Campus Fabric Configuration Overview

Before building a Campus Fabric domain, become familiar with related considerations and constraints. Refer to Planning Considerations for a Campus Fabric Domain for more information.

To configure a Campus Fabric domain, the following steps must be completed.

  1. Configure and connect two to four ICX 7650, ICX 7750, or ICX 7850 devices in a traditional stack, or configure a standalone ICX 7650, ICX 7750, or ICX 7850.
    Note: Configuring two or more devices in a stack provides redundancy for the control bridge (CB).
  2. Enable and configure the stack or standalone device as a CB.
  3. Connect ICX 7450, ICX 7250, or ICX 7150 devices to the CB.
  4. If you elect to do manual configuration, a fourth step is needed:

    Enable and configure the ICX 7450, ICX 7250, or ICX 7150 devices as PE units.

Note: No matter which configuration method you use, when a PE unit joins the Campus Fabric domain, user data ports don't immediately come up. They are brought up within one minute after all attached PE units have joined in order to avoid interference with the join activity.

Note: To configure a PE manually, the PE candidate must be running a router image because spx pe-enable configuration is not available in the switch image.
Note: A PE candidate running a switch image can be discovered and added to the Campus Fabric Domain by the zero-touch or the SPX interactive-setup utility; however, because Campus Fabric requires a router image, the new device will initially be in a non-operational state due to an image mismatch. If tftp-server is configured and image-auto-copy is not disabled, the CB will download a router image to a non-operational PE unit. The PE reloads, joins the Campus Fabric domain, and becomes operational.

Note: From release 08.0.70, SPX interactive-setup and zero-touch provisioning download images to new units before converting them to PEs if the PEs have different software images. The tftp-server command must be configured for image download.

SPX Interactive-setup

SPX interactive-setup is the recommended method for Campus Fabric configuration. SPX interactive-setup is a tool that can be used even in more complex deployments to convert PE candidates in router or switch mode to PE units. The tool allows you to select PE IDs and configure SPX ports and LAGs. SPX interactive-setup recognizes some invalid SPX topologies that cannot be handled by zero-touch deployment and requests user input to convert them to valid topologies. SPX interactive-setup also allows you to change PE IDs interactively without detaching cables or shutting down units.

Zero-touch Deployment

Zero-touch deployment converts clean PE candidates in router or switch mode to active PE units without user intervention. In supported topologies, zero-touch detects potential PE units, assigns them IDs, defines SPX ports or LAGs, and reloads them as PE units.

Manual Configuration

In some situations, you may choose to configure the Campus Fabric domain manually. For example, in manual configuration, there is no requirement that configured ports be non-base module ports. Manual configuration is recommended if connecting candidate PE units involves LAGs or loops. Multiple links between two candidate PEs cause packet looping. You can use manual configuration to create an SPX LAG for multiple links before physically connecting links. A LAG consisting of multiple links is considered a logical link and does not cause packet looping.

For more information on the steps and system processes involved, refer to Campus Fabric Manual Configuration.

In this section:

  1. Differences in Campus Fabric Configuration Practices
Parent topic: Campus Fabric Configuration Overview and Interactive Configuration