Nortel 8300, Meridian Link User Manual

Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8300

Conﬁguration — VLANs, Spanning Tree, and Static Link Aggregation using Device Manager

NN46200-510 (317348-E Rev 01)

Document status: Standard Document version: 03.01 Document date: 27 August 2007

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Contents

New in this release 11

Features 11 Other changes 11

Preface 13

Before you begin 13 How to get help 14

Getting help from the Nortel web site 14 Getting help over the phone from a Nortel Solutions Center 14 Getting help from a specialist using an Express Routing Code 15 Getting help through a Nortel distributor or reseller 15

VLANs, Spanning Tree, and Static Link Aggregation 17

VLANs 17

VLAN ports 18 Port-based VLANs 18 Policy-based VLANs 19 Protocol-based VLANs 20 Independent VLAN Learning (IVL) 22 VLAN tagging and port types 22 VLAN router interfaces 24 VLAN implementation 24

Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) 26

Spanning tree groups 26 Spanning Tree modes 28 Spanning Tree FastStart 28 Understanding STGs and VLANs 28 Spanning Tree Protocol topology change detection 29

Static link aggregation 29

Link aggregation trafﬁc distribution 30 Link aggregation rules 30 Link aggregation examples 31

Split MultiLink Trunking 34

Overview 35 Advantages of SMLT 36

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How SMLT works 38 Inter-Switch Trunks 40 CP-Limit and SMLT IST 41 Trafﬁc ﬂow in an SMLT environment 42 Single port SMLT 44 SMLT topologies 45 Using MLT-based SMLT with single port SMLT 49 SMLT network design considerations 50

SMLT and VRRP backup master 51 Simple Loop Prevention Protocol 52 Port auto recovery 54 VLAN, STG, and link aggregation feature support 55

Conﬁguring VLANs 57

Understanding VLAN ports 57 Displaying deﬁned VLANs 58 Creating a VLAN 60

Creating a port-based VLAN 61

Conﬁguring an IP address for a VLAN 62

Creating a protocol-based VLAN 63

Conﬁguring user-deﬁned protocol-based VLANs 66 Managing a VLAN 68

Changing VLAN port membership 68

Conﬁguring advanced VLAN features 69

Conﬁguring a MAC address for auto-learning on a VLAN 73 Managing the VLAN forwarding database 76

Conﬁguring aging in the VLAN forwarding database 76

Conﬁguring static forwarding 80

Conﬁguring VLAN forwarding database ﬁlters 83

Conﬁguring Layer 2 multicast MAC ﬁltering 85 Conﬁguring port auto recovery 87

Conﬁguring auto recovery delay time 87

Enabling or disabling port auto recovery for a single port 88

Enabling or disabling port auto recovery for multiple ports 89

Conﬁguring Spanning Tree Group 91

Conﬁguring Simple Loop Prevention Protocol 103

Conﬁguring SLPP globally 103

Conﬁguring the SLPP by VLAN 104

Conﬁguring the SLPP by port 106

Conﬁguring static link aggregation 109

Link aggregation trafﬁc distribution 109 Adding a link aggregation group 110 Viewing link aggregation interface statistics 114 Conﬁguring SMLT 120

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Adding an MLT-based SMLT 120

Viewing MLT-based SMLT information for the switch 121

Conﬁguring a single port SMLT 122

Viewing single port SMLTs conﬁgured on the switch 123

Deleting a single port SMLT 124

Conﬁguring an IST MLT 124

Removing an IST MLT 125

Viewing IST statistics 126

Index 128 Figures

Figure 1 Port-based VLAN 19 Figure 2 Dynamic protocol-based VLAN 21 Figure 3 VLAN tag insertion 22 Figure 4 Multiple spanning tree groups 27 Figure 5 Switch-to-switch link aggregation conﬁguration 32 Figure 6 Switch-to-server link aggregation conﬁguration 33 Figure 7 Client/Server link aggregation conﬁguration 34 Figure 8 Resilient networks with Spanning Tree Protocol 37 Figure 9 Resilient networks with SMLT 38 Figure 10 8300 switches as SMLT aggregation switches 39 Figure 11 show vlan info fdb-entry 10 sample output 43 Figure 12 Network topology for trafﬁc ﬂow example 43 Figure 13 Single port SMLT example 45 Figure 14 Single Port SMLT topology 46 Figure 15 SMLT triangle topology 47 Figure 16 SMLT square topology 48 Figure 17 SMLT full mesh topology 49 Figure 18 Changing a split trunk from MLT-based SMLTto single port SMLT 50 Figure 19 SLPP frame 53 Figure 20 VLAN dialog box - Basic tab 58 Figure 20 VLAN, Insert Basic dialog box for port-based VLANs 61 Figure 20 VlanPortMembers dialog box 62 Figure 20 IP, VLAN dialog box 63 Figure 20 IP, VLAN, Insert IP Address dialog box 63 Figure 20 VLAN, Insert Basic dialog box for protocol-based VLANs 64 Figure 20 VlanPortMembers dialog box 65 Figure 20 VLAN, Insert Basic: insert a user-deﬁned, protocol-based VLAN 67 Figure 20 PortMembers, VLAN dialog box 68 Figure 20 VLAN dialog box - Advanced tab 69 Figure 20 Port dialog box - Interface tab 72 Figure 20 Port dialog box - VLAN tab 72 Figure 20 VlanMacLearning dialog box - Manual Edit tab 74 Figure 20 VlanMacLearning, Insert Manual Edit dialog box 74 Figure 20 BridgeManualEditPorts dialog box 74 Figure 20 VlanMacLearning dialog box - Auto Learn tab 75 Figure 20 Bridge, VLAN dialog box - Transparent tab 76 Figure 20 Bridge, VLAN dialog box - Forwarding tab 78

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Figure 20 VLAN dialog box - Advanced tab: ﬂushing the forwarding

database 79 Figure 20 Bridge, VLAN - Static tab 81 Figure 20 Bridge, VLAN, Insert Static dialog box 81 Figure 20 Bridge, VLAN, Insert Filter dialog box 83 Figure 20 STG dialog box - Globals tab 92 Figure 20 STG dialog box - Conﬁguration tab 93 Figure 20 STG, Insert Conﬁguration dialog box 93 Figure 20 StgPortMembers dialog box 94 Figure 20 STG dialog box - Status tab 97 Figure 20 STG dialog box - Ports tab 99 Figure 20 MLT dialog box - MultiLink Trunks tab 110 Figure 20 MLT, Insert MultiLink Trunks dialog box 111 Figure 20 MltPortMembers dialog box 111 Figure 20 VlanIds dialog box 112 Figure 20 Statistics, MLT dialog box - Interface tab 115 Figure 20 Statistics, MLT dialog box - Ethernet Errors tab 117 Figure 20 Statistics, MLT dialog box - Interface Utilization tab 119 Figure 20 Multilink Trunks tab on the MLT dialog box 121 Figure 20 SMLT Info tab on the SMLT dialog box 122 Figure 20 SMLT tab on the Port dialog box 122 Figure 20 Insert SMLT dialog box 123 Figure 20 Single Port SMLT tab on the SMLT dialog box 123 Figure 20 IST MLT dialog box 125 Figure 20 Ist/SMLT Stats tab on the MLT dialog box 127

Tables

Table 1 Port membership types for policy-based VLANS 19 Table 2 PIDs not available for user-deﬁned protocol-based VLANs 21 Table 3 VLAN rules 25 Table 4 Spanning Tree Protocol topology change detection conﬁguration

rules 29 Table 5 Methods of trafﬁc distribution for packets with a trunk destination 30 Table 6 SLPP frame ﬁelds 53 Table 7 VLAN, STG, and link aggregation support 55 Table 8 VLAN - Basic tab ﬁelds 59 Table 9 VLAN - Advanced tab ﬁelds 70 Table 10 VlanMacLearning - Insert Manual Edit tab ﬁelds 75 Table 11 Bridge ,VLAN dialog box - Transparent tab ﬁelds 77 Table 12 Bridge, VLAN dialog box - Forwarding tab ﬁelds 78 Table 13 Bridge , VLAN - Static tab ﬁelds 82 Table 14 Bridge, VLAN dialog box - Filter tab ﬁelds 84 Table 15 Bridge, VLAN, Insert Multicast tab ﬁelds 86 Table 16 STG Conﬁguration tab ﬁelds 94 Table 17 STG Status tab ﬁelds 97 Table 18 STG Ports tab ﬁelds 99 Table 19 SLPP - Global tab ﬁelds 104 Table 20 SLPP - Insert VLANS window ﬁelds 106 Table 21 SLPP - Ports tab ﬁelds 107 Table 22 MLT dialog box - MultiLink Trunks ﬁelds 112 Table 23 Statistics, MLT dialog box - Interface tab ﬁelds 115

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Table 24 Statistics, MLT dialog box - Ethernet Errors tab ﬁelds 117 Table 25 Statistics, MLT dialog box - Interface Utilization tab ﬁelds 120

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Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8300

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New in this release

The following sections detail what is new in Conﬁguration — VLANs, Spanning Tree, and Static Link Aggregation using Device Manager

(NN46200-510) for Release 4.0.

•

"Features" (page 11)

•

"Other changes" (page 11)

Features

See the following sections for information about feature changes:

•

"Simple Loop Prevention Protocol" (page 52)

•

"Conﬁguring Simple Loop Prevention Protocol" (page 103)

•

"Port auto recovery" (page 54)

Other changes

See the following sections for information about changes that reﬂect the upgrade to eight port multilink trunking (MLT) for this release:

•

Table 22 "MLT dialog box - MultiLink Trunks ﬁelds" (page 112)

•

"Adding ports to a link aggregation group" (page 113)

• "Adding an MLT-based SMLT" (page 120)

•

"Link aggregation rules" (page 30)

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Preface

The Nortel* Ethernet Routing Switch (ERS) 8300 is a ﬂexible and multifunctional Layer 2/Layer 3 switch that supports diverse network architectures and protocols. The ERS 8300 provides security and control features such as Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN (EAPoL), Simple Network Management Protocol, Version 3 (SNMP3), and Secure Shell (SSH). The ERS 8300 provides quality of service (QoS) for a high number of attached devices and supports future network requirements for QoS for critical applications, such as Voice over IP (VoIP).

Java Device Manager (Device Manager) is a graphical user interface (GUI) used to conﬁgure and manage 8300 Series switches. You install it on a management station in the network. For instructions on installing and starting Device Manager on a Windows*, UNIX*, or Linux* platform, refer to

Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8300 Fundamentals — Using Device

Manager (NN46200-303). The manual also describes some common

startup problems and how to troubleshoot them. This guide describes how to use Device Manager to conﬁgure VLANs,

spanning tree, and static link aggregation for the 8300 Series switches.

Before you begin

This guide is intended for network administrators who have the following background:

•

basic knowledge of networks, Ethernet bridging, and IP routing

•

familiarity with networking concepts and terminology

•

experience with windowing systems or GUIs

•

basic knowledge of network topologies

Before using this guide, you must complete the following procedures. For a new switch:

Step Action 1

Install the switch.

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14 Preface

Forinstallation instructions, see Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8300 Installation — Chassis Installation and Maintenance (NN46200-304) andNortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8300 Installation — Modules (NN46200-305).

Connect the switch to the network. For more information, see Getting Started (316799-C).

—End—

Ensure that you are running the latest version of Nortel ERS 8300 software. For information about upgrading the ERS 8300, see Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8300 Upgrades — Software Release 4.0(NN46200-400).

How to get help

This section explains how to get help for Nortel products and services.

Getting help from the Nortel web site

The best way to get technical support for Nortel products is from the Nortel Technical Support web site:

ww.nortel.com/support

This site provides quick access to software, documentation, bulletins, and tools to address issues with Nortel products. From this site, you can:

•

Download software, documentation, and product bulletins.

•

Search the Technical Support Web site and the Nortel Knowledge Base for answers to technical issues.

•

Open and manage technical support cases.

Getting help over the phone from a Nortel Solutions Center

If you do not ﬁnd the information you require on the Nortel Technical Support web site, and you have a Nortel support contract, you can also get help over the phone from a Nortel Solutions Center.

In North America, call 1-800-4NORTEL (1-800-466-7835). Outside North America, go to the following web site to obtain the phone

number for your region:

www.nortel.com/callus

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How to get help 15

Getting help from a specialist using an Express Routing Code

To access some Nortel Technical Solutions Centers, you can use an Express Routing Code (ERC) to quickly route your call to a specialist in your Nortel product or service. To locate the ERC for your product or service, go to:

www.nortel.com/erc

Getting help through a Nortel distributor or reseller

If you purchased a service contract for your Nortel product from a distributor or authorized reseller, contact the technical support staff for that distributor or reseller.

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VLANs, Spanning Tree, and Static Link Aggregation

This chapter describes Virtual LANs, spanning tree groups, and link aggregation. The following topics are included:

•

"VLANs" (page 17)

•

"Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)" (page 26)

•

"Static link aggregation" (page 29)

•

"Split MultiLink Trunking" (page 34)

•

"Simple Loop Prevention Protocol" (page 52)

•

"Port auto recovery" (page 54)

•

"VLAN, STG, and link aggregation feature support" (page 55)

VLANs

With a virtual LAN (VLAN), you can divide your LAN into smaller groups without interfering with the physical network. You can use VLANs to:

•

Create workgroups for common interest groups.

•

Create workgroups for speciﬁc types of network trafﬁc.

•

Add, move, or delete members from these workgroups without making any physical changes to the network.

By dividing the network into separate VLANs, you can create separate broadcast domains. This conserves bandwidth, especially in networks supporting broadcast and multicast applications that ﬂood the network with trafﬁc. A VLAN workgroup can include members from a number of dispersed physical segments on the network, improving trafﬁc ﬂow between them.

The ERS 8300 performs the layer 2 switching functions necessary to transmit information within VLANs as well as the layer 3 routing functions necessary for VLANs to communicate with one another. A VLAN can be deﬁned for a single switch or it can span multiple switches. A port can be a member of multiple VLANs.

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18 VLANs, Spanning Tree, and Static Link Aggregation

The ERS 8300 supports port-based VLANs and policy-based VLANs. This section includes the following topics:

•

"VLAN ports" (page 18)

• "Port-based VLANs" (page 18)

•

"Policy-based VLANs" (page 19)

•

"Protocol-based VLANs" (page 20)

• "Independent VLAN Learning (IVL)" (page 22)

•

"VLAN tagging and port types" (page 22)

•

"VLAN router interfaces" (page 24)

•

"VLAN implementation" (page 24)

VLAN ports

A Virtual LAN is made up of a group of ports that deﬁne a logical broadcast domain. These ports can belong to a single switch, or they can be spread across multiple switches. In a VLAN-aware switch, every frame received on a port is classiﬁed as belonging to only one VLAN. Whenever a broadcast, multicast, or unknown destination frame needs to be ﬂooded by a VLAN-aware switch, the frame is sent out through only the other active ports that are members of this VLAN.

The default switch conﬁguration groups all ports into the port-based default VLAN 1. This VLAN cannot be deleted from the system, and is statically bound to the default spanning tree group (STG).

Port-based VLANs

A port-based VLAN is a VLAN with ports explicitly conﬁgured as members. When creating a port-based VLAN, you assign a VLAN identiﬁcation number (VID) and specify the ports that belong to the VLAN. The VID is used to coordinate VLANs across multiple switches.

The example in Figure 1 "Port-based VLAN" (page 19) shows two port-based VLANs: one for the marketing department and one for the sales department. Ports are assigned to each port-based VLAN. A change in the sales area can move the sales representative at port 3/1 (the ﬁrst port in the I/O module in chassis slot 3) to the marketing department without moving cables. With a port-based VLAN, you only need to indicate in Device Manager or the CLI that port 3/1 in the sales VLAN now is a member of the marketing VLAN.

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VLANs 19

Figure 1 Port-based VLAN

Policy-based VLANs

The ERS 8300 supports a total of 500 unique policy-based VLANS. However, there are some restrictions on the number of types of policy-based VLANs.

In a policy-based VLAN, a port can be designated as always a member or never a member. Table 1 "Port membership types for policy-based VLANS"

(page 19) describes these port membership types.

Table 1 Port membership types for policy-based VLANS

Membership type Description

Static(Always a member) Static members are always active members of

the VLAN, when conﬁgured as belonging to that VLAN. This membership type is used in policy-based and port-based VLANs.

•

In policy-based VLANs, the tagged ports are usually conﬁgured as static members.

•

In port-based VLANs, all ports are always static members.

Not allowed to join (Never a member)

Ports of this type are not allowed to join the VLAN.

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20 VLANs, Spanning Tree, and Static Link Aggregation

A non-tagged port can belong to multiple VLANs, as long as the VLANs are not of the same type but are in the same spanning tree group.

Protocol-based VLANs

Protocol-based VLANs are an effective way to segment your network into broadcast domains according to the network protocols in use. Trafﬁc generated by any network protocol — IPX, Appletalk, and so forth — can be automatically conﬁned to its own VLAN.

Port tagging is not required for a port to be a member of multiple protocol-based VLANs.

The ERS 8300 supports the following protocol-based VLANs:

• IP version 4 (ip)

•

Novell IPX on Ethernet 802.3 frames (ipx802dot3)

•

Novell IPX on IEEE 802.2 frames (ipx802dot2)

•

Novell IPX on Ethernet SNAP frames (ipxSnap)

•

Novell IPX on Ethernet Type 2 frames (ipxEthernet2)

•

AppleTalk on Ethernet Type 2 and Ethernet SNAP frames (AppleTalk)

•

DEC LAT Protocol (decLat)

•

Other DEC protocols (decOther)

•

IBM SNA on IEEE 802.2 frames (sna802dot2)

•

IBM SNA on Ethernet Type 2 frames (snaEthernet2)

•

NetBIOS Protocol (netBIOS)

•

Xerox XNS (xns)

•

Banyan VINES (vines)

•

IP version 6 (ipv6)

•

Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP)

•

User-deﬁned protocols

Example: IPX protocol-based VLAN

You can create a VLAN for the IPX protocol and place ports carrying substantial IPX trafﬁc into this new VLAN.

In Figure 2 "Dynamic protocol-based VLAN" (page 21), the network manager placed ports 7/1, 3/1, and 3/2 in an IPX VLAN. These ports still belong to their respective marketing and sales VLANs, but they are also new members of the IPX VLAN. This arrangement localizes trafﬁc and ensures that only three ports are ﬂooded with IPX broadcast packets.

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VLANs 21

Figure 2 Dynamic protocol-based VLAN

User-deﬁned protocol-based VLANs

You can create user-deﬁned protocol-based VLANs in support of networks with non-standard protocols. For user-deﬁned protocol-based VLANs, you can specify the Protocol Identiﬁer (PID) for the VLAN. For release 2.1, you can enter the PID as a range of hexadecimal identiﬁers separated by a comma (,) a dash (-), or some combination of the two. Note that you can provide a maximum of 8 PIDs in this range.

Frames that match the speciﬁed PID for the following are assigned to that user-deﬁned VLAN:

•

the ethertype for Ethernet type 2 frames

• the PID in Ethernet SNAP frames

•

the DSAP or SSAP value in Ethernet 802.2 frames

Table 2 "PIDs not available for user-deﬁned protocol-based VLANs" (page

21) lists the predeﬁned policy-based PIDs, which are reserved and cannot

be designated as user-deﬁned PIDs.

Table 2 PIDs not available for user-deﬁned protocol-based VLANs

PID (hex) Description

04xx, xx04

sna802dot2 F0xx, xxF0 netBIOS 0000-05DC Overlaps with 802.3 frame length 0600, 0807

xns 0BAD VINES 4242

IEEE 802.1D BPDUs

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PID (hex) Description

0800

IP 0806

ARP 8035

RARP 809B, 80F3 AppleTalk 8100

Reserved by IEEE 802.1Q for tagged frames 8137, 8138

ipxEthernet2 and ipxSnap 80D5 snaEthernet2 86DD ipv6 8808

IEEE 802.3x pause frames 9000

Used by diagnostic loopback frames

Independent VLAN Learning (IVL)

In the ERS 8300, each VLAN has its own, independent, forwarding database. That is, the same MAC address can be learned in different VLANs; and, based on the VLAN receiving trafﬁc for this address, the switch is able to forward to this MAC address without any confusion. This means that before the switch can look up the source or destination MAC address in a received frame, or before it can decide whether to bridge or to route a frame, it must ﬁrst determine the VLAN that the frame belongs to. The IVL mode is used to learn MAC addresses in the context of the VLAN they belong to.

VLAN tagging and port types

The ERS 8300 uses IEEE 802.1Q tagging of frames and coordinating VLANs across multiple switches. Figure 3 "VLAN tag insertion" (page

22) shows the additional 4-octet (tag) header inserted into a frame after the

source address and before the frame type. The tag contains the VLAN ID associated with the frame.

Figure 3 VLAN tag insertion

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802.1Q tagged ports

Tagging a frame adds four octets to a frame, making it bigger than the traditional maximum frame size. These frames are sometimes referred to as "baby giant" frames. If a device does not support IEEE 802.1Q tagging, it can have problems interpreting tagged frames and receiving baby giant frames.

In the ERS 8300, your port level conﬁguration determines whether tagged frames are sent and received. Tagging is set as true or false for the port and is applied to all VLANs on that port.

When you enable tagging on an untagged port, the port’s previous conﬁguration of VLANs and STGs is lost. In addition, the port resets and runs Spanning Tree Protocol, thus breaking connectivity while the protocol goes through the normal listening and learning states before the forwarding state.

A ERS 8300 port with tagging enabled sends frames explicitly tagged with a VLAN ID. Tagged ports are typically used to multiplex trafﬁc belonging to multiple VLANs to other IEEE-802.1Q-compliant devices.

If tagging is disabled on a ERS 8300 port, it does not send tagged frames. A nontagged port connects the ERS 8300 to devices that do not support IEEE 802.1Q tagging. If a tagged frame is forwarded out a port on which tagging is set to false, the switch removes the tag from the frame before sending it out the port.

If a port is set for tagging on a ERS 8300, and the port is also a member of an untagged multilink trunk (MLT), or the reverse is true. The port settings on the MLT overrides.

Treatment of tagged and untagged frames

A ERS 8300 associates a frame with a VLAN based on the data content of the frame and the conﬁguration of the destination port. Whether the frame is tagged or untagged dictates how that frame is treated.

If a tagged frame is received on a tagged port, with a VLAN ID speciﬁed in the tag, the ERS 8300 directs it to that VLAN, if it is present.

For untagged frames, VLAN membership is implied from the content of the frame itself. For untagged frames received on a tagged port, you can conﬁgure the port to either discard or accept the frame. If you conﬁgure a tagged port to accept untagged frames, the port must be assigned to a port-based VLAN.

On the ERS 8300 you have the option to conﬁgure tagged ports to send untagged frames on the default VLAN of the port.

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How the frame is forwarded is based on the VLAN the frame is received and on the forwarding options available for that VLAN. A ERS 8300 tries to associate untagged frames with a VLAN in the following order:

•

Does the frame belong to a protocol-based VLAN?

•

What is the port-based VLAN of the receiving port?

If the frame meets none of the preceding criteria, it is discarded.

VLAN router interfaces

Virtual router interfaces correspond to routing on a virtual port associated with a VLAN. This type of routing is the routing of IP trafﬁc to and from a VLAN. Because a given port can belong to multiple VLANs (some of which are conﬁgured for routing on the switch and some of which are not), there is not a one-to-one correspondence between the physical port and the router interface. For VLAN routing, the router interface for the VLAN is called a virtual router interface because the IP address is assigned to an interface on the routing entity in the switch. This initial interface has a one-to-one correspondence with a VLAN on any given switch.

The ERS 8300 chassis supports 4096 MAC addresses. If you are using an 8600 chassis, make sure it supports 4096 MAC addresses. You can install the 8600 MAC upgrade kit to support 4096 MAC addresses. For more information, see the publication, Adding MAC addresses to the 8600 Series Switch (part number 212486-A).

VLAN implementation

This section describes how to implement VLANs on a ERS 8300. The following topics are included:

• "Default VLANs" (page 24)

•

"Unassigned VLANs" (page 24)

•

"VLAN rules" (page 25)

Default VLANs

The ERS 8300 is factory conﬁgured with all ports residing in a port-based VLAN and default spanning tree group (STG) 1. With all ports in this default VLAN, the switch behaves like a layer 2 switch. The VLAN ID of this default VLAN is always 1, and it is always a port-based VLAN. The default VLAN cannot be deleted.

Unassigned VLANs

The unassigned VLAN is a port-based VLAN that acts as a placeholder for ports that are removed from other port-based VLANs. Ports can belong to policy-based VLANs as well as to the unassigned VLAN. If a frame does not meet any policy criteria and there is no underlying port-based VLAN, the

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port belongs to the unassigned VLAN and the frame is dropped. Only ports in the unassigned VLAN have no spanning tree group association, so they do not participate in Spanning Tree Protocol negotiation; that is, no BPDUs are sent out of ports in the unassigned VLAN.

The unassigned VLAN cannot be deleted or viewed. If a user-deﬁned spanning tree group is deleted, the ports are moved to the unassigned VLAN and can later be assigned to another spanning tree group. Moving the ports to the unassigned VLAN avoids creating unwanted loops and duplicate connections. If routing is disabled in these ports, the port is completely isolated and no layer 2 or layer 3 functionality is provided.

The unassigned VLAN is useful for security concerns or when using a port for monitoring a mirrored port.

VLAN rules

Table 3 "VLAN rules" (page 25) describes the VLAN rules for the ERS 8300.

Table 3 VLAN rules

•

In addition to the default VLAN, the ERS 8300 supports 4000 VLANs. VLAN IDs range in value from 1 to 4000. See note

•

If you enable tagging on a port in a VLAN, the spanning tree group conﬁguration for that port is lost. To preserve VLAN assignment of ports, enable tagging on the ports before you assign the ports to VLANs.

•

Tagged ports can belong to multiple VLANs and multiple spanning tree groups. When a tagged port belongs to multiple spanning tree groups, the BPDUs are tagged for all spanning tree groups except for spanning tree group number 1. Under the default conﬁguration, the default is spanning tree group number 1.

•

An untagged port can belong to only one port-based VLAN. A port in a port-based VLAN can belong to other policy-based VLANs.

•

An untagged port can belong to only one policy-based VLAN for a given protocol. For example, a port can belong to only one policy-based VLAN where the policy is IPX802dot2 protocol.

•

A VLAN cannot span multiple spanning tree groups; that is, the ports in the VLAN must all be within one spanning tree group. Spanning tree group IDs can range in value from 1 to

64. See note

•

A frame’s VLAN membership is determined by the following order of precedence:

1. VLAN ID in the frame’s VLAN tag

2. protocol-based VLAN

3. port-based VLAN

Also see Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8300 Release Notes — Software Release

4.0(NN46200-401) for the latest information about supported software and hardware capabilities.

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Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)

The operation of the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is deﬁned in the IEEE Std 802.1D. The Spanning Tree Protocol detects and eliminates logical loops in a bridged or switched network. When multiple paths exist, the spanning tree algorithm conﬁgures the network so that a bridge or switch uses only the most efﬁcient path. If that path fails, the protocol automatically reconﬁgures the network to make another path become active, thus sustaining network operations. You can control path redundancy for VLANs by implementing the panning Tree Protocol (STP).

A network can include multiple instances of STP. The collection of ports in one spanning tree instance is called a spanning tree group (STG).

This section includes the following topics:

• "Spanning tree groups" (page 26)

•

"Spanning Tree modes" (page 28)

•

"Spanning Tree FastStart" (page 28)

• "Understanding STGs and VLANs" (page 28)

•

"Spanning Tree Protocol topology change detection" (page 29)

Spanning tree groups

Each STG consists of a collection of ports that belong to the same instance of the STP protocol. These STP instances are completely independent from each other (for example, they send their own BPDUs, they have their own timers, and so on).

Multiple STGs are possible within the same switch; that is, the routing switch can participate in the negotiation for multiple spanning trees.

Figure 4 "Multiple spanning tree groups" (page 27) shows multiple spanning

tree groups.

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Figure 4 Multiple spanning tree groups

Spanning Tree Protocol controls

The ports associated with a VLAN and VLANs themselves must be contained within a single STG to prevents problems with spanning tree blocking ports and loss of connectivity within the VLAN.

Each untagged port can belong only one STG, while tagged ports can belong to more than one STG. When a tagged port belongs to more than one STG, the spanning tree bridge protocol data units (BPDUs) are tagged to distinguish those of one STG from those of another STG. BPDUs from STG 1 are not tagged. The tagged BPDUs are transmitted using a multicast MAC address as tagged frames with a VLAN ID. Because tagged BPDUs are not part of the IEEE 802.1D standard, not all devices can interpret tagged BPDUs.

You can enable or disable the Spanning Tree Protocol at the port or at the spanning tree group level. If you disable the protocol at the group level, received BPDUs are handled like a MAC-level multicast and ﬂooded out the other ports of the STG. Note that an STG can contain one or more VLANs. Remember that MAC broadcasts are ﬂooded out on all ports of a VLAN; a BPDU is a MAC-level message, but the BPDU is ﬂooded out all ports on the STG, which can encompass many VLANs.

When STP is globally enabled on the STG, BPDU handling depends on the STP setting of the port:

•

When STP is enabled on the port, received BPDUs are processed in accordance with STP.

•

When STP is disabled on the port, the port stays in a forwarding state, received BPDUs are dropped and not processed, and no BPDU is generated.

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Spanning Tree modes

ERS 8300 software release 2.2 introduces a Cisco-compatible Spanning Tree mode. By default, the Nortel STG (NTSTG) is enabled, and all BPDUs are sent on every MLT link. To use the Cisco-compatible Spanning Tree mode, disable NTSTG — BPDUs are sent on only one link of the aggregation group. See "Adding a link aggregation group" (page 110) for conﬁguration instructions.

Spanning Tree FastStart

When enabled on a port with no other bridges, Spanning Tree FastStart brings the port up more quickly following switch initialization or a spanning tree change. The port goes through the normal blocking and learning states before the forwarding state, but the hold times for these states is the bridge hello timer (2 seconds by default) instead of the bridge forward delay timer (15 seconds by default). Thus, if FastStart is enabled on a port using the defaults of 2 seconds for Hello time and 15 seconds for Forward Delay time, it goes into the forwarding state in 4 seconds, instead of the usual 30 seconds. If the port sees a BPDU, it reverts to regular behavior.

Instead of disabling STP on a port, Nortel recommends enabling FastStart on the port as an alternative.

FastStart is intended for access ports where only one device is connected to the switch (as in workstations with no other spanning tree devices). It may not be desirable to wait the usual 30 to 35 seconds for spanning tree initialization and bridge learning.

Use Spanning Tree FastStart with caution. This procedure is contrary to that speciﬁed in the IEEE 802.1D standard for Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), in which a port enters the blocking state following the initialization of the bridging device or from the disabled state when the port is enabled through conﬁguration.

Understanding STGs and VLANs

A VLAN can include all the ports in a given STG and there can be multiple VLANs in an STG, but a VLAN never has more ports than exist in the STG. The recommended practice is to plan STGs and then create VLANs.

In the ERS 8300 default conﬁguration, a single STG encompasses all the ports in the switch. For most applications, this conﬁguration is sufﬁcient. The default STG is assigned ID 1 (STG1).

If a VLAN spans multiple switches, it must be within the same STG across all switches; that is, the ID of the STG in which it is deﬁned must be the same across all devices.

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Spanning Tree Protocol topology change detection

Change detection enables the detection of topology changes and sends a topology change notiﬁcation (TCN) to the Root, on an individual port basis. Change detection is enabled by default. When change detection is enabled and a topology change occurs, a trap is sent containing the following information so that you can identify the device:

•

the MAC address of the STG sending the TCN

•

the port number

•

the STG ID

You can disable change detection on ports where a single end station is connected, and where powering that end station on and off triggers the TCN. Change detection is referenced in IEEE STD 802.1D.

Topology change detection conﬁguration rules

The following rules apply to the Spanning Tree topology change detection setting.

Table 4 Spanning Tree Protocol topology change detection conﬁguration rules

•

You can conﬁgure change detection on access ports only. This also applies to link aggregation ports.

•

If you disable change detection and then change the port from access to tagging-enabled, the switch automatically sets change-detection to enabled for the port. This also applies to link aggregation ports.

•

In a link aggregation group with access ports, modiﬁcations to change detection for a member port are automatically applied to the remaining member ports.

Static link aggregation

Link aggregation is a point-to-point connection that aggregates multiple ports so that they logically act like a single port with the aggregated bandwidth. Grouping multiple ports into a logical link provides higher aggregate throughput on a switch-to-switch or switch-to-server application. Link aggregation provides media and module redundancy.

The ERS 8300 supports link aggregation in a static conﬁguration mode where no LACP is used. The ERS 8300 link aggregation is interoperable with Baystack and Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 link aggregation, also referred to as MLT.

This section includes the following topics:

• "Link aggregation trafﬁc distribution" (page 30)

•

"Link aggregation rules" (page 30)

•

"Link aggregation examples" (page 31)

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Link aggregation trafﬁc distribution

Static aggregation groups can be used to aggregate bandwidth between two switches. The ERS 8300 distributes trafﬁc by determining the active port in a link aggregation group that can be used for each outgoing packet. Link aggregation group algorithms provide load sharing while ensuring that packets do not arrive out of sequence.

The ERS 8300 determines the port a packet is transmitted through by:

• Tabulating the trunks and their active assigned port members for each link aggregation group. Ports deﬁned as trunk members are written to the table in the order in which they are activated. If a link goes down, the table is rewritten with one less trunk member.

•

Using a selected index, based on trafﬁc type and a hashing algorithm.

Packet distribution methods

Table 5 "Methods of trafﬁc distribution for packets with a trunk destination" (page 30) shows the methods used, by type of packet, to distribute packets

with a trunk destination.

Table 5 Methods of trafﬁc distribution for packets with a trunk destination

Type of packet

MAC source address (SA)

MAC destination address (DA)

IPv4 source IP address (SIP)

IPv4 destination IP address (DIP)

Layer 3 protocol

Bridged packet X X Bridged packetwith

Layer 3 trunk load balancing

Routed packet X X X

Trunk load sharing algorithms by trafﬁc type

For information about hashing parameters and algorithms that are used for distributing link aggregation trafﬁc, see Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 8300 Planning and Engineering—Network Design Guidelines (NN46200-200).

Link aggregation rules

This section describes the rules for the link aggregation groups in the ERS 8300 ..

•

Link aggregation is supported on 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 100Base-FX, Gigabit Ethernet ports, and 10Gigabit Ethernet ports.

• The switch supports eight ports per aggregation group. All ports in a link aggregation group must be of the same media type and have the same speed and duplex settings.

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