Irf Connection Error Notification; Irf Multi-Active Detection; Multi-Active Handling Procedure - HP FlexFabric 12900 Series Configuration Manual

Two members are considered to start up at the same time if their startup time difference is equal to
or less than 10 minutes. For these members, the next tiebreaker applies.
4. Member with the lowest member ID.
For a new IRF fabric, the subordinate devices must reboot to complete the setup after the master election.
For an IRF merge, devices must reboot if they are in the IRF fabric that fails the master election. The reboot
can be performed automatically or manually (see
After a master election, all subordinate devices reboot with the configuration on the master. The
configuration files of the subordinate members are retained, but the files do not take effect in the IRF
fabric. A subordinate member uses its own startup configuration file only after it is removed from the IRF
fabric.

IRF connection error notification

The device generates error messages when its IRF physical interfaces are connected to non-IRF physical
interfaces. The error messages use the form of "The port port can't receive irf pkt and has been changed
to inactive status, please check." The port argument represents the interface name of an IRF physical
interface that connects to a non-IRF physical interface.
The messages help you identify incorrect IRF connections to avoid issues including cross-chassis packet
loss and IRF split.
The error messages might be falsely generated when the IRF fabric is unstable. For example, the
messages might occur during an IRF setup, reboot, or IRF port binding modification process. If the IRF
connections are correct, the messages will not occur after the IRF fabric completes the process.

IRF multi-active detection

An IRF link failure causes an IRF fabric to split in two IRF fabrics operating with the same Layer 3
configurations, including the same IP address. To avoid IP address collision and network problems, IRF
uses multi-active detection (MAD) mechanisms to detect the presence of multiple identical IRF fabrics,
handle collisions, and recover from faults.

Multi-active handling procedure

The multi-active handling procedure includes detection, collision handling, and failure recovery.
Detection
The MAD implementation of this device detects active IRF fabrics with the same Layer 3 global
configuration by extending the LACP or BFD protocol.
These MAD mechanisms identify each IRF fabric with a domain ID and an active ID (the member ID of
the master). If multiple active IDs are detected in a domain, MAD determines that an IRF collision or split
has occurred.
IMPORTANT:
LACP MAD handles collisions differently than BFD MAD. To avoid conflicts, do not enable LACP MAD
together with BFD MAD.
"Enabling IRF auto-merge").
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