Irf Overview; Hardware Compatibility; Chassis Compatibility; Card Compatibility - HP 7500 series Configuration Manual

IRF overview

The HP Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF) technology creates a large IRF fabric from multiple switches
to provide data center class availability and scalability. IRF virtualization technology offers processing
power, interaction, unified management, and uninterrupted maintenance of multiple switches.
This book describes IRF concepts and guides you through the IRF setup procedure.

Hardware compatibility

This section describes the IRF and hardware compatibility.

Chassis compatibility

Among the 7500 Switch Series, these models support IRF: 7503, 7506, 7506-V, and 7510.
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The 7500 switches in an IRF fabric must be the same model.
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A 7510 IRF fabric can have only up to two chassis. Other models can form four-chassis IRF fabrics.
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If the LSQ1SRP1CB MPU is used, a 7510 switch cannot join an IRF fabric.
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Card compatibility

The MPUs in an IRF member switch must be the same model. A good practice is to use the same model
of MPUs in all IRF member switches.

Hardware compatibility for a three-/four-chassis IRF fabric

The following cards can be used only in IRF fabrics that are formed by up to two members:
SA cards
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• LSQ1SRP1CB MPUs

IRF benefits

IRF provides the following benefits:
• Simplified topology and easy management—An IRF fabric appears as one node and is accessible
at a single IP address on the network. You can use this IP address to log in at any member device
to manage all the members of the IRF fabric. In addition, you do not need to run the spanning tree
feature among the IRF members.
1:N redundancy—In an IRF fabric, one member works as the master to manage and control the
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entire IRF fabric, and all the other members process services while backing up the master. When the
master fails, all the other member devices elect a new master from among them to take over without
interrupting services.
• IRF link aggregation—You can assign several physical links between neighboring members to their
IRF ports to create a load-balanced aggregate IRF connection with redundancy.
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