36Planning 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.Multiple types of ports (see Table 7 for the port types) on the S6520X-SI switches can be used forIRF connections. You can bind several IRF physical ports to an IRF port for increased bandwidth andavailability.Figure 45 and Figure 46 show the topologies of an IRF fabric made up of three S6520X-26C-SIswitches. The IRF port connections in the two figures are for illustration only, and more connectionmethods are available.Figure 45 IRF fabric in daisy chain topology
