IBM Europe, Middle East, and Africa
Hardware Announcement ZG09-0629
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Protocol (STP), Rapid Spanning Tree (RSTP), per VLAN STP (PVST), per VLAN group
STP (PVGST), and Multi-instance Spanning Tree (MSTP). The switches can also
support Brocade Metro Ring Protocol (MRP) for sub-second service restoration in
ring topologies, Virtual Switch Redundancy Protocol (VSRP) for redundant switch
configurations, VLAN topology grouping, and VLAN tunneling for advanced Layer 2
service configurations.
The IBM Ethernet r-series switches are designed to support Layer 3 feature set
for scalable Exterior Gateway and Interior Gateway Protocols (EGP and IGP). The
switches can support a wide array of IPv4 routing protocols including RIPv1/v2,
OSPFv2, BGP-4, and IS-IS. To future-proof the network, support for IPv6 routing
protocols include RIPng, OSPFv3, and BGP-4+.
A scalable, resilient network can be built using IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation for
up to eight links. BPDU Guard and Root Guard support prevent rogue hijacking of
the spanning tree root and maintain a contention-free and loop-free environment,
especially during dynamic network deployments. Additionally, IP SouceGuard can be
configured to prevent IP source address spoofing.
With Brocade Direct Routing (BDR), the Forwarding Information Base (FIB) is
downloaded to the hardware-based forwarding engine on each line module. Policy
Based Routing (PBR) allows customizable routing policies using ACLs. This feature
can be used to balance network usage by controlling the network paths for different
traffic flows.
Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) and VRRPE enable the switches to
operate as a backup router to other network routers. In the event of a router failure,
the switch can automatically and seamlessly perform the task of the failed router.
The IBM Ethernet r-series switches can help to meet the growing use of streaming
video and voice in a converged network by providing hardware-based support for
a number of multicast protocols including MSDP, PIM-SM, and PIM-DM. This allows
network managers to efficiently deploy next generation multicast applications.
Network administrators can enforce QoS policies based on port, VLAN, source MAC,
ACL rules, IEEE 802.1p priority, Type of Service (ToS), DiffServe settings, or Rate
Limiting status. The wide variety of methods supported can help administrators to
granularly tune traffic according to their needs, such as strict priority for Voice over
IP, video, and high-performance computing applications.
Combinations of Strict Priority (SP) and Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ) can provide
flexibility for network administrators. In the event of egress port congestion, traffic
policies can be configured for tail drop or weighted random early detection (WRED)
operation.
Advanced bandwidth management can allow intelligent bandwidth management
using hardware based enforcement of Committed Information Rate (CIR) with
Excess Burst control capabilities and seamless integration with other QoS features.
Wire-speed Access Control Lists (ACL) is designed to control packet forwarding
and restrict access to the system management interface, while providing wire-
speed switching and routing. An extensible ACL implementation for Layer 3 and
Layer 4 information identifies traffic based on source or destination IP address,
IP protocol type, TCP or UDP port, IP precedence, or ToS values. Flexible Layer
2 implementation identifies traffic based on source or destination MAC address,
Ethernet type, VLAN-ID values, and 802.1p values.
High priority voice and data traffic flow through the chassis utilizing the high
performance hardware-based QoS features of the switches. Wire-speed security
can be maintained by locking out unauthorized users with port security, by filtering
DoS and unauthorized traffic with ACLs, and by monitoring traffic flows with sFlow.
The switches can allow you to grow from just 24 ports of 10/100/ 1000 at the edge
and up to 1,536 ports of 10/100/ 1000 or 512 ports of 10-Gigabit Ethernet in the
core. A common architecture across the entire series can meet the demands of
enterprise network needs while incorporating resiliency, security, and scalability in