Ethernet Switching on Chassis Cluster
This topic explains to configure a chassis cluster to act as a Layer 2 Ethernet switch.
Layer 2 Ethernet Switching Capability in a Chassis Cluster Mode
- Layer 2 Ethernet Switching Capability in a Chassis Cluster on Firewalls
- Chassis Cluster Failover and New Primary Election
- Benefits of Ethernet Switching on Chassis Cluster
Layer 2 Ethernet Switching Capability in a Chassis Cluster on Firewalls
Ethernet ports support various Layer 2 features, including
-
Spanning tree protocols (STPs)
-
IEEE 802.1x
-
Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP)
-
Multiple VLAN Registration Protocol (MVRP)
With the extension of Layer 2 switching capabilities to chassis cluster deployments, these Ethernet switching features can be used on both nodes of a chassis cluster.
To ensure seamless Layer 2 switching across chassis cluster nodes, a dedicated physical link is required between nodes. This link, known as the switching fabric interface, is used to carry Layer 2 traffic between the nodes.
-
Configuring a Link Aggregation Group with
family ethernet-switchingis not supported. -
Configuring a redundant Ethernet (reth) interface with
family ethernet-switchingis also not supported, except when operating in Transparent mode. -
If a switching fabric interface (swfab) is not configured on both nodes, attempting to configure Ethernet switching features can result in unpredictable behavior.
Chassis Cluster Failover and New Primary Election
When chassis cluster failover occurs, a new primary node is elected and the Ethernet switching process (eswd) starts running on the new primary node. During the failover, the chassis control subsystem is restarted. Traffic disruption occurs until the Physical Interface Cards (PICs) are operational and VLAN entries are reprogrammed. After the failover, all Layer 2 protocols reconverge because Layer 2 protocol state is not preserved on the secondary node.
The Q-in-Q feature is not supported in chassis cluster mode due to switching fabric interface (swfab) limitations in Broadcom chipsets.
Benefits of Ethernet Switching on Chassis Cluster
Enables Ethernet switching functionality on both nodes of a chassis cluster and allows Ethernet ports on either node to be configured with family ethernet-switching.
Enables the configuration of a Layer 2 VLAN domain with member ports from both nodes, along with support for Layer 2 switching protocols on both devices.
See Also
Example: Configure Switch Fabric Interfaces to Enable Switching
This example shows how to configure switching fabric interfaces to enable switching in chassis cluster mode.
Requirements
The physical link used as the switch fabric member must be directly connected to the device.
Switching fabric interfaces must be configured on ports that support switching features. See Ethernet Ports Switching Overview for Security Devices for information about the ports on which switching features are supported.
The physical link used as the switch fabric member must be directly connected to the device. Switching supported ports must be used for switching fabric interfaces. See Ethernet Ports Switching Overview for Security Devices for switching supported ports.
Before you begin, See Example: Configuring the Chassis Cluster Fabric Interfaces.
Overview
In this example, pseudointerfaces swfab0 and swfab1 are created for Layer 2 fabric functionality. You also configure dedicated Ethernet ports on each node to be associated with the swfab interfaces.
Configuration
Procedure
CLI Quick Configuration
To quickly configure this section of the example,
copy the following commands, paste them into a text file, remove any
line breaks, change any details necessary to match your network configuration,
copy and paste the commands into the CLI at the [edit] hierarchy
level, and then enter commit from configuration mode.
set interfaces swfab0 fabric-options member-interfaces ge-0/0/3 set interfaces swfab1 fabric-options member-interfaces ge-9/0/3
Step-by-Step Procedure
To configure swfab interfaces:
Configure swfab0 and swfab1 and associate these switch fabric interfaces to enable switching across the nodes. Note that swfab0 corresponds to node 0 and swfab1 corresponds to node 1.
{primary:node0} [edit] user@host# set interfaces swfab0 fabric-options member-interfaces ge-0/0/3 user@host# set interfaces swfab1 fabric-options member-interfaces ge-9/0/3If you are done configuring the device, commit the configuration.
{primary:node0} [edit] user@host# commit
Results
From configuration mode, confirm your configuration
by entering the show interfaces swfab0 command. If the
output does not display the intended configuration, repeat the configuration
instructions in this example to correct the configuration.
[edit]
user@host# show interfaces swfab0
fabric-options{
member-interfaces {
ge-0/0/3;
}
}
Verification
To confirm that the configuration is working properly, perform these tasks:
Verify Switching Fabric Ports
Purpose
Verify that you are able to configure multiple ports as members of switching fabric ports.
Action
From configuration mode, enter the show interfaces swfab0 command to view the configured interfaces for each port.
user@host# show interfaces swfab0
fabric-options{
member-interfaces {
ge-0/0/3;
}
}
From operational mode, enter the show chassis cluster ethernet-switching
interfaces command to view the appropriate member interfaces.
user@host> show chassis cluster ethernet-switching interfaces
swfab0:
Name Status
ge-0/0/3 up
swfab1:
Name Status
ge-9/0/3 up