Static ICL in Small Data Center

Prior to EFA 2.6.0, ports were defined statically to be part of the ICL or MCT port-channel (Static ICL) using the following fabric settings for a non-Clos fabric:

• rack-mct-ports (Applicable for the racks containing high density ports)
• rack-ld-mct-ports (Applicable for the racks containing low density ports)

The fabric settings had the default values which could be modified based on the inter-connectivity between the MCT devices.

From EFA 2.6.0 onwards, the fabric settings, which were used to define the static ICL ports, are removed from XCO to support Dynamic ICL. In a dynamic ICL, all the ports inter-connecting the MCT devices will automatically participate in the ICL or MCT port-channel.

The Dynamic ICL is the default behavior. The static ICL support is applicable only for a non-Clos fabric.

For the fabrics created prior to XCO 3.3.0, the Dynamic ICL will continue to be effective. You can transition to static ICL by modifying the rack-mct-scheme, rack-mct-ports, and rack-ld-mct-ports fabric settings.

For the fabrics created from XCO 3.3.0 onwards, the default behavior is Dynamic ICL unless you choose to provide the rack-mct-scheme, rack-mct-ports, and rack-ld-mct-ports fabric settings.

When you choose static ICL scheme and the ports inter-connecting the MCT devices do not contain all the ports provided in the rack-mct-ports and rack-ld-mct-ports fabric settings, system shows errors in the “efa fabric show”, “efa fabric error show”, and the “efa fabric health show” output when you add devices in fabric (fabric device add).