Basic Concepts - HP FlexFabric 5700 series Configuration Manual

Network scalability and resiliency—You can increase the number of ports in an eIRF system by
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adding PEXs without changing network topology.
High availability—Each PEX has multiple high-speed physical ports for uplink connectivity to the
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parent fabric. The links on these ports are aggregated and load balanced automatically.
Decreased TCO—eIRF decreases hardware investments and management costs. In an eIRF system,
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the parent fabric performs all the management and routing functions, and the PEXs only forwards
traffic. You can add low-performance devices as PEXs to an eIRF system for network scalability. In
addition, PEXs can load software and synchronize configuration from the parent fabric without
administrative intervention.

Basic concepts

eIRF includes IRF concepts and adds the concepts in this section.
eIRF roles
The devices in an eIRF system have the following roles:
Parent fabric—Higher-layer single-chassis or multichassis IRF fabric that controls the entire eIRF
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system, including PEXs. Each eIRF system has one parent fabric.
• Parent device—Member devices in the parent fabric.
Master device—Controls and manages the entire eIRF system, including all parent devices and
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PEXs. The master device in the IRF fabric is also the master device for the eIRF system. You configure
all devices (including PEXs and parent devices) from the master device.
• PEX—Operates as I/O modules of the parent fabric to receive and transmit traffic. All forwarding
decisions are made on the parent fabric.
Table 3 PEX operating states
State
Loading
Online
Offline
PEX port
A PEX port is a logical port created on the parent fabric for managing a PEX. For each PEX, you must
create a unique PEX port, and assign all physical interfaces connected to the PEX to the PEX port.
PEX physical interface
PEX physical interfaces connect PEXs and the parent fabric.
You can set up multiple PEX links between the parent fabric and a PEX. These links aggregate
automatically for backup and load balancing.
Table 3
Description
The PEX is starting up. To avoid problems, do not reboot a PEX while it is in
Loading state.
The PEX has started up and registered with the parent fabric. You can
configure and manage the PEX from the parent fabric.
Any of the following conditions exist:
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The PEX has not started up.
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The PEX has lost its uplink connectivity to the parent fabric.
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The PEX configuration on the parent fabric is incomplete.
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shows the operating states of PEXs.