Arp broadcast resolution – Brocade BigIron RX Series Configuration Guide User Manual
Page 661

BigIron RX Series Configuration Guide
583
53-1002484-04
MCT for VRRP or VRRP-E
20
FIGURE 97
Two-node MCT scenario
Layer 3 traffic forwarding from an end station to MCT
When one MCT switch act as the VRRP or VRRP-E master router and the other MCT switch acts as a 
VRRP or VRRP-E backup router, as shown in 
, the following traffic forwarding behavior is
seen:
•
Packets sent to the VRRP-E virtual IP address are Layer 2 switched to the VRRP-E master router 
for forwarding. 
•
The VRRP-E backup router learns the VRRP-E MAC address from the VRRP-E master router.
•
Both the data traffic and VRRP-E control traffic travels through the ICL unless the short-path 
forwarding behavior is enabled.
Layer 3 traffic forwarding from the CEP to the CCEP
Traffic destined to the CCEP from the client follows the normal IP routing on both the master and 
backup routers. By default, the best route must not involve the ICL. Only when the direct link from 
the CEP to the CCEP is down, the traffic is re-routed to pass through the ICL.
ARP broadcast resolution
In
, assuming that MCT-unaware switch S1 sends an ARP request (broadcast packet)
through the direct link to Switch B, Switch B sends the request to Switch A for processing through 
the ICL. As the MAC learning is disabled on the ICL, the ARP request is not learned automatically 
through the ICL. On receiving the ARP request, Switch A sends the response through the direct link 
to S1 if the MAC address of S1 is already learned. If the MAC address is not yet learned, the 
response packet may be flooded to both the CCEP and ICL ports.
ICL
VRRP-E backup
CCEP
CCEP
MCT unaware switch S1
VRRP-E master
Switch A
Switch B
Clients
Clients
MCT logical 
 switch
Gateway
Gateway
LAG
CEP
CEP
ICL
VRRP-E backup
CCEP
CCEP
master
Switch A
Switch B
MCT logical 
 switch
y
y
CEP
CEP
E2
E1
