Brocade ICX: Stacking Capabilities By Model

Here are some quick ICX stacking questions I get often.  Just FYI below, the interface types:

ICX7250 supports only 10Gig stacking, up to 12 units.  (Access closet switch)
ICX7450 supports both 10Gig and 40Gig stacking, up to 12 units.  (Access closet switch and small core)
ICX6610 supports only 40Gig stacking, up to 8 units.  (Small/Medium core switch)
ICX7750 supports only 40Gig stacking, up to 12 units.  (Medium/Large core switch)

Sunday Thought

Reason To Hope...

If you need hope, and we all do, then consider Jesus Christ.  He gives us the hope we all so desperately need.  Don't give up, you have a reason for being here.  Reason To Hope by Ron Pope.

Quote For The Day: 34

This one comes from a good song by Ron Pope called One Shot Of Whiskey:

Brocade ICX7250: Licensing The 8 Ports Of 10Gig

Just a note about the licensing for the 8 ports of 10Gig on the ICX7250.  I had a partner ask me if we took off the BOM (Bill Of Materials) the 2x10G of the part number ICX7250-48-2X10G, and added the 8 port 10Gig license (ICX7250-8X10G-LIC-POD), then that would save the customer money.  However, that is not the case.  IF you want to license all 8 ports for 10Gig, then you must have the 2x10G added onto the part number of the switch.  Lets look at the description more closely:

For part number ICX7250-48-2X10G:
Description:  48-port 1 GbE switch bundle with 2x1GbE/10GbE + 6x1GbE SFP+ (upgradeable to 10GbE) uplink/stacking ports upgrade

Now, you add this for the other 6 ports for 10Gig:

Part number:  ICX7250-8X10G-LIC-POD

Description:  ICX7250 upgrade from 2X1/10GE + 6X1GE uplink/stacking ports to 8X1/10GE uplink/stacking ports. This can only be applied to an ICX7250 that already has a 2X10G license applied.

Notice that keyword "to" (highlighted).  You must have the 2x10G before you can apply the 8x10G license.  That really should say 6x10G, and can be a little confusing.  I hope this clears up any confusion.

A Rare Thing From The Provider

Yesterday, I had to go install an ICX7450 switch that acted as a gateway across an MPLS network.  Oddly, my WAN interface did not come up. It was down/down. I thought maybe the provider didn't provision the cienna box correctly, so I called them up. It turns out that they did provision it correctly, but that the biscuit jack handoff was the issue. My curiosity got the best of me. Not sure if you can notice in the second picture, but the orange cable isn't punched down all the way, which caused the issue. However, I didn't bother with it. I just plugged straight into the cienna.

Home Projects: A Proud Feeling...

As I write this blog, I'm usually a few days ahead of the actual day a post goes up. Not always, just usually. However, this one is just a couple hours past real time (at 12:59 AM).  At the end of the story of that 1935 house that my wife and I are redoing, there is a young couple that resides as "first time home owners". My daughter and son-in-law, to be exact. They now live there and we are almost complete with the renovation. There are a few small things, but nothing keeping anyone from living in it.
I walked into one of the bedrooms and sit down to do some math calculations for hanging a curtain rod (yeah, I like exactness). As I sat there with pen in hand (no calculator), I looked around the room that looked so different than the many times I had worked in it. It actually had things in it and looked like someone lived there. What you see below was the view I had while sitting there thinking these things, but I felt really proud of my wife and I for getting though this reno.  I thought, as some men do, that we did this with our own two hands, and this was a tough one.  And it is a home that my daughter really likes being in. For a dad that did a good bit of the work, that's a proud moment.

American Dream: Is This You?

From one friend to another, think real hard on this one. Is this you?
American Dream
If it is you, don't think you won't miss out.

Sunday Thought: Wait

Saw Them Again In Chattanooga....

They were so good, we went to Chattanooga to see them again. Truett:

And Ron Pope:

Ron Pope Concert, With Guests Rob Baird And Truett

So we paid $17 a ticket to go see this concert.  I had heard one song from this guy named Ron Pope, who I had never heard of before apart from this one song off of YouTube.  My wife played it for me, and it is called Perfect For Me.  Its a really sweet song.
So we got there a few minutes late, and didn't really figure we missed much.  A group called Truett was playing.  We walked in to about 70 to 80 people in the audience.  My first thought was that this was going to be terrible.  No one was here.
The opener, Truett, was actually pretty good.   I did like all of their music and I would go see them again.  After they played, I met the drummer and bass player in the band.  Very nice guys.  The drummer has a good handshake, of which I can appreciate.
Rob Baird and his band was good.  Very country, which I can appreciate.  This guy was personable in concert and I thought they played very well as well.  I was not disappointed.
Then Rob Pope and his band played.  This was "a whole nother level".  I expected to like the one song I listed above, but I really liked everything this guy played.  As my wife said, "Its not every day you come up on a real musician like this."  I agree with her.  They were great.  Two hours just wasn't enough of this guy's music.
It reminded me of the early days of Needtobreathe.  When we first started seeing them, the crowds were small and they were very much the musicians that they are, without the "entertainment thing" that so many groups that "make it" do.  I personally like the small crowd vibe, and although I really like Needtobreathe, for me, the concerts have gone to the level of entertainment.  I guess that's the goal for most, and I'm glad they "made it" in the music business.  I just prefer the small crowd thing.
Back to Ron Pope now.  My thought during this concert was that I was really glad I came to see this guy and hear his music.  It was exactly what I like to see.  REAL musicians in small setting.
One more comparison.  My wife and I went to see Gun and Roses not long ago in Atlanta.  For me, Slash was the show, and was really good.  However, I'd rather go see Ron Pope again than Guns and Roses.  That should tell you how good Ron Pope was.

Brocade MLX/CER: MPLS Config From The ISP Perspective

I had a workmate tell me that most people who know "MPLS" know it from the client perspective.  At first, I didnt know what he meant, because I knew MPLS from the client perspective.  He told me configuring MPLS to a lot of people was from the client side.  Now that I have done it from the ISP perspective, I know what he is talking about.  I remember doing MPLS as far as putting an IP address on an ethernet interface of a L3 device, adding a route in and letting it roll.  However, from the ISP perspective, there is a big difference.
Below, I setup MPLS up from the ISP perspective.  It was a learning experience for me, and Im glad I was able to learn from this guy.  Also, I put BGP in this config.  Also, this is just one side of the core of the ISP network.  I did not add in the other side in the below config.  This was an additional backbone core to a lab setup.

vlan 32 name to-MAIN-MLXe 
 tagged ethe 1/1 to 1/2  
router-interface ve 32

interface ve 32 
ip ospf area 0 
ip address 192.168.253.9/30

interface loopback 1
 ip ospf area 0
 ip address 192.168.252.3/32

router bgp
 local-as 65024
 next-hop-mpls
 neighbor 192.168.252.1 remote-as 65024
 neighbor 192.168.252.1 next-hop-self
 neighbor 192.168.252.1 update-source loopback 1
 neighbor 192.168.252.1 soft-reconfiguration inbound

address-family vpnv4 unicast
 neighbor 192.168.252.1 activate 
 neighbor 192.168.252.1 send-community both

router mpls
mpls-interface ve32
lsp to-MAIN-MLX
  to 192.168.252.1
  enable

Enjoy The View...

It's been a busy week so far, but I'll try to get something good up here soon. In the meantime, enjoy the view from the Florida panhandle...

Quote For The Day: 33

"Make it your goal to create a marriage that feels like the safest place on earth." ~~Gary Smalley

Brocade: Ruckus Wireless Initial Thoughts

As most of you know, I'm pretty impartial when it comes to wireless.  Since Brocade has purchased Ruckus recently, I have had to go through some Ruckus training, and I have to say, its pretty cool stuff.  Its easy to manage, and has some really cool features about it.  More to come in the future, but I'm not unhappy at all about Ruckus.

Sunday Thought: No Other God

Pic Of The Week: Target Practice

Early Sunday Thought: For The Sake Of The Call

Been down not feeling well most of today, so Im putting up an early Sunday Thought.
For The Sake Of The Call

Preventing Water Leaks

You see that white, thin tape in the cold water valve? That prevents water leaks when you put your hose on. You need more than just your rubber gasket to prevent leaks.

Quote For The Day: 32

In the single best comeback line I've heard in quite a while, after Hillary asked if you can imagine what it would be like if Trump was in charge of the law:
"Because you would be in jail." ~~Donald Trump

Just FYI: Hillary And Tax Hikes You Can Expect

http://www.atr.org/list-hillary-tax-hikes

Brocade ICX: Loop-Detection Notes, Configuration, And Status Commands

I know of a Brocade customer that really needs loop-detection implemented in the network.  This particular customer still has a lot of unmanaged switches in the network, and loop-protection would be a perfect solution for them.  I have seen on more than one occasion where someone creates a loop on one of these unmanaged switches, and literally brings down the whole network.  This creates CPU havoc on the core and company downtime (for equipment, phones, server access, etc).  Loop-detection is a good solution for just this scenario.
First, lets note that this command is for detecting loops in a downstream UNmanaged switches.  I did test this with two ICXs, all ports in Vlan 1.  I created a loop in the downstream ICX and did not see the same results as what I have gotten below.  You will have to depend on RSTP for the managed switch loops (RSTP being faster than STP).
Now, lets look at a simple config.  Ill be utilizing port 1/1/22 in this lab.
vlan 1 by port
 untagged ethe 1/1/1 to 1/1/48

interface ethernet 1/1/22
 loop-detection

Notice the command under the interface 1/1/22.  
In my lab, I have a cable modem with a switch on the LAN side (thats the only unmanaged switch I have), connected to port 1/1/22 on my ICX6450.  This is what I see when there is no loop on the unmanaged switch:
ICX6450-48 Switch#sh loop-detection status
loop detection packets interval: 10 (unit 0.1 sec)
index port/vlan  status                         # errdis  sent-pkts recv-pkts
1     1/1/21     untag, DISABLED                0         0         0
2     1/1/22     untag, FORWARDING              0         111       0
3     1/1/23     untag, DISABLED                0         0         0

4     1/1/24     untag, DISABLED                0         0         0

Notice port 1/1/22 is in forwarding mode.  Now, lets create a loop on the unmanaged switch (the cable modem LAN side).  Here is what we see when I do this (notice the console message that comes up in orange):
ICX6450-48 Switch#Loop-detection: port 1/1/22 (vlan=1), put into errdisable state
sh loop stat
loop detection packets interval: 10 (unit 0.1 sec)
Number of err-disabled ports: 1
You can re-enable err-disable ports one by one by "disable" then "enable"
under interface config, re-enable all by "clear loop-detect", or
configure "errdisable recovery cause loop-detection" for automatic recovery

index port/vlan  status                         # errdis  sent-pkts recv-pkts
1     1/1/21     untag, DISABLED                0         0         0
2     1/1/22     ERR-DISABLE due to itself      1         220       1
3     1/1/23     untag, DISABLED                0         0         0
4     1/1/24     untag, DISABLED                0         0         0
ICX6450-48 Switch#

ICX6450-48 Switch#sh errdisable summ
Port 1/1/22   ERR_DISABLED for loopDetection (vlan 1)

Sunday Thought: Serve Only The LORD

Pic Of The Week: Elvis And His First Guitar

Two pics today. First at an old hardware store, this was outside:

Second, where Elvis stood when he bought is first guitar:

Brocade ICX7250 vs Extreme 440 Switch

Some notes on the differences between the two switches. On the bottom, under forwarding rate, that should be 190 mpps instead of 256 mpps for the brocade 7250. We were discussing 7450s and I wrote down the wrong stat for the 7250.

Brocade ICX: Translation From "Trunk" Commands To "Lag" Commands When Upgrading From 7.x To 8.x

When upgrading from 7.x "trunk" command to the 8.x "lag" command on the Brocade ICX series, you wonder if the commands will translate OK.  Well, I put that to the test a few days ago for a customer to verify his upgrade will go well.  He was going from 7.2 to 8.30.  Below is what I did from 7.4 to 8.30.  Notice first, on the 7.4 code, the commands "trunk" and "show trunk":

7.4 code:

trunk ethe 2/1/1 ethe 2/1/2

trunk ethe 2/1/3 ethe 2/1/4

ICX6610-24P Switch#sh trunk

Configured trunks:

Trunk ID: 257

Hw Trunk ID: 1

Ports_Configured: 2

Primary Port Monitored: Jointly

Ports   PortName Port_Status Monitor Rx_Mirr Tx_Mirr Monitor_Dir

2/1/1   none     enable      off     N/A     N/A     N/A

2/1/2   none     enable      off     N/A     N/A     N/A

Trunk ID: 259

Hw Trunk ID: 2

Ports_Configured: 2

Primary Port Monitored: Jointly

Ports   PortName Port_Status Monitor Rx_Mirr Tx_Mirr Monitor_Dir

2/1/3   none     enable      off     N/A     N/A     N/A

2/1/4   none     enable      off     N/A     N/A     N/A

Operational trunks:

--More--, next page: Space, next line: Return key, quit: Control-c^C ICX6610-24P Switch#boot sys flash pri Are you sure? (enter 'y' or 'n'): y

Running Config data has been changed.   Do you want to continue

the reload without saving the running config? (enter 'y' or 'n'): y Halt and reboot ========================================================================

Now notice on the 8.30 code the "lag" and "show lag" commands.  I did nothing for the translation, as it did it all on its own during the upgrade:

8.30 code:

lag LAG_1 static id 1

 ports ethernet 2/1/1 to 2/1/2

 primary-port 2/1/1

 deploy

lag LAG_2 static id 2

 ports ethernet 2/1/3 to 2/1/4

 primary-port 2/1/3

 deploy

ICX6610-24P Switch#sh lag

Total number of LAGs:          2

Total number of deployed LAGs: 0

Total number of trunks created:0 (120 available)

LACP System Priority / ID:     1 / 748e.f8e8.750a

LACP Long timeout:             90, default: 90

LACP Short timeout:            3, default: 3

=== LAG "LAG_1" ID 1 (static Deployed) === LAG Configuration:

   Ports:         e 2/1/1 to 2/1/2

   Port Count:    2

   Primary Port:  2/1/1

   Trunk Type:    hash-based

Deployment: HW Trunk ID 1

Port       Link    State   Dupl Speed Trunk Tag Pvid Pri MAC             Name

2/1/1      Down    None    None None  1     Yes N/A  0   0000.0000.0000

2/1/2      Down    None    None None  1     Yes N/A  0   0000.0000.0000

=== LAG "LAG_2" ID 2 (static Deployed) === LAG Configuration:

   Ports:         e 2/1/3 to 2/1/4

   Port Count:    2

   Primary Port:  2/1/3

   Trunk Type:    hash-based

Deployment: HW Trunk ID 2

Port       Link    State   Dupl Speed Trunk Tag Pvid Pri MAC             Name

2/1/3      Down    None    None None  2     Yes N/A  0   0000.0000.0000

2/1/4      Down    None    None None  2     Yes N/A  0   0000.0000.0000

ICX6610-24P Switch#

========================================================================

Brocade ICX: How To Do A Password Reset And Erase Startup-Config

Real quick, when booting the 6610 (in my case), press "b" when booting up.  You will see the chance to do that, as it does tell you.  Then, follow the below to reset the password.  I also erased the startup-config so that I could start from scratch, so if you dont want to loose the config, dont do that step below.

ICX Boot Code Version 10.1.00 (grz10100)
Enter 'a' to stop at memory test
Enter 'b' to stop at boot monitor
***** Interrupted by entering 'b' *****
BOOT INFO: load monitor from boot flash, cksum = 71f1
BOOT INFO: verify flash files.............
Monitor>no password
OK! Skip password check when the system is up.
Monitor>erase startup-config
Monitor>reset

Quote For The Day: 31

"If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under."  ~~ Ronald Reagan

Sunday Thought: If You Have Kids...

If you have kids, you will get this.  Take me to the cross