Connecting Physical Irf Ports; Setting The Operating Mode To Irf Mode - HP 10500 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
IRF physical port connection restrictions, see
IMPORTANT:
No intermediate devices are allowed between neighboring members.
Figure 8 Connecting IRF physical ports
Connect the devices into a daisy-chain topology or a ring topology. A ring topology is more reliable
(see Figure
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 9 Daisy-chain topology versus ring topology

Setting the operating mode to IRF mode

By default, the device is operating in standalone mode. To assign the device to an IRF fabric, you must
change its operating mode to IRF mode.
9). In ring topology, the failure of one IRF link does not cause the IRF fabric to split as in
Figure
"IRF physical port restrictions."
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8. For more information about