- Community Home
- >
- Networking
- >
- Switching and Routing
- >
- Comware Based
- >
- Re: IRF Bridge MAC Address
Categories
Company
Local Language
Forums
Discussions
Forums
- Data Protection and Retention
- Entry Storage Systems
- Legacy
- Midrange and Enterprise Storage
- Storage Networking
- HPE Nimble Storage
Discussions
Discussions
Discussions
Forums
Forums
Discussions
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
- BladeSystem Infrastructure and Application Solutions
- Appliance Servers
- Alpha Servers
- BackOffice Products
- Internet Products
- HPE 9000 and HPE e3000 Servers
- Networking
- Netservers
- Secure OS Software for Linux
- Server Management (Insight Manager 7)
- Windows Server 2003
- Operating System - Tru64 Unix
- ProLiant Deployment and Provisioning
- Linux-Based Community / Regional
- Microsoft System Center Integration
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Community
Resources
Forums
Blogs
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Mark Topic as New
- Mark Topic as Read
- Float this Topic for Current User
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Printer Friendly Page
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-09-2017 06:59 PM
тАО08-09-2017 06:59 PM
IRF Bridge MAC Address
Hi guys,
I've just set up a two switch (5940) IRF fabric, and I'm wondering how the bridge MAC address affects connectivity after its default 6 minute timeout? I have 2 x 40Gb QSFP from each side of the chassis in an ether channel (cisco term I know) using the stp edged-port command. So this is a total of 4 40gb QSFP's. I also have one cable running directly between both switches for BFD MAD which is in a default configuration.
I can see from a blade in a directly connected chassis, I drop 6 packets while pinging the mgt IP address of the IRF fabric and then it comes back again. But I have a trunk to a cisco switch, and that took 1min 23secs in a failover scenario after the 6min timeout.
Can someone please explain to me why this is? In the 5940 IRF configuration manual (which I've read umpteen times), I don't seem to be able to find the answer. Any help, or discussion on this greatly appreciated :)
Ideally I want to get the 1min 23secs down in the event of a switch failure of the master. I havent tested yet, but I assume if I was to fail the subordinate I wouldn't get any timeouts.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-14-2017 03:58 PM
тАО08-14-2017 03:58 PM
Re: IRF Bridge MAC Address
I've answered my own question. There's not a lot online about this, so I'll post my findings here in case it helps anyone else out. This may be obvious to others, but I didn't realise the bridge MAC address was used when establishing LACP trunks. So when the 6 minute timer is up, the bridge MAC address of the IRF fabric changes, so LACP needs to renegotiate. This is where the Cisco timeout comes in since there is a LACP trunk between my 5940 fabric and my Cisco stack.
What is interesting is I found old H3C IRF documentation, and back then IRF defaulted to a permanent bridge MAC address setting. Now HPE own it, its changed it to default to a 6 minute timer. As we all know, when an IRF fabric splits, the subordinate switch uses the current bridge MAC address for 6 minutes (by default), and once that timer is up it changes to using the subordinates MAC address as the new IRF bridge MAC address. ItтАЩs that change in the bridge MAC address which was causing the 90 second failover delay while the LACP trunk between the HPE fabric and the Cisco world renegotiated.
ItтАЩs strange that is now the default IRF behaviour, but I suspect this is due to scenarios like the below when using a permanent bridge MAC addresses:
- You have an IRF fabric (Switch 1 = master, Switch 2 = subordinate).
- Switch 1 has a hardware failure. In this scenario the IRF bridge MAC address is set to permanent, so Switch 2 permanently takes on Switch 1тАЩs bridge MAC address.
- Switch 1 is sent away for repair, and is replaced with another switch (Switch 3), which is joined the current IRF fabric. Switch 3 now takes on the IRF bridge MAC address that Switch 2 has, which was originally Switch 1тАЩs MAC address.
- You could then have a scenario where Switch 1 is repaired and returned to the environment with the MAC address as Switch 2 & 3's bridge MAC address.
Now, IтАЩm just theorising here though. Can some confirm this?
Also, to get around the above theorhetical problem we're planning on assigning local MAC addres ranges to our DC locations and setting a bridge MAC address which is crafted by us, and not an actual MAC address of one of our switches.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-14-2017 06:24 PM
тАО08-14-2017 06:24 PM
Re: IRF Bridge MAC Address
Comware provides configuration control of the IRF mac-address. Yes, the default is "irf mac-address persistent timer" for the reason you have outlined for switch replacement. Use of "irf mac-address persistent alwaysr" can be considered, bearing in mide the not so often switch replacement issue with a locked down switch MAC address.
#
irf domain 1
irf mac-address persistent always
irf auto-update enable
undo irf link-delay
irf member 1 priority 32
irf member 2 priority 30
#
<sw17>system
System View: return to User View with Ctrl+Z.
[sw17]display irf
MemberID Role Priority CPU-Mac Description
1 Standby 32 00e0-fc0f-8c02 ---
*+2 Master 30 00e0-fc0f-8c03 ---
--------------------------------------------------
* indicates the device is the master.
+ indicates the device through which the user logs in.
The bridge MAC of the IRF is: 7848-5938-082a
Auto upgrade : yes
Mac persistent : always
Domain ID : 1
[sw17]
I am a HPE Employee