
64
Step Description
•
Identifying physical IRF ports on the member switches
•
2.
Install IRF member switches
Installing the switch in a 19-inch rack
" or "
."
3.
Connect ground wires and power cords See "
" and "
4.
Power on the switches
N/A
5.
Configure basic IRF settings
For more information about IRF, see
H3C S5820X & S5800
Switch Series IRF Configuration Guide
.
6.
Connect the physical IRF ports
Connect 10GE physical IRF ports on switches. Use SFP+
transceiver modules and fibers to connect 10-Gigabit SFP+ ports
over a long distance, or use SFP+ cables to connect 10-Gigabit
SFP+ ports over a short distance.
Use category 6 or above twisted pair cables to connect
1/10Gbase-T Ethernet ports.
All switches except the master switch automatically reboot, and
the IRF fabric is established.
Planning IRF fabric setup
Planning IRF fabric size and the installation site
Choose S5820X switch models and identify 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.
Plan the installation site depending on your network solution, as follows:
•
Place all IRF member switches in one rack for centralized high-density access.
•
Distribute the IRF member switches in different racks to implement the top-of-rack (ToR) access
solution for a data center.
NOTE:
An IRF fabric can have up to 10 S5820X switches. As your business grows, you can plug an S5820X
switch into an 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
H3C
S5820X & S5800 Switch Series IRF Configuration Guide.