ACL Style Policy

Traditional ONEPolicy architecture uses a hierarchical approach to rule precedence where rule type dictates precedence. In addition, rule look-ups occur per role, per action type. This means, for example, that triggering a forward/drop rule without an explicit Class of Service (CoS) action results in applying the forward/drop action, and then continuing searching until a rule with CoS action matches. This hierarchical approach is implemented in hardware by maintaining one list for forward/drop actions, and one list for CoS actions. This implementation often results in underused resources, because not every rule has both forward/drop and CoS actions.

With ACL Style Policy, a mode of operation with a single ordered list per role is maintained. Rule look-ups occur in the provided ACL order per role. A match applies all actions specified, and the search stops. This approach can potentially double the advertised scale of classification rules as compared to the traditional model. It also provides a more standard approach to policy classification rules.

Default policy rule-model is hierarchical, unless you are upgrading from ExtremeXOS 30.5 with a saved configuration that is set to access list.

For information about configuring ACL Style Policy, see Configuring ACL Style Policy.

Limitations

SNMP for configuration of ACL Style Policy classification rules is not supported.

Traditional Versus ACL Style Policy Classification Rule Scaling

The following table compares the overall classification rule scale between "traditional" and ACL Style policy:

Table 1. Traditional Versus ACL Style Policy Classification Rule Scaling
Switch Model(s) Traditional ACL Style

X435

Default: 184

Less System ACL: 184

Default: 440

Less System ACL: N/A

X450-G2

X460-G2

Default: 952

Less System ACL: 1,464

Default: 3,000

Less System ACL: N/A

X670-G2

X870

Default: 952

Less System ACL: 952

Default: 1,976

Less System ACL: N/A

X440-G2

X620

Default: 440

Less System ACL: 440

Default: 952

Less System ACL: N/A

X690

X590

X465

Default: 1,976

Less System ACL: 1,976

Default: 4,024

Less System ACL: N/A

X695

Default: 1,976

Less System ACL: 1,976

Default: 3,512

Less System ACL: N/A

5420M

Default: 4,024

Less System ACL: 4.024

Default: 8,120

Less System ACL: N/A

5420F

Default: 1,976

Less System ACL: 1,976

Default: 4,024

Less System ACL: N/A

5520

Default: 4,024

Less System ACL: 4.024

Default: 8,120

Less System ACL: N/A

ACL Style Classification Rule Architecture

RESTful API Support

ACL Style Policy implements a new RESTful API for configuration of classification rules.