H3C S6850-56HF-IM, Manual, Page: 25 / 36

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Step Description
2. Install IRF member switches.
See " Installing the switch in a tank ."
3. Connect the power cords.
See " Connecting the power cords ."
4. Power on the switches.
N/A
5. Configure basic IRF settings.
See IRF configuration in H3C S6805 & S6825 & S6850 & S9850
Switch Series Virtual Technologies Configuration Guide .
6. Connect the physical IRF ports.
Connect the physical IRF ports on switches. Use QSFP28
transceiver modules and fibers for connections.
All switches except the master switch automatically reboot, and the
IRF fabric is established.
Planning IRF fabric setup
This section describes issues that an IRF fabric setup plan must cover.
Planning IRF fabric size and the installation site
Determine the number of required IRF member switches, depending on the user density and
upstream bandwidth requirements. The switching capacity of an IRF fabric equals the total switching
capacities of all member switches.
An S6850-56HF-IM switch can set up an IRF fabric with switches from the S6850 switch series.
Reserve sufficient space in the tank for installation of the devices.
As your business grows, you can add member switches into the IRF fabric to increase the switching
capacity without any topology change or replacement.
Identifying the master switch and planning IRF member IDs
Determine which switch you want to use as the master for managing all member switches in the IRF
fabric. An IRF fabric has only one master switch. You configure and manage all member switches in
the IRF fabric at the command line interface of the master switch.
NOTE:
IRF member switches will automatically elect a master. You can affect the election result by
assigning a high member priority to the intended master switch. For more information about master
election, see IRF configuration in
H3C S6805 & S6825 & S6850 & S9850 Switch Series Virtual
Technologies Configuration Guide .
Prepare an IRF member ID assignment scheme. An IRF fabric uses member IDs to uniquely identify
and manage its members, and you must assign each IRF member switch a unique member ID.
Planning IRF topology and connections
You can create an IRF fabric in daisy chain topology, or more reliably, ring topology. In ring topology,
the failure of one IRF link does not cause the IRF fabric to split as in daisy chain topology. Rather, the
IRF fabric changes to a daisy chain topology without interrupting network services.
You connect the IRF member switches through IRF ports, the logical interfaces for the connections
between IRF member switches. Each IRF member switch has two IRF ports: IRF-port 1 and IRF-port
2. To use an IRF port, you must bind a minimum of one physical port to it.