SSII 3300 not registering MAC addresses

[anbingham]

I have two SSII 3300 switch in a stack. When I connect some devices (PCs) to the switch it does not seem to register the MAC address in it's database. Others work fine.

You can still use the PC as normal, but if you run a sniffer you get to see all the network traffic not just that for this machine. I have check the roving analysis ports and tried all speeds/duplex and flow control settings. I even changed the MAC address in WinXP to see if that helped (it didn't)

I can't find anything in 3COM documentation or Knowledgebase and they will not even talk to me on the phone as the switches are out of warranty.

Anyone have any clues?

 

[TreyJ]

What version of firmware are on the switches? Also, do you have port security set up?

 

[anbingham]

I think that I have acutally tracked the problem down. It was one of the switched which was at fault (not registering any devices) although it was passing traffic fine. A reboot sorted this out

The firware was 2.70 and I have now updated it to 2.71. I am now watching this switch to see if it does this again.

Whilst investigatin I found the same problem with a 3300 which is part of a four unit stack in another office. Again a reboot sorted it out. The other units were working fine. Al are now 2.71 firmware

The switched had been running for over 3000 hours, so maybe they get a little tired after a bit.

Thanks for you answer.

 

[crownit]

This is the exact error I was researching. I am going to be reconfiguring the switches and reseting them after hours today. I hope this fixes it. I'll make sure and update.
-Dwayne

 

[AlexIT]

There is also a command to "flush" the memory used to store the MAC addresses...if you add/remove lots of PC's this gets filled and never completely clears out. I've had two 3300 go without a reboot for two years (16000 hours) without a glitch.

 

[crownit]

AlexIT,
Can you elaborate on this "flush" command? Thanks.
-Dwayne

 

[AlexIT]

In the console when you are Administer, IP, Routes, there is a "flush" option to clear all learned routes. This wipes the MAC tables and the switch will re-learn the MAC address of each connected port (takes about 2 minutes for my network.) On ports that are trunking you will see the MAC address of every downstream piece of equipment appear (usually more slowly.) You should do this command in outer ring switches first, then do the trunking switches so they update in sequence.

I have not needed to do this, except when buisness was so good that I was replacing 12 PC per month.


Alex

 

[switchhead]

If port security is on the switch will not register the mac address in the database.

 

[TreyJ]

What version of firmware is on your switches? We've noticed that older versions of firmware exhibit this problem.