An FA agent which controls FA functionality resides on all FA-capable devices (FA Server, FA Proxy, FA Standalone Proxy or FA Client). No agent-specific configuration is necessary.
FA Proxy and FA Server elements control FA through a global FA service setting (global SPBM setting) and through per-port settings that control the transmission of FA information using FA Signaling.
The first stage of establishing FA connectivity involves element discovery. In order for FA discovery to function, FA service and per-port settings must be enabled. Once these settings are enabled, the FA agent advertises its capabilities (FA Server, FA Proxy or FA Client) through FA Signaling. Following discovery, an FA agent is aware of all FA services currently provided by the network elements to which it is directly connected. Based on this information, an FA Client or an FA Proxy agent can determine whether FA data (I-SID/VLAN assignments) should be exported to an FA Proxy that acts as an external client proxy or an FA Server.
The FA service is enabled by default on FA Servers and FA Proxies. It is disabled by default on FA Standalone Proxy-only devices. Per-port settings are, by default, enabled on FA Proxies and disabled on FA Servers.
Port VLAN tagging switchport updates occur when an element is discovered. When an element is deleted or expires, all updated settings are cleared and roll back to their previous values.
Note
An FA Proxy can communicate with, at most, one FA Server at a time. If multiple server connections exist, the first discovered server is considered the primary server. Multiple links (trunked) to a single server are supported as long as they form a logical interface. Multiple non-trunked links are not supported and data received on non-primary ports is ignored by an FA Proxy. FA Proxies or FA Clients can connect through a LAG/MLT to two FA Servers which form a Split-LAG or SMLT pair. Connections which may create loops, to multiple servers that are not in Split-LAG or SMLT mode, are not supported.
An FA Server can communicate with multiple, different FA Proxies and FA Clients.