Coexistence of Higher- and Lower-Capacity Hardware

The BlackDiamond X8 BDXB-XL series, 8900 xl-series modules and Summit X480 switches are considered higher-capacity hardware because they provide external LPM tables, additional memory, and greater processing power, which allows this hardware to support a large number of IP routes. In comparison, other BlackDiamond X8 and 8000 series modules and Summit family switches are considered lower-capacity hardware.

The ExtremeXOS software supports the coexistence of higher- and lower-capacity hardware in the same BlackDiamond X8 or BlackDiamond 8800 chassis or Summit family switch stack. To allow for coexistence and increased hardware forwarding, when the number of IPv4 routes exceeds 25,000, the lower-capacity hardware automatically transitions from using LPM routing to forwarding of individual remote hosts, also known as IP Forwarding Database (IP FDB) mode. Higher-capacity hardware continues using LPM routing. Lower capacity hardware operating in IP FDB mode is indicated with a d flag in the output of show iproute reserved-entries statistics command, indicating that only direct routes are installed.

Note

Note

If you require a large number of IPv6 routes, you should use only xl-series modules, or a Summit X480 standalone, or a SummitStack comprised only of the X480. SummitStacks, or a BD8800 containing a mix of high- and low-capability hardware (slots without External TCAM) does not support more than 100,000 IPv6 routes present.