Reference Guide

338 | Force10 Resilient Ring Protocol (FRRP)
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to be transmitted and received through it. See Figure 16-1 for a simple example of this FRRP topology.
Note that ring direction is determined by the Master node’s Primary and Secondary ports.
Figure 16-1. Normal Operating FRRP Topology
A Virtual LAN (VLAN) is configured on all node ports in the ring. All ring ports must be members of the
Member VLAN and the Control VLAN.
The Member VLAN is the VLAN used to transmit data as described earlier.
The Control VLAN is used to perform the health checks on the ring. The Control VLAN can always pass
through all ports in the ring, including the secondary port of the Master node.
Ring Status
The Ring Failure notification and the Ring Status checks provide two ways to ensure the ring remains up
and active in the event of a switch or port failure.
Ring Checking
At specified intervals, the Master Node sends a Ring Health Frame (RHF) through the ring. If the ring is
complete, the frame is received on its secondary port, and the Master node resets its fail-period timer and
continues normal operation.
Ring Direction
Primary
Forwarding
Primary
Forwarding
Secondary
Blocking
Primary
Forwarding
Secondary
Forwarding
Secondary
Forwarding
R2
TRANSIT
R3
TRANSIT
R1
MASTER