Contents

Configuring Quicknet 1

About Quicknet 1

Benefits· 1

Quicknet network framework· 1

Quicknet network management 2

Quicknet role selection· 5

Quicknet network establishment and changing· 6

Quicknet splitting· 7

Quicknet merging· 8

Quicknet configuration synchronization· 9

Quicknet time synchronization (NTP) 10

Quicknet management system login with a fixed domain name· 11

Restrictions and guidelines: Quicknet configuration· 11

Quicknet tasks at a glance· 11

Enabling Quicknet 11

Setting the network-wide Quicknet password· 12

Display and maintenance commands for Quicknet 12

Configuring Quicknet

About Quicknet

Quicknet is a lightweight network management topology used to centrally manage and maintain dispersed network devices at network edges. In a Quicknet network, only one device acts as the TM and the remaining devices all act as TCs. The TM manages the entire Quicknet network in a unified way.

Benefits

Quicknet provides the following benefits:

·     Simplified network setup. Quicknet supports plug-and-play for devices. Once initial settings are configured from the Web interface, devices can automatically form a Quicknet network based on the factory configuration.

·     Simplified network maintenance. After the Quicknet network is built, the network administrator can log into the Quicknet management system and, through simple Web operations, can achieve unified management and maintenance of a large number of network devices. This effectively solves operation and maintenance issues for small and medium-sized campus networks.

Quicknet network framework

Figure 1 shows the basic framework of a Quicknet network. The Quicknet network contains the following elements:

·     Topology master (TM)—Manages all members in the Quicknet network.

·     Topology client (TC)—Managed by the TM.

·     FTP server—Stores startup software images and configuration files for the TM and members.

Quicknet networks can include various models of network devices. The method for determining device roles varies by product positioning.

·     Some device models support manually designating the device role as TC through the CLI.

·     Some device models support manually designating the device role as TM through the CLI.

·     Some device models support using the auto election mechanism to determine their roles (TC or TM) in a Quicknet network. For more information about auto election, see "Quicknet role selection."

Figure 1 Quicknet network framework

 

Quicknet network management

Introduction

Quicknet provides various flexible network device management solutions, allowing you to select any of the following methods as needed:

·     Local unified management (mainly used for initial deployment)

Through the Quicknet management system, all network devices can be centrally managed on-site, significantly improving operational efficiency, and is especially suitable for rapid deployment and management of small to medium-sized campus networks.

·     Cloudnet remote management (recommended for O&M)

With the Cloudnet management platform, you can remotely manage all devices in the Quicknet network anytime, anywhere.

·     Single-device local configuration

¡     Web interface: Access the graphical web page through the device IP to intuitively configure a single device.

¡     CLI: Log in to the device command line interface and use commands for advanced configuration.

Quicknet management system

The Quicknet management system is a lightweight web-based network management platform and acts as the unified management entry for the Quicknet network running on TM. You can visit https://quicknet.h3c.com to access the Quicknet management system on the TM. It is mainly used for the deployment of Quicknet networks. After completing the initial deployment, you can perform simple operations and maintenance on all network devices through the Quicknet management system. To perform in-depth O&M, use the one-key onboarding function provided by the Quicknet management system as a best practice.

The Quicknet management system provides the following functions:

·     Initialization—Configures the project name, network-wide password, Internet parameters, Wi-Fi settings, and time zone for the Quicknet network.

·     Network Dashboard—Displays network connectivity information, alarm messages, wired network information, wireless service information, topology list, device list, and device details, and provides a portal for users to switch to local management.

·     Network Configuration—Includes WAN and wired configuration. WAN settings include network access parameters and wired settings include the service VLAN.

·     Device Management—Includes adding devices, removing offline devices, rebooting devices, upgrading devices, resetting devices, viewing device details, configuring device interfaces, creating VLANs, editing VLANs, and deleting VLANs.

·     Terminal Management—Allows viewing and management of wired and wireless users.

·     System Management—Includes upgrading, rebooting, and modifying the network-wide password.

By combining the aforementioned functions, you can achieve the following objectives:

·     Management the Quicknet network topology.

·     Manage member devices in bulk.

Quicknet network deployment

Quicknet provides an intelligent deployment solution, enabling network deployment in a few simple steps. The specific process is as follows:

1.     Auto networking (plug and play)

¡     Networking conditions:

-     Devices can reach each other at Layer 2 (allowing VLAN 1 packets to pass).

-     Quicknet is enabled (whether Quicknet is enabled by default depends on the device model).

¡     Auto TM election: After the conditions are met, the devices automatically elect the TM and establish a Quicknet network.

2.     Device role and information query

¡     After completing physical connections, you can execute the display quicknet configuration command on the TM to verify the TM device role and execute the display quicknet configuration command on a TC to verify the TC device role and view TM information.

¡     The network is not deployed yet. Executing the display quicknet tc command on the TM cannot display TC information.

3.     Network deployment methods

¡     Wireless access (recommended)

-     Connect to the Wi-Fi whose name includes the Quicknet string.

-     Use a browser to visit https://quicknet.h3c.com and perform initial deployment as instructed.

¡     Wired access (login to TM Web interface)

-     Connect your PC to VLAN-interface 1 on any device in the Quicknet network.

-     Use a browser to visit https://quicknet.h3c.com and perform initial deployment as instructed.

In the Quicknet network, a DHCP server will be automatically deployed to assign IP addresses in the VLAN 1 segment to PCs, and provide translation from https://quicknet.h3c.com to the TM IP address. If a PC accesses the Quicknet management system across network segments, you must configure the mapping relationship between https://quicknet.h3c.com and the IP address of Quicknet on the local PC.

4.     Initial deployment configuration

¡     You can configure the network-wide password, Wi-Fi, and time zone settings.

¡     The configuration will be automatically synchronized to all member devices and take effect.

5.     Deployment process on the TM

a.     Generates a unique NetID for the current Quicknet network.

b.     Requires the logged-in administrator to set a management password (the Quicknet network-wide password) and synchronizes this password along with the NetID to all member devices in the Quicknet network.

Set the devices with the network-wide password and NetID to the deployed state. The state will affect the TM election later.

Quicknet network-wide password

The Quicknet network-wide password is used to ensure the security of the NETCONF communication channel between TM and TC devices.

After Layer 2 connections are established in the Quicknet network, the TM must establish Layer 3 communication channels with TCs to synchronize configurations and obtain device information.

To ensure communication security, the TM and TCs must perform identity authentication (the authentication credentials are the local user admin and the corresponding password). The device comes with default credentials from the factory. The username admin in the default credentials cannot be changed, but the password can be modified. This password is also known as the Quicknet network-wide password.

You can use either method to configure the network-wide password:

1.     Modify during initial configuration

Set the network-wide password in the Quicknet management system's deployment wizard.

2.     Modify during device operation

¡     Modify from the Quicknet management system's Web interface.

¡     Modify from the TM's CLI.

The network-wide password synchronization mechanism is as follows:

·     After the password is changed, the TM automatically synchronizes the new password to all network devices.

·     The system will rebuild all communication channels based on the new password.

When you configure the network-wide password, follow these restrictions and guidelines:

·     As a best practice for security purposes, change the default password upon initial deployment.

·     Change password regularly to comply with corporate security policies.

·     The password must contain a minimum of eight characters and contain uppercase and lowercase letters, digits, and special characters.

Quicknet NetID

A NetID is the identifier of a Quicknet network in the Quicknet system, and one Quicknet network corresponds to only one NetID.

To adapt to various networking applications, multiple Quicknet networks can be deployed in the same network, and NetID is used to distinguish between different Quicknet networks. One device can only join one Quicknet network. As shown in Figure 2, the TM broadcasts Quicknet protocol packets to discover TCs in the respective Quicknet network. To avoid interference between Quicknet protocol packets of two Quicknet networks, Quicknet uses NetID to distinguish between different Quicknet networks. When a member device in a Quicknet network receives a Quicknet packet with a different NetID, it directly discards it.

The NetID is automatically generated by the Quicknet module at the initial deployment phase.

Figure 2 Multi-Quicknet networking

 

One-key onboarding

After completing the Quicknet deployment, to manage devices both locally and from the cloud, click the one-key onboarding icon  in the top navigation bar of the Quicknet management system to register all network devices to Cloudnet.

After successfully executing one-key onboarding, the administrator can log in to the H3C Cloudnet management platform (https://cloudnet.h3c.com) to implement remote management.

Quicknet role selection

Quicknet networks can include various models of network devices. The method for determining device roles varies by product positioning.

·     Some device models support manually designating the device role as TC through the CLI.

·     Some device models support manually designating the device role as TM through the CLI.

·     Some device models support using the auto election mechanism to determine their roles (TC or TM) in a Quicknet network.

For devices that support Quicknet, the role is not determined in the factory settings, and the TM is automatically elected through role election. A Quicknet network conducts role election in the following situations:

·     The devices are first interconnected, which triggers Quicknet network formation.

·     The TM leaves the network or malfunctions.

·     The Quicknet network splits.

·     Two (or more) independent Quicknet networks merge into one.

The following priority order is used to select the TM in the role election:

1.     The TM specified by command execution is prioritized.

2.     The device with a higher Quicknet election priority is prioritized.

Each device comes with a priority in factory settings, which is determined by the device model and network location and cannot be modified from the CLI. The Quicknet election priorities of the following devices are in descending order: AC, router, security device, AP. The role of a switch requires manual configuration.

¡     If none of the devices participating in the role election have finished startup deployment, the device with the highest priority becomes the TM.

¡     When a device joins a deployed Quicknet network, if the priority of the new device is higher than the priority of the existing TM, the new device synchronizes configuration and then becomes the TM. If the priority of the new device is the same as or is lower than the priority of the existing TM, the new device joins the network as a TC.

3.     Devices that have obtained Quicknet configuration and have been deployed are prioritized.

If two devices have the same priority, the device that has obtained Quicknet configuration and has been deployed becomes the TM.

4.     The TM in the larger Quicknet network is prioritized.

When two Quicknet networks merge, the TM in the network with more members becomes the new TM.

5.     Devices that have higher heath scores are prioritized.

6.     Devices that have lower bridge MAC addresses are prioritized.

During the election process, the devices broadcast election packets at Layer 2 and follow the above rules until the only TM is selected.

Quicknet network establishment and changing

Quicknet network establishment

The network establishment process is as follows:

1.     If a device is manually designated as TM or TC in the network, it will not participate in the role election process but will directly enter the TM or TC state. The TM will broadcast discovery packets to announce its identity.

2.     For a device that supports automatic election, it will enter the TC(auto) state by default after startup.

¡     If the device receives a TM broadcast packet within 5 seconds, its role is determined as TC, and the role election process will not be initiated.

¡     If the device does not receive a TM broadcast packet within 5 seconds, it enters the role election phase and broadcasts an election packet (containing information such as bridge MAC, NetID, precedence, network scale, and VLAN-interface1 IP) at 5-second intervals. The optimal device is elected as the TM and other devices become TCs.

-     If the device receives an election packet from a device with better conditions within 20 seconds, it switches to TC. If the local device has better conditions, it becomes the TM.

-     If the device does not receive any election packets from other devices within 20 seconds, it switches to TM.

3.     The TM broadcasts discovery packets at intervals of 5 seconds to announce its TM identity.

4.     Each TC records the device information of the TM and sends a Quicknet discovery ACK packet back to the TM. At this time, you can use the display quicknet configuration command on the device to view the Quicknet configuration.

5.     The network administrator can use one of the following methods to perform initial deployment:

¡     Connect to the TM directly.

¡     Connect to the Wi-Fi whose name includes the Quicknet string.

Visit https://quicknet.h3c.com to log in to the management system. The system will automatically issue the LLDP and NETCONF configuration.

6.     During the deployment process, the TM attempts to establish NETCONF sessions with all member devices and authenticates each TC using the username admin and the default password.

¡     If the authentication is successful, the NETCONF session is established successfully.

¡     If the authentication fails, the NETCONF session fails to be established.

The TM sends commands to the TC through this NETCONF session to obtain information from the TC.

7.     The TM obtains detailed information of the TC (including port, LLDP neighbors, and STP status) through a NETCONF session.

8.     The TC sends a login request packet (containing device ID information).

9.     The TM confirms the information and adds the TC to the network. You can use the display quicknet tc command to view TC information.

10.     The TM builds the network topology based on LLDP information (the network topology can be viewed in Quicknet).

11.     The administrator sets the network-wide password and Internet parameters according to the system guide to complete the deployment.

12.     The TM synchronizes the password and rebuilds all NETCONF connections.

The Quicknet network has been officially established and can be uniformly operated and maintained through the management system.

New device joining

The mechanism for automatically electing the TM when a new device joins is as follows:

1.     After the Quicknet network is established, the TM broadcast discovery packets at a fixed interval (default to 5 seconds), inquiring if member devices exist in the network.

2.     When a new device is connected and powered on:

¡     If the configuration of a newly added device specifies the role as TC, the device directly joins the Quicknet network as a TC.

¡     If the configuration of a newly added device specifies the role as TM, the device cannot join the Quicknet network.

¡     If the configuration of a newly added device uses the self-election function, the new device will enter the role election state and determine whether it acts as a TM or TC according to the role election rules.

Member device leaving

After the Quicknet network is successfully established, the TM and TCs perceive each other's existence through Quicknet broadcast packets and response packets:

·     After the TM leaves, TCs will enter the role election state if they fail to receive Quicknet discovery packets from the TM within 20 seconds. TCs then re-elect an TM according to the role election rules.

·     After a TC leaves, the TM considers a TC as offline if it fails to receive any Quicknet discovery ACK packet from the TC within 20 seconds.

Quicknet splitting

If link failures occur between member devices in a Quicknet network, TCs and TM may fail to reach each other, causing the Quicknet network to split into multiple Quicknet networks. After the splitting, one Quicknet network contains the original TM, while other Quicknet networks do not have a TM.

During the splitting, the Quicknet software module handles the situation as follows:

·     For the Quicknet network that contains the original TM, the Quicknet network continues to operate normally, and the departing member devices become offline.

·     For a Quicknet network that does not contain a TM, if some devices in the network support self-election, they consider the TM as faulty and trigger role election after 20 seconds without receiving any Quicknet broadcast discovery packets from a TM.

As shown in Figure 3, the roles of TM, TC 1, and TC 3 in the Quicknet network are decided through election, and the role of TC 2 is manually specified. Assuming that this Quicknet network has been established with a NetID of 1, the following scenarios might occur:

·     When the link fails between TC 2 and the TM, TC 2 leaves the Quicknet network, but its role remains as TC and its NetID remains as 1.

·     When the link fails between TC 3 and the TM, TC 3 leaves the Quicknet network. After 20 seconds without receiving any Quicknet broadcast discovery packets from the TM, TC 3 re-elects itself as the TM with a NetID of 1.

Figure 3 Quicknet splitting

 

Quicknet merging

The process of multiple stable Quicknet networks interconnecting to form a Quicknet network is called Quicknet merging.

The following rules are followed during the Quicknet merging:

·     For Quicknet networks that have already been established, only Quicknet networks with the same NetID can be merged. Quicknet networks with different NetIDs cannot be merged. Restoring factory settings or disabling and then enabling Quicknet can delete the NetID on a device.

·     Established Quicknet networks can be merged with non-established Quicknet networks.

·     When merging, the two Quicknet networks will compete for the TM role. For more information about the TM election rules, see "Quicknet role selection."

As shown in Figure 4, three Quicknet networks exist in the current network. Quicknet network 1 and Quicknet network 3 have the same NetID, and Quicknet network 2 has a different NetID. When the link failure is recovered, the Quicknet networks will try to merge, as follows:

·     Quicknet network 1 has two member devices, which is greater than the number of member devices in Quicknet network 2. Therefore, Quicknet network 1 wins the election and its TM will become the TM of the merged Quicknet network.

·     Quicknet network 2 cannot participate in the merge due to its NetID being inconsistent with other Quicknet networks. You can restore the devices to factory settings for them to join the merged Quicknet network.

Figure 4 Quicknet merging

 

Quicknet configuration synchronization

After the administrator completes the deployment through Quicknet, member devices form a Quicknet network through the Layer 2 network. The TM automatically establishes NETCONF sessions with all TCs through VLAN interface 1 for configuration deployment and parameter retrieval, achieving unified network management.

Quicknet supports the following configuration methods:

·     Global configuration

Administrators can configure settings on the Quicknet management system's web page or from the TM's CLI. These configurations are distributed to and take effect on all member devices. Global synchronized configurations include wireless, wired, Internet, Quicknet network-wide password, and FTP server settings.

·     Batch configuration

Administrators can configure multiple devices by selecting them on the Quicknet management system's web page. These configurations are distributed to and take effect on the selected member devices. Batch synchronization operations include batch reboot and factory reset.

·     Single device configuration

In addition to Quicknet global configuration and batch configuration, administrators can configure parameters for a single member device in the following methods:

¡     Configure the settings for the specified device on the web page. These configurations will be distributed to and take effect on that device.

¡     For configurations not supported by the web page, such as disabling/enabling interfaces or adding interfaces to VLANs, administrators must log in to the member device and use the CLI to configure the settings. To log in to a member device, use either of the following methods:

-     Use the eWEB or CLI in the Quicknet management system to access the local Web interface or CLI.

-     Use the IP address of the device to log in to the local Web interface or CLI of the device.

Quicknet time synchronization (NTP)

After the Quicknet network is deployed, the TM synchronizes the time to all TCs using Network Time Protocol (NTP). The time synchronization precision of NTP is in milliseconds, which can meet the time synchronization requirements of general computer networks. For more information about NTP, see "Configuring NTP."

Quicknet synchronizes time settings across the network as follows:

1.     When the Quicknet network is deployed, the TM automatically deletes the existing NTP configuration on the device and generates a new NTP configuration specific to the Quicknet network.

2.     The TM acts as an NTP client and synchronizes time settings with external NTP servers.

The device supports a default of five external NTP servers. When the device receives clock signals from multiple default NTP servers, it selects the optimal clock signal for synchronization. The addresses of the default clock servers are as follows:

¡     registry.h3c.com (H3C time server)

¡     s2f.time.edu.cn (Northeast network center)

¡     cn.pool.ntp.org (NTP project domestic time server)

¡     1.cn.pool.ntp.org (NTP project domestic time server)

¡     asia.pool.ntp.cn  (NTP project Asian time server)

3.     If all the five external NTP servers are unavailable, the TM modifies the level of the local clock to 6 and uses the local clock as the clock source for the Quicknet network.

4.     The TM acts as an NTP server, and TCs act as NTP clients and synchronize time with the TM.

Figure 5 Quicknet time synchronization

 

Quicknet management system login with a fixed domain name

Typically, accessing the device's web interface requires its IP address or domain name. If you use a domain name, a DNS server must be deployed in the network and the domain-to-IP mapping must be configured. To simplify network deployment and user operations, Quicknet supports accessing the Quicknet management system using fixed domain name quicknet.h3c.com, even without a DNS server.

The TM automatically establishes a mapping between quicknet.h3c.com and the IP address of the TM's VLAN-interface 1 and synchronizes it with all member devices. Users can log into the Quicknet management system by connecting to any member device and entering the domain name.

Restrictions and guidelines: Quicknet configuration

The device starts up with factory settings. After the administrator completes initial deployment configuration from the Quicknet management system, the device can automatically establish a Quicknet network.

The devices exchange Quicknet protocol packets and establish and maintain the Quicknet network within VLAN 1. For Quicknet to operate normally, make sure the interfaces connecting member devices allow VLAN 1 packets to pass through (by default, the interfaces connecting member devices allow VLAN 1 packets to pass through).

Quicknet tasks at a glance

To configure Quicknet, perform the following tasks:

1.     Enabling Quicknet

2.     Setting the network-wide Quicknet password

As a best practice to ensure inter-device communication, configure this feature.

Enabling Quicknet

Restrictions and guidelines

One Quicknet network can have only one TM.

If you switch the device role from TM to TC or disable Quicknet, the system clears all the running configuration related to Quicknet on the device.

Quicknet requires specific ACL resources. If ACL resources are insufficient, Quicknet might fail to be enabled. You can use the display acl command to view the ACL configuration and operation status and use the undo acl command to delete useless ACLs based on the actual conditions. After releasing ACL resources, you can try again to enable Quicknet. For more information about ACL, see ACL and QoS Configuration Guide.

When you enable Quicknet, the device checks whether port 80 and port 443 are occupied, as HTTP and HTTPS services require these ports. If port 80 or port 443 is occupied, Quicknet cannot be enabled.

Procedure

1.     Enter system view.

system-view

2.     Enable Quicknet. Perform either of the following tasks:

¡     Enable Quicknet and specify the device role as TM.

quicknet enable auto tm

¡     Enable Quicknet and specify the device role as TC.

quicknet tc enable

By default, Quicknet is disabled and the device role is not specified.

Setting the network-wide Quicknet password

About this task

The TM manages and maintains each TC through NETCONF channels, and uses the local username admin and the default password to perform TC authentication. You can perform this task to edit the default password on the TM. The TM then issues the changed password to all TCs and re-establishes NETCONF channels.

Procedure

1.     Enter system view.

system-view

2.     Set the network-wide Quicknet password.

quicknet password [ cipher ] string

By default, the network-wide Quicknet password is not specified.

Display and maintenance commands for Quicknet

Execute display commands in any view.

 

Step	Command
Display Quicknet configuration.	display quicknet configuration
Display member device information.	display quicknet tc [ tc-id ] [ verbose ]