Case overview

Recently, I just finished an IDC project. There are just two h3cs as storage switches to provide 10Gb iSCSI mounting. There was little contact before H3C stacking. This time, it is just used as a record, including the pit that is easy to hit in the middle of the configuration

Introduction to IRF

Different from the traditional physical stacking, IRF is a logical stacking, which is different from Cisco's vPC logic. The use and corresponding scenes are closer to the traditional stacking mode, which is easier to understand and use
The official introduction is quoted below:

IRF (Intelligent Resilient Framework) is a software virtualization technology independently developed by H3C. Its core idea is to connect multiple devices through IRF physical ports, and virtualize them into a "distributed device" after necessary configuration. Using this virtualization technology, the hardware resources and software processing capacity of multiple devices can be collected to realize the cooperative work, unified management and uninterrupted maintenance of multiple devices. For ease of description, this "virtual device" is also called IRF. Therefore, IRF in this paper has two meanings: one refers to IRF technology and the other refers to IRF equipment.
IRF has the following advantages:
• simplified management: after the IRF is formed, users can log in to the IRF system through any port of any member device to uniformly manage all member devices in the IRF.
• high reliability: the high reliability of IRF is reflected in many aspects. For example, IRF is composed of multiple member devices, the Master device is responsible for the operation, management and maintenance of IRF, and the Slave device can also handle business as a backup. Once the Master equipment fails, the system will quickly and automatically elect a new Master to ensure business interruption, so as to realize 1:N backup of the equipment; In addition, the IRF link between member devices supports the aggregation function, and the physical link between IRF and upper and lower devices also supports the aggregation function. Multiple links can backup each other or share the load, so as to further improve the reliability of IRF.
• powerful network expansion capability: by adding member devices, you can easily expand the number of ports and bandwidth of IRF. Because each member device has a CPU, which can independently process protocol messages and forward messages, IRF can also easily expand its processing capacity.

Equipment list

The following list is drawn directly from the contract. Two sets of all Gigabit 6520, 40Gb uplink and two 40Gb cables with modules are directly used for IRF

Configuration ideas and precautions

Two concepts need to be understood before configuration:
IRF member role:
It is divided into Master and Slave. The Master is responsible for managing the whole IRF, and Slave operates as the backup device of the Master. When the Master fails, the system will automatically select a new Master from Slave to replace the original Master. Both Master and Slave are elected by roles. Only one Master can exist in an IRF at the same time, and other member devices are Slave. The Master and Slave are elected through the priority of the members of the device itself. The higher the priority, the greater the possibility of being elected as the Master

IRF interface:
A logical interface dedicated to IRF. It needs to be bound to the physical port before it can take effect

The configuration idea is as follows:
1. Configure IRF member serial number and priority of two switches
2. Configure IRF interfaces and corresponding physical ports of two switches (it should be noted that the logical IRF ports of two switches need cross ending interconnection as connecting traditional physical stacking ports. Therefore, if 1 / 1 and 2 / 1 are configured, stacking cannot be negotiated normally, and 1 / 1 and 2 / 2 or 1 / 2 and 2 / 1 need to be configured)
3. Enable IRF and wire

Configuration process

The following is the actual configuration process

Master switch configuration

#Configure irf members and priorities
[H3C]irf member 1 priority 30
[H3C]quit
<H3C>reboot
#Temporarily close the relevant physical interfaces that need irf
[H3C]interface range FortyGigE 1/0/25 to FortyGigE 1/0/26
[H3C-if-range]shutdown 
[H3C-if-range]quit
#Configure the irf interface and add the corresponding physical interface
[H3C]irf-port 1/2
[H3C-irf-port1/2]port group interface FortyGigE 1/0/25
[H3C-irf-port1/2]port group interface FortyGigE 1/0/26
[H3C-irf-port1/2]quit
#Enable physical interface
[H3C]interface range FortyGigE 1/0/25 to FortyGigE 1/0/26
[H3C-if-range]undo shutdown 
[H3C-if-range]quit
[H3C]save
#Enable irf configuration
[H3C]irf-port-configuration active 

Slave switch configuration

[H3C] irf member 1 priority 20
[H3C] irf member 1 renumber 2
Renumbering the member ID may result in configuration change or loss. Continue? [Y/N]:y
[H3C]interface range FortyGigE 2/0/25 to FortyGigE 2/0/26
[H3C-if-range]shutdown 
[H3C-if-range]quit
[H3C]irf-port 2/1
[H3C-irf-port2/1]port group interface FortyGigE 2/0/25
[H3C-irf-port2/1]port group interface FortyGigE 2/0/26
[H3C-irf-port2/1]quit
[H3C]interface range FortyGigE 2/0/25 to FortyGigE 2/0/26
[H3C-if-range]undo shutdown 
[H3C-if-range]quit
[H3C]save
[H3C]irf-port-configuration active 

Finally, 25-25 and 26-26 will interconnect the two 40Gb, and the exchange opportunity will automatically complete the election and restart. After all are completed, you can see all interface configurations and related irf information in the currentconfig:

#
 irf mac-address persistent timer
 irf auto-update enable
 undo irf link-delay
 irf member 1 priority 30
 irf member 2 priority 20
#
irf-port 1/2
 port group interface FortyGigE1/0/25
 port group interface FortyGigE1/0/26
#
irf-port 2/1
 port group interface FortyGigE2/0/25
 port group interface FortyGigE2/0/26
#

Finally, some other conventional configurations, such as Hostname, vlan and stp, will not be discussed in this article