Switch settings

Network interface

In the "Network Settings" section, there are displayed all physical and logical network interfaces that are already configured. The physical interfaces (eth0 and rf0) are set by default and they cannot be removed. For these two interfaces, you are allowed to change the parameters only.

Following layer 2 and 3 logical interfaces can be created with certain parameters by clicking "Add interface" button:

• "VLAN" can be assigned to a physical interface or to a virtual interface sviX. It is used for the creation of the logical network topology regardless of the physical topology of this network. VLAN allows creating groups of interfaces which have a common set of requirements. It contributes to reducing the multicast traffic in the network, as every VLAN is a separate multicast domain. VLAN usage increases the network security and manageability;

• "SVI", Switch Virtual Interface is an L3 interface that can be assigned to a switching group for getting access to the unit management via this switching group. This interface becomes part of this switching group and can participate in the exchange of information with other group members so that any packets received by the group (according to its rules), or addressed to the sviX directly, or copies of multicast/broadcast packets, will be received by the unit through the "sviX". This interface allows getting the remote access to the unit management. It is also used for the Management VLAN configuration;

• "PRF" - Pseudo Radio Interface can be attached to the Ethernet interface in order to allow it to work as a radio interface using the MINT protocol, so that the node can find its neighbors and establish the links with them through this interface. The interface encapsulates MINT-frames into the Ethernet-frames and allows connecting the units of the MINT network using wired interfaces. Also, this interface can be joined with other MINT-interfaces;

• "LAG" can be assign to two physical interfaces in order to use them as one logical interface for total throughput increasing and system reliability improving. The total throughput of the logical channel represents the sum of the capabilities of associated physical interfaces. In case of failure of any physical channel included in the logical channel, the system will continue to operate, using the rest operable physical channels. Interface allows creating high speed links (between the unit and the network switch, for example) by means of aggregation of the two available Ethernet-interfaces of the unit;

Active interfaces are marked with black color, disabled interfaces are displayed with pale overlay, each network interface can be enabled/disabled with check box below it's name. To apply changes to a specific interface, click the tick sign or cross sign to roll back changes.

Following parameters can be configured for each interface:

Ethernet (ethX)

• X - interface number is set by default and can not be changed.

• IP address - IP-address and network mask can be set manually or be obtained automatically via DHCP. The IP address(es) of the "ethX" interface is accessible via Ethernet LAN segment only (it won't be accessible via the "rfX" interface from other neighbor unit).

• Description - set the arbitrary interface description (up to 72 characters).

• Mode - set the interface mode (for example: 1000Base-TX-fullduplex):

  • The default value is “Auto” (recommended)

  • Optical SFP modules may not work properly in auto-negotiation mode with some devices. In case of troubles with data transmission via the SFP port, it is recommended to set a fixed speed and duplex mode (for example, 1000BaseTX-fullduplex-manual).

  • Make sure the same duplex mode is set on both devices.

Radio interface (rfX)

• X - interface number is set by default and can not be changed.

• IP address - IP-address and network mask can be set manually or be obtained automatically via DHCP.

• Description - set the arbitrary interface description (up to 72 characters).

Pseudo Radio Interface (prfX)

• X - interface number is determined by the numerical order for this interface type at the time of creation.

• IP address - IP-address and network mask can be set manually or be obtained automatically via DHCP.

• Description - set the arbitrary interface description (up to 72 characters).

• Parent - set the parent interface to be transmitted the encapsulated packets (assign the PRF interface to the physical Ethernet interface).

• Channel - set the channel number (from 0 to 3) on which the frames are sent and received by the parent interface. Both PRF interfaces (of the two units in the link) must have the same channel assigned in order to establish the wireless link.

VLAN interface (vlanX)

• X - interface number is set automatically equal to VLAN ID.

• IP address - IP-address and network mask can be set manually or be obtained automatically via DHCP.

• Description - set the arbitrary interface description (up to 72 characters).

• Parent - set the parent interface to be transmitted the encapsulated packets.

• VLAN-id - configure the VLAN tag (802.1q) for the current interface (from 1 to 4094).

Switch Virtual Interface (sviX)

• X - interface number is set automatically equal to swich group assigned.

• IP address - IP-address and network mask can be set manually or be obtained automatically via DHCP. This IP-address is used for the management of the unit via interfaces added to binded switch group.

• Description - set the arbitrary interface description (up to 72 characters).

• Switch group - set the Switch group number which this interface is assigned to (bind the SVI interface to a switch group).

Link aggregation interface (lagX)

• X - interface number is determined by the numerical order for this interface type at the time of creation.

• IP address - IP-address and network mask can be set manually or be obtained automatically via DHCP.

• Description - set the arbitrary interface description (up to 72 characters).

• Mode - set standard or fast operational mode, the fast mode can only be used, if MINT based device is on the other side of connection.

• Interfaces - set the parent interfaces to be aggregated.

Default gateway

Default gateway field allows to set an IP-address of nearest router.

Switch groups

Switch configuration

The Switch configuration is based on a set of rules for the switching groups:

• An unique numeric identifier (1-4999) for each group

• Two or more local network interfaces (ethX, rfX, vlanX, etc) and a set of rules (filters) which allow placing different types of traffic into different switching groups

• Each node can have several switching groups. The same interfaces or group of interfaces can be used in several groups simultaneously

• Switching groups are activated on different nodes of the MINT network. The nodes that have the same switching group identifier in their configurations represent a "switching zone"

• "Switching zone" exists only within the MINT network segment.

Switch groups

The MINT network can be viewed as one virtual distributed layer-3 switch, where border nodes act as external ports of the virtual switch. The virtual switch task is to transport frames from one external port to another. It is important to understand that switching groups should be created only on the nodes where frames enter from or leave to the "outside" network ("outside" relative to MINT). On the repeater nodes (in mesh topology) there is no need to create switching groups.

Management connection to the unit

For the management purposes, you can create a dedicated Switch Group for all units in the MINT network, attached to the Switch Virtual Interface (SVI). Assign the IP addresses directly on the SVI interface for native management. All packets sent via SVI interface will be distributed only within the assigned switch group.

The universal way to configure Management VLAN via dedicated switch group is presented in the figure below.

You have to assign the Management IP addresses to "sviM" interface which is the management interface of Group M and includes "vlanX" (with parent interface "eth0") and "rf0" interface:

Switch Group parameters

«Enable» - this checkbox enables/disables global switch operation.