R3303-HP HSR6800 Routers IRF Configuration Guide

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IRF member ID
An IRF fabric uses member IDs to uniquely identify and manage its members. This member ID information
is included as the first part of interface numbers and file paths to uniquely identify interfaces and files in
an IRF fabric. For example, after you assign a device with member ID 2 to an IRF fabric, the name of
interface GigabitEthernet 3/0/1 changes to GigabitEthernet 2/3/0/1, and the file path
slot1#cfa0:/test.cfg changes to chassis2#slot1#cfa0:/test.cfg.
If two devices have the same IRF member ID, they cannot form an IRF fabric. If the IRF member ID of a
device has been used in an IRF fabric, the device cannot join the fabric.
MPU roles
Each IRF member device has one or two MPUs, which play different roles, as follows:
Role Descri
p
tion
Global active MPU
Active MPU of the master device. You configure and manage the entire IRF
fabric at the CLI of the global active MPU.
Local active MPU
Active MPU that manages the local device. This MPU has the following
responsibilities:
• Manages the local device, including synchronizing configuration between
the local active MPU and the local standby MPU, processing protocol
packets, and creating and maintaining route entries.
• Handles IRF related events, such as master election and topology collection.
Standby MPU
For the global active MPU, all other MPUs, including local active MPUs, are
standby MPUs.
If a member device has two MPUs, the one backing up the local MPU is the local
standby MPU from the perspective of the member device.
IRF port
An IRF port is a logical interface for the connection between IRF member devices. Every IRF-capable
device supports two IRF ports. In standalone mode, the IRF ports are named IRF-port 1 and IRF-port 2. In
IRF mode, the IRF ports are named IRF-port n/1 and IRF-port n/2, where n is the member ID of the device.
The two IRF ports are referred to as "IRF-port 1" and "IRF-port 2" in this book for simplicity.
To use an IRF port, you must bind at least one physical port to it. The physical ports assigned to an IRF
port automatically form an aggregate IRF link. An IRF port goes down only if all its physical IRF ports are
down.
For two neighboring devices, their IRF physical links must be bound to IRF-port 1 on one device and to
IRF-port 2 on the other.
IRF physical port
IRF physical ports connect IRF member devices and must be bound to an IRF port. They forward the IRF
protocol packets between IRF member devices and the data packets that must travel across IRF member
devices.