Configure Inline Tool Group

An inline tool group is an arrangement of multiple inline tools. Traffic is distributed to the inline tools that are part of an inline tool group based on hardware-calculated hash values. For example, if one tool in a group goes down, traffic is redistributed to other tools in the group using hashing. You can also configure redundancy, such as 1+1 and N+1.

The inline tool ports that make up the inline tools participating in the inline tool group are always in pairs, running at the same speed, on the same medium (fiber or copper). All inline tool ports of the inline tool group must be on the same GigaVUE‑HC3 or GigaVUE‑HC1-Plus, node, but can be on different modules on the node. On the GigaVUE‑HC1, all the inline tool ports of the inline group must be on either the base module or the bypass combo module. The inline tool ports must also be on the same GigaVUE‑HC3, GigaVUE‑HC1-Plus, or GigaVUE‑HC1 node as the inline network ports.

When an inline tool is removed from an inline tool group , removed inline tool must be added as an Inline Spare tool . This would require you to first delete the inline tool from the tool group and save the changes .Then add the removed tool as a spare tool from the canvas.

In a cluster environment, you can configure the inline tool group on GigaVUE HC Series nodes through the cluster leader. The inline constructs must all be configured on one GigaVUE‑HC3, GigaVUE‑HC1-Plus,, or GigaVUE‑HC1 node, not across nodes, even if the nodes are in a cluster.

Resilient weighted hashing provides you the ability to distribute traffic to the inline tools by assigning either an equal weight or a custom weight to the inline tools. You can assign custom weight in percentage or ratio. If an inline tool in a group goes down and the group maintains the Minimum Healthy Group Size that is defined for the group, the traffic is redistributed to the remaining tools based on the equal weight or the custom weight assigned to the tools. If the inline tool group does not meet the Minimum Healthy Group Size defined for the group, the traffic is redistributed based on the Failover Action defined for the group.

Note: Resilient hashing is not supported for classic inline maps.

Before you configure an inline tool group, ensure that you configure the required inline tools. Refer to Configure Inline Tool Ports and Inline Tools.

To configure an inline tool group:

On the left navigation pane, go to Physical > Orchestrated Flows > Inline Flows, and then click Configuration Canvas to create a new Flexible Inline Canvas.

In the Flexible Inline Canvas that is displayed, select the required device for which you want to configure the inline tool group.

Click the ‘+’ icon next to the Inline Tool Group option to create a new inline tool group.

In the Properties pane, in the Alias and Description fields, enter a name and description for the inline tool group.

From the Inline Tools drop-down list, select the required inline tools.

From the Weighting drop-down list, select one of the following options:

Equal—Traffic is distributed equally to all the inline tools in the inline tool group. This is the default option.

Relative—Traffic is distributed to the inline tools in the inline tool group based on the relative weight or ratio assigned to the respective inline tools. The valid range is 1–256.

Percentage—Traffic is distributed to the inline tools in the inline tool group based on the percentage assigned to the respective inline tools. The valid range is 1–100.

If you select Relative or Percentage as the weighting option, enter the hash weights for the inline tools that appear in the table below the Weighting drop-down list. Ensure that you assign a hash weight for each inline tool in the inline tool group. However, asymmetrical hashing is not supported for Relative or Percentage options.

From the Inline Spare Tool drop-down list, select the inline tool to which the traffic will be forwarded when the first failure occurs in the set of primary inline tools. To update the Inline Spare Tool list by adding a removed inline tool, delete the inline tool from the inline tool group. Then from the canvas under the Inline Tool group option update the released tool as a spare tool.

Note: You cannot select an inline spare tool if you have selected a Weighting option.

Select the Enabled check box to make the inline tool group available for deployment.

Select the Release Spare if Possible check box to ensure that the inline spare tool is released from the active set of tools to become the spare again when the primary inline tool recovers from the failure.

10.

From the Failover Action drop-down list, select one of the following options:

Tool Bypass—For every map involving the inline tool or inline tool group that triggered this failover action, the traffic coming to such an inline tool or inline tool group is redirected to the next inline tool or inline tool group in the ordered list defined in Port A and Port B or to the respective inline network port.

Network Bypass—All inline networks configured as the source of any map involving the inline tool or inline tool group that triggered this failover action, will be put in the bypass mode, that is, all traffic coming to side A will be directed to side B and vice versa.

Tool Drop—For every map involving the inline tool or inline tool group that triggered this failover action, the traffic coming to such an inline tool or inline tool group is dropped.

Network Drop—All inline networks configured as the source of any map involving the inline tool or inline tool group that triggered this failover action, will be put in the drop mode, that is, all traffic coming to side A or side B will be dropped.

Network Port Forced Down—For all inline networks configured as the source of any map involving the inline tool or inline tool group that triggered this failover action, the inline network ports will be brought down.

11.

From the Failover Mode drop-down list, select Spread to redistribute all the traffic coming from the inline network (or inline network group) to the active inline tools (excluding the failed inline tool or tools).

Note: This field is not applicable when there is only one inline tool in the tool list.

12.

From the Minimum Healthy Group Size drop-down list, select the minimum number of inline tools that must be up so that the entire inline tool group is considered to be up. The minimum number must include the inline spare tool as well.

13.

From the Hash drop-down list, select one of the following options to distribute packets across a number of inline tools that belong to the inline tool group:

Advanced—Specifies symmetrical hashing, which is derived from the combination of packet fields based on the criteria selected for the advanced-hash algorithm. The most common choice of criteria for the advanced-hash algorithm is the combination of source IP and destination IP addresses. This produces a hash value that sends all traffic associated with the same session to the same inline tool in the inline tool group.

SideA as sourceIP & SideB as destinationIP—Specifies asymmetrical hashing, which is derived from the source IP address for side A of the inline network and the destination IP address for side B of the inline network. This produces a hash value that sends all traffic associated with the same source address residing on side A to the same inline tool in the inline tool group, regardless of destination or session.

SideB as sourceIP & SideA as destinationIP—Specifies asymmetrical hashing, which is derived from the destination IP address for side A of the inline network and the source IP address for side B of the inline network. This produces a hash value that sends all traffic associated with the same source address residing on side B to the same inline tool in the inline tool group, regardless of destination or session.

Note: This field is not available for selection if you have selected the Relative or Percentage options in the Weighting drop-down list.

14.

From the Flex Traffic Path drop-down list, select one of the following options:

Drop—Traffic is dropped at the inline tool group.

Bypass—Traffic bypasses the inline tool group. Use this option for performing maintenance on an inline tool group.

Monitoring—Traffic is fed to the inline tool group and absorbed, while a copy of the traffic is sent to the next inline tool in the sequence. Traffic returned from side B of the network is also absorbed at the inline tool group in the monitoring mode.

To Inline Tool—Traffic is forwarded to the inline tool group.

15.

Click OK to save the configuration.

16.

Drag the Inline Tool Group object to the canvas.

17.

Configure the required flexible inline maps and then, click Deploy.