5120 IRF Question

[aali]

How important is to configure MAD when configuring IRF.  If there is one phyiscal link in IRF between two switches, then I understand the need of IRF-MAD, but if there are two physical links in an IRF, what are the odds that both physical links will go down at the same time.

5120 only supports IRF MAD-ARP, and according to HP, MAD-ARP is not as effective as MAD-BFD or MAD-LACP.

Thanks,

[manuel.bitzi]

Same opinion as you. I only use MAD with Chasis switches.

br

Manuel

[aali]

Manuel,

Thanks for agreeing with my concern.  Any reason why you would use MAD witch Chassis-based switches even if you have multiple physical port bind to IRF.  Is it because the chassis-based switches are typical used at the core layer and you want to avoid any issues at the core layer.

Just curious!

[manuel.bitzi]

Yes, it's only an additional security for the core/distribution layer to avoid a split brain.

[sundoo]

I agree with you both. The only important thing to take into account is that the 2 links should be connected to different TenGigabit Interface cards. 

[Alan-WJ]

Best protection for IRF is to use ring topology so connect the top unit to the bottom unit as well, if you have a break then should be fine. MAD BFD requires another physical interface to run so only really ever used in the core