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To join an IRF fabric, a device must use the same software images as the master in the fabric.
When you add a device to the IRF fabric, software auto-update compares the startup software
images of the device with the current software images of the IRF master. If the two sets of images
are different, the device automatically performs the following operations:
1.
Downloads the current software images of the master.
2.
Sets the downloaded images as main startup software images.
3.
Reboots with the new software images to rejoin the IRF fabric.
You must manually update the new device with the software images running on the IRF fabric in the
following situations:
•
Software auto-update is disabled.
•
Software auto-update fails to update software. This situation might occur if the IRF fabric
cannot identify the software version used on the new device.
Configuration prerequisites
Make sure the device you are adding to the IRF fabric has sufficient storage space for the new
software images.
If sufficient storage space is not available, the device automatically deletes the current software
images. If the reclaimed space is still insufficient, the device cannot complete the auto-update. You
must reboot the device, and then access the Boot menus to delete files.
Configuration procedure
To enable software image synchronization:
Step
Command
Remarks
1.
Enter system view.
system-view
N/A
2.
Enable software
auto-update.
irf auto-update enable
By default, software
auto-update is enabled.
Setting the IRF link down report delay
To prevent frequent IRF splits and merges during link flapping, configure the IRF ports to delay
reporting link down events.
An IRF port does not report a link down event to the IRF fabric immediately after its link changes from
up to down. If the IRF link state is still down when the delay is reached, the port reports the change to
the IRF fabric.
IRF ports do not delay link up events. They report the link up event immediately after the IRF link
comes up.
When you configure the IRF link down report delay, follow these restrictions and guidelines:
•
Make sure the IRF link down report delay is shorter than the heartbeat or hello timeout settings
of upper-layer protocols (for example, CFD, VRRP, FCoE, and OSPF). If the report delay is
longer than the timeout setting of a protocol, unnecessary recalculations might occur.
•
Set the delay to 0 seconds in the following situations:
The IRF fabric requires a fast master/subordinate or IRF link switchover.
The BFD or GR feature is used.
