HP Cisco Nexus 5000 Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch CLI Software Configuration - Page 102

Information About Ethernet Interfaces Chapter 5 Configuring Ethernet Interfaces Send feedback to [email protected] - Slot 3 includes the ports on the lower expansion module (if populated). • Port number - Port number within the group. About the Unidirectional Link Detection Parameter This section includes the following topics: • UDLD Overview, page 5-2 • Default UDLD Configuration, page 5-3 • UDLD Aggressive and Nonaggressive Modes, page 5-3 UDLD Overview The Cisco-proprietary Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD) protocol allows ports that are connected through fiber optics or copper (for example, Category 5 cabling) Ethernet cables to monitor the physical configuration of the cables and detect when a unidirectional link exists. When the switch detects a unidirectional link, UDLD shuts down the affected LAN port and alerts the user. Unidirectional links can cause a variety of problems, including spanning tree topology loops. UDLD is a Layer 2 protocol that works with the Layer 1 protocols to determine the physical status of a link. At Layer 1, autonegotiation takes care of physical signaling and fault detection. UDLD performs tasks that autonegotiation cannot perform, such as detecting the identities of neighbors and shutting down misconnected LAN ports. When you enable both autonegotiation and UDLD, Layer 1 and Layer 2 detections work together to prevent physical and logical unidirectional connections and the malfunctioning of other protocols. A unidirectional link occurs whenever traffic transmitted by the local device over a link is received by the neighbor but traffic transmitted from the neighbor is not received by the local device. If one of the fiber strands in a pair is disconnected, as long as autonegotiation is active, the link does not stay up. In this case, the logical link is undetermined, and UDLD does not take any action. If both fibers are working normally at Layer 1, then UDLD at Layer 2 determines whether those fibers are connected correctly and whether traffic is flowing bidirectionally between the correct neighbors. This check cannot be performed by autonegotiation, because autonegotiation operates at Layer 1. A Cisco Nexus 5000 Series switch periodically transmits UDLD frames to neighbor devices on LAN ports with UDLD enabled. If the frames are echoed back within a specific time frame and they lack a specific acknowledgment (echo), the link is flagged as unidirectional and the LAN port is shut down. Devices on both ends of the link must support UDLD in order for the protocol to successfully identify and disable unidirectional links. Note By default, UDLD is locally disabled on copper LAN ports to avoid sending unnecessary control traffic on this type of media. Figure 5-1 shows an example of a unidirectional link condition. Device B successfully receives traffic from device A on the port. However, device A does not receive traffic from device B on the same port. UDLD detects the problem and disables the port. Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch CLI Software Configuration Guide 5-2 OL-16597-01