A REP segment is a chain of ports connected to each other and configured with a segment ID. Each segment consists of standard (non-edge) segment ports and two user-configured edge ports. The two edge ports terminate the segments.
A device cannot have more than two ports that belong to the same segment, and each segment port can have only one external neighbor. A segment can go through a shared medium, but on any link only two ports can belong to the same segment. REP is supported only on Layer 2 interfaces.
The figure below shows an example of a segment consisting of six ports spread across four switches. Ports E1 and E2 are configured as edge ports. When all ports are operational (that is, the segment on the left), a single port is blocked, shown by the diagonal line. When there is a failure in the network, the blocked port returns to the forwarding state to minimize network disruption.
Figure 1. REP Open Segments
The segment shown in Figure 1 is an open segment; there is no connectivity between the two edge ports. The REP segment cannot cause a bridging loop and it is safe to connect the segment edges to any network. The traffic from a REP ring node toward the network cloud is sent to either of the edge nodes, depending on the location of the alternate port. If a failure is detected anywhere in the ring, the alternate port changes to a open port forwarding all traffic. This may cause the traffic being redirected to the other edge node depending on the fault location. It ensures that data flow is maintained between a particular REP node and the network cloud. If a failure occurs on any segment or any port on a REP segment, REP unblocks all the ports to ensure that connectivity is available through the other edge.
The segment shown in the figure below, with both edge ports located on the same device, is a ring segment. In this configuration, there is connectivity between the edge ports through the segment. With this configuration, you can create a redundant connection between any two devices in the segment.
Figure 2. REP Ring Segment
Characteristics of REP Segments
REP segments have the following characteristics:
- If all the ports in the segment are operational, one port (referred to as the alternate port) blocks traffic for each VLAN. If VLAN load balancing is configured, two ports in the segment control the blocked state of VLANs.
- If one or more ports in a segment is not operational, causing a link failure, all ports forward traffic on all VLANs to ensure connectivity. The Failed ports are blocked for all traffic, while all the other ports in the ring stay in open state.
- In case of a link failure, the alternate ports are immediately unblocked. When the failed link comes up, a logically blocked port per VLAN is selected with minimal disruption to the network. When VLAN load balancing preemption timer is set, VLAN load balancing is automatically applied after the last failure has recovered. There are 2 alternate ports when VLAN load balancing takes effect.
- Changing the normal REP port configuration to preferred REP port with auto preemption delay configuration requires manual preemption for the first time. Subsequently when a failure occurs, auto preemption takes effect after link recovery and the port becomes the secondary port.