Cisco Systems A9014CFD manual REP Ports, 12-6

Chapter 12 Configuring Resilient Ethernet Protocol

Understanding Resilient Ethernet Protocol (REP)

Note When VLAN load balancing is configured, it does not start working until triggered by either manual intervention or a link failure and recovery.

When VLAN load balancing is triggered, the primary edge port sends a message to alert all interfaces in the segment about the preemption. When the secondary port receives the message, it is reflected into the network to notify the alternate port to block the set of VLANs specified in the message and to notify the primary edge port to block the remaining VLANs.

You can also configure a particular port in the segment to block all VLANs. Only the primary edge port initiates VLAN load balancing, which is not possible if the segment is not terminated by an edge port on each end. The primary edge port determines the local VLAN load balancing configuration.

Reconfigure the primary edge port to reconfigure load balancing. When you change the load balancing configuration, the primary edge port again waits for the rep preempt segment command or for the configured preempt delay period after a port failure and recovery before executing the new configuration. If you change an edge port to a regular segment port, the existing VLAN load balancing status does not change. Configuring a new edge port might cause a new topology configuration.

Spanning Tree Interaction

REP does not interact with MSTP, but the two can coexist. A port that belongs to a segment is removed from spanning tree control, and STP BPDUs are not accepted or sent from segment ports.

To migrate from an STP ring configuration to REP segment configuration, begin by configuring a single port in the ring as part of the segment, and continue by configuring contiguous ports to minimize the number of segments. Each segment always contains a blocked port, so multiple segments means multiple blocked ports and a potential loss of connectivity. When the segment is configured in both directions to the edge ports, you then configure the edge ports.

REP Ports

Ports in REP segments are in the Failed, Open, or Alternate states. The various states REP ports go through are as follows:

•A port configured as a regular segment port starts as a failed port.

•After the neighbor adjacencies are determined, the port changes to alternate port state, blocking all VLANs on the interface. Blocked port negotiations occur and when the segment settles, one blocked port remains in the alternate role, and all other ports become open ports.

•When a failure occurs in a link, all ports move to the open state. When the alternate port receives the failure notification, it changes to the open state, forwarding all VLANs.

A regular segment port converted to an edge port, or an edge port converted to a regular segment port, does not always result in a topology change. If you convert an edge port into a regular segment port, VLAN load balancing is not implemented unless it has been configured. For VLAN load balancing, you must configure two edge ports in the segment.

A segment port reconfigured as a spanning tree port restarts according to the spanning tree configuration. By default, this is a designated blocking port. If PortFast is configured or if STP is disabled, the port goes into the forwarding state.

For instructions on how to configure REP, see Configuring Resilient Ethernet Protocol (REP), page 12-7.

	Cisco ASR 901 Series Aggregation Services Router Software Configuration Guide
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