Connecting Physical Irf Ports - HP FlexFabric 12500 Series Configuration Manual

Connecting physical IRF ports

When you connect two neighboring IRF members, connect the physical ports of IRF-port 1 on one
member to the physical ports of IRF-port 2 on the other, as shown in
If copper Ethernet ports are used, use straight-through or crossover copper Ethernet cables to connect
them.
If fiber Ethernet ports are used, install transceiver modules and use fibers to connect them. For more
information about transceiver modules, see the device installation guide.
To connect two IRF member devices through SFP+ ports, you can use a fiber or an SFP+ cable.
Figure 11 Connecting IRF physical ports
Connect the devices into a daisy-chain topology or a ring topology. A ring topology is more reliable
(see Figure 12). In ring topology, the failure of one IRF link does not cause the IRF fabric to split as in
daisy-chain topology. Instead, the IRF fabric changes to a daisy-chain topology without interrupting
network services.
To use the ring topology, you must have at least three member devices.
Figure 12 Daisy-chain topology versus ring topology
Master
IRF-Port1
Subordinate
IRF-Port1
Subordinate
Daisy-chain topology
As shown in
member devices that are far away from each other.
IMPORTANT:
For enhanced IRF (four-chassis capability) to operate correctly, the IRF fabric must use the ring topology
and must not have relay devices between member devices.
IRF
IRF-Port2
IRF-Port2
Figure 13, you can use relay devices (for example, Layer 2 switches), to connect two IRF
Master
IRF-Port1
IRF
IRF-Port2
IRF-Port1
Subordinate
Ring topology
21
Figure 1 1.
IRF-Port2
IRF-Port1
IRF-Port2
Subordinate