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

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itronin

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2018
1,281
850
113
Denver, Colorado
Hi!

I've got myself the Brocade ICX-6450-48P and think that I do have lost myself during configuration... At least I'm missing something and ask for your help.

What am I trying to achieve:
I do have configured four gateways and four vlans at a pfSense-firewall. I specified a specific gateway for each vlan using the firewall-rules. To get the inter-vlan-routing off the firewall I got the ICX-6450. As much as I understand the documentation or what I have read I have to configure one port with all four 'pfSense-vlans' being tagged and being connected to the pfSense-box. Next is to create four new 'ICX-vlans' for my network, create the router-interface for each vlan and specify the gateway for each 'ICX-vlan' by using the default-gateway option (IP of the created tagged vlan-port).

Right here I'm stuck...
Is this a requirement: Specific default gateway per VLAN?
Or
Are you simply as you said trying to get inter-vlan routing off the firewall? Ie. use the ICX6450 as your "core router"?

I'm going to leave this drawing here and see if it helps:
4-vlan-home-icx-pfsense.drawio.png
 

DerTom

New Member
Mar 30, 2021
11
0
1
Is this a requirement: Specific default gateway per VLAN?
Or
Are you simply as you said trying to get inter-vlan routing off the firewall? Ie. use the ICX6450 as your "core router"?

I'm going to leave this drawing here and see if it helps:
As much as I know I do need a separate gateway for each vlan as there are different wan-gateways/purposes for each vlan.
#1 gateway vlan 71 -> default gateway wan
#2 gateway vlan 72 -> vpn
#3 gateway vlan 73 -> vpn-streaming
#4 gateway vlan 74 -> vpn-work
Having vlan99/ve99 for all four vlans will not work as I don't see a way to separate the traffic for the different gateways.

I'm thinking about a setup like:
(icx-6450 -> pfsense -> gateway)
#1 vlan71 (ve 71: 192.168.71.253, default-gateway: 192.168.171.254) -> vlan171 (192.168.171.0/24, 192.168.171.254) -> default-gateway: 10.0.71.1
#2 vlan72 (ve 72: 192.168.72.253, default-gateway: 192.168.172.254) -> vlan172 (192.168.172.0/24, 192.168.172.254) -> default-gateway: 10.0.72.1
#3...
#4....

The documentation (for configuring the default-gateway) I do see is for fastiron 08050 - a version I will not get with the 6450!?
 

MikeSpears

New Member
Feb 8, 2016
14
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31
Having some issues with the 40G to 4x 10G breakout cable I bought (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LAR98YK and https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U8LY4Y4). When I attach the cable to one of the breakout ports and the other end to my servers, either only 1 or 2 will link up, or none will link. Is this potentially a bad cable or user error?
I suspect I fixed this, but will know for sure later as my lab lives in a datacenter so gotta go back to test... I never disabled stacking on my switch.
 

kpfleming

Active Member
Dec 28, 2021
416
214
43
Pelham NY USA
As much as I know I do need a separate gateway for each vlan as there are different wan-gateways/purposes for each vlan.
#1 gateway vlan 71 -> default gateway wan
#2 gateway vlan 72 -> vpn
#3 gateway vlan 73 -> vpn-streaming
#4 gateway vlan 74 -> vpn-work
Having vlan99/ve99 for all four vlans will not work as I don't see a way to separate the traffic for the different gateways.
This sort of thing is what VRFs were invented for. You create a VRF for each 'virtual routing table' you need, with the proper routes to external networks, and assign VLANs to the VRFs they need.

The issue here is not the existence of different gateways, it's the existence of different routing tables.
 

itronin

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2018
1,281
850
113
Denver, Colorado
This sort of thing is what VRFs were invented for. You create a VRF for each 'virtual routing table' you need, with the proper routes to external networks, and assign VLANs to the VRFs they need.

The issue here is not the existence of different gateways, it's the existence of different routing tables.
and @DerTom

Concur that VRF would solve this.

But, does the ICX6450 have VRF support?

AFAIK - I do not think VRF support is available on the ICX6450 (first post in the thread and here.)
 

rigel.local

New Member
Feb 17, 2023
22
2
3
the 4 QSFP ports on the back are not locked. See post #4
they are however configured by default for stacking.
this post talks about a mix of stack and not stacking qsfp ports.
You can configure all 4 QSFP for no stacking and then use them to connect to hosts e.g. 2x 40Gbps and 8 x 10Gbps.
Thank you so much for explanation!!

On another note does anyone know what does "Premium software" vs "Base software" mean from "BROCADE ICX 6610 ORDERING INFORMATION" section in this document?

Practically speaking show we worry about loosing some features when buying ICX6610-24P-E vs ICX6610-24P-PE? "PE" models of 6610 are more expensive.
 

DerTom

New Member
Mar 30, 2021
11
0
1
This sort of thing is what VRFs were invented for. You create a VRF for each 'virtual routing table' you need, with the proper routes to external networks, and assign VLANs to the VRFs they need.

The issue here is not the existence of different gateways, it's the existence of different routing tables.
and @DerTom

Concur that VRF would solve this.

But, does the ICX6450 have VRF support?

AFAIK - I do not think VRF support is available on the ICX6450 (first post in the thread and here.)
Yes, the 6450 will not support VRF...

Is there another way to solve this?

If not, I will have to wait until an ICX7250-24p is within my budget...
 

rigel.local

New Member
Feb 17, 2023
22
2
3
Sorry for newbie spamming here. some crazy idea.

Has anyone thought about taking out all the internals from for example ICX 6610 and placing them in a generic 2U rack case with cutting out the front panel. And then using 3d printing print a custom panel with cutouts for this specific ICX 6610 ports arrangement. After that we can use bigger and less noisy fans that push more air.

Or included fans are custom and programmed in a way no other fans can be used with custom connections?
 

kapone

Well-Known Member
May 23, 2015
1,103
647
113
Can someone recommend a known working 40G to 4x 10G breakout cable? Ideally via Amazon so I can get it quickly..
Confirmed working. (can't find em anywhere else except ebay)


And wow, have they gone up in price! I bought 4 of these in 2018 for $50 shipped!
 
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RandellH

New Member
Oct 18, 2020
22
13
3
Hi All,

I have a ICX-7250-24 switch I followed the Fohdeesha Docs for setup and licensing. I ordered 3 Mikrotik S+RJ10 SFP modules for 10 G connectivity.When I plug the 10G transceivers into the switch they do not light up and when I type show media validation the Type is 1GE M-SX(SFP)
The sticker on the outside says MikroTik S+RJ10 is there anyway I can vailid the transceivers?
A little bit of a necro, but I had the same issue (I didn't read all the thread before I tried) with mine. I tried this module:
HiSense SFP-10G-SR from Amazon (Size: 10GBase-T: 30m)

Edit: What was received was an ASF-10G2-T.

It seems to work. I plugged my ATT gateway into the 5gb port (on the gateway) into this module and it lit up and I have internet. The switch shows a 10gb link and ATT gateway shows a 5gb link.

I ran speedtest and I was maxing the connection on both upload and download. I will probably try the 2gb service soon to see how that works.

Code:
SSH@switcheroo(config)#show media e 1/2/8
Port   1/2/8: Type  : 10GE SR 300m (SFP+)
             Vendor: OTHERS             Version: 02
             Part# : SFP-10G-SR         Serial#: XXXXXXXXXXXX
I noticed the part number above doesn't seem to be the one I ordered, so they are a bit careless with their programming that information.

Code:
SSH@switcheroo(config)#show interfaces brief e 1/2/8

Port       Link    State   Dupl Speed Trunk Tag Pvid Pri MAC             Name
1/2/8      Up      Forward Full 10G   None  No  30   0   xxxx.xxxx.xxxx
Code:
SSH@switcheroo(config)#show media validation

Port       Supported Vendor               Type
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1/2/8      Yes       OTHERS                Type  : 10GE SR 300m (SFP+)
Edit: Looking at the Amazon page, it looks like it has a Marvel 88x3310, which might have some issues:
GBASE-T transceivers performance with NBASE-T - Marvell 88x3300 v/s Aquantia AQS-107 | ServeTheHome Forums

So, I might have some issues when I go to 2gb
 
Last edited:

RandellH

New Member
Oct 18, 2020
22
13
3
This module, like the S+RJ10 basically turns the 10g port on the Brocade into a multigig port. Of course Brocade doesn't "see" that, it just sees that there is a 10gb SFP+ module. The ATT gateway has a port that supports 1gb, 2.5gb and 5gb. So, when I put that into this module, the module and ATT negotiate 5gb and Brocade is non the wiser.
 

kapone

Well-Known Member
May 23, 2015
1,103
647
113
This module, like the S+RJ10 basically turns the 10g port on the Brocade into a multigig port. Of course Brocade doesn't "see" that, it just sees that there is a 10gb SFP+ module. The ATT gateway has a port that supports 1gb, 2.5gb and 5gb. So, when I put that into this module, the module and ATT negotiate 5gb and Brocade is non the wiser.
I'm aware of modules that do that. But "HiSense SFP-10G-SR" doesn't seem to be something special. It's simply a transceiver?
 

RandellH

New Member
Oct 18, 2020
22
13
3
I'm aware of modules that do that. But "HiSense SFP-10G-SR" doesn't seem to be something special. It's simply a transceiver?
Perhaps I am just misinformed (good chance, since I'm new to this stuff). I was under the impression that you needed a special transceiver to get these switches to play nice with 2.5/5gb devices, otherwise it wouldn't work unless the both devices supported 10gb.