A5500 - IRF over Gigabit Ethernet?

[armahir]

Hello guys,

it's almost all in the title.

I got two 5500EI and am trying to implement the IRF configuration.

Unfortunatly I get blocked when biding a physical interface to a irf-port group.

Question is : is it possible to make the IRF run over simple gigabite ethernet interfaces?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Cheers,

Armahir

[armahir]

Actually the systems goes like this.

====================================================

[sysname]irf-port 1/1

[Sysname-irf-port 1/1]port group interface whateverIwrite
...................................................................^

% Unrecognized command found at '^' position.

==================================================== 

I really don't understand what's happening.

Thanks again ;)

armahir

[Fredrik Lönnman]

A5500EI can only do IRF over 10G. "IRF Lite" over 1G kan be done by other models such as 5120SI etc.

[armahir]

**bleep**! :=)

Thank you for your answer Fredrik.

Do you know :

- if there's a way to enable IRF lite on 5500EI?

- if 5500EI can run IRF through SFP port?

If the second option is "YES" I'll buy so Fiber :)

Many thanks again!

Cheers,

Armahir

[armahir]

Silly me....:=)

Don't mind my previous post, I sure can use SFP+ to provide 10Ge.

Cheers mates!

Armahir

[Fredrik Lönnman]

Yeah you'll need the slot-in module in the back of the switch for any 10G connectivity, be it SFP+ or CX4.

[MichaelM55]

CX4 would be cheaper.

Well, it looks like (prove me wrong) that the A5500-EI switch itself will only let you put 10GB ports into an irf-port.

Assume, you take SFP+ ports and put 1 Gbe SFP modules in it and connect them with fiber cables.

Will that IRF stack work?

[armahir]

@Fredrick : Seriously?

I need to buy the rear slot-in module?

Cant I connect via the SFP port in front of my two 5500?

@Michael : SFP+ can go up to 10Ge no?

[Fredrik Lönnman · Accepted solution]

armahir, yes since the A5500EI doesnt have any 10G front facing ports you'll need the rear slot module for 10G ports. The SFP ports are 1G, not 10G. You'll need 10G for IRF on that platform.

Michael, no idea about fooling IRF with 1G SFP in SFP+ slots, havent tried :). But probably you'd have to issue "speed 1000" or something like that for it to work in the first place, and then probably IRF will whine.

[paulgear]

The 10GbE CX4 cards & cables are not that expensive compared with the cost of the switches.  I personally wouldn't waste time trying to get 1 GbE working with IRF.