Management port overview

The management port is an out-of-band (OOB) port that customers can use to manage their devices without interfering with the in-band ports. The management port is widely used to download images and configurations, for Telnet sessions and for Web management.
Note: For information on connecting or configuring the management port, refer to the hardware installation guide for the appropriate RUCKUS ICX device.

The MAC address for the management port is derived from the base MAC address of the unit, plus the number of ports in the base module. For example, on a 48-port standalone device, the base MAC address is 0000.0034.2200. The management port MAC address for this device would be 0000.0034.2200 plus 0x30, or 0000.0034.2230. The 0x30 in this case equals the 48 ports on the base module.

The MAC address for the management port is derived as if the management port is the last port on the management module where it is located. For example, on a 2 X 10G management module, the MAC address of the management port is that of the third port on that module.

How is the MAC address derived on ICX 77xx series devices?

previous behavior: "A management port is not part of any VLAN and creating a management VLAN disables the management port on the device. Protocols are not supported on the management port and configuring a strict management VRF disables certain features on the management port."

Note:
[new behavior]
In previous releases, the OOB management port could not be a member of the management VRF or VLAN. When a management VLAN was configured, the OOB interface was disabled, disabling switch access. This posed a risk to managing the switch if in-band ports were busy forwarding packets at line rate. Now if a management VLAN is configured, the OOB management interface is automatically part of the management VLAN (treated as an untagged port). Support is also provided for traffic over the management VRF. This provides secure management access to the device through outbound traffic through a VRF that is specified as global management VRF, thereby isolating management traffic from network data traffic.
Note: Refer to "Configuring the OOB management port to be a member of a management VRF" and "Configuring the OOB management port to be a member of a management VLAN."

Only packets that are specifically addressed to the management port MAC address or the broadcast MAC address are processed by the Layer 2 switch or Layer 3 switch. All other packets are filtered out. No packet received on a management port is sent to any in-band ports, and no packets received on in-band ports are sent to a management port.

For ICX devices, all features that can be configured from the global configuration mode can also be configured from the interface level of the management port. Features that are configured through the management port take effect globally, not on the management port itself.

For switches, any in-band port may be used for management purposes. A router sends Layer 3 packets using the MAC address of the port as the source MAC address.

For stacking devices, each stack unit has one OOB management port. Only the management port on the active controller will actively send and receive packets. If a new active controller is elected, the new active controller management port will become the active management port. In this situation, the MAC address of the old active controller and the MAC address of the new controller will be different.

In this section:

  1. Displaying Information About Management Ports
    Management port information can be displayed using several command-line interface (CLI) command options.
Parent topic: Configuration Fundamentals