Installation Guide
QX-S6600 Series Ethernet Switches
5-3
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.
As your business grows, you can plug QX-S6600 Series Ethernet Switches into the IRF
fabric to increase the switching capacity without any topology change or replacement.
5.2.2 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
QX-S6600 Series Ethernet Switches Configuration Guides
.
When an IRF fabric reboots, its member devices might not all finish startup at the same time because of
heterogeneity in device model. If the member device that first finishes startup does not detect any member
device within the IRF configuration detect time, the member device becomes the master regardless of its
priority. Other member devices become the subordinate devices to join the IRF fabric.
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.
5.2.3 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 at least one physical port to it.
