Unit 6 Assignment 6 Chris Wiginton
Chris Wiginton
IS-3120 Unit 6 Assignment 6
Cisco-Layer 2 Resiliency Compared to HP’s IRF
In order to provide speed and reliability, large and enterprise-level networks today are typically constructed in multiple layers. They are the access layer, also called the network edge layer, the aggregation or distribution layer; and the network core layer. The access layer is usually a mesh of network switches, linked to other switches in the aggregation layer, which in turn is linked to the core.
This mesh type application of switches provides multiple paths for network traffic to flow. What this means is that if one link in the traffic flow or a switch goes down, traffic can continue to flow using an alternate path. This type of mesh interlinked switches uses Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) to detect and prevent loops. A loop occurs when there are multiple active paths to the same switch and this causes the system to crash.
Some advantages of HP’s IRF Resiliency are higher efficiency with IRF’s loop-free, non-blocking architecture. This is designed to keep all links active, enabling highly efficient, high bandwidth connectivity throughout the switching plane. Scalable performance is achieved with IRF and Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP). When used together, they can boost performance by bundling several parallel links between switches and servers, allowing scalable “on-demand” performance and capacity to support critical business applications.
HP’s IRF Resiliency offers faster failover in the event a network failure occurs; IRF can deliver rapid recovery and network re-convergence in fewer than 50 milliseconds—much faster than the several seconds required for STP. The disadvantages associated with HP’s IRF Resiliency are said to be poor performance because it blocks all parallel paths except the one it has selected as active. Technicians have complained that even when the network is operating normally STP actually reduces the effective bandwidth. Some people claim
IS-3120 Unit 6 Assignment 6
Cisco-Layer 2 Resiliency Compared to HP’s IRF
In order to provide speed and reliability, large and enterprise-level networks today are typically constructed in multiple layers. They are the access layer, also called the network edge layer, the aggregation or distribution layer; and the network core layer. The access layer is usually a mesh of network switches, linked to other switches in the aggregation layer, which in turn is linked to the core.
This mesh type application of switches provides multiple paths for network traffic to flow. What this means is that if one link in the traffic flow or a switch goes down, traffic can continue to flow using an alternate path. This type of mesh interlinked switches uses Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) to detect and prevent loops. A loop occurs when there are multiple active paths to the same switch and this causes the system to crash.
Some advantages of HP’s IRF Resiliency are higher efficiency with IRF’s loop-free, non-blocking architecture. This is designed to keep all links active, enabling highly efficient, high bandwidth connectivity throughout the switching plane. Scalable performance is achieved with IRF and Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP). When used together, they can boost performance by bundling several parallel links between switches and servers, allowing scalable “on-demand” performance and capacity to support critical business applications.
HP’s IRF Resiliency offers faster failover in the event a network failure occurs; IRF can deliver rapid recovery and network re-convergence in fewer than 50 milliseconds—much faster than the several seconds required for STP. The disadvantages associated with HP’s IRF Resiliency are said to be poor performance because it blocks all parallel paths except the one it has selected as active. Technicians have complained that even when the network is operating normally STP actually reduces the effective bandwidth. Some people claim
References: Cisco Unified WAN Services: Services, Security, Resiliency, and Intelligence - Cisco. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/routers/ps9343/solution_overview_c22-450358_ps9343_Products_White_Paper.html Resilient Services Solution for Campus Network - Cisco. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns340/ns394/ns147/ns17/index.html