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.