inline-tool-group

Required Command-Line Mode = Admin

Use the inline-tool-group command to configure an inline tool group. An inline tool group is an arrangement of multiple inline tools to which traffic is distributed to the inline tools based on hardware-calculated hash values. For example, if one tool goes down, traffic is redistributed to other tools in the group using hashing.

You also use the inline-tool-group command to 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 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, or GigaVUE‑HC1 node as the inline network ports.

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, or GigaVUE‑HC1 node, not across nodes, even if the nodes are in a cluster.

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-tool-group command has the following syntax:

inline-tool-group alias <alias>
   comment <comment>
   enable
   failover-action <tool-bypass | tool-drop | network-bypass | network-drop | network-port-forced-down>
   failover-mode spread
   flex-traffic-path <to-inline-tool | bypass | monitoring | drop>
   hash <advanced | a-srcip-b-dstip | b-srcip-a-dstip>
   minimum-group-healthy-size <number>
   release-spare-if-possible
   spare-inline-tool <spare inline tool alias>
   tool-list <inline-tool list>
   hash-weights <inline-tool weights>

The following table describes the arguments for the inline-tool-group command.

Argument

Description

alias <alias>

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

For example:

(config) # inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) #

comment <comment>

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

For example:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # comment “Inline tool group inToolGroup”

enable

Enables or disables the inline tool group. Use enable to put the inline tool group into service.

Disable the inline tool group to simulate a failure or to take the inline tool group offline for maintenance purposes.

The default is disabled.

For example, to enable:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # enable

For example, to disable:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # no enable

failover-action <tool-bypass | tool-drop | network-bypass | network-drop | network-port-forced-down>

Specifies the failover action taken in response to a failure of an inline tool group, when the number of healthy inline tools in the inline tool group (including the spare inline tool, if configured) falls below the configured minimum. The values are as follows:

●

tool-bypass—Specifies that when the inline tool group fails, the traffic that normally was directed to the inline tool group is redirected to the bypass path. Use this failover action for configurations involving multiple inline tools or inline tool groups associated with an inline network or inline network group using rule-based maps. For configurations using map passalls, tool-bypass is the same as network-bypass.

●

tool-drop—Specifies that when the inline tool group fails, the traffic that normally was directed to the inline tool group is dropped. Use this failover action for configurations involving multiple inline tools or inline tool groups associated with an inline network or inline network group using rule-based maps. For configurations using map passalls, tool-drop is the same as network-drop.

●

network-bypass—Specifies that when the inline tool group fails, all traffic that would not have been dropped when the inline network or networks had a NORMAL forwarding state is directed to the bypass path. That is, all such traffic arriving at the side A inline network port or ports is forwarded to the side B inline network port or ports and all traffic arriving at the side B inline network port or ports is forwarded to the side A inline network port or ports.

●

network-drop—Specifies that when the inline tool group fails, all traffic coming to the respective inline network (or inline network group) is dropped.

●

network-port-forced-down—Specifies that when the inline tool group fails, the inline network ports of the respective inline network (or inline network group) are forced down.

The default is tool-bypass.

The failover actions of the individual inline tools belonging to an inline tool group are ignored when the individual inline tools encounter failure conditions. Instead, the failover mechanism of the inline tool group is used to distribute traffic among the set of healthy inline tools and declare the group to be in a failure condition when the number of healthy inline tools falls below a configured minimum.

For example:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # failover-action tool-drop

Note: Before changing the failover action, enable the inline tool group using the enable command.

failover-mode spread

Specifies the failover mode of the inline tool group. The mode specifies how to handle a failure of an individual member of the inline tool list when a spare inline tool is either not configured or has failed. The only value is spread, which redistributes all the traffic coming from the inline network (or inline network group) to the reduced set of inline tools, excluding the failed inline tool or tools.

Note: If there is only one inline tool in the tool list, this parameter is not used.

For example:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # failover-mode spread

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

For flexible inline arrangements, provides per-tool traffic path options. Each inline tool or inline tool group involved in a flexible inline map can specify its own traffic path.

The options are as follows, however the behavior of the traffic will depend on a variety of factors including the inline tools in the sequence, their individual flex-traffic-path settings, the operational state of the inline tools, and the direction of traffic:

●

to-inline-tool—traffic is forwarded from the inline tool.

●

bypass—traffic bypasses the inline tool. Use this option for performing maintenance on an inline tool.

●

drop—traffic is dropped at the inline tool.

●

monitoring—traffic is fed to the inline tool 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 in monitoring mode.

The default is to-inline-tool.

For example:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # flex-traffic-path drop

hash <advanced | a-srcip-b-dstip | b-srcip-a-dstip>

Specifies the type of hashing for distributing packets across a number of inline tools belonging to an inline tool group. The values are as follows:

●

advanced—Specifies symmetrical hashing, which is derived from the combination of packet fields based on the criteria selected for the advanced-hash algorithm by using the gigastream advanced-hash command. For inline bypass applications, 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.

●

a-srcip-b-dstip—Specifies asymmetrical hashing, which is derived from the source IP address for side A of the network and the destination IP address for side B of the 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.

●

b-srcip-a-dstip—Specifies asymmetrical hashing, which is derived from the destination IP address for side A of the network and the source IP address for side B of the 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.

The default is advanced.

For flexible inline arrangements, asymmetrical hashing (using a-srcip-b-dstip and b-srcip-a-dstip) is not supported.

Note: If there is only one inline tool in the tool list, the hash parameter is not used.

Examples:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # hash a-srcip-b-dstip

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # hash advanced

Refer to the “Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Hashing” section in the GigaVUE Fabric Management Guide for details. Restrictions are included under “Asymmetrical Hashing Restrictions” section in the GigaVUE Fabric Management Guide.

minimum-group-healthy-size <number>

Specifies 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 includes the inline tools in the inline tool list plus the spare inline tool, if one is configured. The range is 1 to 16. The default is 1.

Note: If there is only one inline tool in the tool list, this parameter is not used.

For example:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # minimum-group-healthy-size 3

release-spare-if-possible

Determines the behavior of the spare inline tool after it has replaced an original inline tool in the inline tool group following an inline tool failure. The values are as follows:

●

Disabled—Specifies that the spare inline tool will remain active regardless of the health of the originally failed inline tool. Even if the original inline tool recovers, the spare that replaced it will remain in the active set of inline tools.

●

Enabled—Specifies that after the original inline tool recovers, the spare that replaced it will be released, if possible, from the active set of tools to become the spare again.

The default is disabled.

Note: If a spare inline tool is not configured, this parameter is not used.

For example:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # release-spare-if-possible

spare-inline-tool <spare inline tool alias>

Specifies the alias of an inline tool to which traffic is forwarded when the first failure occurs in the set of primary inline tools. The default is blank (not specified).

If a spare inline tool is configured, the inline tool group becomes a redundant arrangement of inline tools.

For example:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # spare-inline-tool IT_004

tool-list <inline-tool list>

When a spare inline tool is not configured, specifies the list of inline tool aliases participating in hash-based traffic distribution. The number of inline tool aliases in the list is between 1 and 16.

When a spare inline tool is configured, specifies the list of aliases of primary inline tools to which traffic is forwarded as long as they are all healthy. The number of inline tools in the list is between 2 and 16.

Separate each inline tool alias in the list with a comma. For example:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # tool-list IT_001,IT_002,IT_003

hash-weights <inline-tool weights>

Specifies the relative weight or default weight for the inline tools based on which traffic is directed to the inline tools in the inline tool group. If you assign a default weight, the traffic is distributed equally to all the inline tools in a group.

If an inline tool in a group goes down and the group maintains the minimum-group-healthy-size defined for the group, the traffic is redistributed to the remaining inline tools based on the default weight or the relative weight assigned to the inline tools. If the inline tool group does not meet the minimum-group-healthy-size defined for the group, the traffic is redistributed based on the failover-action defined for the group. The valid range is 1–256.

Note: Resilient hashing is not supported for classic inline maps. You cannot add a spare-inline-tool, if you have assigned hash weights to the inline tools in a group.

Separate each inline tool weight in the list with a comma. For example:

●

Relative weights:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # tool-list IT_001,IT_002,IT_003 hash-weights 2,3,2

●

Default weight:

(config inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup) # tool-list IT_001,IT_002,IT_003 hash-weights default

Related Commands

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

Task	Command
Displays inline tool groups.	# show inline-tool-group
Displays a specified inline tool group.	# show inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup
Displays all inline tool groups.	# show inline-tool-group all
Displays the Rx and Tx statistics for all the inline tool groups that are part of the inline flow deployment.	# show inline-tool-group traffic-rate all
Displays the Rx and Tx statistics for the specified inline tool group alias that is part of the inline flow deployment.	# show inline-tool-group traffic-rate alias <alias_name>
Deletes a specified inline tool group.	(config) # no inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup
Deletes the comment for this inline tool group.	(config) # no inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup comment
Disables an inline tool group.	(config) # no inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup enable
Disables release-spare-if-possible for this inline tool group.	(config) # no inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup release-spare-if-possible
Deletes the spare tool for this inline tool group.	(config) # no inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup spare-inline-tool
Deletes the inline tool list for the specified inline tool group.	(config) # no inline-tool-group alias inToolGroup tool-list
Deletes all inline tool groups.	(config) # no inline-tool-group all