, depending on your network topology.
IMPORTANT:
LACP MAD handles collisions in a different way than BFD MAD, ARP MAD, and ND MAD. To avoid
conflicts, do not enable LACP MAD together with any of those mechanisms in an IRF fabric. However, you
can use BFD MAD, ARP MAD, and ND MAD together.
For a comparison of these MAD mechanisms, see "Configuring MAD."
Collision handling
MAD mechanisms remove multi-active collisions by setting one IRF fabric to the Active state and other IRF
fabrics to the Recovery state. Only members in the Active-state fabric can continue to forward traffic.
LACP MAD handles a multi-active collision in the following procedure:
1. Compares the number of members in each fabric.
2. Sets the fabric that has the most members to the Active state and all other fabrics to the Recovery
state.
3. If all IRF fabrics have the same number of members, compares the member IDs of their masters.
4. Sets the IRF fabric that has the lowest numbered master to the Active state and all other fabrics to
the Recovery (disabled) state.
5. Shuts down all physical network ports in the Recovery-state fabrics but their physical IRF ports and
any ports you have specified with the mad exclude interface command.
In contrast, BFD MAD, ARP MAD, and ND MAD do not compare the number of members in fabrics. They
directly set the IRF fabric that has the lowest numbered master to the Active state, set all other fabrics to
the Recovery state, and take the same action on the network ports in Recovery-state fabrics as LACP MAD
does.
Failure recovery
To merge two split IRF fabrics, first repair the failed IRF link and remove the IRF link failure.
If the IRF fabric in Recovery state fails before the failure is recovered, repair the failed IRF fabric and the
failed IRF link.
If the IRF fabric in Active state fails before the failure is recovered, first enable the IRF fabric in Recovery
state to take over the active IRF fabric and protect services from being affected. After that, recover the
MAD failure.
LACP MAD
LACP MAD requires that every IRF member have a link with an intermediate device, and all these links
form a dynamic link aggregation group, as shown in Figure 5. The intermediate device must be a device
that supports extended LACP for MAD.
The IRF member devices send extended LACPDUs with TLVs that convey the domain ID and the active ID
of the IRF fabric. The intermediate device transparently forwards the extended LACPDUs received from
one member device to all the other member switches:

9
•If the domain IDs and the active IDs in the extended LACPDUs sent by all the member devices are
the same, the IRF fabric is integrated.
•If the extended LACPDUs convey the same domain ID but different active IDs, a split has occurred.
To handle this situation, LACP MAD sets the IRF fabric with higher active ID in Recovery state, and
shuts down all its physical ports but the console ports, IRF ports, and any ports you have specified
with the mad exclude interface command. The IRF fabric with lower active ID is still in Active state
and forwards traffic.
Figure 5 LACP MAD application scenario
BFD MAD
BFD MAD can work with or without intermediate devices. Figure 6 shows a typical BFD MAD application
scenario.
To use BFD MAD:
•Set up dedicated BFD MAD link between each pair of IRF members or between each IRF member
and the intermediate device. Do not use the BFD MAD links for any other purpose.
•Assign the ports connected by BFD MAD links to the same VLAN, create a VLAN interface for the
VLAN, and assign a MAD IP address to each member on the VLAN interface.
The MAD addresses identify the member devices and must belong to the same subnet.
With BFD MAD, the master tries to establish BFD sessions with other member devices by using its MAD
IP address as the source IP address:
Device
Master Subordinate
IRF
Internet
Customer
premise
network
IRF link
Common traffic path
LACP MAD traffic path
LACP-enabled dynamic
link aggregation
LACP-enabled dynamic
link aggregation

10
•If the IRF fabric is integrated, only the MAD IP address of the master is effective, and the master
cannot establish a BFD session with any other member. If you execute the display bfd session
command, the state of the BFD sessions is Down.
•When the IRF fabric splits, the IP addresses of the masters in the split IRF fabrics take effect, and the
two masters can establish a BFD session. If you execute the display bfd session command, the state
of the BFD session between the two devices is Up.
Figure 6 BFD MAD application scenario
ARP MAD
ARP MAD detects multi-active collisions by using extended ARP packets that convey the IRF domain ID
and the active ID.
You can set up ARP MAD links between neighbor IRF member devices, or more commonly, between
each IRF member device and an intermediate device (see Figure 7). If an intermediate device is used,
you must also run the spanning tree feature between the IRF fabric and the intermediate device.
Device
Master Subordinate
IRF
Internet
Customer
premise
network
IRF link
Link aggregation
BFD MAD link
VLAN 2
192.168.1.2/24 VLAN 2
192.168.1.3/24

11
Figure 7 ARP MAD application scenario
Each IRF member compares the domain ID and the active ID in incoming extended ARP packets with its
domain ID and active ID:
•If the domain IDs are different, the extended ARP packet is from a different IRF fabric, and the
device does not continue to process the packet with the MAD mechanism.
•If the domain IDs are the same, the device compares the active IDs:
{If the active IDs are different, the IRF fabric has split.
{If the active IDs are the same, the IRF fabric is integrated.
ND MAD
ND MAD detects multi-active collisions by using the ND protocol's NS packets that convey the IRF
domain ID and the active ID.
You can set up ND MAD links between neighbor IRF member devices or more commonly, between each
IRF member device and an intermediate device (see Figure 8). If an intermediate device is used, you must
also run the spanning tree protocol between the IRF fabric and the intermediate device.
Device
Master Subordinate
IRF
Internet
Customer
premise
network
IRF link
Common traffic path
Extended ARP traffic path
STP domain (all devices
must run the spanning
tree feature)

12
Figure 8 ND MAD application scenario
Each IRF member device compares the domain ID and the active ID in incoming NS packets with its
domain ID and active ID:
•If the domain IDs are different, the NS packet is from a different IRF fabric, and the device does not
continue to process the packet with the MAD mechanism.
•If the domain IDs are the same, the device compares the active IDs:
{If the active IDs are different, the IRF fabric has split.
{If the active IDs are the same, the IRF fabric is integrated.
Device
Master Subordinate
IRF
Internet
Customer
premise
network
IRF link
Common traffic path
Extended ND traffic path
STP domain (all devices
must run the spanning
tree feature)

13
Configuring IRF
Read the configuration restrictions and guidelines carefully when you connect and set up an IRF fabric.
General restrictions and configuration guidelines
Software requirements
All IRF member switches must run the same software image version.
IRF physical port restrictions and binding requirements
All SFP+ and QSFP+ ports on the 5900 switch and all SFP+ ports on the 5920 switch can be used as IRF
physical ports.
When selecting transceiver modules and cables, follow these guidelines:
•Use SFP+/QSFP+ transceiver modules and fibers for long-distance connection, or use
SFP+/QSFP+ cables to connect SFP+/QSFP+ ports for short-distance connection.
•QSFP+ transceiver modules are available only for the 5900 switches. For more information about
transceiver modules, see the switch installation guide.
•The transceiver modules at the two ends of an IRF link must be the same type.
SFP+ ports on the HP 5900AF-48XG-4QSFP+ Switch, HP 5900AF-48XG-4QSFP+ TAA Switch, HP
5920AF-24XG Switch, and HP 5920AF-24XG TAA Switch are grouped by port number in order, starting
from the one numbered 1. Each group contains four ports. Ports in the same group must be used for the
same purpose. If you use one port in a group as an IRF physical port, the other ports in the group cannot
be used for any other purposes.
When binding an SFP+ port in an SFP+ port group to an IRF port or removing it from the IRF port, shut
down all the other SFP+ ports in the same group.
When connecting two neighboring IRF members, connect IRF-port 1 on one member to IRF-port 2 on the
other.
On a physical port bound to an IRF port, you can execute only the shutdown, description,
priority-flow-control, and flow-interval commands. For more information about these commands, see
Layer 2—LAN Switching Command Reference.
IRF link redundancy
You can bind up to four physical ports to an IRF port for link redundancy.
MAD
•LACP MAD handles collisions in a different way than BFD MAD, ARP MAD, and ND MAD. To
avoid conflicts, do not enable LACP MAD together with any of those mechanisms in an IRF fabric.
However, you can configure BFD MAD, ARP MAD, and ND MAD together in an IRF fabric for
prompt IRF split detection.

14
•If LACP MAD, ARP MAD, or ND MAD runs between two IRF fabrics, assign each fabric a unique
IRF domain ID. For BFD MAD, this task is optional.
•To exclude a port from the shutdown action that is executed when an IRF fabric transits to the
Recovery state, use the mad exclude interface command. To bring up a port after the IRF fabric
transits to the Recovery state, you must use the mad restore command to activate the entire IRF fabric,
rather than using the undo shutdown command.
Other configuration guidelines
•If a subordinate device uses the same next-startup configuration file name as the master device, the
file might be overwritten depending on your configuration file management settings. To continue to
use the configuration file after removing the switch from the IRF fabric, back up the file before setting
up the IRF fabric.
•If two IRF fabrics have the same bridge MAC address, they cannot merge.
•Assign each member a unique IRF member ID to make sure that they can merge. You must reboot
the members to validate the IRF member ID settings.
•Assign the highest member priority to the device you want to use as the master.
•Assign the IRF fabric a unique IRF domain ID in a multi-IRF network.
•Save any configuration you have made to the startup configuration file before you reboot the IRF
member devices.
Setup and configuration task list
HP recommends the basic IRF setup procedure in Figure 9. Perform the tasks in this figure on each
member device. After the IRF fabric is set up, you can access the IRF fabric to manage its member devices
as if they were one device.
Figure 9 Basic IRF setup flow chart
HP recommends the following IRF fabric setup and configuration procedure:
Setup and configuration procedure Remarks
1. (Required.) Planning the IRF fabric setup N/A
2. (Required.) Assigning a member ID to each IRF member device Perform this task on each member
device.
3. (Required.) Specifying a priority for each member device Perform this task on each member
device.
4. (Required.) Connecting physical IRF ports N/A

15
Setup and configuration procedure Remarks
5. (Required.) Binding physical ports to IRF ports
Perform this task on each member
switch.
When you complete IRF port
binding and activation on all IRF
member devices, the IRF fabric is
formed.
6. (Required.) Accessing the IRF fabric
When you log in to the IRF fabric,
you are placed at the master's CLI,
where you complete subsequent
IRF settings and configure other
features for the member devices as
if they were one device.
7. (Optional.) Configuring a member device description This task is required for ARP MAD
and LACP MAD.
8. (Optional.) Configuring IRF link load sharing mode:
{Configuring the global load sharing mode
{Configuring a port-specific load sharing mode
N/A
9. (Optional.) Configuring IRF bridge MAC persistence N/A
10. (Optional.) Enabling software auto-update for software image
synchronization
HP recommends enabling
software auto-update to make sure
system software image
synchronization.
11. (Optional.) Setting the IRF link down report delay N/A
12. (Required.) Configuring MAD:
{Configuring LACP MAD
{Configuring BFD MAD
{Configuring ARP MAD
{Configuring ND MAD
{Excluding a port from the shutdown action upon detection of
multi-active collision
MAD mechanisms are
independent of one another. You
can configure at least one MAD
mechanism for an IRF fabric.
13. (Optional.) Recovering an IRF fabric N/A
Planning the IRF fabric setup
Consider the following items when you plan an IRF fabric:
•Hardware compatibility and restrictions
•IRF fabric size
•Master switch
•IRF physical ports
•Member ID and priority assignment scheme
•Fabric topology and cabling scheme
For more information about hardware and cabling, see the switch installation guide.

16
Assigning a member ID to each IRF member device
CAUTION:
In an IRF fabric, changing IRF member IDs might cause undesirable configuration chan
g
es and even data
loss. Before you do that, back up the confi
g
uration and make sure you fully understand the impact on your
network. For example, all member switches in an IRF fabric are the same model. If you swapped the IDs
of any two members, their interface settings would also be swapped.
By default, the member IDs of all switches are 1. To create an IRF fabric, you must assign a unique IRF
member ID to each member device.
Perform this task before the IRF fabric is formed. To prevent any undesirable configuration change or data
loss, avoid changing member IDs after the IRF fabric is formed.
The new member ID takes effect at a reboot. After the switch reboots, the settings on all member
ID-related physical resources (including physical network ports) are removed and require reconfiguration,
regardless of whether you have saved the configuration.
To assign a member ID to a device:
Step Command Remarks
1. Enter system view. system-view N/A
2. Assign a member ID to a
member device.
irf member member-id renumber
new-member-id The default IRF member ID is 1.
3. (Optional.) Save the
configuration. save
If you have bound physical ports
to IRF ports or assigned member
priority, save the configuration
before rebooting the device so
these settings can continue to
take effect after the reboot.
4. Reboot the device. reboot [ slot slot-number ] [ force ]N/A
Specifying a priority for each member device
IRF member priority represents the possibility for a device to be elected the master in an IRF fabric. The
higher the priority, the higher the possibility.
A member priority change affects the election result at the next master election, but does not cause
immediate master re-election.
To specify a priority for a member device:
Step Command Remarks
1. Enter system view. system-view N/A
2. Specify a priority for the
device. irf member member-id priority priority
The default IRF member priority
is 1.