Drag to reposition cover

Brocade ICX Series (cheap & powerful 10gbE/40gbE switching)

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

BlackCat

New Member
Mar 1, 2017
9
2
3
44
Israel
I'm sorry if this has been answered already, this thread is huge.
I just received my ICX 6450-48P and it didn't come with a console cable.
Is the console port just an RS-232 interface (Tx, Rx and GND)? Because I have in my box an RS-232 to usb interface.
If yes, which pins of an RJ45 do what?
You can check standard Cisco serial cable. Most of time it works brilliant.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jason Antes

tubs-ffm

Active Member
Sep 1, 2013
219
70
28
So I'm going to totally disagree and say you can do it safely. I modified a 48P and quieted it down quite a bit. It's been running for a year continuously in a poorly ventilated closet under moderate POE load with no issues. That said, I feel terrible for tubs - that is NOT something I'd want to wake up to.
In my original post I was writing that I cannot prove that it is because of the fan modification I did. But a single case that something is running I would not consider as a prove to say it is save. A single case that fails gives me enough confidence to at least give a warning.

I am not an expert for cooling and not an expert for electronics neither I have technical data to judge what value is save and where it is getting dangerous. Maybe your 3 Mechatronics MR4020X12B1-RSR are sufficient and my 2 Delta EFB0412VHD-F00 are not. I do not know.
 

asceca

New Member
Aug 7, 2013
1
0
1
I'll try using the RPS9 power supply for broacade net-iron - the connector appears to be the same but can't seems to find affordable fans refurbished or new anywhere...

I was hoping the 6610 fans would work but not they don't
Hello, have you tried it?
Can RPS9 power supply work on icx7750?
 

Nikotine

Member
Mar 17, 2021
35
0
6
You can check standard Cisco serial cable. Most of time it works brilliant.
Thanks, I just went ahead and tried it.
Indeed only 4 connections needed.

RJ45 pins:
3 -> TX
4 & 5 -> GND
6 -> RX

I initially had TX and RX inverted, because of the pinouts I found on Google, but I had to invert them.

USB-serial interface is an ICP CON I-7561 that I bought on eBay.
It's probably cheaper to just buy the damn console cable, but now I used what I had laying around.

Now comes the fun part, configuring this beast.

20210317_125920.jpg
 

richtj99

Member
Jul 8, 2017
70
1
8
52
Any thoughts on 6450vs7250 for homelab usage? Two 6450's is $300ish & two 7250's is closer to $850. I am looking to keep these for years so power usage is a concern also to me. Is it worth it to spring for the newer switch?
 

RoachedCoach

Member
Feb 4, 2020
48
56
18
In my original post I was writing that I cannot prove that it is because of the fan modification I did. But a single case that something is running I would not consider as a prove to say it is save. A single case that fails gives me enough confidence to at least give a warning.

I am not an expert for cooling and not an expert for electronics neither I have technical data to judge what value is save and where it is getting dangerous. Maybe your 3 Mechatronics MR4020X12B1-RSR are sufficient and my 2 Delta EFB0412VHD-F00 are not. I do not know.
Agreed, we have no way of knowing for sure. I remember reading your post about the PSU popping and letting out an audible groan.

For anyone going forward, my best rule of thumb is to match the replacement components as closely to the originals in terms of performance. I'm going off the assumption Brocade knew what they were doing when they built these, so any specs used on the original parts will be sufficient for the machine to function as intended.

The original fans in this system moved an airflow of around 25 CFM according to my research. You were rocking two Deltas with a max CFM of around 10 CFM; the Deltas I initially tried were 24 CFM, and then the Mechatronics I settled on are around 17 CFM.

Obviously no data to support, but my best guess would be the much higher airflow of the Mechatronics fans (plus having 3 instead of 2) would play a factor. Then again, you were monitoring your temps and they seemed fine, so it very well could've been a faulty cap, or maybe the temp sensors simply don't tell the whole story with this stuff.

I don't know - best advice to anyone on these boards once they get modding is understand the risks involved. And I hope we don't come to find these have crap PSUs longterm.
 

eduncan911

The New James Dean
Jul 27, 2015
648
510
93
eduncan911.com
So I'm going to totally disagree and say you can do it safely. I modified a 48P and quieted it down quite a bit. It's been running for a year continuously in a poorly ventilated closet under moderate POE load with no issues. That said, I feel terrible for tubs - that is NOT something I'd want to wake up to.

Here's my fan mod post. The weird pinouts for fans are in the post that the below post quotes.


I would also add, if you feel the PSU sensor is running on the hot side, you could always side mount a fan next to PSU externally (there's vents there). Not the cleanest look in the world, but it'd be effective. I tried it for kicks and it dropped around 5 - 7 C off the PSU, but didn't stick with it since mine never climbed to a point that was anywhere close to unsafe for its tolerances.
The OP that asked to quiet it down has a 7450. And the follow-up person that said his PSU exploded, also had a 7450.

The post you linked to above is for the 7250 - different PSU (there can be two in the 7450), and I think different fan using "Fan Modules" that are reversible.


Nevermind, nothing to see here. Please drive through.
 
Last edited:

RoachedCoach

Member
Feb 4, 2020
48
56
18
The OP that asked to quiet it down has a 7450. And the follow-up person that said his PSU exploded, also had a 7450.

The post you linked to above is for the 7250 - different PSU (there can be two in the 7450), and I think different fan using "Fan Modules" that are reversible.
What? Tubs had a 7250-24P


OP also has a 7250-24P

 
Last edited:

D4M4EVER

New Member
Sep 22, 2020
7
5
3
On my ICX 6610-48P the fans started ramping up to fighter jet speed, the same level as it does at first boot.

Started looking at my switch temps and the CPU seems kind of hot to me, are these temps concerning?

The fans are kicking off full speed to get the CPU temp back down and seems to slow back down once CPU temp is around 71deg C

Code:
Fan 1 ok, speed (auto): [[1]]<->2
Fan 2 ok, speed (auto): [[1]]<->2

Fan controlled temperature: 75.5 deg-C

Fan speed switching temperature thresholds:
        Speed 1: NM<----->76       deg-C
        Speed 2:       71<-----> 80 deg-C (shutdown)

Fan 1 Air Flow Direction:  Front to Back
Fan 2 Air Flow Direction:  Front to Back                        
MAC 1 Temperature Readings:                                      
        Current temperature : 54.5 deg-C                        
MAC 2 Temperature Readings:                                      
        Current temperature : 64.0 deg-C                        
CPU Temperature Readings:                                        
        Current temperature : 75.0 deg-C                        
sensor A Temperature Readings:                                  
        Current temperature : 61.5 deg-C                        
sensor B Temperature Readings:                                  
        Current temperature : 61.5 deg-C                        
sensor C Temperature Readings:                                  
        Current temperature : 47.0 deg-C                        
stacking card Temperature Readings:                              
        Current temperature : 54.0 deg-C                        
        Warning level.......: 77.0 deg-C                        
        Shutdown level......: 80.0 deg-C
 

ArmedAviator

Member
May 16, 2020
91
56
18
Kansas
What's the ambient temp of that room? If the fans are ramping up to level 2, it's probably too hot for average use case.

I have two ICX6610s in a stack. One runs 10C cooler than the other both MACs and the CPU. No idea why the difference despite same load/PoE/devices plugged in.
 

Nikotine

Member
Mar 17, 2021
35
0
6
I followed @fohdeesha 's guide to do the initial setup of the ICX 6450.
It all works, got it updated, has L3 firmware now and a static IP.

I would like it to get a reserved IP via dhcp from my router.
So I removed the
ip dhcp-client disable
and
ip address 192.168.1.55/24
lines from config, but the interface doesn't get an IP address.

Code:
ICX6450-48P-Router(config)#show run
Current configuration:
!
ver 08.0.30tT313
!
stack unit 1
  module 1 icx6450-48p-poe-port-management-module
  module 2 icx6450-sfp-plus-4port-40g-module
!
!
!
!
vlan 1 name DEFAULT-VLAN by port
 router-interface ve 1
!
!
!
!
!
aaa authentication web-server default local
aaa authentication enable default local
aaa authentication login default local
enable telnet authentication
hostname ICX6450-48P-Router
!
username root password .....
snmp-server community ..... ro
!
!
clock summer-time
clock timezone gmt GMT+01
!
!
ntp
 disable serve
 server 192.168.1.1
!
!
!
!
!
interface ve 1
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
end

ICX6450-48P-Router(config)#show ip
Global Settings
  ttl: 64, arp-age: 10, bootp-relay-max-hops: 4
  router-id : 0.0.0.0
  enabled : UDP-Broadcast-Forwarding  Source-Route  Load-Sharing  RARP  VRRP-Extended  VSRP
  disabled: Route-Only  Directed-Broadcast-Forwarding  BGP4 IRDP  Proxy-ARP  RIP  OSPF  VRRP  ICMP-Redirect  add-host-route-first

ICX6450-48P-Router(config)#show logging
Syslog logging: enabled ( 0 messages dropped, 0 flushes, 0 overruns)
    Buffer logging: level ACDMEINW, 14 messages logged
    level code: A=alert C=critical D=debugging M=emergency E=error
                I=informational N=notification W=warning

Static Log Buffer:
Jan  1 01:00:42:I:System: Stack unit 1 POE  PS 1, Internal Power supply  with 740000 mwatts capacity is up

Dynamic Log Buffer (50 lines):
Jan  1 01:02:02:D:DHCPC: Stopped DHCP Client service
Jan  1 01:01:58:I:Security: console login by root to PRIVILEGED EXEC mode
Jan  1 01:00:42:I:System: Stack unit 1 POE  PS 1, Internal Power supply  with 740000 mwatts capacity is up
Jan  1 01:00:42:I:System: Interface ethernet 1/1/47, state up
Jan  1 01:00:42:I:System: Interface ve 1, state up
Jan  1 01:00:40:I:System: Warm start
Jan  1 01:00:38:I:PoD: No license present for port 1/2/4
Jan  1 01:00:38:I:PORT: 1/2/4 is ERR-DISABLED due to invalid license
Jan  1 01:00:30:I:PoD: No license present for port 1/2/2
Jan  1 01:00:30:I:PORT: 1/2/2 is ERR-DISABLED due to invalid license
Jan  1 01:00:22:D:DHCPC: starting dhcp client service on 53 port(s)
Jan  1 01:00:22:I:NTP: The system clock is not synchronized to any time source.
Jan  1 01:00:22:I:NTP: The system clock is not synchronized and does not have a reference configured.
While reading the fastiron manual, there is reference made to
ip dhcp-client enable
but that option isn't there:
Code:
ICX6450-48P-Router(config)#ip dhcp-client
  auto-update       Enable the DHCP client auto-update
  continuous-mode   In hours, default is 24-hrs
  disable           disable DHCP client globally on router
So what am I missing here?
 

D4M4EVER

New Member
Sep 22, 2020
7
5
3
What's the ambient temp of that room? If the fans are ramping up to level 2, it's probably too hot for average use case.

I have two ICX6610s in a stack. One runs 10C cooler than the other both MACs and the CPU. No idea why the difference despite same load/PoE/devices plugged in.

The room is ~22deg C (72deg F), i have the switch on top of my 42U rack but loaded in from the back side, the fans are suckers (Front to Back) I think they might be pulling in to much heat from the servers in the rack below it.

Both the front and back of rack is open, I have about 1ft from back of rack to a wall. My old swiotch i had did not have these kind of heat readings but also did not have the same fan power as this guy does.
 

Harr_cami

New Member
May 10, 2020
10
0
1
So I'm going to totally disagree and say you can do it safely. I modified a 48P and quieted it down quite a bit. It's been running for a year continuously in a poorly ventilated closet under moderate POE load with no issues. That said, I feel terrible for tubs - that is NOT something I'd want to wake up to.

Here's my fan mod post. The weird pinouts for fans are in the post that the below post quotes.


I would also add, if you feel the PSU sensor is running on the hot side, you could always side mount a fan next to PSU externally (there's vents there). Not the cleanest look in the world, but it'd be effective. I tried it for kicks and it dropped around 5 - 7 C off the PSU, but didn't stick with it since mine never climbed to a point that was anywhere close to unsafe for its tolerances.
Thanks so much for your response mate, its greatly appreciated, ill purchase 4 of those fans right now!
 

Harr_cami

New Member
May 10, 2020
10
0
1
The wire switch needed is to swap the tachometer and ground pins. It's rather easy: use a flat-blade screwdriver or the end of a tweezer to push the pin in, pull the wires out, and reinsert them after swapping.

I found that the Delta FFB0412VHN (40x28, 15.8CFM, 9500RPM, 45 dbA) is a reasonable swap. They are loud at boot, but after switching to fan speed 1, they run at 3400RPM and aren't audible at that speed unless you listen for them. On my 7250-48P, ASIC temperature is currently about 77C and the POE sensor is only at 28.5C. The FFBs also have an operating voltage range down to 4.5V, while the EFB's are only specced to a 7V minimum voltage.

Btw, does anyone know what the temperature thresholds for the 7250P model POE sensor are supposed to be? My unit says 41/34, but the Ruckus docs say that's for the 7250-24P, and the -48P is supposed to be 57/49 -- is that a typo in their table?

CFM requirements from data sheet:
ICX 7250-24G: 14.3 CFM (Maximum), 5.7 CFM (Typical) ICX 7250-24 : 14.0 CFM (Maximum), 5.7 CFM (Typical) ICX 7250-24P: 34.4 CFM (Maximum), 13.7 CFM (Typical) ICX 7250-48: 34.8 CFM (Maximum), 13.8 CFM (Typical) ICX 7250-48P: 45.2 CFM (Maximum), 21.4 CFM (Typical)
Thanks for your advice and help!
 

LodeRunner

Active Member
Apr 27, 2019
557
237
43
The room is ~22deg C (72deg F), i have the switch on top of my 42U rack but loaded in from the back side, the fans are suckers (Front to Back) I think they might be pulling in to much heat from the servers in the rack below it.

Both the front and back of rack is open, I have about 1ft from back of rack to a wall. My old swiotch i had did not have these kind of heat readings but also did not have the same fan power as this guy does.
Top of rack, with port-side intake and ports lined up with the outflow from your servers? Given the volume of air the fans move and the pressure they are capable of, you're definitely pulling the hot exhaust from your other gear into the switch. Either convert it to port-side exhaust, or move it to front of rack if you can.
 

atomicwrites

New Member
Mar 18, 2021
3
0
1
Hi all, I was about to pull the trigger on an ICX 6450 POE model, I'm currently limping along with a cheapo 8 port managed switch, and another 8 port POE switch both of which are full. My "future proof" (hopefully) requirements are 24 or more ports, 16 or more POE ports, at least two but preferably 4 10G sfp ports, and quiet enough to keep by my desk, although completely quiet is not necessary. Layer 3 routing would be nice, that way I don't have to ship all that traffic though a 1G link to the router. The problem is I read someone said the license unlocks don't work anymore, is that right? I know that means I'd lose 10G functionality on 2 of the 4 sfps, not sure what other issues I'd have. Are these still the "best" for an under $200 budget now?

P.S. is there a search in thread function? I couldn't find it.
 

shortround92

New Member
Feb 3, 2021
3
1
3
Hello Fohdeesha and fellow members, i recently bought an ICX6450-24 off fleabay. It basically came "wiped" and not ready to run. If I didn't do some internet searches, I'd have thought I bought a brick and would have requested a refund by now (seller has 30 days return). Who knows it may be DOA, but here is where your knowledge and expertise will help me get it running or save me in time to request a return. I have a USB-RJ45 console cable hooked to the Console and a passthrough cable from my laptop ethernet to the Management. In putty it's showing this:
Bootloader Version: 07.4.01T310 (Jun 29 2012 - 11:04:25)


Model ID: 1.0.0.0.0.0

Enter 'b' to stop at boot monitor: 0
bootdelay: ===
Booting image from Primary
Bad Magic Number
could not boot from primary, no valid image; trying to boot from secondary
Booting image from Secondary
Bad Magic Number
## Booting image at 00002fc0 ...
Bad Magic Number
## Booting image at 00002fc0 ...
Bad Magic Number
could not boot from secondary, no valid image; trying to boot from primary
Booting image from Primary
Bad Magic Number
## Booting image at 00002fc0 ...
Bad Magic Number
ICX64XX-boot>>

ICX64XX-boot>> ?
? - alias for 'help'
boot - boot default, i.e., run 'bootcmd'
boot_primary - primary boot; boot from primary partition
boot_secondary - secondary boot; boot from secondary partition
cp - memory copy
eeprom - EEPROM dump or program command
help - print online help
i2cprobe - Get special i2c device id
md - memory display
memtest - To perform DDR memory test
pci - list and access PCI Configuration Space
ping - send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to network host
printenv- print environment variables
reset - Perform RESET of the CPU
saveenv - save environment variables to persistent storage
setenv - set environment variables
sflash - read, write or erase the external SPI Flash.
tftpboot- boot image via network using TFTP protocol
update_primary - primary update; update primary partition
update_secondary - secondary update; update secondary partition
update_uboot - get the uboot image over tftp.
version - print monitor version
ICX64XX-boot>>

I cannot do "enable" to get into "EXEC" mode to get the goodies. So I googled and made do with commands I have. I did the setenv commands:
ICX64XX-boot>> printenv
baudrate=9600
ipaddr=192.168.1.75
serverip=192.168.1.79
netmask=255.255.255.0
gatewayip=192.168.1.1
uboot=192.168.1.79
image_name=ICX64R08030t.bin
ver=07.4.01T310 (Jun 29 2012 - 11:04:25)
ICX64XX-boot>> ping 192.168.1.79
ethPortNo = 0
Link Status Changed, Re-Negotiation Start
Using egiga0 device
host 192.168.1.79 is alive
ICX64XX-boot>> update_primary
ethPortNo = 0
Using egiga0 device
TFTP from server 192.168.1.79; our IP address is 192.168.1.75
Download Filename 'ICX64R08030t.bin'.
Load address: 0x3000000
Download to address: 0x3000000
Loading: %T %T %T %T %T %
Retry count exceeded, Try again
ICX64XX-boot>>

I pinged ipaddr and it failed and showed "not alive". So i'm not setting the IP for ICX correctly I think.
BTW, the fleabay listing has this pic of the item and when I got it and powered on, these lights also lit. Seller had listing for another 6450-24 also with these same status lights lit.
1616125673293.png


Please help. Sorry about the long post and thank you for your time.
 

Freebsd1976

Active Member
Feb 23, 2018
419
77
28
Hello Fohdeesha and fellow members, i recently bought an ICX6450-24 off fleabay. It basically came "wiped" and not ready to run. If I didn't do some internet searches, I'd have thought I bought a brick and would have requested a refund by now (seller has 30 days return). Who knows it may be DOA, but here is where your knowledge and expertise will help me get it running or save me in time to request a return. I have a USB-RJ45 console cable hooked to the Console and a passthrough cable from my laptop ethernet to the Management. In putty it's showing this:
Bootloader Version: 07.4.01T310 (Jun 29 2012 - 11:04:25)


Model ID: 1.0.0.0.0.0

Enter 'b' to stop at boot monitor: 0
bootdelay: ===
Booting image from Primary
Bad Magic Number
could not boot from primary, no valid image; trying to boot from secondary
Booting image from Secondary
Bad Magic Number
## Booting image at 00002fc0 ...
Bad Magic Number
## Booting image at 00002fc0 ...
Bad Magic Number
could not boot from secondary, no valid image; trying to boot from primary
Booting image from Primary
Bad Magic Number
## Booting image at 00002fc0 ...
Bad Magic Number
ICX64XX-boot>>

ICX64XX-boot>> ?
? - alias for 'help'
boot - boot default, i.e., run 'bootcmd'
boot_primary - primary boot; boot from primary partition
boot_secondary - secondary boot; boot from secondary partition
cp - memory copy
eeprom - EEPROM dump or program command
help - print online help
i2cprobe - Get special i2c device id
md - memory display
memtest - To perform DDR memory test
pci - list and access PCI Configuration Space
ping - send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to network host
printenv- print environment variables
reset - Perform RESET of the CPU
saveenv - save environment variables to persistent storage
setenv - set environment variables
sflash - read, write or erase the external SPI Flash.
tftpboot- boot image via network using TFTP protocol
update_primary - primary update; update primary partition
update_secondary - secondary update; update secondary partition
update_uboot - get the uboot image over tftp.
version - print monitor version
ICX64XX-boot>>

I cannot do "enable" to get into "EXEC" mode to get the goodies. So I googled and made do with commands I have. I did the setenv commands:
ICX64XX-boot>> printenv
baudrate=9600
ipaddr=192.168.1.75
serverip=192.168.1.79
netmask=255.255.255.0
gatewayip=192.168.1.1
uboot=192.168.1.79
image_name=ICX64R08030t.bin
ver=07.4.01T310 (Jun 29 2012 - 11:04:25)
ICX64XX-boot>> ping 192.168.1.79
ethPortNo = 0
Link Status Changed, Re-Negotiation Start
Using egiga0 device
host 192.168.1.79 is alive
ICX64XX-boot>> update_primary
ethPortNo = 0
Using egiga0 device
TFTP from server 192.168.1.79; our IP address is 192.168.1.75
Download Filename 'ICX64R08030t.bin'.
Load address: 0x3000000
Download to address: 0x3000000
Loading: %T %T %T %T %T %
Retry count exceeded, Try again
ICX64XX-boot>>

I pinged ipaddr and it failed and showed "not alive". So i'm not setting the IP for ICX correctly I think.
BTW, the fleabay listing has this pic of the item and when I got it and powered on, these lights also lit. Seller had listing for another 6450-24 also with these same status lights lit.
View attachment 17972


Please help. Sorry about the long post and thank you for your time.

your ping is live , maybe your tfp server or firwall issue , and you env is wrong , you need put SPR08080e.bin and mnz10114.bin in tfpserver root dir , otherwise it can not download firmware and uboot.

Code:
ipaddr=192.168.1.75
serverip=192.168.1.79
netmask=255.255.255.0
gatewayip=192.168.1.1
uboot=192.168.1.79  ---->>>wrong
image_name=ICX64R08030t.bin
ver=07.4.01T310 (Jun 29 2012 - 11:04:25)
ICX64XX-boot>> ping 192.168.1.79
ethPortNo = 0
Link Status Changed, Re-Negotiation Start
Using egiga0 device
host 192.168.1.79 is alive---->> your tftp server ip is alive
this is copy from @fohdeesha

Code:
#plug the management ethernet port into your network ,

#drop into the bootloader
#give the switch a temporary IP

setenv ipaddr 192.168.1.50
setenv netmask 255.255.255.0

#tell the switch the IP of your tftp server:
setenv serverip 192.168.1.51

#tell it the name of the OS firmware file:
setenv image_name  SPR08080e.bin

#tell it name of bootloaader file:
setenv uboot  mnz10114.bin

#flash the OS:
update_primary

#when that's done flash a new bootloader:
update_uboot

#when everything is done reboot the switch then follow the regular guide:
reset
 
Last edited: