Re:Gigabit interface on FWSM

[ambivert skill]

Hi ,

On running sh interface ip brief on FWSM it show two gigabit interfaces as mentioned in docs that connection in FWSM are made through VLANs only so Please le me know what they are used for.

FWSM# sh int ip brief

Interface                  IP-Address      OK? Method Status                Protocol

GigabitEthernet0        unassigned      YES unset  up                    up 

GigabitEthernet1        unassigned      YES unset  up                    up 

Vlan100                    unassigned       YES unset  up                    up 

Vlan101                    unassigned       YES unset  up                    up 

Vlan102                    unassigned       YES unset  up                    up 

Vlan103                    unassigned       YES unset  down                down

EOBC0                      127.0.0.41       YES CONFIG up                  up 

Thanks

ambivertskill

[Jouni Forss]

Hi,

I'd imagine they are some kind of internal interfaces to the FWSM module itself.

To my understanding you only configure the Vlan interfaces while you seem to have some options to configure the 6Gbps Etherchannel between the FWSM and the Catalyst

- Jouni

[ambivert skill]

Thanks Jouni for your reply,can you please elaborate what are these PinnacleA & B which are connected to NP1&2 ,I suppose that these are line cards and also Medusa, please correct me as I am new to this technology.

Thanks

Ambivertskill

[Jouni Forss]

Hi,

To be honest I havent had the need to get to know the FWSM structure that much. It was already getting old when I started at my first networking job (where I am still working).

I think basically NP1 - NP3 handle different roles in the FWSM controlling/handling the traffic that passes through the FWSM. The 6Gbps (2x3Gbps) are just internal connections between the FWSM and Catalyst that Trunk the Vlans that you configure on the Catalyst and FWSM.

I think most of this kind of material is gone through in depth mostly in some documents that I probably dont have any access to and these things have also been discussed at different Cisco Live! sessions

For example

Cisco Live! 2012 San Diego - Maximizing Firewall Performance

You can go to

https://www.ciscolive365.com/connect/publicDashboard.ww

And register and you can get access to the different session from different Cisco Live! events though the "Session Gatalog". Though naturally its not the same as being there yourself when you see the actual presentations.

- Jouni

[Kureli Sankar]

Pls. review this simplified doc and compare it with the picture that Jouni posted up above:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-12713

Medusa is the name given to the fabric bus.

-Kureli

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[ambivert skill]

Thanks to both of you to help me in understanding about these interfaces.

I have some more points to discuss with you all regarding deployment of FWSM in my environment and need a valuable feedback from your end.

Regards

Ambivert Skill