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Accessing the IRF fabric
The IRF fabric appears as one device after it is formed. You configure and manage all IRF members
at the CLI of the master. All settings you have made are automatically propagated to the IRF
members.
The following methods are available for accessing an IRF fabric:
•
Local login
—Log in through the console port of any member device.
•
Remote login
—Log in at a Layer 3 interface on any member device by using methods
including Telnet and SNMP.
When you log in to an IRF fabric, you are placed at the CLI of the master, regardless of at which
member device you are logged in.
For more information, see login configuration in
Fundamentals Configuration Guide
.
Configuring a member device description
Step
Command
Remarks
1.
Enter system view.
system-view
N/A
2.
Configure a description for
a member device.
irf member member-id description
text
By default, no member device
description is configured.
Configuring IRF link load sharing mode
An IRF port distributes traffic across its physical links.
By default, traffic is distributed automatically based on packet types, including Layer 2, IPv4, and
IPv6. You can configure the IRF port to distribute traffic based on criteria including IP addresses,
MAC addresses, and the combination of IP and MAC addresses. If the device does not support a
criterion combination, the system displays an error message.
Configure the IRF link load sharing mode for IRF links in system view or IRF port view:
•
In system view, the configuration is global and takes effect on all IRF ports.
•
In IRF port view, the configuration is port specific and takes effect only on the specified IRF port.
An IRF port preferentially uses the port-specific load sharing mode. If no port-specific load sharing
mode is available, the IRF port uses the global load sharing mode.
The IRF link load sharing mode takes effect on all types of packets, including unicast, multicast, and
broadcast.
Configuration restrictions and guidelines
To distribute traffic based on TCP/UDP ports, use one of the following methods:
•
Use the default setting for both global and port-specific IRF link load sharing modes.
•
Set the IRF link load sharing mode and the global load sharing mode for Ethernet link
aggregation as follows:
Set the IRF link load sharing mode to distribute traffic based on source IP, destination IP, or
both source and destination IP addresses. The command syntax is
irf-port load-sharing
mode
{
destination-ip
|
source-ip
} *.
