Brocade Switch Configuration Guide

A practical guide to configuring Brocade ICX and MLX switches for your home lab.

5 min read

Why Brocade Switches

Brocade (now part of Broadcom) switches are enterprise-grade networking gear that regularly show up on eBay for $20-60. The ICX 6400/6500 series and ICX 6430 are particularly popular in homelabs because they support full-featured CLI, VLANs, LACP, STP, and SFP+ 10GbE uplinks -- all at a fraction of the cost of Cisco equivalents.

For someone with a Cisco networking background, Brocade's CLI feels familiar. It uses a Cisco-like command structure with some Brocade-specific syntax. The learning curve is minimal if you already know Cisco IOS.

Basic Switch Configuration

Connect via console cable (USB-to-serial) or SSH. Default credentials are typically admin/admin or admin/password. Here's a basic configuration template:

enable
configure terminal

! Set hostname
hostname LAB-SW01

! Set management IP
interface vlan 10
ip address 10.10.10.2 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
exit

! Set default gateway
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.10.10.1

! Enable SSH
ip ssh version 2
ip domain-name lab.local
crypto key generate rsa modulus 2048

! Configure admin account
username admin password <strong-password>
username admin privilege 15

! Save configuration
write memory

VLAN Configuration

Creating VLANs and assigning ports on Brocade ICX switches:

enable
configure terminal

! Create VLANs
vlan 20
name Servers
exit

vlan 30
name VMs
exit

vlan 40
name IoT
exit

vlan 50
name Guest
exit

! Assign access ports
interface 1/1/1
name "DC01"
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 20
no shutdown
exit

! Configure trunk port
interface 1/1/2
name "To-Router"
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 10,20,30,40,50
no shutdown
exit

write memory

LACP (Link Aggregation)

Combine multiple physical links into a single logical link for increased bandwidth and redundancy:

enable
configure terminal

! Create aggregate group
aggregateport 1
description "To-Switch-02"
no shutdown
exit

! Add member ports
interface 1/1/1-4
aggregateport 1 add
no shutdown
exit

! Configure LACP mode
aggregateport 1
lacp mode active
exit

! On the peer switch, configure the matching aggregateport
aggregateport 1
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 10,20,30,40,50
lacp mode active
no shutdown
exit

Verify with show aggregateport 1 summary and show lacp 1 counters.

STP (Spanning Tree Protocol)

Prevent switching loops with STP. Brocade ICX switches support Rapid PVST+:

enable
configure terminal

! Enable RSTP
spanning-tree mode rapid-pvst

! Set switch as root for VLAN 20
spanning-tree vlan 20 root primary

! Set switch as backup root for VLAN 30
spanning-tree vlan 30 root secondary

! Adjust port priority to influence STP path
interface 1/1/1
spanning-tree vlan 20 port-priority 128
exit

! Enable BPDU guard on edge ports
interface 1/1/10-24
spanning-tree bpdu-guard
exit

write memory

DHCP Snooping and Security

Protect your network from rogue DHCP servers and DHCP-based attacks:

enable
configure terminal

! Enable DHCP snooping
ip dhcp snooping

! Trust uplink ports (connected to legitimate DHCP server)
interface 1/1/1
ip dhcp snooping trust
exit

! Untrust all other ports
interface 1/1/2-24
no ip dhcp snooping trust
exit

! Enable DHCP snooping database
ip dhcp snooping database flash://dhcp_snoop.db
ip dhcp snooping database timer 3600

! Enable IP Source Guard
interface 1/1/10-24
ip verify source port-security
exit

write memory

Monitoring and Troubleshooting

Essential show commands for Brocade ICX switches:

Common Issues and Fixes