IRF Configuration Questions

[L1nklight]

I have a pair of A5800s currently configured to use IRF. They are operational and everything seems to be functioning exactly the way I want it with the IRF link. I also have a pair of 5820s. The 5820s were going to be relegated to iSCSI infrastructure only and therefore non routed however, certain events have arisen that require routing of the iSCSI traffic. Essentially I will be shipping iSCSI traffic on the 5820s to a DR site (SAN replication for VMware vSphere if you need to know).

1. Since these are both 5800 series switches I would think that I can extend the IRF to the 2 5820s. The documentation seems to indicate that a hybrid 5800 and 5820 IRF infrastructure is a possibility. Is this correct?
2. If it is possible to place all 4 switches (2 5800s and 2 5820s) on the same IRF setup, how would the IRF links be cabled? Cascading? Currently I have interface Ten-GigabitEthernet1/0/49 and Ten-Gigethernet2/0/49 linked with a 10GbE cable between the two A5800s. This leaves 3 10GbE ports on both A5800s and 24 open ports currently on each of the A5820s. How would I extend the IRF to all 4 switches? The end goal being that iSCSI traffic will be routed out a specific port on the A5800s to the DR site. Port layout example would be nice. Thanks!

 Edit: I am the most active person on this forum in the past few days!

[Fredrik Lönnman · Accepted solution]

1, Yes that is my understanding as well (have not tried it though)

2, A ring topology is recommended:

 |----
5800  |
 |    |
5800  |
 |    |
5820  |
 |    |
5820  |
 |----

[L1nklight]

Looks like I need to buy me some fancy new cables... Thanks for your help Fredrik!

[pombeii]

I would recommend that you read the following document for more information about specification limitations:

http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c03014399/c03014399.pdf

[L1nklight]

Good post on this document. From reading it I guess the take away is that recognize that all features when you configure the IRF topology are not shared between the two switching devices and be careful what features you use because they may not be supported in the way you intended them to. The 5800s support some features while the 5820s support others and I need to be knowledgeable of those differences. 

Basically here is my scenario: I have 4 HP P4500 G2s and 4 Proliant DL 380 G7s (VMware). The networking portion of the G7s will be hooked up to the A5800s while the iSCSI traffic for the G2s and G7s will be hooked up to the A5820-24x. I have a single 10 mbit link to DR and since both of the switches will need to route traffic to DR (network and iSCSI) they will both need to pass data between the networks. Since I only have the single 10 mbit link I am going to need to send iSCSI taffic and networking traffic through the same device. Without having another link the only way I can imagine doing that is using a share IRF topology.

[L1nklight]

Just wanted to let everyone know this ring topology worked out well with 4 switches. I haven't run any tests on it yet however, the topology is configured and active. here is a quick display of the key parts of the config:

# 
 irf domain 10
 irf mac-address persistent timer
 irf auto-update enable
 undo irf link-delay
 irf member 1 priority 10
 irf member 2 priority 9
 irf member 3 priority 8
 irf member 4 priority 7
 irf member 1 description 5800 (Network)
 irf member 2 description 5800 (Network)
 irf member 3 description 5820 (iSCSI)
 irf member 4 description 5820 (iSCSI)
#
...
#

interface Ten-GigabitEthernet1/0/49
#
interface Ten-GigabitEthernet1/0/50
#
interface Ten-GigabitEthernet2/0/49
#
interface Ten-GigabitEthernet2/0/50
#
interface Ten-GigabitEthernet3/0/23
#
interface Ten-GigabitEthernet3/0/24
#
interface Ten-GigabitEthernet4/0/23
#
interface Ten-GigabitEthernet4/0/24
#
...
#
irf-port 1/1
 port group interface Ten-GigabitEthernet1/0/49 mode enhanced
#
irf-port 1/2
 port group interface Ten-GigabitEthernet1/0/50 mode enhanced
#
irf-port 2/1
 port group interface Ten-GigabitEthernet2/0/50 mode enhanced
#
irf-port 2/2
 port group interface Ten-GigabitEthernet2/0/49 mode enhanced
#
irf-port 3/1
 port group interface Ten-GigabitEthernet3/0/24 mode enhanced
#
irf-port 3/2
 port group interface Ten-GigabitEthernet3/0/23 mode enhanced
#
irf-port 4/1
 port group interface Ten-GigabitEthernet4/0/24 mode enhanced
#
irf-port 4/2
 port group interface Ten-GigabitEthernet4/0/23 mode enhanced
#

If anyone has any sort of recommendations or anything let me know. Thanks again for everyone's help!

[Richard Litchfield]

Great work! IRF between 5800 and 5820 switches does work and is supported. Up to 9 switches can be linked (minimum link is 10Gb) typically in a ring configuration. Links are typically done with 10Gb copper coax direct attach cables (DACs) - lots cheaper than fibre and 10Gb optics.

Please post the output of "display irf config" and "display irf topology" to show what it looks like for those who haven't played with it yet.

[L1nklight]

Sure thing! Here they are:

Disp irf conf:

[CoreSwitch]disp irf conf
 MemberID NewID    IRF-Port1                     IRF-Port2
  1       1        Ten-GigabitEthernet1/0/49     Ten-GigabitEthernet1/0/50
  2       2        Ten-GigabitEthernet2/0/50     Ten-GigabitEthernet2/0/49
  3       3        Ten-GigabitEthernet3/0/24     Ten-GigabitEthernet3/0/23
  4       4        Ten-GigabitEthernet4/0/24     Ten-GigabitEthernet4/0/23

 Disp irf top:

[CoreSwitch]disp irf top
                           Topology Info
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
               IRF-Port1                IRF-Port2
 Switch    Link       neighbor      Link       neighbor    Belong To
 1         UP         2             UP         4           <mac-addy>
 2         UP         3             UP         1           <mac-addy>
 3         UP         4             UP         2           <mac-addy>
 4         UP         1             UP         3           <mac-addy>

 Disp irf:

[CoreSwitch]disp irf
Switch  Role   Priority  CPU-Mac         Description
 *+1   Master  10        <mac-add>       5800 (Network)
   2   Slave   9         <mac-add>       5800 (Network)
   3   Slave   8         <mac-add>       5820 (iSCSI)
   4   Slave   7         <mac-add>       5820 (iSCSI)
--------------------------------------------------

 * indicates the device is the master.
 + indicates the device through which the user logs in.

 The Bridge MAC of the IRF is: <mac-add>
 Auto upgrade                : yes
 Mac persistent              : 6 min
 Domain ID                   : 10