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Flashing NEC Switches
NEC provides two models of switch that supports OpenFlow, the IP8800/S3640-24T2XW and the IP8800/S3640-48T2XW.
The switches must be manually flashed with OpenFlow capable firmware to make them OpenFlow capable. NEC provides instructions on flashing the switch, but there are a few things that are useful to know that they don't mention. This article is a summary of the instructions, with those unmentioned caveats thrown in.
UPDATE: Go here for the instructions for the newest firmware (11.1.C.Ae)
Materials Needed
The SD card must contain the following for the switch to be able to boot off of it:
- OpenFlow capable firmware (k.img)
- Software license for OpenFlow capable firmware (license.dat)
- Configuration file for OpenFlow specific features (openflow.conf)
In order to use SSL for the secure channel between the switch and the controller, the following three should also be on the card:
- CA certificate (ca_cert.pem)
- Certificate for the switch (sw_cert.pem)
- secret key for switch (sw_key.pem)
General steps
These are the general steps required to get the switch up and running as an OpenFlow device:
- Log into switch (this assumes you have already configured everything so you can talk to your switch)
- Disable Spanning Tree Protocol (command
spanning-tree disableunder configuration prompt) - Create VLANs
- Create openflow.conf
- Save k.img, license.dat, openflow.conf, and if using SSL, the .pem files, onto SD card
- Cold boot switch off of SD card (the manual says a reboot is sufficient, but this was not the case)
- Enjoy
The Caveats
The SD card
NEC provides a certified SD card with the switch. They recommend that you only use this card.
The License
Each license is specific to a certain switch; a switch will not boot properly if the license is missing, misnamed, or if the license for the wrong switch is used. The license must always be named "license.dat" for the switch to boot properly.
When you get more than one license, each license will be named by the serial number of the switch you're supposed to use the license on instead of being named "license.dat." In that case, the serial number can be found on a silver sticker on the front of the switch, or by typing show version at the terminal:
# show ver
Date 2000/01/09 01:20:34 UTC
Model: AX3640S-48T2XW
S/W: OS-L3L Ver. 10.7
H/W: Main board
AX-3640-48T2XW-L [WA03CL48T2XWS0E0693K007:80330300:111:1B514-1B512]
Module slot1 PS-M(AC)
AX-F2430-PSA01 [WA0PSA010000C110093D006]
Module slot2 FAN-M
AX-F2430-FAN01 [WA1FAN010000C140093D004]
In this case, "WA03CL48T2XWS0E0693K007" (in the first entry under "H/W: Main board) is the serial number and matches the name of the correct license for this specific switch.
openflow.conf
openflow.conf is a text file that contains configurations specific to virtual switching. The details about the commands that can be used in the file are on pages 12-13 of the NEC manual. Following are a few notes about the commands.
no-save
Specifying this parameter in openflow.conf will prevent you from configuring virtual switches through the CLI (i.e, create new virtual switches). Because the firmware does not include text editors, once you have this parameter on your .conf file you will have to edit your file on a PC if you want to change anything. Basically, if you are planning to change things around after the switch has been booted into OpenFlow, it is better not to specify this command.
double-wide-mode
When specified, all ten OpenFlow specific header fields will be matched.
setvsi
Creates an instance of a virtual switch on a VLAN.
setvsi is followed by several parameters:
setvsi <vlan id> <list of ports> <tcp|ssl> <controller ip address[:port]> [<cacert> <my cert> <my private key>] [dpid <datapath id>] [hwlimit <max entrynum>] [max-backoff <backoff time>] [echo-interval <interval time>]
not all parameters need to be used with setvsi. The following are the minimal parameters you need to get a virtual switch going:
setvsi <vlan id> <list of ports> <tcp|ssl> <controller ip address[:port]> [dpid <datapath id>]
when booted, openflow.conf lives in /mnt/. This is the first functional openflow.conf file that was used on the switch:
setvsi 1 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,2.1 tcp 172.16.4.224 dpid 0x0123456789ab setvsi 2 17,19,21,23,25,27,29,31,2.2 tcp 172.16.4.180 dpid 0x012345678abc setvsi 3 33,35,37,39,41,43,45,47,2.3 tcp 172.16.4.64 dpid 0x01234567abcd
In this case, the three virtual switches each take up the top row of a block of ports, and share a trunk port (port 2), as denoted by the 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 at the end of the lists of ports. the syntax is
<port number of trunk>.<VLAN>
The VLAN assignments were made to match up with the port assignments of the virtual switches. The virtual switch can overlay across a portion of the ports of any given VLAN, but not overlay across ports belonging to different VLANS.
editing openflow.conf from the CLI versus editing it from a computer
Once the switch is booted from the card, the two CLI commands you can use to manipulate openflow.conf are:
setvsi- adds virtual switches using the exact same syntax as in openflow.confdeletevsi- removes virtual switches
Even though the switch will boot without anything written in openflow.conf, and you can add the virtual switches later, you can't add any of the other choices i.e. no-save or double-wide-mode from the command line. In order to add the other parameters to openflow.conf, you will have to edit the file on a text editor.
The details of configuring VLANs and virtual switches on an OpenFlow capable switch are here:
wiki:Documentation/OpenFlow/VirtualSwitch
Upgrading to 11.1.C.Ae
This is the production version of the OpenFlow capable firmware for the IP8800. Unlike the experimental version, once you upgrade you don't need the SD card.
1. Firmware upgrade
The firmware should have an extension of '.gz'. The easiest way to upgrade is to copy the firmware onto an SD card with a bootable file (e.g. something with extension '.img'2) along with the proper license; The switch will boot using the image file stored on the card, and will keep the SD card mounted and accessible under /mnt.
Now run ppupgrade as admin, specifying the full path to the new firmware:
ppupgrade /mnt/nec.gz
And let the switch do the work. The whole process should take a minute or two. The switch will reboot unless given the no-reload flag with ppupgrade. The bootloader will search for .img files to load to memory upon startup. If you want the switch to boot into the new firmware when it reboots after the upgrade, you can either:
- Issue
ppupdatewith theno-reloadcommand. Runreload stopto halt the OS, and restart the switch after you (safely) remove the card 1. - Rename k.img to something else so it is not recognized as a bootable image.
2. OpenFlow configurations
The OpenFlow components of the new firmware have been integrated into the CLI. There are contexts for OpenFlow (conveniently called openflow) under the show and configure contexts.
sw-gp# show openflow ? controller-session Display the session of OpenFlow Controller detail Display the detailed OpenFlow information openflow-id Specifies OpenFlow ID statistics Display the OpenFlow statistics information table Display the flow table information <cr>
sw-gp(config)# openflow openflow-id [id] real-switch OpenFlow ID 1 specified for real-switch ( When real-switch is set, virtual-switch can't be set ) virtual-switch OpenFlow ID 1 to 16 specified for virtual-switch ( When virtual-switch is set, real-switch can't be set ) <cr>
sw-gp(config)# openflow openflow-id 1 virtual-switch !sw-gp(config-of)# ? connect Specify the time to connect the OpenFlow Controller controller Specify the OpenFlow Controller dpid Specify the data path ID echo-reply Specify the max time of receiving Echo-Reply frame from the OpenFlow Controller echo-request Specify the interval time of sending Echo-Request frame to the OpenFlow Controller emergency-mode Specify enable or disable of the emergency mode enable Enable OpenFlow end Exit from configure mode exit Return to previous mode flow-statistics-mode Specify the collection type of the flow statistics mode information mac-learning Specify enable or disable of MAC learning maxflow Specify the number of the upper limits of flow mishit-action Specify the process when the mishit-action occurred no Delete configurations openflow-vlan Specify the VLAN which it belongs to Virtual Switch outbound Specify the band limit of the output rate of VLAN on interface port-modify-access Specify set permission of the access port change from Controller. (reason down of the port) port-modify-trunk Specify set permission of the trunk port change from Controller. (reason down of the port) quit Return to previous mode save Save configuration file show View configurations status Show configure status top Change to global configuration mode wildcard-hwaccel Specify the priority when wildcard entry is written in hardware write Save configuration file
Not sure what this means. Yet.
sw-gp(config)# openflow openflow-id 1 real-switch openflow : Specified switch type is not revokable.
SSL stuff
The page refrenced to create the .pem files: http://www.debian-administration.org/article/Creating_and_Using_a_self_signed__SSL_Certificates_in_debian
Return to the OpenFlow index
1. Part of bootup involves decompressing and copying the firmware to memory, so it should be fine to remove the card while the machine is running. It is, however, still mounted while the switch is running, so you chance corrupting the contents of the card if you do this.
2. renaming nec.gz to k.img will allow you to boot into the firmware as with the experimental one, from the SD card, although switches booted using the new firmware this way will unmount the SD card.
