ExtremeSwitching Switches with Shared Copper/Fiber Gigabit Ports Only

On ExtremeSwitching switches with shared copper/fiber gigabit ports, you configure automatic failover using the combination ports. These ports are called combination ports because either the fiber port or the copper port is active, but they are never active concurrently. These ports, also called redundant ports, are shared PHY copper and fiber ports.

If you plan to use the automatic failover feature, ensure that port settings are set correctly for autonegotiation.

Note

You may experience a brief episode of the link going down and recovering during the failover.

To display the port type currently used as well as the preferred media setting, use the following command:
show port {mgmt | port_list | tag tag} information {detail}

Refer to Displaying Port Information for more information on the show port information command.

Hardware determines when a link is lost and swaps the primary and redundant ports to maintain stability.

After a failover occurs, the switch keeps the current port assignment until there is another failure or until you change the assignment using the CLI.
To change the uplink failover assignment, use the following command:
configure ports port_list preferred-medium [copper | fiber] {force}

The default preferred-medium is fiber. If using the force option, it disables automatic failover. If you force the preferred-medium to fiber and the fiber link goes away, the copper link is not used, even if available.
Note
When the Tx of active fiber link is disconnected while Rx is still connected, the fiber link goes down but the copper link does not come up.

For more information about combination ports on ExtremeSwitching switches, see the hardware installation guide for your switch.