1. Installation and Administration Guide
  2. Switch Configurations
  3. Brocade ICX 6430 Switch Configuration

Brocade ICX 6430 Switch Configuration

Use the Brocade documentation to properly install the switch. See the Brocade ICX 6430 and ICX 6450 Stackable Switches Hardware Installation Guide.

Pre-configuration Requirements

Before you configure the switch, follow steps 1 - 4 in the Brocade ICX 6430 and ICX 6450 Web Management Interface User Guide and the section on Prerequisite Configuration to attach a PC to the switch and assign an IP address to the management port using its Command Line Interface (CLI). Follow the ICX 6430 instructions in step 3.

Configuring the Brocade Switch

Configure the Brocade switch to use the Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP), which was standardized by IEEE 802.1W.

After you perform the following steps, refer to the Brocade ICX 6430 and ICX 6450 Web Configuration QuickStart Guide for additional information about configuring Brocade ICX 6430 switches.

  1. Start a web browser and connect to the switch at the IP address you established in the pre-configuration requirements above.

    Enable (RSTP) as shown in the following steps.

  2. Navigate to Configuration > System.

    1. Ensure that Spanning Tree is enabled.

    2. Click Clock to set the system clock.

  3. Navigate to Configuration > VLAN.

    1. Set the VLAN IP address.

    2. Click Add Port VLAN.

    3. Ensure that Spanning Tree is Disabled and 802.1W is Enabled.

  4. Navigate to Configuration > RSTP and view the Ethernet ports.

  5. Use ssh to access the management IP address of the switch to launch its CLI. Configure a trunk group for each KMA that should include aggregated service ports.

    Brocade(config)#show trunk

    Brocade(config)#trunk ethernet

    Brocade(config)#trunk ethernet 1/1/1 to 1/1/2

    Brocade(config)#trunk ethernet 1/1/3 to 1/1/4

    < etc. for each KMA that should include aggregated service ports, port IDs as shown in step 4 >

    Brocade(config)#write memory

    Brocade(config)#trunk deploy

    Note:

    In this example, the ports had been put into VLAN 1, as indicated by the leading "1/" in the trunk commands. If no VLAN was created on the ports, then the trunk commands should not have the leading "1/". For example:

    Brocade(config)#trunk ethernet 1/1 to 1/2

  6. In the web interface, navigate to Configuration > Trunk and view the trunks that you just defined in the CLI.

  7. Attach network cables between the pairs of ports on the switch to the service and aggregated service ports on each KMA that should contain aggregated service ports. Port IDs (shown in step 6) are associated with physical ports on the switch.

    To do this:

    1. Inspect the switch and identify the physical ports that are associated with the trunk groups that you created in step 5 and viewed in step 6.

    2. For each KMA, attach a network cable between the first port in the trunk group and the service port on the KMA (labeled LAN 2 or NET 2).

    3. Attach a network cable between the second port in the trunk group and the aggregated service port on the KMA (labeled LAN 3 or NET 3).

Port Mirroring

Mirroring ports can be useful when you want to use a network analyzer in the service network environment. Ports can be mirrored on Brocade ICX 6430 switches as follows:

  1. Telnet to the switch management port.

  2. On this switch, select a port that is not part of a trunk (for example, port 24 is designated as "1/1/24").

  3. Access privileged mode on the switch by entering enable (# will be appended to the prompt indicating you are in privileged mode).

  4. Enter configuration mode by entering configure terminal (you will see (config) appended to the prompt indicating config mode).

  5. Configure the mirror-port with the command mirror-port ethernet 1/1/24.

  6. Determine what port traffic you want to monitor (for example, port 1 designated as 1/1/1).

  7. Enter the interface menu for port 1/1/1 by entering interface ethernet 1/1/1 (config-if-e1000-1/1/1 is appended to the prompt indicating you are configuring that port).

  8. Enter monitor ethernet 1/1/24 both to monitor traffic in both directions on port 24.

  9. Enter write to save the configuration changes.

In Figure 1-8, the service network consists of two customer-provided managed switches that are cabled to two unmanaged switches, which contains redundant paths that require a spanning tree configuration. This example may be easily scaled for larger SL8500 drive configurations by adding additional KMAs, switch hardware, and tape drives.

  • Managed switches must be enabled for Spanning Tree whenever the cabling includes redundancy.

  • Unmanaged switches have two paths to the managed switches for redundancy.

  • Unmanaged switches are then cabled for connectivity to the tape drives (agents)

  • Each unmanaged switch connects 16 drives. Cabled in groups of four. Ports 1–4, 6–9, 11–14, and 16–19.

  • Service Delivery Platform (SDP) connects to each Managed Switch at Port 1.

    Note:

    The SPARC servers are not currently supported by SDP. Development has not been done on the SDP side.