Intelligent resilient framework 2 (IRF2)
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches support IRF2 (Second Generation Intelligent Resilient Architecture) technology, which connects multiple physical devices to each other, making it virtual as a logical device, that is, users can regard these multiple devices as a single device manage and use. H3C IE4520 series industrial switches can not only perform virtualization through 10G optical interfaces, but also can be virtualized through the gigabit optical port and the gigabit electrical port, and the IRF2 function can be realized through the network cable. IRF2 provides the following benefits:
Simplified management
After the IRF architecture is formed, it can be connected to any port of any device to log in to a unified logical device. By configuring a single device, the entire intelligent elastic system and all member devices in the system can be managed without physical connection. Configure and manage them separately on each member device.
Simplified business
The various control protocols running in the logical device formed by IRF are also run as a single device. For example, the routing protocol will be calculated as a single device. With the application of the cross-device link aggregation technology, it can replace the original spanning tree protocol, which saves the interaction of a large number of protocol packets between devices, simplifies network operation, and shortens the convergence time when the network is turbulent.
High performance
For Ethernet switches, the improvement in performance and port density is limited by the hardware structure. The performance and port density of an IRF system is the sum of the performance and port numbers of all devices inside the IRF. Therefore, IRF technology can easily expand the switching capability of the device and the density of user ports several times, thereby greatly improving the performance of the device.
High reliability
The high reliability of IRF is reflected in three aspects: link, equipment and protocol. The physical ports between the member devices support the aggregation function, and the physical connections between the IRF system and the upper- and lower-layer devices also support the aggregation function, which improves the reliability of the link through multi-link backup; the IRF system consists of multiple member devices. Once the master device fails, the system will quickly and automatically elect a new master to ensure uninterrupted services through the system, thus achieving device-level 1: N backup; the IRF system will have a real-time protocol hot backup function responsible for the configuration information of the protocol. Backup to all other member devices to achieve 1: N protocol reliability.
Software-defined networking (SDN)
Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is an innovative network architecture framework. Its core technology, OpenFlow, decouples the network control plane from the data forwarding plane, significantly simplifying network management and maintenance. More importantly, it enables flexible control over network traffic, providing a robust platform for core network and application innovation.
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches support the OpenFlow 1.3 standard, allowing seamless switching between standard mode and OpenFlow mode. With large-scale flow table capabilities and compatibility with the H3C SDN controller at the access layer, these switches facilitate large-scale Layer 2 architecture networking and enable rapid user onboarding for existing networks. This dramatically reduces network management complexity and lowers operational costs. Additionally, the IE4520 series can be integrated into H3C’s SNA (Seer Network Architecture), empowering customers to design cutting-edge network architectures and solutions. SNA offers a template library for network design, incorporating common enterprise networking models. By aligning with customer intent and leveraging industry best practices, SNA intelligently assists in network architecture planning. It also automates network deployment through features like intent-driven configuration, policy auto-provisioning, and plug-and-play fault recovery, eliminating reliance on command-line interfaces (CLIs). Whether deploying Underlay infrastructure or Overlay cloud-based services, SNA ensures full automation. Furthermore, SNA’s Network Seer Analyzer integrates big data-driven operational insights, connects to global defect databases and issue repositories, and shares worldwide maintenance expertise. Leveraging AI algorithms, it proactively monitors network and service health, predicts potential faults, and enables preemptive resolution, achieving true "predict and prevent" capabilities.
Bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD)
BFD provides millisecond-level detection for rapid link fault identification. By integrating with upper-layer routing protocols, BFD ensures fast route convergence to maintain service continuity. BFD establishes peer relationships between adjacent systems, where each system monitors the negotiated BFD packet rate from its peers. Detection intervals can be configured in millisecond increments. If a peer system fails to receive the predefined number of packets, it infers a failure in the BFD-protected infrastructure—whether it involves label-switched paths, tunnels, or Ethernet networks. BFD operates on the control plane of routers and other systems. Failures detected by BFD can be resolved either through forwarding plane recovery mechanisms or control plane remediation.
Smart management center (SmartMC)
SmartMC is H3C's latest offering and innovation that helps small and middle size enterprise network to address management issue and is free of charge, easy to use web management tool. SmartMC is embedded network management tool into the switch, it includes commander switches and other access switches.
SmartMC delivers the following benefits:
Intelligent operation
Once the switch is powered on and SmartMC function is enabled, topology will be created automatically and user can go enhanced web GUI to check the latest status.
Centralized management
All management can be achieved via commander switch such as centralized configuration backup, and software version management, increasing working efficiency.
Intelligent business
Mainly includes user management, etc.: After network access users are created and successfully activated, these users can access the SmartMC network through the one-key-armed port.
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches can be used as managed devices of SmartMC and connected to the SmartMC network as managed devices, enabling easy maintenance.
Support IEEE1588v2 protocol
IEEE 1588v2 is a master-slave synchronization system. During the synchronization process of the system, the master clock periodically publishes the PTP time synchronization protocol and time information, and the slave clock port receives the time stamp information sent by the master clock port, and the system calculates the master clock accordingly. Slave line time delay and master-slave time difference, and use the time difference to adjust the local time to keep the slave device time.
Frequency and phase coincident with master time. IEEE1588v2 can realize frequency synchronization and time synchronization at the same time. The accuracy of time transfer mainly depends on the accuracy of the two condition counters and the symmetry of the link. Compared with traditional timing technology, IEEE1588v2 has obvious advantages. It adopts two-way channel, the precision is ns level, the cost is low, and it can adapt to different access environments and so on. Under the background of the industry that requires increasing precision, IEEE 1588v2 has become an inevitable trend of development.
Abundant QoS
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches support packet filtering at Layer 2 through Layer 4, and traffic classification based on source MAC addresses, destination MAC addresses, source IP addresses, destination IP addresses, TCP/UDP port numbers, protocol types, and VLANs. It supports flexible queue scheduling algorithms based on ports and queues, including strict priority (SP), weighted round Robin (WRR) and SP+WRR. The IE4520 series industrial switches enable committed access rate (CAR). It supports port mirroring in the outbound and inbound directions, to monitor the packets on the specific ports, and to mirror the packets to the monitor port for network detection and troubleshooting.
Excellent manageability
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches make switch management with ease with the support of SNMPv1/v2/v3, which can be managed by NM platforms, such as Open View and iMC. With CLI and Telnet switch management is made easier. And with SSH 2.0 encryption, switch management security is enhanced.
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches support VLAN division based on MAC address, which solves the intelligent and flexible management of mobile office. Combined with the unique global and VLAN-based ACL distribution policy, it simplifies user configuration and greatly saves hardware resources.
Seamless industrial protocol compatibility
Supports transparent transmission of ubiquitous industrial protocols.
Compatible with monitoring and management via industrial fieldbus protocols such as Profinet, Ethernet/IP, and Modbus, enabling unified network management of PLCs, frequency converters, and industrial switches through upper-level configuration software. Ensures compatibility with PLCs from both domestic and international manufacturers.
Supports the CC-Link industrial protocol, enabling seamless communication with PLC products that adhere to this standard.
iNQA (intelligent network quality analyzer)
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches support iNQA (Intelligent Network Quality Analyzer), a detection mechanism designed for large-scale IP networks to rapidly measure network performance. H3C IE4520 series industrial switches currently support packet loss measurement, including unidirectional (forward/reverse), bidirectional packet loss statistics (e.g., lost packet count, packet loss rate, lost byte count, byte loss rate). Leveraging these metrics enables rapid identification of packet loss timing, location, and severity.
eMDI (enhanced media delivery index)
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches support eMDI (Enhanced Media Delivery Index), a network quality monitoring and fault demarcation solution specifically designed for video and audio services. eMDI directly monitors and analyzes service packets (carried over TCP or RTP) on specified network nodes in IP networks in real time. Network administrators can combine monitoring results from multiple nodes to quickly isolate fault locations.
Audio quality analysis
Multimedia audio and video services are widely used in daily life with diverse content, and user demands for service experience are increasingly stringent. Traditional network devices do not differentiate multimedia traffic from other data during transmission. During network congestion, multimedia services (e.g., audio/video) may experience stuttering, severely impacting user experience.
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches support Quality of Service (QoS) analysis. It identifies SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)-based multimedia traffic. When enabled, the device prioritizes forwarding such traffic to ensure service quality. Additionally, it analyzes and collects traffic/session information, including flow statistics and session metadata, for performance optimization and troubleshooting.
Green design
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches adopt new energy-saving chips and innovative architecture design solutions to achieve low power consumption of gigabit switches, bring users green, environmentally friendly and energy-saving new network access products, and reduce user maintenance costs. At the same time, H3C IE4520 series industrial switches adopt a variety of green energy-saving designs, including auto-power-down (port automatic energy-saving). If the interface status is always down for a period, the system will automatically stop power supply to the interface and automatically enter the energy-saving mode; Supports EEE energy saving function. If the port is idle for a period, the system will set the port to the energy saving mode. When there is a packet to be sent and received, it will wake up the port to resume services through the monitoring stream sent regularly to achieve the effect of energy saving.
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches adopt a shallow body with a combo port design, and the power does not exceed 30W under normal working conditions, which is suitable for more scenarios.
Power failure alarms
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches provide redundant power supply and support alarms based on power failure.
H3C IE4520 series industrial switches support IEEE Dying Gasp for alarms when a power outage occurs.
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IE4520-30S-C:The switch provides 6 x 1G/10GBASE-X SFP+ Ports, and 3 x Slots, (AC).
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