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

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mozzarellathicc

New Member
Feb 7, 2023
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Thanks for the excellent documentation on this.

Short of cutting holes in the top for 120mm fans (which I'm considering), are there any workarounds for a dead fan MOSFET? I did replace the stock fans, but at full speed, they're still fairly loud.
 

pwm80211

New Member
Oct 27, 2024
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The 'GUI' doesn't have any configuration, you probably mean the management interface which is typically reached via VLAN 1 (using a virtual ethernet interface on that VLAN). If that's what you mean, yes, you can configure the VE on VLAN 1 to use DHCP to get address/gateway/etc. information, although that means if your DHCP server is unavailable for any reason you may lose the ability to manage the ICX over the network.
Thank you for your response. I realize the implication if the DHCP server is unavailable but I presently cannot access the management interface on a static IP through the existing wireguard VPN tunnel.
 

denywinarto

Active Member
Aug 11, 2016
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Hi, I havent seen it mentioned,
would a 6510 work with licensing trick as well? It's not on the compatibility list
 

Sana128

New Member
Oct 31, 2023
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Hello, everyone. I am setting up my second ICX-6610. The first one had zero issues, but the second one gave me a weird issue.

"Error! Stack unit 1 does not have POE module"

Both switches seem identical ICX 6610-48 (the second one has 2 PSU tho).

Any information to the right direction would be appreciated.
 
Jun 21, 2023
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Hello, everyone. I am setting up my second ICX-6610. The first one had zero issues, but the second one gave me a weird issue.

"Error! Stack unit 1 does not have POE module"

Both switches seem identical ICX 6610-48 (the second one has 2 PSU tho).

Any information to the right direction would be appreciated.
POE model's have a P at the end of their model name so for a POE ICX 6610-48 it would be ICX 6610-48 for non POE, and ICX 6610-48P for the POE model
 
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jode

Member
Jul 27, 2021
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I have an ICX 6610 with the 10G SFP+ ports enabled, and I'm trying to use these http://fs.com/products/42385.html transceivers, but when I plug them in nothing is detected. Are these incompatible?
Not sure about compatibility, but are you sure you want to connect to a device up to 10km away from your switch?

Most commonly in home lab and data centers 850nm SR (=short range; up to 300m) transceivers are used, such as these https://www.fs.com/products/31443.html?attribute=94972&id=3752829
The good news here: they are cheaper and use less power.
 

troupbargain

New Member
Dec 9, 2024
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Not sure about compatibility, but are you sure you want to connect to a device up to 10km away from your switch?

Most commonly in home lab and data centers 850nm SR (=short range; up to 300m) transceivers are used, such as these https://www.fs.com/products/31443.html?attribute=94972&id=3752829
The good news here: they are cheaper and use less power.
LR has no minimum distance though, so it should be fine in that regard. Yeah, SR LC UPC Duplex does make more sense but I needed white cables and happened to have some white simplex fiber lying around from a previous installation, so decided to buy the BiDi transceivers. I couldn't really find reputable sources for white single-mode fiber, but I didn't spend too much time looking since I had this fiber already and so assumed it would work.

Hoping I'm just missing something in the configs though - does FS.com do returns? :oops:
 
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TheMartel

New Member
Mar 12, 2018
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I'm in need of more 40gbit ports.
I have 3*ICS6610-24F, could someone confirm i can use the rear stacking port a 4*40gbit full speed ports?
Should Instack two of them, by using one of these port, i should have 6*40gbit availables ?
 

TheMartel

New Member
Mar 12, 2018
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LR has no minimum distance though, so it should be fine in that regard. Yeah, SR LC UPC Duplex does make more sense but I needed white cables and happened to have some white simplex fiber lying around from a previous installation, so decided to buy the BiDi transceivers. I couldn't really find reputable sources for white single-mode fiber, but I didn't spend too much time looking since I had this fiber already and so assumed it would work.

Hoping I'm just missing something in the configs though - does FS.com do returns? :oops:
I'm using only single mode fibre. In fact, my in-wall installation is 2*cat6a cables +4*single mode fiber.
Even in-rack, i'm using LR sfp/sfp+, and haven't had any issues with any sfp's so far, with some 3m cables.
 

troupbargain

New Member
Dec 9, 2024
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LR has no minimum distance though, so it should be fine in that regard. Yeah, SR LC UPC Duplex does make more sense but I needed white cables and happened to have some white simplex fiber lying around from a previous installation, so decided to buy the BiDi transceivers. I couldn't really find reputable sources for white single-mode fiber, but I didn't spend too much time looking since I had this fiber already and so assumed it would work.

Hoping I'm just missing something in the configs though - does FS.com do returns? :oops:
Supposedly, the transceiver EEPROM can be reprogrammed to report as a duplex transceiver and the switch would detect it. My only board with an SFP+ connection is a BPi-R4 running OpenWRT and it doesn't look like the MTK driver supports dumping or modifying the EEPROM or registers:

Code:
root@OpenWrt:~# ethtool -e eth1
Cannot get EEPROM data: Not supported
root@OpenWrt:~# ethtool -i eth1
driver: mtk_soc_eth
version: 6.6.63
firmware-version:
expansion-rom-version:
bus-info: 15100000.ethernet
supports-statistics: yes
supports-test: no
supports-eeprom-access: no
supports-register-dump: no
supports-priv-flags: no
Will I be able to do it with ethtool on desktop x86 Linux,
or are there any cheap ways to get access to an SFP+ programmer?

Update: Apparently the FS BOX does not support changing tranceiver type like this.

Update 2: The FS Box does indeed support this, I changed the brand to Brocade and the part number to SFP-10GLR-31 and it works perfectly now with optical monitoring.
 
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youreunwelcome

New Member
Dec 5, 2024
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I've got an ICX6650, attempting to use the QSFP ports on the rear and I'm encountering an odd problem. Ive gotten a few "QSFP-40G-SR-BD" modules (some Proline and a couple Cisco) and for some reason only ports 1/2/3, 1/3/1-4 and 1/3/5-8 seem to work. Of the slot 2 ports only 1/2/3 gives light (and only when putting in the Proline optic, the Cisco one gives no light). If I take an LC cable and loop it back the port shows active and lights up, but even with the loopback the other 40gb ports dont work. The modules do appear to work in the 2 4x10Gb ports though, I can both loopback and connect the ports to each other and they show active and give light.

I also have a couple HPE QSFPs (817040-B21), and they seem to give light on all ports show show up on show media. I dont have the MPO cables to connect to them to test whether they can show active though.

If I have the Proline modules plugged into 1/2/1, 1/2/2, 1/2/3 and 1/2/4 this is some of the output I get (lines referring to 10Gb SFP ports removed):

show pod
Code:
Unit-Id: 1
PoD 10G license capacity:  24
PoD 10G license capacity used:  24
PoD 40G license capacity:  24
PoD 40G license capacity used:  6

PoD-ports    Lic-Available Lic-Used
1/2/1      Yes             Yes
1/2/2      Yes             Yes
1/2/3      Yes             Yes
1/2/4      Yes             Yes
1/3/1      Yes             Yes
1/3/2      Yes             Yes
1/3/3      Yes             Yes
1/3/4      Yes             Yes
1/3/5      Yes             Yes
1/3/6      Yes             Yes
1/3/7      Yes             Yes
1/3/8      Yes             Yes
show media
Code:
Port 1/2/1:  Type : EMPTY
Port 1/2/2:  Type : EMPTY
Port 1/2/3:  Type : EMPTY
Port 1/2/4:  Type : EMPTY
show media validation
Code:
Port       Supported Vendor               Type                                  
----------------------------------------------------------------------                 
1/2/1      Yes       CISCO-PROLINE        40G QSFP Module                       
1/2/2      Yes       CISCO-PROLINE        40G QSFP Module                       
1/2/3      Yes       CISCO-PROLINE        40G QSFP Module                       
1/2/4      Yes       CISCO-PROLINE        40G QSFP Module
show media ethernet 1/2/X
Code:
Port   1/2/1: Type  : 40G QSFP Module
Vendor Name: CISCO-PROLINE    Serial Num: PROXXXXXXXXX    Revision: D1

Port   1/2/2: Type  : 40G QSFP Module
Vendor Name: CISCO-PROLINE    Serial Num: PROXXXXXXXXX    Revision: D1

Port   1/2/3: Type  : 40G QSFP Module
Vendor Name: CISCO-PROLINE    Serial Num: PROXXXXXXXXX    Revision: D1

Port   1/2/4: Type  : 40G QSFP Module
Vendor Name: CISCO-PROLINE    Serial Num: PROXXXXXXXXX    Revision: D1
For the Cisco module that doesnt work in any of the ports:
Code:
Port 1/2/3:  Type : EMPTY

Port       Supported Vendor               Type                                  
----------------------------------------------------------------------                 
1/2/3      Yes       CISCO-AVAGO          40G QSFP Module

Port   1/2/3: Type  : 40G QSFP Module
Vendor Name: CISCO-AVAGO      Serial Num: AVMXXXXXXXX     Revision: 01
A DAC I was able to find (no link light when plugging both ends into the switch):
Code:
Port 1/2/1:  Type : 40GBASE-Passive Copper
Port 1/2/2:  Type : 40GBASE-Passive Copper

Port       Supported Vendor               Type                                  
----------------------------------------------------------------------             
1/2/1      Yes       Mellanox             40G QSFP Module
1/2/2      Yes       Mellanox             40G QSFP Module


Port   1/2/1: Type  : 40G QSFP Module
Vendor Name: Mellanox         Serial Num: 6CFXXXXXXX      Revision: A1
Port   1/2/2: Type  : 40G QSFP Module
Vendor Name: Mellanox         Serial Num: 6CFXXXXXXX     Revision: A1
Does anyone have any idea why this is bahaving this way? The most advanced switch I've used before this was a Microtik, so I'm still attempting to wade through the CLI. I dont know if I'm missing a command or if this is a compatibility issue. Are these BiDi modules just not supposed to work? If thats the case why does it work in port 3 and both the 4x10Gb ports? Any help is appreciated.
 

AranoX

New Member
Oct 28, 2024
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Hi guys!

Got my 6450 and i'm pretty new to the Brocade stuff, basic config was no problem till now, but now im a little stuck...

I'm trying to connect my 5G router (Zyxel NR7302, ) to eth1 and pass it trough to eth2 (currently connect to LAN1 on FRITZbox 7530, will be a opnSense Box shortly).
It seems that the whole installation does not like it when the switch inbetween... but i dont get why.

Can somebody maybe guide me in the right direction on how to configurate eth1 and eth2 so that WAN Port (LAN1) on FRITZbox is working again?
 

samalewis

New Member
Dec 12, 2024
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Hi all,
Referencing post #4, is it possible to connect two breakout ports directly with Brocade 57-1000267-01 Xbr-000232 4 X 16gb QSFP MPO optics? I would like to replace my current dynamic lag (from Sw1 1/3/5-8 to sw2 1/2/7-10) that uses a breakout cable and go directly from sw1 1/2/7-10 to sw2 1/2/7-10 using the MPO 4x10 optics on both sides connected with a single MPO cable.
My use case requires all four 40gbe ports (two per switch) to be usable so this is my current working solution, but it is clunky and more cabling than I would like to have to manage. I have tried searching/sifting the thread and haven't found a direct answer. Thanks!
 

duplexsystem

New Member
Dec 13, 2024
3
0
1
I have bought some ptm7950 from linus for my 6610, and I am going to try and replace the existing thermal paste with this, I went with ptm7950 over paste because it seems like it will last longer because I really don't want to have to open this up more than once. I am hoping to improve thermals thereby improving fan noise. But even if thermals are improved with no fan noise improvement would be good as well. I will post before and after thermals once I do this. If anyone else has done something similar let me know how it went!
 

rory

New Member
May 28, 2021
7
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3
Help me understand what is going on in my homelab setup:

172.17.1.XX vlan1 trusted machines
172.17.10.XX vlan10 untrusted machines (IoT & guest)
172.17.20.XX vlan20 management (ILO, ESXi hosts, etc)

ICX7150 is in my office with desktops, printers, scanners
ICX7250 is in my garage with half rack and servers


firewall/router2.5 G copper linkICX 715010G fiber linkicx 7250
172.17.1.1GW: 172.17.1.1GW 172.17.1.1
172.17.10.1172.17.1.2172.17.1.3
172.17.20.1172.17.20.2172.17.20.3


Everything works fine… but I have one annoyance I don’t understand.

In my half rack I have the main network connections for my servers hooked up via DAC to the 10G SFP+ ports, but their ILO/iDRAC connections are hooked up to standard 1G ports.

The link between the two switches is a 10G fiber connection utilizing a SFP+ port on each switch.

When setting the IP address for the ILO/iDRAC devices, I can assign 172.17.20.1 as the gateway and it works fine, however for the ESXi management configuration of the servers connected to the SFP+ ports I must set the gateway to 172.17.20.3 (e.g. the switch address on the management network, not the firewall’s address). If I use the test management network feature of ESXi, it indicates that 172.17.20.1 pings fail when the gateway is set to 172.17.20.1. If I set the gateway to 172.17.20.3, the test management network pings of 172.17.20.1 succeed.

It very much appears that the SFP+ trunk/stack ports act differently than the 1G ports in this respect. If I switch the ESXi host to 1G and plug in to a 1G port instead of the SFP+ port I can use the 172.17.20.1 address as the gateway. It acts as if the switch is not forwarding ARP requests for the VLAN between SFP+ ports.

What is going on, and to satisfy my OCD nature, is there a way for me to not have to specify 172.17.20.3 as the gateway for servers connected via SFP+ ports?

Thanks in advance!
 
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56ip1234

New Member
Jun 6, 2023
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Does the ICX7150-48ZP have any licensing issues with the SFP+ ports or can I enable the licenses like I have with my ICX7150-48P? I see sellers listing different models with different numbers of SFP+ active.
 

rory

New Member
May 28, 2021
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Does the ICX7150-48ZP have any licensing issues with the SFP+ ports or can I enable the licenses like I have with my ICX7150-48P? I see sellers listing different models with different numbers of SFP+ active.
I am pretty sure that all the 7XXX series have gone to the honor based licensing. Although I do not own the 7150-48ZP, I own several 7150-24P units that were advertised with different numbers of SFP+ ports. The only difference was the installed license, and I was able to simply enable the additional ports.
 
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56ip1234

New Member
Jun 6, 2023
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I am pretty sure that all the 7XXX series have gone to the honor based licensing. Although I do not own the 7150-48ZP, I own several 7150-24P units that were advertised with different numbers of SFP+ ports. The only difference was the installed license, and I was able to simply enable the additional ports.
That's my understanding but given the price tag and the main reason to upgrade is the additional SFP+ I hope someone can definitively confirm. The 2.5 Gbps ports are a nice plus.