couldn't configure IRF on HP 5120 24 switch with two slots

[temuri426]

hello,  

i'm trying to configure hp5120 24g ei switch , but with no success, even there is no reliable commands to configure IRF.

i updated comware : A5120EI-CMW520-R2208P01-S168.bin  and also bootrom : A5120EI-BTM_607.btm

[Fredrik Lönnman]

Hi,

Have you looked through this?: 

http://www.h3c.com.hk/Technical_Support___Documents/Technical_Documents/Switches/H3C_S5120_Series_Switches/Configuration/Operation_Manual/H3C_S5120-EI_CG-Release_2208-6W100/01/

[temuri426]

i have 5120-24G-EI   (JE066A) switch.  it hes rear slots, i installed 10g cx4 modules.  but 10G interfaces doesn't appear in the interface list

[Fredrik Lönnman]

what do you see on 'dis dev' ?

[temuri426]

there are not  10G ports in "dis dev " ...  

if you  see the  part number belongs to switch which is without slots, but actually it has slots at the rear panel 

[mnantel]

If you have correctly inserted the module and the module is functional, you will see the interface when running the "display interface brief" command.

They will be shown as XGE1/1/1 and XGE1/1/2 for slot 1, and 1/2/1 and 1/2/2 for slot 2.

Once they show up we can work on your IRF. Assuming slot 1 on both switch:

irf member 1 priority 32

int ten 1/1/1

shut

int ten 1/1/2

shut

irf-port 1/1

port group int ten 1/1/1

irf-port 1/2

port group int ten 1/1/2

irf-port-configuration active

*** DO NOT CONNECT YOUR PORTS YET ***

int ten 1/1/1

undo shut

int ten 1/1/2

undo shut

save force

*** ON YOUR SECOND MEMBER DEVICE ***

irf member 1 renumber 2

** DEVICE WILL REBOOT **

int ten 2/1/1

shut

int ten 2/1/2

shut

irf-port 2/1

port group int ten 2/1/1

irf-port 2/2

port group int ten 2/1/2

irf-port-configuration active

*** DO NOT CONNECT YOUR PORTS YET ***

int ten 2/1/1

undo shut

int ten 2/1/2

undo shut

save force

*** CONNECT BOTH UNITS ***

Switch 2 will reboot and join switch 1. Voila: IRF!

[temuri426]

mnantel

modules are installed correctly, i've chacked them in another switch.

there is no IRF related commands in this switch.

[mnantel]

Ok - what does "dis int brief" yield then?

If the ports are not in that display, you have a hardware fault and need to call support.

[temuri426]

Mnatel

hardware works good, i've upgraded firmware but result is the same... there are not any  IRF commands.

as i wrote i have this switch  HP 5120-24G EI Switch JE066A  NOT this one HP 5120-24G EI Switch with 2 Interface Slots JE068A,  but physically hardware are the same both of them have interface slots, but only on second siwtch they are working, on the first one they are not.

it means that i should buy SFP+ modules to run IRF, but i'm not sure because there is now IRF related commands in thsi switch

p.s display int brief shows just  gigabit ethernet interfaces

many thanks

[Fredrik Lönnman]

The JE066A will probably NOT recognize your sfp+ slots as you are experiencing, you'll need the JE068A for that. So you will not be able to run IRF on your JE066A, even though it actually has the physical slots.

[temuri426]

hello fredrik, 

thanks for answer, so it means that JE066A  doesn't supports  IRF  feature. there are not any notes about this in the HP product buletin.  we mistakelly purchased wrong hardware..    :( 

[mnantel]

Its unfortunately one of these things that hasnt carried over correctly from h3c's site:

http://h3c.com/portal/Products___Solutions/Products/Switches/H3C_S5120-EI_Series_Switches/Detail_Material_List/201111/732695_57_0.htm

In that spec sheet you unfortunately see that the slots are disabled.

IRF is ony 10GBps only for most platforms that have 10Gbps support on specific models.

Hope you can trade the product back!

[temuri426]

many thanks to all... 

[felipecust]

Hello. 
I have the same doubt.
But, what if I try to configure IRF through 1Gbps SFP slots?  
 

[temuri426]

felipecust

hello,  

it is not possible to configure IRF , there are not even IRF command in above mentioned switches. 

[BraveKardia]

Hello mnantel, I tried to setup IRF as you mentioned and every time I connect the cables at the end, the slave reboot and freezes after couple of seconds. Both units running the same firmware. thanks

[manuel.bitzi]

JE066A doesn't support IRF.

i.e. JE068A does.

br

Manuel

[progercbs]

What is your software version ?

[BilboBaggins]

Hi there, I'm a bit late on this post but I had this exact issue recently when setting up a new IRF stack. The IRF commands were simply not available in the CLI, even after updating the firmware to the latest version.

The way I solved this was to use the web GUI. (First add an IP to a VLAN interface, set your local IP to be on the same network, then enter the IP in the browser)

Once you get this far, there is a section called IRF in the GUI. (In IE I had to use the broken page button otherwise it kicked me off the page).

Anyway, I found that once I changed the IRF domain ID (save and reboot) that I was able to enter the IRF commands in the CLI. No idea why this happened but this fix worked for me..

Good luck!

[MDella]

So one of the challanges we had with IRF was that it would NOT run on anything OTHER THAN a 10G interface.  We could get the BFD and MAD aspects to run on just about anything, but IRF itself would not work without 10G interfaces.  This originally was an issue as we had SFP modules in our switches (rather than the SFP+) so the switches were of course seeing the interfaces as 1G interfaces and therefore refusing to allow us to configure IRF.

So, I don't know the specific hardware you have (I saw mentions of pieces) but without the 10G ports, your out of luck.  What I personally don't understand is why, but its probably because they are trying to get a resonable percentage of the backplane speed of the switch to work across the interface.   I do know even if the switch is idle with nothing else going on or plugged into it, the IRF ports are running at full bore exchanging what looks like NOPs across the link ;-)

 By the way, if you look at this post from an HP networking person up in Chicago, it gives a pretty clear explaination on how you might set up a 2 or more switch IRF configuration with failover, etc.  Its the images/drawings that really help.  Most examples only show two switches in the configuration, but two switches rarely show you WHY you wanted to set things up the way they were...

[manuel.bitzi]

Read the huge manual of the 5120 first and you will never get disappointed again: :-)

[...]

To use the IRF feature, your switch must have at least one of the expansion interface modules in

Table 1.

Only the 10G ports on these modules can work as physical IRF ports.

[...]

br

Manuel