Procurve 5406zl

[David_UNL]

Hi

We are looking to purchase 2 x 5406zl switches to be used as our Core switches.

Both of these would be purchased with the Premium Edge Licence.

Our requirements only require a single device, however for redundancy we require two devices.

A quick proposed network drawing is attached, and will give a better idea of the result we are working towards.

So...

The Core Switches will provide routing between VLANS, and be the default gateway for all devices connected to the network.

VRRP would need to be implemented to provide redundant routing (in case of a hardware failure)

One of the Core Switches (Core Switch A) will be the primary switch, and will have a minimum of two ports Trunked to each Access Layer Switch.

The other Core Switch (Core Switch B) will be connected to the other Core by a trunked link, and will have a single connection to each Access Layer Switch.

This will create a loop, so we would look to use STP to effectively disable the connections to Core Switch B.

So the question is, is what we are trying to achieve possible using the 5406zl's?

Is there any configuration examples that are available for us to review etc?

Thanks
David

[David_UNL]

The attached drawing refers to the Core as Distribution switches, as our core and distribution switches are one in the same.

Cheers
David

[Matt Hobbs]

Yes, the 5400's can handle that without breaking a sweat.

I can't point you to any configuration examples, but it should be quite straight forward to setup even without any prior ProCurve experience. (Someone else may paste a basic VRRP+MSTP config here for you).

If you got stuck, the folks on here would quickly help you out with any questions.

[OLARU Dan]

Dave,
IMHO Matt needs the bunny (aka 10 points)

Cheers
Dan

[Matt Hobbs]

You're too kind to me Dan, thanks.

[stieven struyf]

David,
i'm running 2 5412zl as core.
they route internal vlan's and all servers and the firewall(2) are also connected.
from this switch i have links to my edges.
(so it seems to be same setup as you have)

This works perfect. Don't think i will ever be able to saturate them.

[Mohieddin Kharnoub]

Hi

My dear this setup is the most used one nowadays, and in person i've setup similar to this many time using dual 5400 as Core switches and sometimes 5400 as Edge with dual 10Gig backbone , and sometimes with 2600, 2800 ... as stackable edge switches with Dual 1G as backbone.

The 5400 has an active backplane, so you can't use one 5400 as a Single Full Redundant Core switch in the network and in case the Chassis is failed, your whole business will be down.

The 8200 has a Passive backplane, so you can use ONE 8200 as a Full Redundant Core with Dual management Module, and Dual Switch Fabric Module and 4 Power Supplies.

For the Configuration i suggest what Matt suggested to use VRRP as a L3 Redundancy protocol and MSTP as a L2 Redundancy Protocol (L2 is Faster than L3).

I'm going to post a sample configuration for 2 Core switches in a network has 4 Vlans, with VRRP-MSTP enabled.

Core1 is MSTP ROOT for instance 1 that has Vlan1-2 and backup for Instance2 that has Vlan 3-4

Core1 is VRRP owner for Vlan1-2 and Backup for Vlan 3-4
-------------------------------------------

Core1:
-----
hostname "Core1"
time timezone 240
console inactivity-timer 15
ip routing

vlan 1
name "MAN"
ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0
exit
vlan 2
name "ADMIN"
ip address 10.1.2.1 255.255.255.0
exit
vlan 3
name "Guest"
ip address 10.1.3.1 255.255.255.0
exit
vlan 4
name "WLAN"
ip address 10.1.4.1 255.255.255.0
exit

ip dns server-address a.b.c.d
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 a.b.c.d

spanning-tree
spanning-tree config-name "IBT"
spanning-tree config-revision 8
spanning-tree instance 1 vlan 1-2
spanning-tree instance 1 priority 0
spanning-tree instance 2 vlan 3-4
spanning-tree instance 2 priority 1
spanning-tree priority 0

router vrrp
vlan 1
vrrp vrid 1
owner
virtual-ip-address 10.11.1.1 255.255.255.0
priority 255
enable
exit
exit
vlan 2
vrrp vrid 1
owner
virtual-ip-address 10.1.2.1 255.255.255.0
priority 255
enable
exit
exit
vlan 3
vrrp vrid 1
backup
virtual-ip-address 10.11.3.2 255.255.255.0
enable
exit
exit
vlan 4
vrrp vrid 1
backup
virtual-ip-address 10.1.4.2 255.255.255.0
enable
exit
exit




Core2:
-----
hostname "Core2"
time timezone 240
console inactivity-timer 15
ip routing

vlan 1
name "MAN"
ip address 10.1.1.2 255.255.255.0
exit
vlan 2
name "ADMIN"
ip address 10.1.2.2 255.255.255.0
exit
vlan 3
name "Guest"
ip address 10.1.3.2 255.255.255.0
exit
vlan 4
name "WLAN"
ip address 10.1.4.2 255.255.255.0
exit

ip dns server-address a.b.c.d
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 a.b.c.d

spanning-tree
spanning-tree config-name "IBT"
spanning-tree config-revision 8
spanning-tree instance 1 vlan 1-2
spanning-tree instance 1 priority 1
spanning-tree instance 2 vlan 3-4
spanning-tree instance 2 priority 0
spanning-tree priority 1

router vrrp
vlan 1
vrrp vrid 1
backup
virtual-ip-address 10.11.1.1 255.255.255.0
enable
exit
exit
vlan 2
vrrp vrid 1
backup
virtual-ip-address 10.1.2.1 255.255.255.0
enable
exit
exit
vlan 3
vrrp vrid 1
owner
virtual-ip-address 10.11.3.2 255.255.255.0
priority 255
enable
exit
exit
vlan 4
vrrp vrid 1
owner
virtual-ip-address 10.1.4.2 255.255.255.0
priority 255
enable
exit
exit
----------------------------------------------


PC in Vlan1 has : IP 10.1.1.0/24 and Gateway: 10.1.1.1 (VRRP Owner is Core1 for this Vlan)

PC in Vlan2 has: IP 10.1.2.0/24 and Gateway: 10.1.2.1 (VRRP Owner is Core1 for this Vlan)

PC in Vlan3 has: IP 10.1.3.0/24 and Gateway: 10.1.3.2 (VRRP Owner is Core2 for this Vlan)

PC in Vlan4 has: IP 10.1.4.0/24 and Gateway: 10.1.4.2 (VRRP Owner is Core2 for this Vlan)

---------------------------------------------

I hope that example has no mistakes :) and is the best for load balancing and network redundancy and best efficiency.


Good Luck !!!

[Matt Hobbs]

This document gives a step-by-step configuration guide for a similar setup with all the best practices: http://www.procurve.com/NR/rdonlyres/2AB265E3-8277-49EF-98C2-070186D7B516/0/ProCurveSpanning_tree_Sep_07_WW_Eng_Ltr.pdf

[Johan Parlevliet]

Hi Mohieddin Kharnoub
I guess the 2 lines
virtual-ip-address 10.11.1.1 255.255.255.0
virtual-ip-address 10.11.3.2 255.255.255.0
contains a typo.
I think the ".11." should be ".1.":
virtual-ip-address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0
virtual-ip-address 10.1.3.2 255.255.255.0

Johan

[Mohieddin Kharnoub]

Thanks for the correction :)