Nortel Alteon OS 42C4911 User guide

2350 Mission College Blvd.
Suite 600
Santa Clara, CA 95054
www.bladenetwork.net
Alteon OS
Application Guide
Nortel 10Gb Ethernet Switch Module for IBM BladeCenter®
Version 1.0
TM
Part Number: 42C4911, January 2007

Alteon OS Application Guide
242C4911, January 2007
Copyright © 2007 Blade Network Technologies, Inc., 2350 Mission College Blvd., Suite 600, Santa Clara,
California, 95054, USA. All rights reserved. Part Number: 42C4911.
This document is protected by copyright and distributed under licenses restricting its use, copying,
distribution, and decompilation. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form by any means
without prior written authorization of Blade Network Technologies, Inc. Documentation is provided “as
is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including any kind of implied or express
warranty of non-infringement or the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular
purpose.
U.S. Government End Users: This document is provided with a “commercial item” as defined by FAR
2.101 (Oct. 1995) and contains “commercial technical data”and “commercial software documentation” as
those terms are used in FAR 12.211-12.212 (Oct. 1995). Government End Users are authorized to use this
documentation only in accordance with those rights and restrictions set forth herein, consistent with FAR
12.211- 12.212 (Oct. 1995), DFARS 227.7202(JUN 1995) and DFARS 252.227-7015 (Nov. 1995).
Blade Network Technologies, Inc. reserves the right to change any products described herein at any time,
and without notice. Blade Network Technologies, Inc. assumes no responsibility or liability arising from
the use of products described herein, except as expressly agreed to in writing by Blade Network
Technologies, Inc. The use and purchase of this product does not convey a license under any patent rights,
trademark rights, or any other intellectual property rights of Blade Network Technologies, Inc.
Originated in the USA.
Alteon OS, and Alteon are trademarks of Nortel Networks, Inc. in the United States and certain other
countries. Cisco®and EtherChannel®are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the United States
and certain other countries. Any other trademarks appearing in this manual are owned by their respective
companies.

42C4911, January 2007 3
Contents
Preface 15
Who Should Use This Guide 15
What You’ll Find in This Guide 16
Typographic Conventions 18
How to Get Help 19
Part 1: Basic Switching 21
Chapter 1: Accessing the Switch 23
Management module setup 24
Factory-Default vs. MM assigned IP Addresses 24
Default Gateway 25
Configuring management module for switch access 25
External management port setup 28
Configuring the external management interface 28
Using Telnet 29
Connect to the Switch via SSH 29
BOOTP Relay Agent 29
DHCP Relay Agent 31
Using the Browser-Based Interface 33
Configuring BBI Access via HTTP 33
Configuring BBI Access via HTTPS 33
Using SNMP 36
SNMP v1.0 36
SNMP v3.0 36
Configuring SNMP Trap Hosts 39
Securing Access to the Switch 43
RADIUS Authentication and Authorization 44
TACACS+ Authentication 48

Alteon OS Application Guide
442C4911, January 2007
LDAP Authentication and Authorization 53
Secure Shell and Secure Copy 55
End User Access Control 61
Chapter 2: Port-based Network Access Control 67
Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN 68
802.1x Authentication Process 69
802.1x Port States 71
Supported RADIUS Attributes 72
Configuration Guidelines 73
Chapter 3: VLANs 75
Overview 76
VLANs and Port VLAN ID Numbers 77
VLAN Numbers 77
PVID Numbers 77
VLAN Tagging 80
VLAN Topologies and Design Considerations 84
VLAN configuration rules 84
Example 1: Multiple VLANs with Tagging Adapters 85
Protocol-based VLANs 87
Port-based vs. Protocol-based VLANs 88
PVLAN Priority Levels 88
PVLAN Tagging 88
PVLAN Configuration Guidelines 89
Configuring PVLAN 89
Chapter 4: Ports and Trunking 93
Overview 94
Statistical Load Distribution 95
Built-In Fault Tolerance 95
Before you configure static trunks 95
Trunk group configuration rules 96
Port Trunking Example 97
Configurable Trunk Hash Algorithm 100
Link Aggregation Control Protocol 101
Configuring LACP 103

Alteon OS Application Guide
542C4911, January 2007
Chapter 5: Spanning Tree Group 105
Overview 106
Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs) 107
Determining the Path for Forwarding BPDUs 107
Spanning Tree Group configuration guidelines 108
Multiple Spanning Trees 110
Default Spanning Tree configuration 110
Why Do We Need Multiple Spanning Trees? 111
Switch-Centric Spanning Tree Group 111
VLAN Participation in Spanning Tree Groups 112
Configuring Multiple Spanning Tree Groups 113
Port Fast Forwarding 115
Configuring Port Fast Forwarding 115
Fast Uplink Convergence 116
Configuration Guidelines 116
Configuring Fast Uplink Convergence 116
Chapter 6: Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol/Multiple Spanning Tree
Protocol 117
Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol 118
Port State Changes 118
Port Type and Link Type 119
RSTP Configuration Guidelines 119
RSTP Configuration Example 120
Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol 121
MSTP Region 121
Common Internal Spanning Tree 121
MSTP Configuration Guidelines 122
MSTP Configuration Example 122
Chapter 7: Quality of Service 123
Overview 124
Using ACL Filters 126
Summary of packet classifiers 126
Summary of ACL Actions 128
Understanding ACL Precedence 128
Using ACL Groups 129
ACL Metering and Re-marking 130

Alteon OS Application Guide
642C4911, January 2007
Viewing ACL Statistics 131
ACL Configuration Examples 132
Using DSCP Values to Provide QoS 134
Differentiated Services Concepts 134
Using 802.1p Priorities to Provide QoS 139
802.1p Configuration Example 140
Queuing and Scheduling 140
Part 2: IP Routing 141
Chapter 8: Basic IP Routing 143
IP Routing Benefits 144
Routing Between IP Subnets 145
Example of Subnet Routing 148
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol 152
DHCP Relay Agent 153
DHCP Relay Agent Configuration 154
Chapter 9: Routing Information Protocol 155
Distance Vector Protocol 155
Stability 155
Routing Updates 156
RIPv1 156
RIPv2 156
RIPv2 in RIPv1 compatibility mode 157
RIP Features 157
RIP Configuration Example 158
Chapter 10: IGMP 161
IGMP Snooping 162
IGMP Snooping Configuration Example 163
Static Multicast Router 164
IGMP Relay 165
Configuration Guidelines 165
Configure IGMP Relay 166
Additional IGMP Features 168
FastLeave 168
IGMP Filtering 168

Alteon OS Application Guide
742C4911, January 2007
Chapter 11: Border Gateway Protocol 171
Internal Routing Versus External Routing 172
Forming BGP Peer Routers 173
What is a Route Map? 174
Incoming and Outgoing Route Maps 175
Precedence 176
Configuration Overview 176
Aggregating Routes 178
Redistributing Routes 179
BGP Attributes 180
Local Preference Attribute 180
Metric (Multi-Exit Discriminator) Attribute 180
Selecting Route Paths in BGP 181
BGP Failover Configuration 182
Default Redistribution and Route Aggregation Example 185
Chapter 12: OSPF 187
OSPF Overview 188
Types of OSPF Areas 188
Types of OSPF Routing Devices 190
Neighbors and Adjacencies 191
The Link-State Database 191
The Shortest Path First Tree 192
Internal Versus External Routing 192
OSPF Implementation in Alteon OS 193
Configurable Parameters 193
Defining Areas 194
Interface Cost 196
Electing the Designated Router and Backup 196
Summarizing Routes 196
Default Routes 197
Virtual Links 198
Router ID 199
Authentication 199
Host Routes for Load Balancing 202
OSPF Features Not Supported in This Release 203

Alteon OS Application Guide
842C4911, January 2007
OSPF Configuration Examples 204
Example 1: Simple OSPF Domain 205
Example 2: Virtual Links 207
Example 3: Summarizing Routes 211
Verifying OSPF Configuration 213
Part 3: High Availability
Fundamentals 215
Chapter 13: High Availability 217
Layer 2 Failover 218
VLAN Monitor 218
Setting the Failover Limit 219
L2 Failover with Other Features 219
Configuration Guidelines 220
L2 Failover Configurations 220
Configuring Trunk Failover 223
VRRP Overview 224
VRRP Components 224
VRRP Operation 226
Selecting the Master VRRP Router 226
Failover Methods 227
Active-Active Redundancy 228
Hot-Standby Redundancy 229
Alteon OS extensions to VRRP 230
Tracking VRRP Router Priority 230
Virtual Router Deployment Considerations 231
Assigning VRRP Virtual Router ID 231
Configuring the Switch for Tracking 231
High Availability Configurations 233
Active-Active Configuration 233
Hot-Standby Configuration 238

Alteon OS Application Guide
942C4911, January 2007
Part 4: Appendices 243
Appendix A: Troubleshooting 245
Monitoring Ports 246
Port Mirroring behavior 247
Configuring Port Mirroring 251
Appendix B: RADIUS Server Configuration Notes 253
Glossary 255
Index 257

Alteon OS Application Guide
10 42C4911, January 2007

42C4911, January 2007 11
Figures
Figure 1-1:Switch management on the BladeCenter management module 26
Figure 1-2:BOOTP Relay Agent Configuration 30
Figure 1-3:DHCP Relay Agent Configuration 31
Figure 2-1:Authenticating a Port Using EAPoL 69
Figure 3-1:Default VLAN settings 81
Figure 3-2:Port-based VLAN assignment 82
Figure 3-3:802.1Q tagging (after port-based VLAN assignment) 82
Figure 3-4:802.1Q tag assignment 83
Figure 3-5:802.1Q tagging (after 802.1Q tag assignment) 83
Figure 3-6:Example 1: Multiple VLANs with VLAN-Tagged Gigabit Adapters 85
Figure 4-1:Port Trunk Group 94
Figure 4-2:Port Trunk Group Configuration Example 97
Figure 5-1:Using Multiple Instances of Spanning Tree Group 111
Figure 5-2:Implementing Multiple Spanning Tree Groups 112
Figure 7-1:QoS Model 124
Figure 7-2:Layer 3 IPv4 packet 134
Figure 7-3:Layer 2 802.1q/802.1p VLAN tagged packet 139
Figure 8-1:The Router Legacy Network 145
Figure 8-2:Switch-Based Routing Topology 146
Figure 8-3:DHCP Relay Agent Configuration 154
Figure 11-1:iBGP and eBGP 172
Figure 11-2:Distributing Network Filters in Access Lists and Route Maps 175
Figure 11-3:BGP Failover Configuration Example 182
Figure 11-4:Route Aggregation and Default Route Redistribution 185
Figure 12-1:OSPF Area Types 189
Figure 12-2:OSPF Domain and an Autonomous System 190
Figure 12-3:Injecting Default Routes 197
Figure 12-4:OSPF Authentication 200
Figure 12-5:A Simple OSPF Domain 205
Figure 12-6:Configuring a Virtual Link 207
Figure 12-7:Summarizing Routes 211
Figure 13-1:Basic Layer 2 Failover 220
Figure 13-2:Two trunks, each in a different Failover Trigger 221

Alteon OS Application Guide
12 42C4911, January 2007
Figure 13-3:Two trunks, one Failover Trigger 222
Figure 13-4:A Non-VRRP, Hot-Standby Configuration 227
Figure 13-5:Active-Active Redundancy 228
Figure 13-6:Hot-Standby Redundancy 229
Figure 13-7:Active-Active High-Availability Configuration 233
Figure 13-8:Hot-Standby Configuration 239

42C4911, January 2007 13
Tables
Table 1-1: GbESM IP addresses, based on switch-module bay numbers 24
Table 1-2: User Access Levels 47
Table 1-3: Alteon OS-proprietary Attributes for RADIUS 47
Table 1-4: Default TACACS+ Authorization Levels 49
Table 1-5: Alternate TACACS+ Authorization Levels 49
Table 4-1: Actor vs. Partner LACP configuration 101
Table 5-1: Ports, Trunk Groups, and VLANs 106
Table 7-1: Well-Known Protocol Types 126
Table 7-2: Well-Known Application Ports 127
Table 7-3: Well-Known TCP flag values 127
Table 7-4: ACL Precedence Groups 128
Table 7-5: Default QoS Service Levels 136
Table 8-1: Subnet Routing Example: IP Address Assignments 148
Table 8-2: Subnet Routing Example: IP Interface Assignments 148
Table 8-3: Subnet Routing Example: Optional VLAN Ports 150
Table 13-1: VRRP Tracking Parameters 230

Alteon OS Application Guide
14 42C4911, January 2007

42C4911, January 2007 15
Preface
The Alteon OS Application Guide describes how to configure and use the Alteon OS software
on the 10Gb Ethernet Switch Module for IBM BladeCenter. For documentation on installing
the switch physically, see the Installation Guide for your GbE Switch Module (GbESM).
Who Should Use This Guide
This Application Guide is intended for network installers and system administrators engaged in
configuring and maintaining a network. The administrator should be familiar with Ethernet
concepts, IP addressing, Spanning Tree Protocol, and SNMP configuration parameters.

Alteon OS Application Guide
16 Preface 42C4911, January 2007
What You’ll Find in This Guide
This guide will help you plan, implement, and administer Alteon OS software. Where possible,
each section provides feature overviews, usage examples, and configuration instructions.
Part 1: Basic Switching
Chapter 1, “Accessing the Switch,” describes how to access the GbE Switch Module to
configure, view information and run statistics on the switch. This chapter also discusses
different methods to manage the switch for remote administrators using specific IP
addresses, authentication, Secure Shell (SSH), and Secure Copy (SCP).
Chapter 2, “Port-based Network Access Control,” describes how to authenticate devices
attached to a LAN port that has point-to-point connection characteristics. It prevents
access to ports that fail authentication and authorization. This feature provides security to
ports of the GbESM that connect to blade servers.
Chapter 3, “VLANs,” describes how to configure Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs)
for creating separate network segments, including how to use VLAN tagging for devices
that use multiple VLANs. This chapter also describes Protocol-based VLANs, Private
VLANs, and Generic VLAN Registration Protocol (GVRP).
Chapter 4, “Ports and Trunking,” describes how to group multiple physical ports together
to aggregate the bandwidth between large-scale network devices.
Chapter 5, “Spanning Tree Group,” discusses how Spanning Trees configure the network
so that the switch uses the most efficient path when multiple paths exist.
Chapter 6, “Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol/Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol,” describes
Rapid Spanning Tree and Multiple Spanning Tree configurations.
Chapter 7, “Quality of Service,” discusses Quality of Service features, including IP filter-
ing using Access Control Lists, Differentiated Services, and IEEE 802.1p priority values.
Part 2: IP Routing
Chapter 8, “Basic IP Routing,” describes how to configure the GbE Switch Module for IP
routing using IP subnets, and DHCP Relay.
Chapter 9, “Routing Information Protocol,” describes how the Alteon OS software imple-
ments standard RIP for exchanging TCP/IP route information with other routers.
Chapter 10, “IGMP,” describes how the Alteon OS software implements IGMP Snooping
or IGMP Relay to handle multicast traffic efficiently.

Alteon OS Application Guide
Preface 1742C4911, January 2007
Chapter 11, “Border Gateway Protocol,” describes BGP concepts and BGP features sup-
ported in Alteon OS.
Chapter 12, “OSPF,” describes OSPF concepts, how OSPF is implemented in Alteon OS,
and examples of how to configure your switch for OSPF support.
Part 3: High Availability Fundamentals
Chapter 13, “High Availability,” describes how to use the Virtual Router Redundancy Pro-
tocol (VRRP) to ensure that network resources remain available if one GbE Switch Mod-
ule is removed for service.
Part 4: Appendices
Appendix A, “Troubleshooting,” discusses two tools for troubleshooting your switch—
monitoring ports and filtering session dumps.
Appendix B, “RADIUS Server Configuration Notes,” discusses how to modify RADIUS
configuration files for the Nortel Networks BaySecure Access Control RADIUS server, to
provide authentication for users of the GbE Switch Module.

Alteon OS Application Guide
18 Preface 42C4911, January 2007
Typographic Conventions
The following table describes the typographic styles used in this book.
Table 1 Typographic Conventions
Typeface or
Symbol
Meaning Example
AaBbCc123 This type is used for names of commands,
files, and directories used within the text. View the readme.txt file.
It also depicts on-screen computer output and
prompts. Main#
AaBbCc123 This bold type appears in command exam-
ples. It shows text that must be typed in
exactly as shown.
Main# sys
<AaBbCc123> This italicized type appears in command
examples as a parameter placeholder. Replace
the indicated text with the appropriate real
name or value when using the command. Do
not type the brackets.
To establish a Telnet session, enter:
host# telnet <IP address>
This also shows book titles, special terms, or
words to be emphasized. Read your User’s Guide thoroughly.
[ ] Command items shown inside brackets are
optional and can be used or excluded as the
situation demands. Do not type the brackets.
host# ls [-a]

Alteon OS Application Guide
Preface 1942C4911, January 2007
How to Get Help
If you need help, service, or technical assistance, see the "Getting help and
technical assistance" appendix in the Nortel 10Gb Ethernet Switch Module for
IBM BladeCenter Installation Guide.

Alteon OS Application Guide
20 Preface 42C4911, January 2007