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What is the purpose of the config changes in RCFv1.8 for a BES-53248 switch

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Applies to

  • BES-53248
  • RCF 1.6 and later

Answer

  • Newer hardware models share single port(s) for the HA interconnect and the cluster network ports
  • The traffic must be segmented (and additional QOS polices applied) to allow the traffic to flow correctly without dropping packets.
  • There are no configuration changes required for the cluster ports in ONTAP when upgrading to the new RCF
  • The new RCF enables continuity and interoperability with both older hardware models which do not use the HA/cluster network over a shared port and those that do
  • Specific configuration definitions:

service-policy CLUSTER:

Applies the specified the policy map (QOS settings) to input or output packets on the interface.

spanning-tree edgeport

Spanning Tree Edge Ports:

Edge ports, which are connected to hosts, can be either an access port or a trunk port. The edge port interface immediately transitions to the forwarding state, without moving through the blocking or learning states. (This immediate transition was previously configured as the Cisco-proprietary feature Port Fast.)

Interfaces that are connected to hosts should not receive STP Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs).

switchport mode trunk

The two modes for switchport are trunk or access.  Trunk enables to carry data for multiple VLANs, to enable the segmentation of the traffic between different VLANs for HA and for cluster network traffic.

switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,17-18

VLAN 17 and 18 is for segmenting the HA traffic from the cluster network traffic

datacenter-bridging

Data center bridging (DCB) is a collection of extensions to the existing Ethernet standard that provides a lossless transport layer for FCoE traffic. FC provides  areliable, dedicated fabric with no packet loss. Ethernet, however, is inherently lossy, which poses problems for transmitting FC traffic.

The DCB standard resolves this problem by implementing the following technologies:

  • Per-priority pause (priority-based flow control)
  • Enables a device to only inhibit the transmission of frames based on user-defined priorities.
  • Enhanced transmission selection
  • Allows administrators to allocate bandwidth on a percentage basis to different priorities.
  • Congestion notification
  • Transmits congestion information.
  • DCB Exchange (DCBX) protocol
  • Exchanges connection information with directly connected peers and detects misconfigurations.

priority-flow-control mode on

Ethernet flow control is a mechanism for temporarily stopping the transmission of data on Ethernet family computer networks. The goal of this mechanism is to avoid packet loss in the presence of network congestion.

The first flow control mechanism,the pause frame, was defined by the IEEE 802.3x standard. The follow-onpriority-based flow control, as defined in the IEEE 802.1Qbb standard

Additional Information

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