BLADE OS 5.1 Release Notes

Hot Links

BLADEOS 5.1 now supports Hot Links. Hot Links provides basic link redundancy with fast recovery for network topologies that require Spanning Tree to be turned off.

Hot Links allows up to five triggers, each of which consists of a pair of layer 2 interfaces that may contain either an individual port or trunk. One interface is the Master, and the other is a Backup. While the Master interface is active and forwarding traffic, the Backup interface is placed in a standby state and blocks traffic. If the Master interface fails, the Backup interface becomes active and forwards traffic. Once the Master interface is restored, it transitions to the standby state and blocks traffic unless the Backup interface fails.

OSPF Enhancements

BLADEOS 5.1 includes multiple enhancements to the GbESM Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) implementation:

￿Passive Interfaces

OSPF interfaces may be configured as passive. Passive interfaces send LSAs to active interfaces, but do not receive LSAs, hello packets, or any other OSPF protocol information from active interfaces. Passive interfaces behave as stub networks, allowing OSPF routing devices to be aware of devices that do otherwise participate in OSPF (either because they do not support it, or because the administrator chooses to restrict OSPF traffic exchange or transit). The following command has been added:

#/cfg/l3/ospf/if <x>/passive {enabledisable}

￿Point-to-Point Networks

For LANs that have only two OSPF routing agents (the GbESM and one other device), specifying the interfaces as part of a point-to-point network allows the switch to significantly reduce the amount of routing information it must carry and manage, enhancing OSPF efficiency. The following command has been added:

#/cfg/l3/ospf/if <x>/ptop {enabledisable}

￿Sub-second timers

To increase OSPF convergence speed, hello and dead timers for OSPF interfaces and virtual interfaces can now specified in milliseconds by adding “ms” to the number. For example:

# /cfg/l3/ospf/if <x>/hello 200ms

(200 milliseconds)

 

 

￿Loopback Interface Address

OSPF can now be configured to use the GbESM internal loopback address in advertising its Router ID.

BMD00098, December 2009

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Blade ICE BMD00098 manual Hot Links, Ospf Enhancements