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

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ArmedAviator

Member
May 16, 2020
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Kansas
Hi,

are you running an FCX Image? Maybe the experts can give you an hint. I‘ve updated an ICX6450-24P to the the latest *u Image, couldn‘t mention any reasonable increase in temperature besides the normal deviation.
Hi, yes I am running the correct image. The ICX6450 that I upgraded using its appropriate image hasn't changed temps. It is not located in the same rack, but temps are pretty uniform in the room it's in also, as it's in the livable space. Interestingly enough, I looked back further in the logged history and it shows that it was infact running these temps prior to the last cold boot. The last cold boot was about 9 months ago and during the entire 9 months, the temps remained low. Out of curiosity, when I'm next able to, I'm going to perform a cold boot and log the temps. Perhaps it's a sensor or firmware glitch. I don't see why the temps would run any different between warm vs cold boot.
 

nickf1227

Active Member
Sep 23, 2015
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I have a fleet of hundreds of ICX switches at work at 40+ sites. I hate them. The POE ASIC dies on them often. The stacking cables fail often. They don't have normal console cables. Also-- Dual-Mode is stupid and should die in a fire....
 

fohdeesha

Kaini Industries
Nov 20, 2016
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I have a fleet of hundreds of ICX switches at work at 40+ sites. I hate them. The POE ASIC dies on them often. The stacking cables fail often. Also-- Dual-Mode is stupid and should die in a fire....
dual mode did die in a fire ~3 years ago with firmware 8070, how old of firmware are you running? 200+ people in this thread quite happy with no issues lmao
 

Jiaxinxi

Member
Aug 23, 2017
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I just received the ICX7250-48 switch.

I just realized I need a console cable to make any changes mentioned in this thread. The one @fohdeesha posted sometime ago is already expired.

@fohdeesha Do you have any console cable you can recommend on eBay or amazon?


Thanks!
 

fohdeesha

Kaini Industries
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Jiaxinxi

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Aug 23, 2017
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Last edited:

Jiaxinxi

Member
Aug 23, 2017
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If you really want to hack something up (I am not responsible if you fry the serial port):

@fohdeesha
I have this usb to serial adapter

So reading from this diagram,

All I need is to connect the cable to the correct pin, then I can use the usb serial adpater to talk to the switch?

It is going to be a lot cheaper than the proprietary cable.

Apologize if somebody already tried this before. I still haven't complete the 180 pages thread yet.
 

OptimusPrime

Member
Apr 21, 2020
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I cannot find the exact model online, but if it's copper 10GBase-T, make sure in the connection properties that you allow negotiation at 1Gbps.
You can make a basic test jumping with the cable the two NIC ports, they should come up at 10G strraight away.
Thank you for the notes. Yes, it is 10GBase-T RJ45. I've tried setting the Speed & Duplex in the Driver Properties box (Windows 10 Pro, see attached), but still no change in behavior. I also are unable to activate the activity LEDs by jumping the the 2 ports on the same NIC, or between the 10Gb NIC and the 1Gb NIC on the Mobo, or conencted to one of the transceivers on the switch.

I've got a replacement NIC coming tomorrow. Hopefully that one will work. The transceivers for the switch arrived today. They installed and tested at 1Gb with the Mobo NIC without issue.

ConnectionProperties.PNG
 
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OptimusPrime

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Apr 21, 2020
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All I need is to connect the cable to the correct pin, then I can use the usb serial adpater to talk to the switch?

It is going to be a lot cheaper than the proprietary cable.
If a $10 Cisco cable doesn't work, have you considered the console port is broken or locked out? I had to return my first ICX6450 because of a bad console port. Spent two weeks and $200 chasing down cables assuming it was me...when my second switch arrived, the first cable I purchased work perfectly.
 

infoMatt

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
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Thank you for the notes. Yes, it is 10GBase-T RJ45. I've tried setting the Speed & Duplex in the Driver Properties box (Windows 10 Pro, see attached), but still no change in behavior. I also are unable to activate the activity LEDs by jumping the the 2 ports on the same NIC, or between the 10Gb NIC and the 1Gb NIC on the Mobo, or conencted to one of the transceivers on the switch.
Well, that doesn't sound very healty indeed... Probably a bad card; let's hope for the best for your second one ;).
 

Jiaxinxi

Member
Aug 23, 2017
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If a $10 Cisco cable doesn't work, have you considered the console port is broken or locked out? I had to return my first ICX6450 because of a bad console port. Spent two weeks and $200 chasing down cables assuming it was me...when my second switch arrived, the first cable I purchased work perfectly.
If a $10 Cisco cable doesn't work, have you considered the console port is broken or locked out? I had to return my first ICX6450 because of a bad console port. Spent two weeks and $200 chasing down cables assuming it was me...when my second switch arrived, the first cable I purchased work perfectly.
Thanks for you info.

I have ICX7250, it is different from ICX6450 according to @fohdeesha It use brocade proprietary mini-usb to db9 cable. The standard console to RJ45 cable will not work on ICX7250.
 

tommybackeast

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Jun 10, 2018
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so uhhhh...did nobody see the ICX6610-24P listing for $78? He had two of them, been up for weeks and I managed to resist for most of it. I finally gave in and offered $70 each for both of them and he took it. I'm drowning in ICX
I am forming a picture of you covered up to your neck in ICX hardware, clinging to a CAT6 cable dangling from a ceiling as you try to escape...
 
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Ryan Haver

New Member
Apr 7, 2020
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I recently purchased an ICX6610 and I'm struggling with a few issues. Any help is greatly appreciated.

  1. dual-mode
    dual-mode is rather annoying on the ICX6610. I'm guessing there are no new firmware release that removes dual-mode like on the ICX7150. Is there any way to keep an interface in the default VLAN without having to dual-mode it?
  2. licensing
    It appears not all the ports on my switch are licensed. I guess I'll message @fohdeesha about licensing per his instructions on the first post.
  3. SFP+ ports not working as expected
    Most of the SFP ports won't recognize transceivers or come up with any link status. All cables are DAC from FS.com with brocade firmware flashed on the brocade side. I'm wondering if I'm just missing something simple here or if this is possibly faulty ports/cables.
The SFP+ ports that are working are seen below. while all others that are listed as Down are not working.
Code:
SSH@ICX6610#show interface brief ethernet 1/2/1 to 1/3/8

Port       Link    State   Dupl Speed Trunk Tag Pvid Pri
1/2/1      Up      Forward Full 40G   None  No  1    0
1/2/2      Up      Forward Full 10G   None  No  1    0
1/2/3      Down    None    None None  None  Yes 1    0
1/2/4      Down    None    None None  None  Yes 1    0
1/2/5      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/2/6      Up      Forward Full 40G   None  No  1    0
1/2/7      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/2/8      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/2/9      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/2/10     Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/1      Up      Forward Full 10G   None  Yes 1    0
1/3/2      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/3      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/4      Up      Forward Full 10G   None  Yes 1    0
1/3/5      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/6      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/7      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/8      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
 

infoMatt

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
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I recently purchased an ICX6610 and I'm struggling with a few issues. Any help is greatly appreciated.

  1. dual-mode
    dual-mode is rather annoying on the ICX6610. I'm guessing there are no new firmware release that removes dual-mode like on the ICX7150. Is there any way to keep an interface in the default VLAN without having to dual-mode it?
  2. licensing
    It appears not all the ports on my switch are licensed. I guess I'll message @fohdeesha about licensing per his instructions on the first post.
  3. SFP+ ports not working as expected
    Most of the SFP ports won't recognize transceivers or come up with any link status. All cables are DAC from FS.com with brocade firmware flashed on the brocade side. I'm wondering if I'm just missing something simple here or if this is possibly faulty ports/cables.
1. Yes, the "dual-mode" command went away but in the 8070 code train, that IIRC is available only for the ICX7xxx series... But, if I read correctly, you want to change the physical VLAN instead of it being in the VLAN 1? If it's what you want, simply configure inside the specified VLAN the port as untagged

conf t
vlan 100
untagged ethernet 1/1/10

(I don't remember the exact syntax, it might be untagged interface ethernet... but the point is there; it's the same as the "switchport access vlan xxx" in the Cisco world).

2. Yep, you'll need to ask at fohdeesha
3. SFP+ ports aren't auto sensing. If you plug an SFP module, or you connect via a DAC to a SFP 1G card, you have to set the speed to 1000-full to the interface, otherwise it tries to sync at 10G and it will fail.
 

hrana

New Member
May 14, 2020
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For the ICX7450-48P, I see that it supports 8 PoH (95W) ports and vague mentions of 802.3bt Type 3 and Type 4. Is this functionality that was introduced via a firmware update that we can update to or is it vaporware?
 
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Ryan Haver

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Apr 7, 2020
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@infoMatt Here is where it gets weird.


1. Yes, the "dual-mode" command went away but in the 8070 code train, that IIRC is available only for the ICX7xxx series... But, if I read correctly, you want to change the physical VLAN instead of it being in the VLAN 1? If it's what you want, simply configure inside the specified VLAN the port as untagged

conf t
vlan 100
untagged ethernet 1/1/10

(I don't remember the exact syntax, it might be untagged interface ethernet... but the point is there; it's the same as the "switchport access vlan xxx" in the Cisco world).
If I have an interface that is in VLAN1 (default VLAN) then tag it in VLAN 20 it is automatically removed from VLAN 1 altogether. This behavior is very strange to me. To place it back into VLAN 1 as untagged I am forced to configure it in VLAN 1 as dual-mode. Is there a way around this?

In versions of FastIron that deprecated dual-mode the interface stays in VLAN1 as untagged when tagged in another VLAN.

3. SFP+ ports aren't auto sensing. If you plug an SFP module, or you connect via a DAC to a SFP 1G card, you have to set the speed to 1000-full to the interface, otherwise it tries to sync at 10G and it will fail.
I can have a Brocade SFP+ Transceiver plugged into interface 1/3/4 that is working without issues, but then move it to interface 1/3/3 and it won't detect it.

It's harder to troubleshoot with the breakout cables as I can only swap an entire breakout cable at a time and I only have two breakout cables, but the results appear to be similar.
 
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infoMatt

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Apr 16, 2019
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If I have an interface that is in VLAN1 (default VLAN) then tag it in VLAN 20 it is automatically removed from VLAN 1 altogether. This behavior is very strange to me. To place it back into VLAN 1 as untagged I am forced to configure it in VLAN 1 as dual-mode. Is there a way around this?
No, it's correct.
Generally speaking, VLAN is ment to be used in the "distribution" side, ie. between switches, and usually you just want to carry only tagged traffic; untagged frames in this context is just signalling and control (say, STP BPDU and such) but it is not traffic that is ment to be forwarded to other ports.
On the opposite side, to the terminal side the computers and such won't understand VLAN tag, and you should put each port in its network, untagged of course.

The exceptions is covered via the dual mode property (say, for VoIP phones), and in this case best practices suggest to avoid VLAN 1 altoghether.

I can have a Brocade SFP+ Transceiver plugged into interface 1/3/4 that is working without issues, but then move it to interface 1/3/3 and it won't detect it.

It's harder to troubleshoot with the breakout cables as I can only swap an entire breakout cable at a time and I only have two breakout cables, but the results appear to be similar.
That is strange at best... it could be licensing related (but it shoud enable contiguous block of ports, and you can see in that case on a show interface 1/3/3 that it is err-disabled), or it could be defective... Try posting a show interface ethe 1/3/3, show licence, show pod and show optics when the module is plugged in the 1/3/3 if.

EDIT: just to be safe... are you sure the interfaces aren't DISabled in their configuration? Could you post also a show running-config interface eth 1/3/3? Thanks
 
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Ryan Haver

New Member
Apr 7, 2020
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Thanks for clarifying about dual-mode.

Here is the running-config for all the SFP+ ports on the front of the switch with ports 1/3/1 to 1/3/4 having DAC cables connecting them to powered on servers.

Code:
SSH@ICX6610#show running-config interface e 1/3/1 to 1/3/8
interface ethernet 1/3/1
dual-mode
speed-duplex 10G-full
!
interface ethernet 1/3/2
speed-duplex 10G-full
!
interface ethernet 1/3/3
speed-duplex 10G-full
!
interface ethernet 1/3/4
dual-mode
speed-duplex 10G-full
!
Here is the interface brief for the same ports, again ports 1/3/1 to 1/3/4 are connected to powered on servers with DAC Cables.

Code:
SSH@ICX6610#show interface brief ethernet 1/3/1 to 1/3/8

Port       Link    State   Dupl Speed Trunk Tag Pvid Pri
1/3/1      Up      Forward Full 10G   None  Yes 1    0
1/3/2      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/3      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/4      Up      Forward Full 10G   None  Yes 1    0
1/3/5      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/6      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/7      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/8      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0

I've plugged 1Gig Copper SFP into 1/3/2 and 1/3/3 and configured each interface to operate at 1Gb

Code:
SSH@ICX6610#show interface brief ethernet 1/3/1 to 1/3/8

Port       Link    State   Dupl Speed Trunk Tag Pvid Pri
1/3/1      Up      Forward Full 10G   None  Yes 1    0
1/3/2      Up      Forward Full 1G    None  No  1    0
1/3/3      Up      Forward Full 1G    None  No  1    0
1/3/4      Up      Forward Full 10G   None  Yes 1    0
1/3/5      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/6      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/7      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
1/3/8      Down    None    None None  None  No  1    0
SSH@ICX6610#show running-config interface e 1/3/1 to 1/3/8
interface ethernet 1/3/1
dual-mode
speed-duplex 10G-full
!
interface ethernet 1/3/4
dual-mode
speed-duplex 10G-full
!

I'm starting to think this may be licensing related as all the ports work when configured at 1Gbe with the same cables. The ebay seller listed this as Premium license installed, I assumed this meant all features and ports would be licensed.

Below is the output from the show license command.

Code:
SSH@ICX6610#show license
Index    Lic Mode        Lic Name               Lid/Serial No  Lic Type    Status     Lic Period    Lic Capacity
Stack unit 1:
1        Node Lock       ICX6610-PREM-LIC-SW    xxxxxxxxxxx    Normal      Active     Unlimited         65535
2        Node Lock       ICX6610-10G-LIC-POD    xxxxxxxxxxx    Normal      Active     Unlimited         4
  1. Am I correct in Interpreting that the installed license means I can only use 4 of the 10Gig SFP+ ports at any given time?
  2. Or does this mean that only ports 1/3/1 to 13/4 are licensed for 10Gig
  3. What is the licensing relationship between the rear 10Gig breakout ports and the front 10Gig ports?
 
Last edited:

klui

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2019
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Your switch only has 4 of the 8 front SFP/SFP+ licensed for 10G. I recall it's the top half that are licensed in this situation.

Why don't you move your DAC that's in 1/3/1 throughout all the ports to get an idea what ports are licensed? Using a known-good cable is better than guessing if it's the port or the cable.

The rear QSFP+ ports don't require licensing.
 

Ryan Haver

New Member
Apr 7, 2020
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Ports 1/3/1 to 1/3/4 are the licensed ports because 1/3/5 to 1/3/8 are stuck in 1Gig mode and throw the following error when I try to change them to 10Gig "No license present for port". The licensed ports are still acting problematic though.

Ports 1/1/1 to 1/1/48
1Gig copper ports and all seem to work fine

Ports 1/2/1 to 1/2/10
Ports 1/2/1 and 1/2/6 are currently working (running at 40Gbps with QSFP+ DAC cables)
Ports 1/2/2 and 1/2/7 are currently working (running at 10Gig with QSFP+ to 4 x SFP+ Breakout DAC)
Ports 1/2/3 to 1/2/5 (1st QSFP+ breakout cable) and 1/2/8 to 1/2/10 (2nd QSFP+ breakout cable) none seem to work, need to test further

Ports 1/3/1 to 1/3/8
Ports 1/3/1 and 1/3/4 working at both 1Gig and 10Gig (tested with an assortment of transceivers and DAC Cables)
Ports 1/3/2 and 1/3/3 work only at 1Gig, 10Gig not working (tested with 1Gig copper transceivers and 10Gig DAC and Copper transceivers)
Ports 1/3/5 to 1/3/8 are not licensed and thus only work at 1Gig, but may have the same issues other ports have after being licensed

So ... part of the issue could be licensing, but then once licensed ports 1/3/5 to 1/3/8 may still not work at 10Gig, just like the other misbehaving. I'm going to wait on a response back from fohdeesha on the licensing and once all ports are licensed then I'll test some more.

There is a new firmware 08.0.30u that was released at the end of last month which fixes defects....but it isn't clear what those defects are. It'd be pretty funny if this is one of those defects that is fixed, but honestly, I'm still trying to make sure it isn't some weird configuration mistake on my part.