Failed to switch

[markscholman]

Hi,

I have a 7904 switch (2 in an irf).

When i run the command to set an interface to route mode i got the error failed to switch. Can someone explain what i am doing wrong here or what i missed? I enabled it successful on 5900 switches.

[MYSW01-Ten-GigabitEthernet2/1/0/23]port link-mode route
Failed to switch.

Thank you

Mark

[Ian Vaughan]

Hello,

I can't remember seeing that message before. The 7900's and 12900's are a bit different to the rest of the Comware boxes and seem to have their own rules and guidelines - are you running your switch in a particular operating mode and does this mode support routed interfaces?

Anything in the syslog? Did it throw up any traps?

Can you "default" the interface first to strip any existing configuration from it before trying the switching modes again?

Let us know what you find out. We can then put some tags on the thread to make it easier to find if anyone comes looking for the same issue in the future.

Many thanks

Ian

[parnassus · Accepted solution]

Hi Mark,

Directly from the HPE FlexFabric 7900 Switch Series Layer 2 - LAN Switching Command Reference guide (valid since R215x release)...available here:

port link-mode

Use port link-mode to change the link mode of an Ethernet interface.

Use undo port link-mode to restore the default.

Syntax

port link-mode {bridge|route}

undo port link-mode

Default

Ethernet interfaces operate in bridge mode.

Views

Ethernet interface view

Predefined user roles

network-admin

mdc-admin

Parameters

bridge: Specifies the Layer 2 mode.

route: Specifies the Layer 3 mode.

Usage guidelines

On the switch, Ethernet interfaces can operate either as Layer 2 or Layer 3 Ethernet interfaces (you can use commands to set the link mode to bridge or route).

Each of the Layer 3 interfaces and subinterfaces use one VLAN interface resource. Before configuring an Ethernet interface to operate in route mode, use the reserve-vlan-interface command to reserve a VLAN interface resource for the interface. Otherwise, the operation might fail. For example, before configuring four Layer 2 interfaces to operate in route mode, you must reserve four VLAN interface resources by using the reserve-vlan-interface command.

To reserve global VLAN interface resources, specify the global keyword in the reserve-vlan-interface command. To reserve local VLAN interface resources, do not specify the global keyword. Reserved VLAN interface resources are local in this chapter.

For more information about reserving VLAN interface resources, see Layer 2 - LAN Switching Configuration Guide (cited above).

After you change the link mode of an Ethernet interface, all the commands (except the shutdown command) on the Ethernet interface are restored to their defaults in the new link mode.

Examples

# Configure FortyGigE 1/0/1 to operate in bridge mode.
<Sysname> system-view
[Sysname] interface fortygige 1/0/1
[Sysname-FortyGigE1/0/1] port link-mode bridge
# Configure FortyGigE 1/0/1 to operate in route mode.
<Sysname> system-view
[Sysname] reserve-vlan-interface 3000
[Sysname] interface fortygige 1/0/1
[Sysname-FortyGigE1/0/1] port link-mode route

So maybe (if Enhanced IRF is not a stopper for the port link-mode feature to work [*]) the VLAN interface resource reservation could be the key point for a successfull port link-mode implementation.

[*] I recall I've read on H3C Documentation of H3C S12500 Switch Series (OK, it's another iron and another brand) that Ethernet interfaces do not support switching the operating mode when they are member ports of/used into/ports of a Switch:

• Aggregation groups.
• Reflector port of a remote source mirroring group.
• operating in IRF mode and with enhanced IRF enabled.

[markscholman]

The trick was the reserve-vlan-interface setup.

Thanks a lot!

Mark

[parnassus]

Great!

[Ian Vaughan]

Good to know about the resource reservation for the route ports. 

Thanks for that.

Everyday is a schoolday on these forums, always learning something.

Ian