Appendix A: Configuring the Media Redundancy Protocol

A ring of Ethernet switches can use the Media Redundancy Protocol (MRP) to overcome a failure faster than with STP. An MRP network consists of a ring of switches with one manager switch; the rest of the switches are clients. The switches in the ring must use physical ports to form the ring or a single port configured as a static trunk. The MRP ring ports are disabled in STP.

If a ring has more than one switch that can be manager, MRP selects the switch with the highest priority (numerically lower number) as the manager. If a ring has more than one switch that can be manager and the switches have the same priority, MRP selects the switch with the lowest MAC address as the manager. Each node of the MRP network must be configured as an automanager (manager switch) or a client. The MRP automanager and client switches must have matching parameters, such as MRP VLAN and domain identifier, for the MRP ring to function properly.

MRP sends three types of frames through the ring ports:

• MRP_Test frames detect a failure or recovery of a ring port link.
• MRP_LinkChange frames indicate a failure or recovery of a ring port link.
• MRP_TopologyChange frames indicate that the MRP network topology has changed.

Starting in FortiSwitchOS 7.0.0, the FortiSwitch unit supports the following:

• One MRP ring
• Ring-check mode
• The media redundancy interconnection manager (MIM) is not supported.
• The media redundancy interconnection client (MIC) is not supported.
• Fortinet recommends configuring no more than two automanagers in a ring.

Refer to the FortiSwitchOS feature matrix to see which FortiSwitch models support MRP.

To configure MRP in FortiLink mode:

NOTE: The FortiSwitch units must be first configured in standalone mode without being connected to any FortiGate devices.

1. Enable auto-network using a management VLAN of 4094.

   By default, auto-network is enabled in FortiSwitchOS 7.2.0 and later.

   For example:

   config switch auto-network

   set mgmt-vlan 4094

   end

2. Let the ISL trunks automatically form between the FortiSwitch units. For example:

   config switch trunk

   edit "2DP4F16000319-0"

   set auto-isl 1

   set static-isl disable

   set members "port3"

   next

   edit "2DP4F14000094-0"

   set auto-isl 1

   set static-isl disable

   set members "port5"

   next

   end

3. Change the ISL trunks to static-isl trunks. For example:

   config switch trunk

   edit "2DP4F16000319-0"

   set auto-isl 1

   set static-isl enable

   set members "port3"

   next

   edit "2DP4F14000094-0"

   set auto-isl 1

   set static-isl enable

   set members "port5"

   next

   end

4. Configure the MRP settings with VLAN 4094. Use the physical ports of the static-isl trunk members as MRP ring ports. For example:

   config switch mrp settings

   set status enable

   set vlan-id 4094

   set ring-port1 "port3"

   set ring-port2 "port5"

   end

5. Connect the link to the FortiGate device and authorize the FortiSwitch units.