connecting a Cisco 2950 switch

[cheekychappie]

Hi,

I work in a building that has main comms cabinets, (mdf's?) consisting of routers, switches, nodes, patch panels. We also have smaller comms cabinets (idf's?) situated throughtout the building that connect back to the main cabinets.

A new (idf?) cabinet has been installed in a room and 2 users will connect to our network services via it. It's a small cabinet and only consists of one patch panel situated at the top, with each port labelled to link it to network points on the wall. However, there are many more ports on the patch panel than there are network points in the room (all of the ports on the patch panel are wired.) There is nothing else in the cabinet except for a fan tray at the top.

My plan is to install a Cisco 2950 switch into the cabinet. It's a standard 10 / 100 24 port switch with no other ports other than the console. This is the only available switch and is what I'll be using.

My method of connecting the switch is to connect a straight through patch cable from port 24 of the switch to one of the patch panel ports that isn't linked to a network point in the room (one of the 'free' patch panel ports?) I will obviously connect a mains power cable from the switch as well! My thoughts are this leaves the other 23 ports of the switch for use.

I will connect the first user from one of these switch ports to the first patch panel port using a straight through patch cable (the first patch panel port relates to a network point on the wall.) I will then connect the second user from the second switch port to patch panel port 2, which also relates to a network point on the wall.

Is this the right way to connect everything or do I need more comms equipment other than the patch panel and the switch? I'm assuming that connecting the switch to the patch panel then the users to the switch (patch cable from relevant patch panel port to a free switch port) will give them connectivity after PC configuration, am I right or wrong, please help

The comms cabinet is fully installed and has power to it and includes a top fan tray. The patch panel ports are all wired.

Dave

 

[Iota]

Well.... everything sounds right in theory, with some minor changes/modifications.

First, if you're using Twisted Pair for an uplink from your IDF to MDF, it's needs to be a Crossover cable--not straight through. One end needs to be wired 568B and the other 568A.

Second, Be sure the IDF is truly complete and you're supposed to use a TP/CAT5 uplink. If the IDF is far enough away from the MDF, you may need a fiber run; not to mention, depending on what type of traffic you have from your users, a 100Mb backbone may not be enough, but it maybe.

Lastly, When I run cable, I typically don't just run 1 drop, afterall the main cost is in the labor--not the cable. With that it mind, make sure you don't have multiple drops into the same room. If you do, do they all need to be hot? If not, save your ports on the switch until you need them.

 

[davemiller]

your note confused me.
in short you uplink with any one of the 24 ports, and
connect your users to the other ports.

Considerations -
> autonegotiation: does all wiring/jacks/panels truly support CAT5 so ports and pcs can auto-negotiate a 100 MB without incurring errors.
> vlans: if the network employs vlans and vtp you will need
to configure the switch accordingly. 'vlan database' mode for vtp. 'config t' and switchport commands for setting vlan access to any given ports.
> ios: switches do not usually come with the latest IOS, in fact the 2950s upto a 9 mos. ago usually came with the original ios release which was crap. see cisco.com for latest.
> security settings: you should set strong passwords on the switch, and change the snmp passwords from public.
> management: you should config the switch with an ip address in vlan 1 - be sure to set vty password so you can telnet to the switch.
> vlan1: newer ios has vlan1 in a shut state, so you need to enter a no shut in vlan1 in config mode. the switch will pass user data when vlan1 is shutdown, but you will not be able to manage the switch via ip. this is a security feature.