Bridging & Integrated Routing and Bridging

Everything went wrong this last weekend, I was a bit sick with fever and all this kind of stuff, and spent more time in bed, than actually doing anything else... That delayed me a little, I had plans to complete Workbook Volume 1 labs 3 and 4 this weekend but that wasn´t possible!

Today I´m better, really better, and in my lunch time I reviewed IPExpert CCIE R&S BLS Bridging Video. Nice topic, this is something we don´t get to see every day! In fact... I´ve never saw anything actually "bridged" in a network, and even it´s not on blueprint anymore we can still having some IRB Bridging. So I´ll spent more time on that for sure!

Couple quick notes I was able to get from the Video:

Basic job of a bridge is to bring things together, transparent bridging does that using the same media type, same MTU size, nothing changes!

Bridging on Routers:

Setup the basic bridge function:

• Bridge 1 protocol ieee

Then bind to interfaces:

• Bridge-group 1

If Frame-Relay is in the middle:

• Frame-relay  map bridge <DLCI>

Integrated Routing & Bridging:

Allows selective routing some protocols while bridging others:

Enable Bridge IRB in a router:

• Bridge irb

Configure a BVI (Bridging Virtual Interface):

• Interface bvi 1
• ip address <address> <mask>

Create our "rules", in other words tell bridge-group 1 to route IP.

• Bridge 1 route ip

Interfaces in middle simply have bridging.

A cool command to verify if everything is working (AFTER ping testing):

• Show bridge 1 verbose

It seens a little confuse, but with the example showed in the Video on Demand you´re able to get it! I´ll try to create a Dynamips topology to simulate a bridging scenario and post back later, to clarify things a bit better either for you reading this, and for me! :)