How to implement ip routing in a MESH environment

[Joris Deschacht]

Hello,

We've got two 5308xl running as core, and 5 5304xl are connected with fiber to both cores.
We've implemented MESH in this setup.
But now we want to do some VLAN implementation, and there has to be communication (routing) between the VLANS.
What would be the best solution to do this.
Connect a 2650 or 3400 to both cores and let him do the routing?

Regards

[Les Ligetfalvy]

Since routing and mesh are mutually exclusive, you have no choice but to connect an external router. What you decide to use for a router depends on the nature and volume of traffic you need to route.
Are all the inter-switch connections mesh? Did you go with mesh to aggregate your links?

[Joris Deschacht]

Are all the inter-switch connections mesh?
Yes all the inter-switch connections are in the mesh -> fiber

Did you go with mesh to aggregate your links?
Yes -> Do you have other proposals?

regards,

[Gonzo Granello]

That is a tough one.... unless you get rid of Meshing, there is no way to route on those boxes. One argument for loosing the mesh would be the question what are you really gaining using a non standart, or proprietary protocol that the manufacturer can't even support on all of their own devices, let alone some elses. I know that might sound brutal (and i know almost all the aruments for meshing) however, in your situation it is either buy extra hardware or use something standarts based like port trunks using different modules for each link in the trunk of course. Other than your idea of using 2650 or 3400 for routing, there is not much room for other ways do make happen what you want. (short of hp writing new firmware for the 5300's) By the way, the reason why routing and meshing is either or is that parts of the ospf (hence routing) is used for the meshing implementation. Maybe that gives a hint for a implementation without hp meshing....

GG

PS points are apprechiated if that was somewhat helpful...

[Stuart Teo]

Joris,

Only the ports with mesh enabled are mesh-ports. Enabling mesh isn't a global function, it's a per-port function. As long as a port is a mesh-port, the entire switch cannot be used for routing. However, you can use a non-mesh port to connect to another 5308 that doesn't have a single mesh-port. That switch that doesn't have a single mesh-port can be used for routing.