Administrator Guide

Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide 65
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The switch Ethernet interface
2
NOTE
When you change the Ethernet interface settings, open connections such as SSH or Telnet may be
dropped. Reconnect using the new Ethernet IP address information or change the Ethernet settings
using a console session through the serial port to maintain your session during the change. You
must connect through the serial port to set the Ethernet IP address if the Ethernet network interface
is not configured already. For details, refer to “Connecting to Fabric OS through the serial port” on
page 58.
Virtual Fabrics and the Ethernet interface
On the Brocade DCX and DCX-4S, the single-chassis IP address and subnet mask are assigned to
the management Ethernet ports on the front panels of the CPs. These addresses allow access to
the chassis—more specifically, the active CP of the chassis—and not individual logical switches. The
IP addresses can also be assigned to each CP individually. This allows for direct communication
with a CP, including the standby CP. On the Brocade DCX and DCX-4S Backbones, each CP has two
management Ethernet ports on its front panel. These two physical ports are bonded together to
create a single, logical Ethernet port, and it is the logical Ethernet port to which IP addresses are
assigned.
IPv4 addresses assigned to individual Virtual Fabrics are assigned to IP over Fibre Channel (IPFC)
network interfaces. In Virtual Fabrics environments, a single chassis can be assigned to multiple
fabrics, each of which is logically distinct and separate from one another. Each IPFC point of
connection to a given chassis needs a separate IPv4 address and prefix to be accessible to a
management host. For more information on how to set up these IPFC interfaces to your Virtual
Fabric, refer to Chapter 11, “Managing Virtual Fabrics”.
Management Ethernet port bonding
The two external Ethernet ports of a CP8 blade can be bound together as a single logical network
interface. This configuration uses an active-standby failover model to provide automatic failover
support for the primary Ethernet port on the blade. If the primary Ethernet port fails (due to
something other than power loss), the second Ethernet port immediately takes over to ensure link
layer communication is retained.
One of the physical Ethernet ports is selected as the active interface. The second interface is set as
the standby interface. All traffic is transmitted over the active interface. No traffic is transmitted
over the standby interface, unless the active interface is determined to be no longer connected; at
which point, the second interface is made active.
When active, all the Fabric OS kernel modules and applications on the CP8 blade will use the
logical network interface named “bond0” instead of “eth0”.
NOTE
On bootup, physical port eth0 is always made active if it is connected.
The CP8 blade contains multiple Ethernet devices (including eth0 and eth3), which map to the two
Ethernet ports on the front of the CP8 blade. Other Ethernet devices on the blade are reserved for
use by the operating system.