Concept Guide
• If route lookup in the EIS routing table fails or if the management port is down, then packets are dropped. The management application 
drop counter is incremented.
• Whenever IP address is assigned to the management port, it is stored in a global variable in the IP stack, which is used for comparison 
with the source IP address of the packet.
• Rest of the response trac is handled as per existing behavior by doing route lookup in the default routing table. So if the trac is 
destined to the front-end port IP address, the response is sent out by doing a route lookup in the default routing table, which is an 
existing behavior.
Consider a sample topology in which ip1 is an address assigned to the management port and ip2 is an address assigned to any of the front 
panel port. A and B are end users on the management and front-panel port networks. The OS-initiated trac for management applications 
takes a preference for ip1 as source IP and uses the management network to reach the destination. If the management port is down or the 
route lookup in EIS routing table fails, ip2 is the source IP and the front-panel port is used to reach the destination. The fallback route 
between the management and data networks is used in such a case. At any given time, end users can access Dell EMC Networking OS 
applications using either ip1 or ip2. Return trac for such end-user-originated sessions destined to management port ip1 is handled using 
the EIS route lookup.
Handling of Transit Trac (Trac Separation)
This is forwarded trac where destination IP is not an IP address congured in the switch.
• Packets received on the management port with destination on the front-end port is dropped.
• Packets received on the front-end port with destination on the management port is dropped.
• A separate drop counter is incremented for this case. This counter is viewed using the netstat command, like all other IP layer 
counters.
Consider a scenario in which ip1 is an address assigned to the management port and ip2 is an address assigned to any of the front panel 
port of a switch. End users on the management and front panel port networks are connected. In such an environment, trac received in 
the management port destined on the data port network is dropped and trac received in the front-end port destined on the management 
network is dropped.
Mapping of Management Applications and Trac Type
The following table summarizes the behavior of applications for various types of trac when the management egress interface selection 
feature is enabled.
Table 22. Mapping of Management Applications and 
Trac Type
Trac type / 
Application type
Switch initiated trac Switch-destined trac Transit Trac
EIS Management 
Application
Management is the preferred egress 
port selected based on route lookup 
in EIS table. If the management port 
is down or the route lookup fails, 
packets are dropped.
If source TCP/UDP port matches a management 
application and source IP address is management 
port IP address, management port is the 
preferred egress port selected based on route 
lookup in EIS table. If management port is down 
or route lookup fails, packets are dropped
Trac from management 
port to data port and 
from data port to 
management port is 
blocked
Non-EIS 
management 
application
Front-end default route will take 
higher precedence over 
management default route and SSH 
session to an unknown destination 
uses the front-end default route 
If source TCP/UDP port matches a management 
application and the source IP address is a 
management port IP address, the management 
port is the preferred egress port selected based 
on route lookup in EIS table. If the management 
Trac from management 
port to data port and 
from data port to 
management port is 
blocked
Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) 343










