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

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klui

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Feb 3, 2019
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I once thought the same way and because I'm not trained as an EE/electrician the only reason I could see why there are bonding points in DC equipment is they facilitate a better path for ESD to be routed away from sensitive components. When installing equipment to racks the paint is supposed to be scratched off ears during this time to facilitate the bond. Even if you have the bond but your body has accumulated a charge, by touching a port cage that charge could pass through components you don't want before it exits through the plug or bonding wire.

This "electricity follows all paths" is why some equipment has an ESD point that one should touch/connect an ESD strap before the equipment is serviced. Ideally your rack and all equipment should be bonded to a grounding bar (which in turn bonded to your electrical ground) and you either touch it or wear an ESD wrist strap connected your grounded rack before you service any equipment in your high static environment.

See: https://www.juniper.net/documentation/us/en/hardware/srx550-hm/srx550-hm.pdf, pg 14 (#13).
 

Griffon551

New Member
Nov 13, 2023
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Anyone able to help? Tried everything but just keep getting "Process [1] stopped by sds monitor" when it tries to boot
 

Richard Berg

New Member
Sep 4, 2021
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What is the current recommendation for SFP+ to RJ45 adapters?

This is for wiring an ICX-6450 to a few PCs that (will soon) have 10GbE NICs.
 

NablaSquaredG

Bringing 100G switches to homelabs
Aug 17, 2020
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Just got an ICX7750-48F, which seems to be dead as a brick (there's some initial console output, aka bootloader version + SVR: 0x82100120, PVR: 0x80230032, but then just silence)

Any idea what this could be? I'd guess memory issue maybe?

If you power cycle the switch, there are two different bootloader versions. Neither of them works.


Does anyone have a spare XW1648E8GMNE-AO DIMM (8GB DDR3 SODIMM Registered(!))?
 
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hedgiedahawg

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Dec 30, 2023
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I'm setting up one of the ICX 7250 switches, and when I do the licensing, it says that I have a trial period of 45 days and then I have to buy a license. This is for a home lab, so I'm not all that interested in paying $1k for licensing. In the licensing guide, it says that it's honor-based, so I'm confused. Does it stop working after 45 days? Does it just keep on? Is this something that changed with the more recent version of the firmware and I need to downgrade the switch to an older firmware?

Thanks!
 

itronin

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2018
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Denver, Colorado
I'm setting up one of the ICX 7250 switches, and when I do the licensing, it says that I have a trial period of 45 days and then I have to buy a license. This is for a home lab, so I'm not all that interested in paying $1k for licensing. In the licensing guide, it says that it's honor-based, so I'm confused. Does it stop working after 45 days? Does it just keep on? Is this something that changed with the more recent version of the firmware and I need to downgrade the switch to an older firmware?

Thanks!
my suggestion is to worry about it in 45 days and see if it all still works.
 

daleq

New Member
Mar 11, 2015
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guide updated from 8095k to the latest 8095, 08095m. Thought I did this months ago but I guess not. all icx7xxx documentation updated to match as well
Thanks for your work @fohdeesha !
After a long delay, I just restarted my project. Following your documentation was clear with no problems. I'm ready to go install now.
I'm very grateful for your work.
 
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NablaSquaredG

Bringing 100G switches to homelabs
Aug 17, 2020
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I have requested ICX7750 u-boot source code from Ruckus... Let's see.

EDIT: The support isn't willing to help. Escalating to the legal team now.
 
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ms264556

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Sep 13, 2021
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New Zealand
ms264556.net
I have requested ICX7750 u-boot source code from Ruckus... Let's see.

EDIT: The support isn't willing to help. Escalating to the legal team now.
Let's see how you go. I got nowhere without a support contract. They didn't respond to any contact unless it was initiated from a support ticket.

Ruckus do seem receptive to requests from customers, so if someone here has a 7750 under support and made the request for you then I'm guessing they'd add it to their queue and publish some source on sourceforge in a few months.

My experience, with the XClaim and ZD1200 source drops, is that they're overly aggressive with scrubbing their IP from the published source. It looks like their modus operandi is to remove all source files with a Ruckus copyright and then patch up the remaining source so it still builds. Of course this isn't how the GPL works. So even after they publish you'll probably have a few months of pointing out missing functionality and waiting for a revised drop which adds some of this back.
 

NablaSquaredG

Bringing 100G switches to homelabs
Aug 17, 2020
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Let's see how you go. I got nowhere without a support contract. They didn't respond to any contact unless it was initiated from a support ticket.

Ruckus do seem receptive to requests from customers, so if someone here has a 7750 under support and made the request for you then I'm guessing they'd add it to their queue and publish some source on sourceforge in a few months.
yeah, but I'm willing to escalate this, possibly to the uboot authors themselves.

I don't care about their support contract shitshow, GPL is GPL
 

Gerhen

Member
Nov 29, 2023
44
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Hi all,

Not sure how this happened by I'm getting the following message when I ssh into my switch:

client_input_hostkeys: received duplicated ssh-rsa host key

I've delete the entries for the switch in my .ssh/known_hosts files and have tried deleting and reissuing the keys on the switch using the below commands but it hasn't stopped the message I'm seeing above. Any ideas?

Code:
crypto key zeroize
crypto key generate rsa modulus 2048
 

hedgiedahawg

New Member
Dec 30, 2023
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No



Yes

Legally you‘d have to remove the trial license after 45days if you don‘t buy it. But they don‘t enforce it, hence „honor based“
Thanks! I wasn't sure what the mechanism was and the licensing bits at the start of the thread didn't mention specifically, so I thought i would ask. Thank you again and happy new year!
 

atomicwerks

New Member
Dec 31, 2023
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I'm embarking on my first adventure into the world of multi-GB networking and have a few questions regarding interconects for my new equipment.

Please excuse my ignorance.

I recently ordered a 6610-24p-e and a couple 649281-B21 HP cards that I plan to flash to the -fcbt firmware.

1 card will be in my opnsense box and 1 in my main server. Other systems will get 10gb x560 cards.

I believe so far that I will be able to use the 40g qsfp+ ports on the 6610 to connect to the cx3 cards.

Will the following work for interconnection?

Brocade transceivers:
Lot of 4 Brocade 57-1000267-01 XBR-000232 4 x 16GB QSFP SW 100M | eBay

Would I also need Mellanox transceivers?
Dell Mellanox 2MJ5F 40Gbps Ethernet QSFP 850nm Transceiver 02MJ5F #96629# | eBay

Are these 2 transceivers compatible?

Do I need OMx lc-lc fiber or mpt/mpo?

If these aren't good choices can someone please suggest better options?

Thanks in advance,
Atomicwerks
 

itronin

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2018
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Denver, Colorado
Do I need OMx lc-lc fiber or mpt/mpo?

If these aren't good choices can someone please suggest better options?

Thanks in advance,
Atomicwerks
bottom of the first post talks about mpt/mpo.

you dont mention distance needed.
DAC and AOC may be simpler solutions if the cable path and distance work.

Personally i've made the decision to just pull single mode in my house. more flexibility on speed in the future.
xver's cost a bit more but i'm not buying that many and saves hassle.
 

atomicwerks

New Member
Dec 31, 2023
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bottom of the first post talks about mpt/mpo.

you dont mention distance needed.
DAC and AOC may be simpler solutions if the cable path and distance work.

Personally i've made the decision to just pull single mode in my house. more flexibility on speed in the future.
xver's cost a bit more but i'm not buying that many and saves hassle.
Ok, so if I understand this right, the mpo is needed to breakout the 40g into 4x 10g. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

In my case, I won't be using the breakouts for the time being as i won't even be able to fill the front 8.

You mention DAC or AOC. I looked into them a bit and DAC would work for my 40g connections since it's all in the same cabinet so runs are short.

Do you have a recommendation for dac cables that work with both the brocade and cx3 cards?

If I went with SM OS2 lc-lc would the transceivers I listed work for that?
 

itronin

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2018
1,308
867
113
Denver, Colorado
Ok, so if I understand this right, the mpo is needed to breakout the 40g into 4x 10g. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

In my case, I won't be using the breakouts for the time being as i won't even be able to fill the front 8.

You mention DAC or AOC. I looked into them a bit and DAC would work for my 40g connections since it's all in the same cabinet so runs are short.

Do you have a recommendation for dac cables that work with both the brocade and cx3 cards?

If I went with SM OS2 lc-lc would the transceivers I listed work for that?
soo pretty sure that youre xvers are multi-mode mpt/mpo .

also that brocade one makes me think FC based on speed dunno if that translates to ethernet.

In any case they look like multi-mode not sm.

if you want transceivers and sm patches you need to look for ones that specify lc connector and should have LR in the name or description and wavelength will likely be 1310.

FWIW and from a simplicity standpoint.

you might also consider 40gbe to 10gbe QSFP TO SFP+ DAC or AOC breakouts for in-rack 10gbe before using up your front SFP+ cages which are a bit more flexible for media types and you wont be messing with mpt/mpo cables. DAC breakouts seem to be running $25-$45USD for short distances. AOC for longer distances seem to be 60 and up. The dac breakouts are very cost effective for 10gbe in-rack runs.

reminder. you have 2 40gbe qsfp and 2 40gbe to 4 X 10gbe breakouts - these configurations cannot be changed.
 

NablaSquaredG

Bringing 100G switches to homelabs
Aug 17, 2020
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@fohdeesha

FWIW, I started digging around in the UFI file format from Ruckus, specifically because I wanted to extract the packages

The first 84 bytes of a Ruckus Firmware image are some kind of header. From this header you can reconstruct another table, which has a number of packages with a specific size each and an offset where this table is located.
For SPR08095mufi.bin for example, this is
Code:
size_per_package: 42
num_packages: 13
pkg_table_start_offset: 512
pkg_table_size: size_per_package * num_packages = 546
Although it doesn't make sense to read size_per_package from the header, as it's hardcoded as 42 in the rest of the Ruckus code...

size_per_package is the size of each entry in the package table in bytes.

Each entry has:
2 bytes of whatever - maybe a version? (acc 2)
32 bytes for the package file name, should be zero terminated, so 31 characters + '0' byte (acc 34)
4 bytes for the offset of the package in the file after the table - this is a BIG ENDIAN coded uint32 (don't ask me why it's big endian) (acc 38)
4 bytes for the filesize of the package - - this is a BIG ENDIAN coded uint32 (don't ask me why it's big endian) (acc 42)

For SPR08095mufi.bin, this gives:

Code:
size_per_package: 42
num_packages: 13
pkg_table_start_offset: 512
pkg_table_size: 546


index = 0
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 0
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 0
total_file_offset = 1058
fileName = SPR08095m.bin
fileSize = 33554432

index = 1
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 42
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 33554432
total_file_offset = 33555490
fileName = SPR08095m.sig
fileSize = 256

index = 2
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 84
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 33554688
total_file_offset = 33555746
fileName = spz10126.bin
fileSize = 786944

index = 3
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 126
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 34341632
total_file_offset = 34342690
fileName = mnz10126.bin
fileSize = 786944

index = 4
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 168
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 35128576
total_file_offset = 35129634
fileName = Python-2.7.13.tar.gz
fileSize = 7329468

index = 5
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 210
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 42458044
total_file_offset = 42459102
fileName = httpPkg.tar.gz
fileSize = 4944796

index = 6
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 252
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 47402840
total_file_offset = 47403898
fileName = dhcp-4.2.5-P1.tar.gz
fileSize = 739706

index = 7
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 294
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 48142546
total_file_offset = 48143604
fileName = perf-4.4.tar.gz
fileSize = 503799

index = 8
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 336
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 48646345
total_file_offset = 48647403
fileName = protobuf-c-1.3.1.tar.gz
fileSize = 174130

index = 9
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 378
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 48820475
total_file_offset = 48821533
fileName = python2-protobuf-3.7.0-1-aarch6
fileSize = 551692

index = 10
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 420
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 49372167
total_file_offset = 49373225
fileName = python2-six-1.12.0-1-any.pkg.ta
fileSize = 19732

index = 11
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 462
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 49391899
total_file_offset = 49392957
fileName = FileMgrPkg.tar.gz
fileSize = 3782445

index = 12
entry_offset_in_pkg_table = 504
pkg_file_offset_after_table = 53174344
total_file_offset = 53175402
fileName = logmgrPkg.tar.gz
fileSize = 7612128
I can share the code which directly extracts the files if you want. Allows you to extract current, most up to date bootloaders and stuff like that.

Just tested the extractor - Successfully extracts spz10118.bin from SPR08090mcufi.bin (tested by comparing MD5 hash of extracted file and known good file from archive)
 
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