User guide

Configuring Automatic Fabric Automatic Fabric Overview
OmniSwitch AOS Release 7 Switch Management Guide March 2015 page 14-15
• A neighbor is detected on at least one IP interface within a VRF instance.
The following events will trigger the automatic IP protocol configuration process on an IP interface:
• When an IP interface comes up and Automatic Fabric is enabled for protocol PDUs received on the
interface.
• If an IP interface is already up and Automatic Fabric is enabled for protocol PDUs received on the
interface.
The automatic IP protocol configuration process listens on active IP interfaces for protocol Hello packets
received from neighboring switches. This is done to detect and learn the network protocol configuration.
The following events will disable the automatic IP protocol configuration process:
• Automatic Fabric is globally disabled for the switch.
• Automatic configuration for a specific IP protocol is disabled.
• A switch reboots with no Automatic Fabric commands in the configuration file.
• A Hello packet is received on the IP interface.
If an IP interface is toggled or a routing protocol is disabled and re-enabled, automatic configuration
resumes listening for Hello packets.
See “Automatic Fabric Process for Automatic IP Configuration” on page 14-19 for general examples of
automatic IP protocol configuration.
Saving the Configuration Discovered by Automatic Fabric
The discovered configuration remains in switch memory until one of the following occurs:
• The discovered configuration is automatically saved to the switch configuration file after a
configurable amount of time. This automatic save functionality can be enabled or disabled.
• The administrator does a write memory command to save the discovered configuration to the switch
configuration file.
If the discovered configuration is not saved to the switch configuration file, then the learned configuration
is lost on the next switch reboot. However, when the switch boots up again without any saved
configuration, Automatic Fabric is automatically started again.
When the configuration is saved, the Automatic Fabric global and per-port settings are also saved. For
example, if Automatic Fabric is globally enabled for the switch, then the parameter for this setting is also
saved to the switch configuration file. Then on the next switch reboot, Automatic Fabric is started again
even though there is already an existing switch configuration file.
Consider the following when managing the discovered configuration:
• To stop the discovery process and retain what has been learned so far, use CLI commands to disable
the global Automatic Fabric process. or specific options of the discovery process.
• Do not save the learned configuration to have the switch perform the Automatic Fabric discovery and
configuration each time the switch is rebooted.
• Manual configuration takes precedence over automatic discovery and configuration. For example,
when the automatic IP protocol configuration is removed from an IP interface, the interface becomes
eligible for automatic configuration again. However, if the IP protocol configuration was manually