Users Guide

802.1BR Terms and Denitions
The 802.1BR protocol uses the following terms to describe the operation of a controlling bridge and attached port extenders.
802.1BR Term Denition
Cascade port A port on a controlling bridge or bridge port extender that connects to an upstream port. In the case of the
connection between two bridge port extenders, the cascade port is the port closest to the controlling bridge.
Controlling bridge A bridge that supports one or more bridge port extenders.
Port extender (PE) A bridge port extender that is not physically part of a controlling bridge, but is controlled by the controlling bridge.
Upstream port A port on a bridge port extender that connects to a cascade port. In the case of the connection between two
bridge port extenders, the upstream port is the port furthest from the controlling bridge.
Enabling the Port Extender Feature
To use and congure a PE attached to a controlling bridge, such as the C9010, you must rst enable the port-extender feature by entering
the feature extended-bridge command. You only need to enter this command once to enable PE support on a controlling bridge.
Before you enable the PE feature, ensure that LLDP is enabled on the controlling bridge. LLDP is enabled by default. If LLDP is disabled
when you enter the feature extended-bridge command, the following error message is displayed: % Error: Port-extender
feature cannot be enabled when LLDP is disabled.
• Turn on support for PE conguration on a controlling bridge.
CONFIGURATION mode
feature extended-bridge
NOTE
: The port-extender command (pe pe-id) and other PE conguration commands are only available after you enable the
extended-bridge feature.
NOTE: You can disable the port extender feature by entering the no feature extended-bridge command. Dell Networking
does not recommend that you use this command because it may result in trac loss. It brings down the all port extenders that
are online and deletes their congurations. For example:
Dell(conf)# no feature extended-bridge
This command will disable the Extended-Bridge feature which will bring down all the PEs and
remove all the PE configs.
Proceed with Extended-Bridge feature disable? [yes/no]:
Provisioning a Port Extender
You can provision a port extender (PE) with an initial software conguration before or after you install and power on the PE. To provision a
PE, start from the control bridge console and enter the following commands. If you enter the commands before you install the PE with a
parent control bridge, the pre-congured software settings are downloaded to the PE when you attach it to a control bridge port and
power up the PE.
NOTE
: Although you can provision a PE before or after you install and power on the PE, Dell Networking OS recommends pre-
conguring software provisioning before you install a PE and then connect it to a pre-congured, cascaded control bridge port.
In this way, you can “plug and play” a PE with a parent control bridge.
To activate PE conguration commands and make them visible, you must rst enable the PE feature by entering the feature
extended-bridge
command. See Enabling the Port Extender Feature.
1 Enter Port-Extender Conguration mode to provision a PE.
CONFIGURATION mode
Dell(conf)# pe provision pe-id
726
Port Extenders (PEs)