Brocade ICX7750s

Very powerful 7750s went in to replace two core SuperXs.  I went in to the customer with a local partner. He did almost all the work and did very well. This project was a success.

Quote For The Day: 30

"Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face." ~~ Ronald Reagan

Brocade VDX: Three Important Commands For Verifying The Fabric

You got three good commands for verifying the fabric.  Here they are in action:

Notice the link interfaces in the command below.
VDX1# show fabric trunk

Rbridge-id: 1

Trunk    Src      Source         Nbr        Nbr
Group   Index   Interface       Index   Interface               Nbr-WWN
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1      64      Te 1/0/1        64      Te 2/0/1        10:00:C4:F5:7C:58:F2:3C
 1      65      Te 1/0/2        65      Te 2/0/2        10:00:C4:F5:7C:58:F2:3C
 1      66      Te 1/0/3        66      Te 2/0/3        10:00:C4:F5:7C:58:F2:3C
 1      67      Te 1/0/4        67      Te 2/0/4        10:00:C4:F5:7C:58:F2:3C


Notice the bandwidth and the primary interface of the ISL link.
VDX1# show fabric isl

Rbridge-id: 1   #ISLs: 1

 Src       Src           Nbr       Nbr
Index   Interface       Index   Interface               Nbr-WWN           BW   Trunk  Nbr-Name
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
64      Te 1/0/1         64     Te 2/0/1        10:00:C4:F5:7C:58:F2:3C   40G   Yes   "VDX2"


Notice the mode we are operating in, along with the VDX MACs, IPs, and status.
VDX1# sh vcs
Config Mode    : Distributed
VCS Mode       : Logical Chassis
VCS ID         : 10
VCS GUID       : 4e569830-733a-4025-b1a4-08f325ed51a6
Total Number of Nodes           : 2
Rbridge-Id       WWN                            Management IP   VCS Status       Fabric Status        HostName
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1               >10:00:C4:F5:7C:48:60:58*       192.168.0.104   Online           Online               VDX1
2                10:00:C4:F5:7C:58:F2:3C        192.168.0.105   Online           Online               VDX2
VDX1#

Wolves, Sheep And Shepherds...

Lots of truth to this.  Which one are you?

What Is A Mellanox Adaptor?

In some cases, you might need a "Mellanox" adaptor. It's a 40gig QSFP to 10gig SFP+ adaptor.  In some cases, it's very useful.

Sunday Thought: Will You Be The One?

Will you be the one?  I'm just asking.  Will you be the one?

Pic Of The Week: Rings

An Early Sunday Thought For Both Sides Of The Racial Ilse

No matter who we are or what color God made you to be, let us remember what God said through the apostle Paul. If you dispute this, then you need to have a talk with God.

Brocade Datacenter VDX 6740 Install

I did a Brocade VDX install last week of two 6740s in a small data center. This was to get the initial install in place and get them up and running on the new gear.  Phase II will be to hook into VMWare and connect a few other physical servers in. Currently the SANs and VM environment is in place and the customer said they notice a difference in performance already. I'm very happy to hear that.  Notice below, I have 20 gig to form the VCS fabric (although I added two more for 40 gig after this picture).

Quote For The Day: 29

"Nobody does what they are supposed to do." ~~ my wife

Man, I'm telling you, I have to agree with her.  If people just had a work ethic and good communications skills, the world would be a different place.

Brocade VDX: What Is A Breakout Cable And How To Configure For It?

It's not as hard to grasp once you see it. It's a 1 QSFP to 4 SFP+ (40gig to 10gig).  Notice the larger 40 gig side on the left, and the four 10 gig on the right.

VDX1(config)# interface FortyGigabitEthernet 1/0/50
VDX1(conf-if-fo-1/0/50)# shut
VDX1(conf-if-fo-1/0/50)# exit
VDX1(config)# interface FortyGigabitEthernet 2/0/50
VDX1(conf-if-fo-2/0/50)# shut
VDX1(conf-if-fo-2/0/50)# exit
VDX1(config)# hardware
VDX1(config-hardware)# connector 1/0/50
VDX1(config-connector-1/0/50)# sfp breakout
VDX1(config-connector-1/0/50)# exit
VDX1(config-hardware)# connector 2/0/50
VDX1(config-connector-2/0/50)# sfp breakout
VDX1(config-connector-2/0/50)# exit
VDX1(config-hardware)# exit

Home Projects: Installing IKEA Cabinets

This wasn't too bad, but getting that back rail that keeps everything lined up correctly and level is the whole key. And oddly, took the most time.

I'll put up a finished kitchen picture when it's all said and done when I actually get it all finished.

Sunday Thought: 9/11 Bible

Interesting find: 9/11 Bible

Pic Of The Week: Things Rednecks Do

Ever seen those videos where you see those people do dumb things and end up in the hospital? Thankfully, I'm not one of those people.  Although...

Quote For The Day: 28

"If you ever wake up and are doing what you are doing today simply because it's what you were doing yesterday, instead of what you want to be doing, it's time to start looking at your whole card.". ~~Dr. Phil

Hey, this quote might be meant for you.

Cisco 3750-X: BGP Configuration

When I was leaving the VAR I was working at a few months ago, one of the last things I did was to configure BGP on a Cisco switch for dual ISP connections.  If I recall, this was a 3750-X.  Below is the config, along with a show command to verify BGP routes.

BGP CONFIG:
int  Vlan1
 description ** 100Meg Circuit 1 **
 ip address 4.4.4.38 255.255.255.252
!
interface Vlan2
 description ** 100Meg Circuit: 2 **
 ip address 12.12.12.210 255.255.255.252
!
interface Vlan3
 description *** Company Side IP ***
 ip address 7.7.7.129 255.255.255.192
!
router bgp 65010
 bgp log-neighbor-changes
 network 7.7.7.128 mask 255.255.255.192
 neighbor 4.4.4.37 remote-as 4323
 neighbor 4.4.4.37 prefix-list Companyroute out
 neighbor 12.12.12.209 remote-as 4323
 neighbor 12.12.12.209 prefix-list Companyroute out
 maximum-paths 2
 maximum-paths ibgp 2
!
ip prefix-list Companyroute seq 5 permit 7.7.7.128/26

SHOW THE ROUTES:
Switch#sh ip bgp neighbor 12.12.12.209 adv
BGP table version is 14, local router ID is 12.12.12.210
Status codes: s suppressed, d damped, h history, * valid, > best, i - internal,
              r RIB-failure, S Stale, m multipath, b backup-path, f RT-Filter,
              x best-external, a additional-path, c RIB-compressed,
Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete
RPKI validation codes: V valid, I invalid, N Not found

     Network          Next Hop            Metric LocPrf Weight Path
 *>  7.7.7.128/26
                       0.0.0.0                  0         32768 i

Total number of prefixes 1
Switch#sh ip bgp nei 4.4.4.37 advertised-routes
BGP table version is 14, local router ID is 12.12.12.210
Status codes: s suppressed, d damped, h history, * valid, > best, i - internal,
              r RIB-failure, S Stale, m multipath, b backup-path, f RT-Filter,
              x best-external, a additional-path, c RIB-compressed,
Origin codes: i - IGP, e - EGP, ? - incomplete
RPKI validation codes: V valid, I invalid, N Not found

     Network          Next Hop            Metric LocPrf Weight Path
 *>  7.7.7.128/26
                       0.0.0.0                  0         32768 i

Total number of prefixes 1
Switch#sh ip route
Codes: L - local, C - connected, S - static, R - RIP, M - mobile, B - BGP
       D - EIGRP, EX - EIGRP external, O - OSPF, IA - OSPF inter area
       N1 - OSPF NSSA external type 1, N2 - OSPF NSSA external type 2
       E1 - OSPF external type 1, E2 - OSPF external type 2
       i - IS-IS, su - IS-IS summary, L1 - IS-IS level-1, L2 - IS-IS level-2
       ia - IS-IS inter area, * - candidate default, U - per-user static route
       o - ODR, P - periodic downloaded static route, H - NHRP, l - LISP
       + - replicated route, % - next hop override

Gateway of last resort is 12.12.12.209 to network 0.0.0.0

B*    0.0.0.0/0 [20/0] via 12.12.12.209, 00:13:44
                [20/0] via 4.4.4.37, 00:13:44
      66.0.0.0/8 is variably subnetted, 2 subnets, 2 masks
C        4.4.4.36/30 is directly connected, Vlan1
L        4.4.4.38/32 is directly connected, Vlan1
      173.227.0.0/16 is variably subnetted, 2 subnets, 2 masks
C        7.7.7.128/26 is directly connected, Vlan3
L        7.7.7.129/32 is directly connected, Vlan3
      12.12.12.0/24 is variably subnetted, 2 subnets, 2 masks
C        12.12.12.208/30 is directly connected, Vlan2
L        12.12.12.210/32 is directly connected, Vlan2
Switch#

Home Projects: Building IKEA Cabinets

For the '35 house, we are redoing the kitchen as well. We have mostly built the cabinets and are ready to put them in.

Quote For The Day: 21

I just realized I skipped quote number 21.

"Self defense is not only our right, but our duty." ~~Ronald Reagan
I miss the days when the USA was lead by real men. 

Home Projects: Installing A Dryer Vent

Just to get that title straight, where I'm from, we say that like "dri'r". That's one consonant.
Anyway, in that old '35 house, there was no dryer vent in the new laundry room (which was an add on to this house at one time. So, I added one. Below are some pictures of what I did. I used a saws-all, a drill, and jig saw.

 

Sunday Thoughts: Romans 5:17-21

Pic Of The Week: Mobile

Brocade Network Advisor: Need To See The Front Panel, But Dont Have Physical Access?

I know I have had several BNA posts here lately, but it is a pretty cool tool.  Ill plan on having more in see future as well.  One quick thing here.  If you need to see the front of the box for some reason, just go into BNA and it will show you for any gear you have loaded in. I know most other vendors do this as well, but still pretty cool.
Notice below, I have a CAT5 patch cable in port 1/1/35 (designated just like you would see as if you were looking at it).

Quote For The Day: 27

"No man in the whole world can change the truth. One can only look for the truth, find it and serve it. The truth is in all places." ~~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Brocade Network Advisor: Can Not Backup Configuration Of Switches

BNA is a really good tool for the network engineer to have.  And its a fraction of the cost of something like SolarWinds.  There are a few things to do when trying to get backups of the config, but one thing in particular I ran into recently is that you DO have to create a crypto key.

L3_Switch(config)#crypto key gen rsa mod 1024
L3_Switch(config)#
Creating RSA key pair, please wait...

RSA Key pair is successfully created

I kept getting a failed notification for one switch in particular.  I retyped in the logging host IP, community strings and even my username.  But when I put in the command  up above to create the crypto key, it was then successful in doing the backup from BNA.  Its one option should you have issues.
In case you wonder, from the switch perspective, this is what it sees:
00 days 05h15m21s:I:Security: SSH logout by shane from src IP 10.10.10.1 from src MAC f8ca.b855.7e7c from USER EXEC mode using RSA as Server Host Key.
00 days 05h15m21s:I:SCP transfer from device completed
00 days 05h15m20s:I:scp -f runConfig
00 days 05h15m20s:I:Security: SSH login by shane from src IP 10.10.10.1 from src MAC f8ca.b855.7e7c to USER EXEC mode using RSA as Server Host Key.

Happy Labor Day

Have a safe day off.

Sunday Thought: Romans 12:4-5

This Is Very Concerning For The USA

This concerns me. We have seen what happens too many times elsewhere when the national debt gets too high.