Catalyst 2950 24 Port Switch Help

[spelltoronto]

Hi,

I'm not very experienced with Cisco switches, so any help is appreciated. My problem is that I'm trying to connect a basic Linksys 10/100 switch to my Cisco 2950 switch with a straight-through cat5 cable. I get an amber LED on the ports that are connected, which shows that there is something wrong obviously. I'm just not sure what. I tried using a web browser on a local host connected to the 2950 to connect to the management tool @ 10.0.0.1, but that doesn't work.

I guess I'm looking for any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this issue of connecting 2 switches. Also, how can I manage the 2950 as the web-based tool does not work even after I change the local host IP to 10.0.0.2 and point my browser to the 2950 @ 10.0.0.1 (as stated in the manual)

Thanks for any help

 

[vipergg]

Switch to switch is normally a crossover cable , try that first .

 

[spelltoronto]

ok i can try that. but i thought most newer switches could cross the signals from a normal straight through cable...?

 

[vipergg]

Believe it or not the cheap home routers do this but the more expensive Cisco stuff like the 2950 does not . Don't know if your linksys has that feature or not , you would have to look it up in your documentation .

 

[BOKA]

How about connecting your straight cable into the uplink port on the Linksys?

Also, did you follow the initial setup procedure (hold MODE button for 30sec, then wait 30sec before connecting PC, etc)?

If the switch alredy has config you are trying to use, maybe it's IP is not 10.0.0.1.

Good luck.

 

[spelltoronto]

Well I tried using a signal converter to make the straight through cable become a crossover, but that still did not do the trick. I've also tried connecting the the cable to the 5th port on the Linksys which seems to be the 'uplink' port, but no luck...

 

[Parcival21]

Hi there,

this might also be an issue of the configs of the switches. There could fr example be port security configured on the cisco switch or something similar. You could post the config here to provide more information that can be used to help you.

bye, busche

 

[robertjo24]

For some reason the C2950 switches sometime have issues connecting to certain devices when ports are forces to, say 100Mbit/Full Duplex. Verify the port setting on the interface you are connecting to the LinkSys. I would then use a straight through cable from the Cisco to the LinkSys uplink port.
To verify the Cisco port setting, log on to the switch via the local console interface. Then do a “sho run int f0/X”, X being the port on the switch. If the port is set to a particular speed or duplex, it will show here. If you need to set the port back to auto, here is what you do.
From the enable prompt (Switch1#), type:
conf t to get to the config mode
int f0/X to get to the interface you need to configure
duplex auto sets auto duplex
speed auto sets the speed to auto detect
exit
exit
Then make sure you issue a “copy run start” command to save your work.
Also, verify if you have any VLANS set that could cause the issue. You can check this by issuing a “sho vlan” command. This will list any VLANs, and what ports are assigned to each.

 

[spelltoronto]

Thanks for the continued responses....

I would like to check the config settings on the 2950...but I'm not sure how. As I mentioned, I haven't accessed its web interface since the initial setup of the switch. I tried connecting to its web-based tool on 10.0.0.1, but no luck. Could I use the Cisco Network Assistant tool to manage the 2950 from a host connected to it? Or do I need to get a laptop and console in...?

Thanks

 

[InDenial]

vipergg,

more expensive switches do this too.. although not the 2950 as far as I know. For example... the 3750, 2940, 2970 support auto mdix...





InDenial

 

[robertjo24]

I think your best bet is to console in to the switch locally.
From there, you can look at the configuration, and verify the IP address you gave the switch. Later management can be accomplished via telnet session to the switch. I find this quicker than the HTML interface, and if you know the basic commands and navigation, you can use the internal help feature to give a little help on syntax and further commands.
Have you logged into the switch via the console before?
Any trougle getting to the enable prompt (switch#)?
If you can get there, you can do anything you need to in the switch.