Dell 6248, 6248P, 6224, 6224P, 6224F User Manual

Dell™ PowerConnect™ 6224/6224F/6224P/6248/6248P

PowerConnect
6224/6224F/6224P/6248/6248P
Release Notes

Date: May 2010
System Firmware Version 3.2.0.6

Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
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Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Global Support 1

Firmware Specifications 1

Hardware Supported 2

Added Functionality in this Release 3

Changed Functionality in this Release 11

Deprecated Commands and Parameters 15

Issues Resolved 17

CLI Reference Manual Updates 21

User’s Guide Updates 24

Known Issues 25

Known Restrictions and Limitations 28

Layer 2 28

Layer 3 29

Management 31

End of Release Notes 32

ii System Firmware Version 3.2.0.6

PowerConnect 6224/6224F/6224P/6248/6248P Release Notes

Introduction

This document provides specific information for the Dell PowerConnect 6200 Series switches, firmware version 3.2.0.6.

It is recommended that this release note be thoroughly reviewed prior to installing or upgrading of this product.

Global Support

For information regarding the latest available firmware, release note revisions, or additional assistance, please visit the
Support Web Site http://support.dell.com/.

Firmware Specifications

Firmware Version Details

Boot PROM Name Version No. Release Date

Not Applicable 3.2.0.6 May 2010

Firmware Upgrade

NOTE: Version 3.2 includes improvements to the firmware management

system. You MUST follow the procedure set forth in the Dell PowerConnect 6200
Series Release 3.2 Upgrade Procedure included in the zip file to update the boot
code AND firmware. Failure to adhere to this procedure may result in your switch
becoming inoperable.

NOTE: The PC6200 switches when stacked require that the same version of

firmware be installed on every switch member.

System Firmware Version 3.2.0.6 Page 1

Firmware Image Name Version No. Release Date

PC6200v3.2.0.6.stk 3.2.0.6 May 2010

Version Numbering Convention

Version number Description

6200 Series

3 2 0 6









Four part version number
Denotes the build number.
Denotes an ad hoc release of the product software.
Denotes a scheduled maintenance release of the product software.
Denotes a major version number.

Supported Firmware Functionality

For more details regarding the functionalities listed, please refer to the Dell™ PowerConnect™ 6200 Series Systems CLI

Reference Guide and the Dell™ PowerConnect™ 6200 Series Configuration Guide

NOTE: OMNM 4.1 will not discover the switches running any

.

version of 3.x.y.z firmware therefore users should upgrade to
version 4.2.

If you use OpenManage Network Manager to deploy firmware,
do not use it to deploy 3.x (or later) firmware to a
PowerConnect 62xx device that is currently running firmware
version 2.x or earlier. Only use the method described in these
Release Notes to upgrade this firmware.

Firmware Downgrade

Downgrading from 3.2.0.6 to a previous release is not supported. Users should save their configuration file to a backup location
before performing this operation.

Hardware Supported

PowerConnect 6224
PowerConnect 6248
PowerConnect 6224F
PowerConnect 6224P
PowerConnect 6248P

2 System Firmware Version 3.2.0.6

PowerConnect 6224/6224F/6224P/6248/6248P Release Notes

Added Functionality in this Release

¾ Non-Stop Forwarding

This feature creates an option to allow the forwarding plane of stack units to continue to forward packets
while the control and management planes restart as a result of a power failure , har dwa re f a ilure, or software
fault on the stack management unit. This type of operation is called non-stop forwarding. When the
management unit fails, only the management switch needs to be restarted.

¾ Configuration of CX-4/Stacking Modules

This feature will allow the stacking and CX-4 plug-in modules to be configured to either role (Ethernet or
Stacking). By default, the module will function according to its module ID. Upon changing the role of a
module, a reboot of the switch will be required for the change to take effect.

¾ Custom Protocol Based VLANs

Prior to the 3.2 release only ARP, IP and IPX are configurable as protocols for protocol-based VLANs.
This has been extended so that any Ethertype may be used.

¾ Port Configuration Show Command

Added support for a single command that shows VLAN, STP, Port Status, and Port Configuration
information etc.

The new command is show interfaces detail {ethernet interface | port-channel port-channel-number}
where

• interface—A valid Ethernet port.

• port-channel-number—A valid port -channel trunk index.

¾ Configurable Message of the Day Banner

The system supports a configurable message of the day banner that displays on the console. This feature is
configurable via the CLI or GUI and supports 1500 characters.

¾ VLAN Name Support with RADIUS Server

This feature is an extension of Dot1x Option 81 feature added in Power Connect Release 2.1 to accept a
VLAN name as an alternative to a number when RADIUS indicates the Tunnel-Private-Group-ID for a
supplicant. Since this option is a string, it can also be used for a VLAN name. In order to support this
feature, VLAN names must be unique.

¾ HTTP Download

Allow users to download files via an HTTP session. All file types which may be downloaded via TFTP are
supported.

System Firmware Version 3.2.0.6 Page 3

¾ Serviceability Tracing Commands

Debug commands provided to enable tracing of various protocols.

¾ Faster Initialization for Stacking Failover

Fast Reinitialization involves improvement in:

• Detection of Management Unit Failure

• Building Card Manager Database

• Application of saved configuration

Performance Improvements (based on Configuration File size) are:

• Default ~ 35%

• Medium ~ 50%

• Large ~80%

The impact is higher on large configuration files versus the smaller ones.

¾ Auto Config

Auto Config is a software feature which provide s for the configuration of a switch automatically when the
device is initialized and no configuration file is found on the switch. Auto Config is accomplished in three
phases:

1. Configuration or assignment of an IP address for the device

2. Assignment of a TFTP server

3. Obtaining a configuratio n file for the device from the TFTP server

¾ DHCP Snooping

DHCP Snooping is a security feature that monitors DHCP messages between a DHCP client and DHCP
server. It filters harmful DHCP messages and builds a bindings database of (MAC address, IP address,
VLAN ID, port) tuples that are specified as authorized. DHCP snooping can be enabled globally and on
specific VLANs. Ports within the VLAN can be configured to be trusted or untrusted. DHCP servers must
be reached through trusted ports.

¾ DHCP L2 Relay

Permits L3 Relay agent functionality in L2 switched networks.

¾ sFlow

sFlow is the standard for monitoring high-speed switched and routed networks. sFlow technology is built
into network equipment and gives complete visibility into network activity, enabling effective management
and control of network resources.

4 System Firmware Version 3.2.0.6

PowerConnect 6224/6224F/6224P/6248/6248P Release Notes

¾ MLD Snooping (RFC2710)

In IPv4, Layer 2 switches can use IGMP Snooping to limit the flooding of multicast traffic by dynamically
configuring Layer 2 interfaces so that multicast traffic is forwarded to only those interfaces associated with
IP multicast address.

In IPv6, MLD snooping performs a similar function. With MLD snooping, IPv6 multicast data is
selectively forwarded to a list of ports intended to receive the data (instead of being flooded to all of the
ports in a VLAN). This list is constructed by snooping IPv6 multicast control pac kets.

¾ MGMD Proxy

The IGMP Proxy component has been extended to include support for MLD Proxy and is now called the
Multicast Group Membership Discovery (MGMD) Proxy. The MGMD Proxy is used to enable the system
to issue MGMD host messages on behalf of hosts that the system discovered through standard MGMD
router interfaces, thus acting as proxy to all its hosts residing on its router interfaces.

¾ Dynamic ARP Inspection

Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI) is a security feature that rejects invalid and malicious ARP packets. The
feature prevents a class of man-in-the-middle attacks, where an unfriendly station intercepts traffic for other
stations by poisoning the ARP caches of its unsuspecting neighbors. The miscreant sends ARP requests or
responses mapping another station’s IP address to its own MAC address.

¾ Multiple LLDP Neighbors per Interface

This feature allows support for multiple neighbors on a single LLDP interface.

¾ Configurable DSCP for Voice VLAN

Allow the user to configure the voice VLAN DSCP parameter and set the DSCP value. This value is
retrieved by LLDP when the LLDPDU is transmitted (if LLDP has been enabled on the port and the
required TLV is configured for the port).

¾ CDP Interoperability

Allows the ISDP feature to interoperate with Cisco™ devices running CDP.
Industry Standard Discovery Protocol (ISDP) is a proprietary Layer 2 network protocol which inter-

operates with Cisco network equipment and is used to share information between neighboring devices
(routers, bridges, access servers, and switches).

This feature is enabled by default if using phones with CDP enabled, but should be disabled if a
Voice VLAN is manually configured on the port.

¾ SSH/SSL Refresh

The SSH update incorporates the latest security and bug fixes.

System Firmware Version 3.2.0.6 Page 5

¾ RADIUS Enhancements

• The maximum number of RADIUS servers supported has increased from three to 32.

• RADIUS servers with the same name can be used as Backups (RADIUS Authentication and

Accounting servers)

• Simultaneous Transactions to Multiple RADIUS Servers

• RADIUS Accounting – Allows a client the ability to deliver accounting information about a user to an

Accounting server.

¾ IPv6 support for QoS (ACL/DiffServ)

Extends the existing QoS ACL and DiffServ functionality by providing support for IPv6 packet
classification. Ethernet IPv6 packets are distinguished from IPv4 packets by a unique Ethertype value (all
IPv6 classifiers include the Ethertype field).

¾ Auto VoIP

This provides ease of use in configuring VoIP for IP phones on the switch. This is accomplished by
enabling a VoIP profile that a user can select on a per port basis.

¾ Dynamic ACL Management

The number of rules allowed per ACL has been increased to the maximum allowed by the silicon (127
rules). This will allow all available rules to be assigned to a single ACL. However, the user is no longer
guaranteed to be able to apply an ACL if the number of rules is over-subscribed. Refer to the

Guide for details.

¾ SCPv2, SFTP

Adds the ability for the user to securely transfer files to/or from the switch. It makes use of the Secure Copy
Protocol (SCP) and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). SSH client login is used to establish a secure
connection to the remote server before the file transfer begins.

¾ Captive Portal

This allows administrators to block clients from accessing the network until user verification has been
established or authenticated. Verification can be configured to allow access for both guest and
authenticated users. Authenticated users must be validated against a database of authorized Captive Portal
users before access is granted.

¾ 802.1x MAC Authentication Bypass (MAB)

Provides 802.1x unaware clients controlled access to the network using the device MAC address as an
identifier. This requires that the known and allowable MAC address and corresponding access rights be
pre-populated in the authentication server. MAB only works when the port control mode of the po rt is
MAC-based.

Configuration

6 System Firmware Version 3.2.0.6

PowerConnect 6224/6224F/6224P/6248/6248P Release Notes

¾ Ping/Traceroute Enhancements

New ping options have been added to allow the user to specify the number and size of echo requests and
the interval between echo requests. A ping can now be initiated via SNMP using the MIB defined in RFC

2925.

New traceroute options have been added to allow the user to specify the initial and maximum time to live
(TTL) in probe packets, the maximum number of failures before termination, the number of probes sent for
each TTL, and the size of each probe. A trace route can be initiated in the web and SNMP user interfaces.

¾ Static Reject Routes

Allows the user to configure a static route to discard the packets to a particular destination, thereby forcing
a black-hole routing behavior for a particular set of IP prefixes.

This can be done for the following reasons:

• Prevent a routing loop in the network (default route configured on a router).

• A preventive measure against a DOS attack on a router with unwanted destination addresses.

¾ Clear ARP Cache Management Port

A new CLI command has been added to enable clearing of the ARP table of entries learned from the
management port.

¾ OSPFv2 Point-to-Point Links

OSPF can treat an interface as a point-to-point circuit, even though the physical network is a broadcast
network. This simplifies OSPF operation on the link. OSPF does not elect a designated router for a point­to-point network, and does not generate a network LSA to represent a point-to-point network in the link
state topology. This mode of operation is useful when there are only two routers attached to the link (either
a physical or virtual LAN).

In point-to-point mode, OSPF joins the AllSPFRouters multicast group on the interface and sends all OSPF
packets on the interface to AllSPFRouters. OSPF accepts packets received on point-to-point interfaces even
if the source IP address is not on a local subnet.

¾ OSPVv2/v3 Summary Reject Routes

The area address range advertised by OSPF router at area boundaries as summary route into another area
can lead to routing loops in some situations. This feature can avoid situations where a routing loop can
occur in a network.

¾ OSPF v2/v3 Passive Interfaces

Allows passive interfaces for OSPF implementations.

System Firmware Version 3.2.0.6 Page 7

¾ Granular OSPF v2/v3 Traps

Configure which of the OSPF traps the OSPF Router should generate by enabling or disabling the trap
condition. If a trap condition is enabled and the condition is detected, the OSPF router will send the trap to
all trap receivers.

¾ auto-cost reference bandwidth and bandwidth Commands

Controls how OSPF calculates the default metric for an interface by using the auto-cost command in router
OSPF configuration mode. To assign cost-based only on the interface type, use the no form of this
command.

¾ network area Command

Support is added for the following 2 OSPFv2 CLI commands:

• network ip-address wildcard-mask area areaid

• ip ospf area areaid [ secondaries none ]

¾ OSPF v2/v3 Route Preferences Rework

The following effects are seen with this change:

• Configuration of external route preference that applies to all OSPF external routes (like type1,

type2, nssa-type1, nssa-type2) equally.

• Allows multiple route types to be configured with equal preference values.

• No longer follows the order among OSPF route preferences: intra < inter < external.

• Configuring the route preference of 255 makes the route ineligible to be selected as the best route

to its destination (a route with preference of 255 is never used for forwarding).

• While migrating from previous releases, the preference for the external routes will be set with the

preference value of the type-1 route in the earlier releases.

¾ Opaque LSAs and Detailed Display of OSPF v2 LSAs

Opaque LSAs provide a generalized mechanism to allow for the future extensibility of OSPF. The
information contained in Opaque LSAs may be used directly by OSPF or indirectly by some application
wishing to distribute information throughout the OSPF domain. For example, the OSPF LSA may be used
by routers to distribute IP to link-layer address resolution information.

¾ ICMP Enhancements (RFC4443)

ICMPv6 code is updated to support RFC 4443.

¾ DNSv6 Client

The DNS Client has added support for IPv6 (RFC3596). The transport for communication with a DNS
server can be either IPv6 or IPv4 depending on type of server address.

8 System Firmware Version 3.2.0.6

PowerConnect 6224/6224F/6224P/6248/6248P Release Notes

¾ Configured Tunnels MTU

To comply with RFC 4213, Basic Transition Mechanisms for IPv6 Hosts and Routers, the IPv6 MTU on
configured IPv6 over IPv4 tunnels was changed from 1480 bytes to 1280 bytes.

¾ IPv6 6 to 4 Auto Tunnels

The 6 to 4 tunnels automatically formed IPv4 6 to 4 tunnels for carrying IPv6 traffic. The automatic tunnel
IPv4 destination address is derived from the 6 to 4 IPv6 address of the tunnel next hop. There is support for
a 6 to 4 border router that connects a 6 to 4 site to a 6 to 4 domain. It sends/receives tunneled traffic from
routers in a 6 to 4 domain that includes other 6 to 4 border routers and 6 to 4 relay routers.

¾ VRRP Route Interface Tracking

This extends the capability of the Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) to allow tracking of
specific route/interface IP state within the router that can alter the priority level of a virtual router for a
VRRP group.

The exception to this is, if that VRRP group is the IP address owner, its priority is fixed at 255 and can not
be reduced through tracking process.

¾ ICMP Throttling

This adds configuration options for the transmission of various types of ICMP messages.
This project adds the following configuration options:

• Rate limiting the generation of ICMP error messages.

• Suppression of ICMP echo replies.

• Suppression of ICMP Redirects.

• Suppression of Destination Unreachables.

¾ IP Helper

Provides the ability to enable DHCP relay on specific interfaces, with DHCP server addresses specified
independently on each interface. The ip helper-address commands configure both DHCP and UDP relay.

¾ OSPF Enhancements

A CLI command is added with options to do the following:

• Disable and re-enable OSPF

• Clear the OSPF configuration

• Bounce all or specific OSPF neighbors

• Flush and re-originate all self-originated external LSAs

• Clear OSPF statistics

¾ Support of IPv6 routes in PIM-SM and PIM-DM

Support for IPv6 routes has been added to PIM-SM and PIM-DM.

System Firmware Version 3.2.0.6 Page 9