inline-network

Required Command-Line Mode = Admin

Use the inline-network command to configure an inline network. An inline network is an arrangement of two ports of the inline-network type. The arrangement facilitates access to a bidirectional link between two networks (two far-end network devices) that need to be linked through an inline tool.

An inline network consists of inline network ports, always in pairs, running at the same speed, on the same medium (either fiber or copper). The inline network ports must be on the same GigaVUE‑HC3, GigaVUE‑HC2, or GigaVUE‑HC1 node.

This command is only applied to GigaVUE HC Series nodes. In a cluster environment, this command is only applied to GigaVUE HC Series nodes through the cluster leader. The inline constructs must all be configured on one GigaVUE‑HC3, GigaVUE‑HC2, or GigaVUE‑HC1 node, not across nodes, even if the nodes are in a cluster.

Each GigaVUE‑HC2 supports up to 48 inline networks. On the GigaVUE‑HC1, each TAP-HC1-G10040 module supports up to 4 inline networks. In addition, each GigaVUE‑HC1 base module can support up to 8 inline networks, however, some of the ports of the base module will need to be used for inline tools, so the maximum number of inline networks on GigaVUE‑HC1 is 14 with the TAP-HC1-G10040 in both modules. Starting in software version 5.0, the GigaVUE‑HC1 supports a bypass combo module that supports up to 2 inline networks. Starting in software version 5.1.01, the GigaVUE‑HC3 supports up to 8 inline networks.

An inline network can be unprotected or protected. Protected inline networks are implemented using bypass combo modules. Protected inline networks are based on the pairs of ports associated with physical protection switches on the bypass combo modules. The protected inline network ports provided by the bypass combo modules offer different link speeds, such as 1Gb/10Gb. Starting in software version 5.0, the GigaVUE‑HC2 supports a 40Gb bypass combo module. Starting in software version 5.1.01, the GigaVUE‑HC3 supports a 100Gb bypass combo module.

Also on the GigaVUE‑HC2, the TAP-HC0-G100C0 can act as a copper bypass module, providing protected inline networks for copper ports.

Starting in software version 4.8, the TAP-HC1-G10040 on the GigaVUE‑HC1 is a copper bypass module, providing protected inline networks for copper ports.

This command is used in the inline bypass solutions described in the “Configuring Inline Bypass Solutions” section and in the flexible inline arrangements described in the “Working with Flexible Inline Arrangements” section in the GigaVUE Fabric Management Guide.

The inline-network command has the following syntax:

inline-network alias <alias>
   comment <comment>
   lfp enable
   hb-accept
   pair net-a <port ID or alias> and net-b <port ID or port alias>
   physical-bypass <enable | disable>
   redundancy-profile <redundancy profile alias>
   traffic-path <drop | bypass | monitoring | to-inline-tool>

The following table describes the arguments for the inline-network command.

Argument

Description

alias <alias>

Specifies the name of the inline network. The alias must be unique and can contain up to 128 characters. Aliases are case-sensitive.

Protected inline network aliases are created automatically on bypass combo modules. The aliases of the default inline networks are: default_inline_net_x_y_z, where x is the box ID of the node, y is the slot ID of the BPS module, and z is the port ID.

Examples:

(config) # inline-network alias default_inline_net_2_3_1

(config inline-network alias default_inline_net_2_3_1) #

(config) # inline-network alias inNet

(config inline-network alias inNet) #

comment <comment>

Specifies a unique text string that describes the inline network. Comments can be up to 128 characters. Comments longer than one word must be enclosed in double quotation marks.

For example:

(config inline-network alias inNet) # comment “Inline network inNet”

lfp enable

Specifies the link failure propagation state of either enabled or disabled. Link failure propagation controls whether the inline network link failure on one side of the inline network is propagated to the other side.

The default is enable.

When enabled, the behavior is as follows:

● When the link of the side A inline network port goes up (or down), the link of the side B inline network port is brought up (or down).
● When the link of the side B inline network port goes up (or down), the link of the side A inline network port is brought up (or down).

For example:

(config inline-network alias inNet) # lfp enable

hb-accept

Ensures that the inline network port pair accepts the heartbeat packets that are sent from the inline tool port pair. For details, refer to the "Heartbeat Support Between GigaVUE Nodes" section in the GigaVUE-FM User's Guide.

For example:

(config inline-network alias inNet) # hb-accept

pair net-a <port ID or alias> and net-b <port ID or port alias>

Specifies a pair of inline network ports (two ports: side A and side B). Net-a is the port identifier for the port leading to the side A network and net-b is the port identifier for the port leading to the side B network. Port identifiers can be a port ID <bid/sid/pid> or a port alias.

For example:

(config inline-network alias inNet) # pair net-a 5_Net_AP1 and net-b 5_Net_BP1

physical-bypass <enable | disable>

Controls the state of the optical protection switch on bypass combo modules or the electrical relays in copper TAP modules when the power is on. The state can be one of the following:

● close—Specifies that the fiber or copper connected to the side A network port is passively coupled with the fiber or copper connected to the side B port without any transceivers or switching fabric. Therefore, any traffic coming in is exchanged between the two inline network ports without being noticed by the system.
● open—Specifies that the fiber or copper connected to the inline network ports is coupled through transceivers with the switching fabric that is under software control. Therefore, any traffic coming in is subject to the traffic forwarding rules imposed by the current configuration as well as the current state of the inline tools.

When bypass combo modules or copper TAP modules are powered off, the optical protection switch or the electrical relays are always in the close state.

When bypass combo modules or copper TAP modules are powered on, the state of the optical protection switch or the electrical relays are as follows:

● the close state if the physical-bypass parameter is set to enable
● the open state if the physical-bypass parameter is set to disable

The default value of the physical-bypass parameter is enable.

Note:  The physical-bypass parameter only applies to protected inline networks.

For example:

(config inline-network alias inNet) # physical-bypass disable

redundancy-profile <redundancy profile alias>

Specifies the name of a redundancy profile for the inline network. Give the redundancy profile a name before configuring parameters under the redundancy-profile command. Refer to redundancy-profile.

For example:

(config) # inline-network alias inNet redundancy-profile RP1

traffic-path <drop | bypass | monitoring | to-inline-tool>

For classic inline bypass, specifies the path of the traffic received at an inline network port as follows:

● drop—Specifies that no traffic is exchanged through the inline network ports. All traffic to these ports is dropped. No traffic is forwarded to or from the inline tool or tools. No traffic is passed from inline network port A to inline network port B or from inline network port B to inline network port A.
● bypass—There are two cases for bypass, which take the inline maps into consideration as follows:
o If there are no inline maps associated with the inline network or if the set of inline maps associated with the inline network guarantees that no traffic is dropped when the traffic path is set to to-inline-tool, then setting the traffic path to bypass leads to the following: all traffic arriving at the side A inline network port is forwarded to the side B inline network port and all traffic arriving at the side B inline network port is forwarded to the side A inline network port through a logical bypass.
o If the set of inline maps associated with the inline network involves some traffic drop when the traffic path is set to to-inline-tool, then setting the traffic path to bypass leads to the following: all traffic arriving at the side A inline network port that would not have been dropped with traffic path set to to-inline-tool is forwarded to the side B inline network port and all traffic arriving at the side B inline network port that would not have been dropped with traffic path set to to-inline-tool is forwarded to the side A inline network port through a logical bypass.
o In either of these bypass cases, no traffic is forwarded to the inline tool or tools.
● monitoring—There are two cases for monitoring, which take the inline maps into consideration as follows:
o If there are no inline maps associated with the inline network or if the set of inline maps associated with the inline network guarantees that no traffic is dropped when the traffic path is set to to-inline-tool, then setting the traffic path to monitoring leads to the following: all traffic is forwarded as for bypass, but a copy of the traffic is forwarded to the inline tool or tools according to the configured maps between the inline network and the inline tool or tools.
o If the set of inline maps associated with the inline network involves some traffic drop when the traffic path is set to to-inline-tool, then setting the traffic path to monitoring leads to the following: all traffic that would not have been dropped with traffic path set to to-inline-tool is forwarded as for bypass, but a copy of the traffic is forwarded to the inline tool or tools according to the configured maps between the inline network and the inline tool or tools.
o In either of these monitoring cases, no traffic is taken from the inline tools.
● to-inline-tool—Specifies that traffic received at the inline network ports is forwarded according to the following factors:
o the configured inline maps between the inline network and the inline tools
o the failover actions of the inline tool or tools
o the health state of the inline tool or tools
o The default is bypass.

For example:

(config inline-network alias inNet) # traffic-path to-inline-tool

Note:
● Prior to software version 4.4, the default was drop.
● If the inline network is not associated with an inline tool or an inline tool group through a map or map passall, monitoring is the same as bypass.
● If the traffic-path is set to monitoring, when a map is configured for the inline network, the monitoring map will be established immediately.
● If the inline network traffic-path is set to bypass, and there is a rule-based map from the inline network to a destination, the map's counters are incremented for traffic that matches the rule. However, the traffic is actually being safely bypassed to other side of the network and these counters can be ignored. It is also recommended to use a collector to avoid packet drops on unmatched traffic.

traffic-path <drop | bypass | monitoring | to-inline-tool>

For flexible inline arrangements, the descriptions of traffic-path are as follows:

● to-inline-tool—all traffic originating from the inline network is directed to the sequence of inline tools and inline tool groups and is guided through the inline tools and inline tool groups according to the current inline tool and inline tool group status.
● bypass—all traffic that, with the traffic path parameter set to to-inline-tool would go toward the configured sequence of inline tools and inline tool groups, is re-directed to the opposite-side inline network port.
● drop—all traffic originating from the inline network is dropped.
● monitoring—a copy of the traffic originating from the inline network is handled just as for the traffic path of bypass and another copy is handled just as for the traffic path of to-inline-tool, except that no traffic of the second copy is sent to the exit port.
● The default is to-inline-tool.

With the traffic path monitoring, for each sequence originating from the inline network, the system guides two copies of the traffic but only the bypass copy reaches the opposite inline network port. The other copy visits all the inline tools and inline tool groups in the sequence just as if the inline network was set to to-inline-tool, but the supply of traffic from the inline tool returning any traffic is redirected to a null VLAN (with no member ports).

Related Commands

The following table summarizes other commands related to the inline-network command:

Task

Command

Displays a specified inline network.

# show inline-network alias inNet

Displays all inline networks.

# show inline-network all

Displays all inline networks in table format.

# show inline-network brief

Displays Forwarding State, which is the current status of the inline bypass solution. The heartbeat statistics for the inline network are also displayed.

# show inline-network

Displays the Rx and Tx statistics for all the inline networks that are part of the inline flow deployment.

# show inline-network traffic-rate all

Displays the Rx and Tx statistics for the specified inline network alias that is part of the inline flow deployment.

# show inline-network traffic-rate alias <alias_name>

Deletes a specified inline network.

Note:  If the inline network is protected, this command is invalid because you cannot delete a protected inline network.

(config) # no inline-network alias inNet

Deletes the comment for this inline network.

(config) # no inline-network alias inNet comment

Disables the link failure propagation state.

(config) # no inline-network alias inNet lfp enable

Disables the physical bypass state.

(config) # no inline-network alias inNet physical-bypass enable

Disables a redundancy profile.

(config) # no inline-network alias inNet redundancy-profile

Deletes all inline networks.

(config) # no inline-network all

Clears all the heartbeat statistics for the specified inline network.

(config) # clear hb-counters inline-net alias inNet

Clears the heartbeat statistics for all the inline networks that are part of the flexible inline flow deployment.

(config) # clear hb-counters inline-net all

Configures the port speed for an inline network.

This command only applies to protected ports.

Note:  When you configure the port speed on one of the two inline network ports of a given inline network, the other inline network port is automatically configured to the same speed.

(config) # port 4/1/x17 params speed 1000