39Planning IRF topology and connectionsYou can create an IRF fabric in daisy chain topology or more reliable ring topology. In ring topology,the failure of one IRF link does not cause the IRF fabric to split as in daisy chain topology. Instead,the IRF fabric changes to a daisy chain topology without interrupting network services.You connect the IRF member switches through IRF ports, the logical interfaces for the connectionsbetween IRF member switches. Each IRF member switch has two IRF ports: IRF-port 1 and IRF-port2. To use an IRF port, you must bind a minimum of one physical port to it.When connecting two neighboring IRF member switches, you must connect the physical ports ofIRF-port 1 on one switch to the physical ports of IRF-port 2 on the other switch.The S5560X-EI switches provide 5-GE/10-GE/25-GE/40-GE IRF connections through multiple typesof ports (see Table 7 for the port types). You can bind several IRF physical ports to an IRF port forincreased bandwidth and availability.Figure 48 and Figure 49 show the topologies of an IRF fabric made up of three S5560X-30C-EIswitches. The IRF port connections in the two figures are for illustration only, and more connectionmethods are available.Figure 48 IRF fabric in daisy chain topologyFigure 49 IRF fabric in ring topologyIRF-port1IRF-port2IRF-port1IRF-port1IRF-port2IRF-port212312 3
