Quanta LB6M (10GbE) -- Discussion

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alex1002

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Apr 9, 2013
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what did you do before this happened? did you try to flash the switch or upgrade its software?
I didn't update anything. I configured the switch and forgot to save the settings. Now a day later the console window stays black. Nothing happens. I connected the console cable to my other quanta switches and right away I get text prompt.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 

fohdeesha

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I didn't update anything. I configured the switch and forgot to save the settings. Now a day later the console window stays black. Nothing happens. I connected the console cable to my other quanta switches and right away I get text prompt.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
the settings have nothing to do with the bootloader prompt being sent out the serial console port, so that's definitely not the issue.

Were you messing around in the bootloader by chance? (hitting B before it fully boots). The only way to effect serial output is to change some of the u-boot environment variables like:

stdin=serial
stdout=serial
stderr=serial

which is kind of hard to do on accident. Does it make noise when you turn it on? Have you tried different power supplies?

did you happen to buy this switch on ebay a month or two ago from a seller named "fifakingdom" ?
 
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cdawwgg

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Just Noctua-Modded my LB6M and so far-so good. For the PSU fans I just moved the pins around in the fan connectors to match the ones that were previously in it by pressing down on the slits with a small screwdriver while giving the cord a little tension. I also cut the heatshrink away so I had some manuverability. Left to right they need to be red black yellow. The noise floor in my office has gone from 60db down to 38db. I can hear myself think! I think I might try this on my Nexus next.
 

Arb

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Apr 14, 2018
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Could some kindly provide me step by step. After getting the switch out of the box
Plug the power outlet. Connect to M port.
How can I config the ports after installer the transivers.

In the manual indicated the default IP 192.168.2.1 but I can not ping the address or open a browser. Also were can I get the RS232 or get the pinout. So I have try few things but I can not get to configuration. Maybe starting basic steps will help
 

qulix

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Oct 10, 2016
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I just used a cisco console cable to connect to mine.
https://www.amazon.com/Cisco-72-3383-01-Console-Cable-RJ45-to-DB9/dp/B000GL3MOY

I don't remember the buad. Maybe 115200? If you have the manual, it should tell you how to connect to the console.

Its been a while since I configured mine, so I can't recall step by step. Its nothing like cisco, if you're from that world. I have to refer to my notes any time I have to make any basic changes that i could normally do blind folded on a cisco switch.
 

Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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Could some kindly provide me step by step. After getting the switch out of the box
Plug the power outlet. Connect to M port.
How can I config the ports after installer the transivers.

In the manual indicated the default IP 192.168.2.1 but I can not ping the address or open a browser. Also were can I get the RS232 or get the pinout. So I have try few things but I can not get to configuration. Maybe starting basic steps will help
Somebody posted this earlier in this thread. File attached.
 

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SamCN2

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Dec 4, 2017
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Could some kindly provide me step by step. After getting the switch out of the box
Plug the power outlet. Connect to M port.
How can I config the ports after installer the transivers.
<snip>

See other reply on commands and serial. I found this cable to be quite good: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0753385H4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Before it arrives, you may wish to login and begin using the switch. As you did, this will require a connection to the management port. Connect the Management port to a LAN which has DHCP services. Find the last IP address assigned and telnet to that. You're in!

Here's what I did because I don't want a system with clear text (telnet) connections and no passwords connected to my network.

1) Configure a DHCP server on your laptop. I use dnsmasq on my Linux Mint laptop. I use a dedicated crash laptop that boots from a USB stick, and has dnsmasq and a few other tools. I can't help you with setting up a DHCP server on Windows or MacOS, but Google can.

2) Look at your DHCP logs and find either the MAC address that corresponds to your Quanta device, or look for the most recent DHCP lease.

3) Telnet to that address

OK, I actually set dnsmasq to serve exactly one address, and I just telnet to that.

admin : no password
en : no password

And you can configure the rest of the switch. Set the admin and enable passwords.

You only need the serial port kit to permanently set the management network to use a static IP address and allow only ssh. Unlike others, doing both of these on the management net connection is a 2 step affair that drops your connection before it is finished, but doesn't save the new settings, so you have to reset and .... Loop forever, go buy serial cable :)
 

CKat

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May 20, 2017
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Hello Everyone...

I have been using the LB6M for some time now, its mounted in the data center.
Recently I changed some configuration settings, but that caused some unexpected issues on network side.

I tried to undo them, but it seems any changes I make seems to break something unintended.

My setup:
1. Firewall at top, connected to Dell Switch. Dell connected to Quanta on port 0/25
2. There are 2 VLANs defined, 10 and 11 - I have defined them in all 3 places. Firewall acts as a DHCP server for each VLAN
3. I tagged the port on Dell sitch to include VLAN 10 and 11 as Trunk. I also tagged the port that connects to the Firewall for VLAN 10 and 11 as T
4. On Quanta, I have to define some ports as PVID 11. This is because we use XenServer and there is a limitation where the XenServer's management interface has to be untagged (This is corrected in a future version, but no budget for the paid version)
5. It used to work fine - until one day something went wrong and Pings stopped working.
6. I made some changes, deleted VLAN, recreated them etc. But now I cannot ping the servers as I used to be able to.

My assumption is that something is screwed up with the configuration of the switch.

Any idea what it could be?

I have set all ports to "VLAN Acceptframe all"
I have included vlan participation 10,11
I have included vlan tagging (if the PVID is 11, then there is no Tagging 11, instead I have to tag VLAN 1 and the ping works for SOME servers, but still not all)

I am going crazy here.. Random things are happening - Example,
I ping from one server to other. "Destination Host Unreachable"
then I shutdown firewall, For next 5-10 seconds, ping works, then again goes back to "Destination Host Unreacable"...

Any suggestions?

My Running Config
Code:
!Current Configuration:
!
!System Description "Quanta LB6M, 1.2.0.14, Linux 2.6.21.7"
!System Software Version "1.2.0.14"
!System Up Time          "0 days 0 hrs 16 mins 34 secs"
!Additional Packages     FASTPATH QOS
!Current SNTP Synchronized Time: Not Synchronized
!
vlan database
vlan 10-11
vlan name 10 "vlan10"
vlan name 11 "vlan11"
exit
ip ssh server enable
configure
aaa authentication enable "enableList" enable
line console
exit
line telnet
exit
line ssh
exit
spanning-tree configuration name "C8-0A-A9-03-B6-76"
!

--More-- or (q)uit

interface 0/1
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 10-11
exit
interface 0/2
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 10-11
exit
interface 0/3
vlan pvid 11
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10
exit
interface 0/4
vlan pvid 11
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10
exit
interface 0/5
vlan pvid 11
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10
exit

--More-- or (q)uit

interface 0/6
vlan pvid 11
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10
exit
interface 0/7
vlan pvid 11
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10
exit
interface 0/8
vlan pvid 11
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10
exit
interface 0/9
vlan acceptframe vlanonly
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10-11
exit
interface 0/10
vlan acceptframe vlanonly
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10-11

--More-- or (q)uit

exit
interface 0/25
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10-11
exit
interface 0/26
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 10-11
exit
router rip
exit
router ospf
exit
exit
 
Last edited:

fohdeesha

Kaini Industries
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I know this probably isn't the answer you wanted to here, but flash it to brocade and be done with the crappy fastpath demo build these things shipped with - https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...-flash-to-brocade-turboiron-big-update.17971/

Second, if you'd like all the enterprise features of xenserver, switch to XCP-ng – XenServer based, Community Powered.

it's a fork of xenserver (full disclosure, I am on the development team) where we removed the licensing daemon so all enterprise features come for free - zero limitations and ALL features including vgpu migration etc etc. other than that it's identical to xenserver, can take all your existing VM's, and you can even use our ISO to update existing xenserver installs. We "fixed" a few other things Citrix can't seem to figure out, like doing away with those ridiculous patch files for updates (patches are now handled with yum, just a simple yum update)

That paired with Xen Orchestra (built from sources, also all features for free) equals about the slickest VM and management stack I've used, especially with xen orchestra's backup features (continuous replication across pools, delta backups, etc). Makes Proxmox seem like a college students project if I'm being blatantly honest, but I know these things come down to mostly taste
 
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CKat

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I know this probably isn't the answer you wanted to here, but flash it to brocade and be done with the crappy fastpath demo build these things shipped with - https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...-flash-to-brocade-turboiron-big-update.17971/

Second, if you'd like all the enterprise features of xenserver, switch to XCP-ng – XenServer based, Community Powered.

it's a fork of xenserver (full disclosure, I am on the development team) where we removed the licensing daemon so all enterprise features come for free - zero limitations and ALL features including vgpu migration etc etc. other than that it's identical to xenserver, can take all your existing VM's, and you can even use our ISO to update existing xenserver installs. We "fixed" a few other things Citrix can't seem to figure out, like doing away with those ridiculous patch files for updates (patches are now handled with yum, just a simple yum update)

That paired with Xen Orchestra (built from sources, also all features for free) equals about the slickest VM and management stack I've used, especially with xen orchestra's backup features. Makes Proxmox seem like a college students project if I'm being blatantly honest, but I know these things come down to mostly taste
Thanks for the quick reply.

I will look into the Brocade flash -- as well as the XCP-ng -- did not realize that was already available after the 7.2 version changes that happened in XenServer licensing.

However, neither is an immediate solution..

So let me ask this - if on the Quanta I run "clear config" - I know it will clear all configuration, but when it comes back up, will it have:
1. Telnet or SSH enabled by default?
2. Will it keep DHCP for Switch's IP or will it default to 192.168.2.1?

Those two things have to work - otherwise I will physically have to fly to the DC to plugin a cable and manually edit these settings.. which is not a good idea,
 

CKat

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May 20, 2017
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I know this probably isn't the answer you wanted to here, but flash it to brocade and be done with the crappy fastpath demo build these things shipped with - https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...-flash-to-brocade-turboiron-big-update.17971/

Second, if you'd like all the enterprise features of xenserver, switch to XCP-ng – XenServer based, Community Powered.

it's a fork of xenserver (full disclosure, I am on the development team) where we removed the licensing daemon so all enterprise features come for free - zero limitations and ALL features including vgpu migration etc etc. other than that it's identical to xenserver, can take all your existing VM's, and you can even use our ISO to update existing xenserver installs. We "fixed" a few other things Citrix can't seem to figure out, like doing away with those ridiculous patch files for updates (patches are now handled with yum, just a simple yum update)

That paired with Xen Orchestra (built from sources, also all features for free) equals about the slickest VM and management stack I've used, especially with xen orchestra's backup features (continuous replication across pools, delta backups, etc). Makes Proxmox seem like a college students project if I'm being blatantly honest, but I know these things come down to mostly taste

Forgot to day this --- THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE XCP-ng... I just downloaded the iso and will be experimenting with it ASAP...

I know one enhancement on 7.3 (Xenserver) was that we can have management network on a tagged VLAN. Hopefully that would solve some of my issues by not having to set PVID (which I think may be dropping vlan 1)..
 

J Hart

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Apr 23, 2015
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My experience with VLANs has been similar to yours. When you set it up the first time it just seems to work, but when re-configuring something goes haywire. I think that something in the processing of tagged frames hangs around in the volatile regions of the switch when you unset some options related to VLAN. I have found cutting power to the device and letting it load back up will restore it to sanity.

Hello Everyone...

I have been using the LB6M for some time now, its mounted in the data center.
Recently I changed some configuration settings, but that caused some unexpected issues on network side.

I tried to undo them, but it seems any changes I make seems to break something unintended.

My setup:
1. Firewall at top, connected to Dell Switch. Dell connected to Quanta on port 0/25
2. There are 2 VLANs defined, 10 and 11 - I have defined them in all 3 places. Firewall acts as a DHCP server for each VLAN
3. I tagged the port on Dell sitch to include VLAN 10 and 11 as Trunk. I also tagged the port that connects to the Firewall for VLAN 10 and 11 as T
4. On Quanta, I have to define some ports as PVID 11. This is because we use XenServer and there is a limitation where the XenServer's management interface has to be untagged (This is corrected in a future version, but no budget for the paid version)
5. It used to work fine - until one day something went wrong and Pings stopped working.
6. I made some changes, deleted VLAN, recreated them etc. But now I cannot ping the servers as I used to be able to.

My assumption is that something is screwed up with the configuration of the switch.

Any idea what it could be?

I have set all ports to "VLAN Acceptframe all"
I have included vlan participation 10,11
I have included vlan tagging (if the PVID is 11, then there is no Tagging 11, instead I have to tag VLAN 1 and the ping works for SOME servers, but still not all)

I am going crazy here.. Random things are happening - Example,
I ping from one server to other. "Destination Host Unreachable"
then I shutdown firewall, For next 5-10 seconds, ping works, then again goes back to "Destination Host Unreacable"...

Any suggestions?

My Running Config
Code:
!Current Configuration:
!
!System Description "Quanta LB6M, 1.2.0.14, Linux 2.6.21.7"
!System Software Version "1.2.0.14"
!System Up Time          "0 days 0 hrs 16 mins 34 secs"
!Additional Packages     FASTPATH QOS
!Current SNTP Synchronized Time: Not Synchronized
!
vlan database
vlan 10-11
vlan name 10 "vlan10"
vlan name 11 "vlan11"
exit
ip ssh server enable
configure
aaa authentication enable "enableList" enable
line console
exit
line telnet
exit
line ssh
exit
spanning-tree configuration name "C8-0A-A9-03-B6-76"
!

--More-- or (q)uit

interface 0/1
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 10-11
exit
interface 0/2
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 10-11
exit
interface 0/3
vlan pvid 11
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10
exit
interface 0/4
vlan pvid 11
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10
exit
interface 0/5
vlan pvid 11
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10
exit

--More-- or (q)uit

interface 0/6
vlan pvid 11
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10
exit
interface 0/7
vlan pvid 11
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10
exit
interface 0/8
vlan pvid 11
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10
exit
interface 0/9
vlan acceptframe vlanonly
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10-11
exit
interface 0/10
vlan acceptframe vlanonly
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10-11

--More-- or (q)uit

exit
interface 0/25
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 1,10-11
exit
interface 0/26
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 10-11
exit
router rip
exit
router ospf
exit
exit
 

CKat

New Member
May 20, 2017
19
1
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My experience with VLANs has been similar to yours. When you set it up the first time it just seems to work, but when re-configuring something goes haywire. I think that something in the processing of tagged frames hangs around in the volatile regions of the switch when you unset some options related to VLAN. I have found cutting power to the device and letting it load back up will restore it to sanity.
I restarted the switch ("reload" command), it did not fix anything for me.

My issue currently is that the VLAN traffic is not passing across to switch before this one. I can ping gateway on the VLAN, but cannot ping any servers from the switch or anything else connected to it.

I want to start over -- if I do "clear config", will it also delete the ip settings?

I ask because if it defaults to 192.168.2.1 instead of my network, I will lose access to everything...
Will telnet continue to work on the existing IP (192.168.5.100) after clear config? I cannot seem to find what the clear config will actually clear.
 

J Hart

Active Member
Apr 23, 2015
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I restarted the switch ("reload" command), it did not fix anything for me.

My issue currently is that the VLAN traffic is not passing across to switch before this one. I can ping gateway on the VLAN, but cannot ping any servers from the switch or anything else connected to it.

I want to start over -- if I do "clear config", will it also delete the ip settings?

I ask because if it defaults to 192.168.2.1 instead of my network, I will lose access to everything...
Will telnet continue to work on the existing IP (192.168.5.100) after clear config? I cannot seem to find what the clear config will actually clear.
My problems sounded a lot like yours. I reconfigured some VLANs and ended up where packets would go through the switch in one direction, but not the other. I ended up removing the switch and replacing it with a different LB6M which was wiped and transferring the config back via TFTP. Worked fine. The original one when plugged back in and config reloaded also worked fine. I think that some of the configutation details are present in the Broadcom chips and are not cleared out properly unless the switch is hard power cycled. At least that seems to be the case with the firmware they came with. I guess that the Brocade one is probably doing it correctly.
 

CKat

New Member
May 20, 2017
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My problems sounded a lot like yours. I reconfigured some VLANs and ended up where packets would go through the switch in one direction, but not the other. I ended up removing the switch and replacing it with a different LB6M which was wiped and transferring the config back via TFTP. Worked fine. The original one when plugged back in and config reloaded also worked fine. I think that some of the configutation details are present in the Broadcom chips and are not cleared out properly unless the switch is hard power cycled. At least that seems to be the case with the firmware they came with. I guess that the Brocade one is probably doing it correctly.
I only have 1 LB6M, so cannot replicate this. However, I pulled the cord on the LB6m to power off completely, and then let it come back up.. It did not fix my issues.

This is really frustrating... I have been facing this issue for over 2 weeks now and cannot make this thing work.

If I do a "clear config", would it reset the IP address too? Because this means I may have to travel to the data center which is 2 hours flight away and needs lots of planning...
 

fohdeesha

Kaini Industries
Nov 20, 2016
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clear config would clear everything so yes i'd imagine that would include the IP. Does your DC not provide remote hands? They should have employees on hand who can serial console into your switch for you
 

CKat

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May 20, 2017
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They do provide remote hands. However I have never used that for actual configuration changes - mostly been for power cycling etc.
I will give this a try...
 

CKat

New Member
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shouldn't be a problem, it's pretty much their job to walk around with a laptop and serial cable :p

OK, did a "Clear config", which wiped all settings. Reconfigured the switch.
Still cannot ping servers on same VLAN.

My setup is below.
upload_2018-6-30_10-54-9.png

After clear config, in the Quanta switch, my running-config is below. Super Simple - just want to be able to ping between 2 servers across switch (xenserver1 and NFS Server 1):

Is the below setting enough to pass the traffic through interface 0/25 to 0/3?

My expectation is that the path taken would be the one highlighted in red.


Code:
(FASTPATH Routing) #show running-config
!Current Configuration:
!
!System Description "Quanta LB6M, 1.2.0.14, Linux 2.6.21.7"
!System Software Version "1.2.0.14"
!System Up Time          "0 days 21 hrs 37 mins 29 secs"
!Additional Packages     FASTPATH QOS
!Current SNTP Synchronized Time: Not Synchronized
!
vlan database
vlan 10-11
vlan name 10 "vlan10"
vlan name 11 "vlan11"
exit
configure
aaa authentication enable "enableList" enable
line console
exit
line telnet
exit
line ssh
exit
spanning-tree configuration name "C8-0A-A9-03-B6-76"
!
interface 0/3

--More-- or (q)uit

vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 10-11
exit
interface 0/25
vlan participation include 10-11
vlan tagging 10-11
exit
router rip
exit
router ospf
exit
exit

NOW _ I did some digging from xenserver 1 (NOTE - this is the XCP-ng one)
I tried to do a arp-scan.

10.50.11.35 is the NFS Server 1 IP address
However, note that the arp-scan returns 2 mac addresses. The one ending in :ec is the correct mac address. The one ending in :0e is the mac address of PORT 1 of the Dell switch

I am thinking that could be the cause of he failed pings. Because if you look at the tcpdump, it is responding with that mac address, not the correct one.

I tried restarting the switches, restarting the servers as well. I also did an arp cache clear, mac address table clearing...
What am I missing?

Code:
[root@nexusvm3 ~]# arp-scan -I xapi1 -l | grep 10.50.11.35
10.50.11.35     24:5e:be:04:f0:ec       (Unknown)
10.50.11.35     1c:74:0d:fa:9c:0e       (Unknown) (DUP: 2)


[root@nexusvm3 ~]# tcpdump -i xapi1 arp
tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode
listening on xapi1, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes
10:37:10.970251 ARP, Reply 10.50.11.105 is-at 1c:74:0d:fa:9c:0e (oui Unknown), length 42
10:37:11.010253 ARP, Reply 10.50.11.35 is-at 1c:74:0d:fa:9c:0e (oui Unknown), length 42
10:37:11.050257 ARP, Reply 10.50.11.20 is-at 1c:74:0d:fa:9c:0e (oui Unknown), length 42
 

fohdeesha

Kaini Industries
Nov 20, 2016
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It's hard to understand what's going on without having a better view of your setup, but if the dell switch is answering for the IP of 10.50.11.35 when it shouldn't be (it's supposed to belong to NFS server), that pretty much narrows it down to an issue or misconfiguration of the dell switch. has it been accidentally configured with an IP, either static or dhcp?

it seems like the dell switch is trying to do some type of layer3 op/routing or proxy arp on vlan 11, if it's answering ARPs in that vlan

Out of curiosity, what ethernet NIC do you have in the xenserver machine?
 
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