H3C S6520X-26C–SI 24 x 1/10G SFP+ ports, 1 x expansion slot, 2 x power module slots
H3C Intelligent Resilient Framework 2 (IRF 2) virtualizes multiple S6520X-SI switches into one virtual switch and provides the following benefits:
Scalability: IRF 2 allows you to add devices to the IRF 2 system easily. It provides a single point of management, enables switch plug-and-play, and supports software auto-update for software synchronization from the master to the new member devices. It brings business agility with lower total cost of ownership by allowing new switches to be added to the fabric without network topology change as business grows.
High availability: The H3C proprietary routing hot backup technology ensures redundancy and backup of all information on the control and data planes and non-stop Layer 3 data forwarding in an IRF 2 fabric. It also eliminates single point of failure and ensures service continuity.
Redundancy and load balancing: The distributed link aggregation technology supports load sharing and mutual backup among multiple uplinks, which enhances the network redundancy and improves link resources usage.
Flexibility and resiliency: The switch use standard GE ports instead of specialized ports for IRF links between IRF member devices. This allows customers to assign bandwidth as needed between uplink, downlink, and IRF system connections. In addition, an S6520X-SI IRF fabric can span a rack, multiple racks, or multiple campuses.
Wide Range of Advanced Features
The switch offers a wide range of features, including:
Modular hardware and software design: The switch uses modular, hot swapping, and redundancy design for hardware, including power modules and fan trays. The switch also uses modular design for software, which enables feature installation and removal on an as-needed basis. Refined physical architecture and optimized software workflows greatly reduce the end-to-end packet processing delay.
Software-defined networking (SDN): An innovative network architecture that separates the control plane from the forwarding plane, typically by using OpenFlow. SDN significantly simplifies network management, reduces maintenance complexities and costs, enables flexible traffic management, and offers a good platform for network and application innovations.
Virtual eXtensible LAN (VXLAN): A MAC-in-UDP technology that provides Layer 2 connectivity between distant network sites across an IP network. VXLAN enables long-distance virtual machine and data mobility and is typically used in data centers and the access layer of campus networks for multitenant services. The H3C implementation of VXLAN supports automatic VXLAN tunnel establishment with EVPN.
Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN): A Layer 2 VPN technology that provides both Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity between distant network sites across an IP network. EVPN uses MP-BGP in the control plane and VXLAN in the data plane. EVPN provides the following benefits: Configuration automation; Separation of the control plane and the data plane; Integrated routing and bridging (IRB).
