Switch Trunks: What the heck do they do??? 6

[Bubbalouie]

Hi,

I am not really a switch person so I hope I am asking the right questions the right way here. I have 'inherited' a network setup in the following manner:

WS-C2924-XL <- WS-C3548-XL <- WS-C2924-XL -> WS-C3548-XL -> WS-C2924-XL
Switch5         Switch3        Switch1         Switch2        Switch4

the two switches on the left are in one bldg
Switch5 Port1 is connected to Switch3 Port2 (via ethernet cable)
Switch3 Port1 is connected to Switch1 Port1 (via a fiber optic media converter)

the switch in the middle is in one bldg
in addition to switches connected to Port1 and Port2:
Port3 is connected to a PIX 506
Port4 is connected to a 1750 router

the two switches on the right are in one bldg
Switch4 Port1 is connected to Switch2 Port2 (via ethernet cable)
Switch2 Port1 is connected to Switch1 Port2 (via a fiber optic media converter)

The only changes I've made so far are:
I moved the physical links between the switches as indicated above (they were all over the place and I mainly did it so I could try and make sense of it!).
I removed spanning-tree portfast off the linked ports and also off the last 6 ports off Switch2 and Switch3 for some workgroup switches which I had moved from various ports (all ports had it on and I'd read that you should not have other switches hooked up like that?)

It seems to be running fine now or at least a lot better than when I started it (loops???)

My main question concerns the links between the switches. I am poring through stuff I find on the Internet about Cisco switches and I keep reading about TRUNKS. Should I have trunks setup between my switches? Are there gains I could accrue by doing so? If so, a gentle nudge in the right direction would be most appreciated!

My second question is on the spanning-tree portfast. Every port had it on it. I understand no spanning-tree portfast on ports connected to switches and hubs. What about Port3 and Port4 on Switch1 where I have the PIX and Router hooked up? Are there times when you should have just spanning-tree or portfast enabled on a port?

My third question is what is that router doing? Can the PIX do it?

My fourth and final question concerns the daisy chaining of these switches. I've heard I shouldn't have more than 3 switches daisy chained. I moved some workgroup switches off of Switch4 to Switch2 and Switch5 to Switch3. I have some sites that connect thru site-to-site VPN's with the PIX. They pass through a switch at their location. If I have a resource on Switch4 or Switch5 are they passing through 4 switches and thus violating the 3 daisy chained switches rule?

I'm obviously a little out of my element here and hope I've explained it well. I'm looking for any tips and pointers anyone has to offer.

Thanks in Advance!

 

[burtsbees]

Agreed 100%.

/

 

[Bubbalouie]

configs in next post.

neither 45 or 48 show up when i run the show spanning-tree brief command. i was assuming that is because 46 and 47 are marked with the little 'd' for default when i run the show etherchannel summary command.

i actually have a good link between SW1 and SW3 going (it's production), it's just not etherchannel. i can't remember the ports on each switch at the moment. on SW3 i have a fiber converter plugged into one of the etherchannel ports that runs back to SW1 and that port is lit green and seems to be connected. on SW1 i have a fiber converter plugged into the corresponding etherchannel port and it is not lit.

i'll try a different ethernet cable between the fiber converter and the switch? if that doesn't resolve the issue, is there a way for me to tell if the ports have been put into some kind of shut down mode? i tried 'shut, no shut' with no luck and couldn't get anywhere with some other commands i found.

 

[Bubbalouie]

here are the configs. the only things i've modified on them at this point is adding the etherchannels to the various switches. the etherchannels between SW1-SW2, SW2-SW4 and SW3-SW5 work fine. it's just that SW1-SW3 that's causing me grief. i also checked all ports for that spanning-tree portfast thing and removed or added it based on what was plugged into that port (any printer/workstation got it, any switch/router/pix had it removed).

as i mentioned at the start of this thread, i'm not really a 'switch guy' but kinda inherited the switches when some things changed around here recently because i'm the 'computer guy'. having said that, i have found this pretty interesting thus far. if you see anything in these configs that could/should be changed i'd be more than willing to give it a try.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------2924xl------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SW1#sh run
Building configuration...

Current configuration:
!
version 12.0
no service pad
service timestamps debug uptime
service timestamps log datetime
no service password-encryption
service sequence-numbers
!
hostname SW1
!
enable secret 5 $1$qgWi$w//Q1S9q58FS8dY9ycETA1
!
!
!
!
!
!
ip subnet-zero
!
!
!
interface FastEthernet0/1
 description _Etherchannel to SW3 in bldg7_
 duplex full
 speed 100
 port group 2 distribution destination
 udld enable
!
interface FastEthernet0/2
 description _Etherchannel to SW3 in bldg7_
 duplex full
 speed 100
 port group 2 distribution destination
 udld enable
!
interface FastEthernet0/3
 description _Etherchannel to SW2 in bldg4_
 duplex full
 speed 100
 port group 3
 udld enable
!
interface FastEthernet0/4
 description _Etherchannel to SW2 in bldg4_
 duplex full
 speed 100
 port group 3
 udld enable
!
interface FastEthernet0/5
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/6
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/7
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/8
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/9
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/10
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/11
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/12
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/13
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/14
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/15
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/16
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/17
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/18
!
interface FastEthernet0/19
!
interface FastEthernet0/20
!
interface FastEthernet0/21
!
interface FastEthernet0/22
!
interface FastEthernet0/23
!
interface FastEthernet0/24
!
interface VLAN1
 ip address 192.168.1.9 255.255.255.0
 no ip directed-broadcast
 no ip route-cache
!
snmp-server engineID local 0000000902000002B9783340
snmp-server community private RW
snmp-server community public RO
snmp-server chassis-id 0x0E
!
line con 0
 transport input none
 stopbits 1
line vty 0 4
 password *********
 login
line vty 5 15
 password **********
 login
!
end

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------3548xl------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SW3#show run
Building configuration...

Current configuration:
!
version 12.0
no service pad
service timestamps debug uptime
service timestamps log datetime
no service password-encryption
service sequence-numbers
!
hostname SW3
!
enable secret 5 $1$7dgW$7r0KD/fr5EXeiMZnnXf690
!
!
!
!
!
!
ip subnet-zero
!
!
!
interface FastEthernet0/1
!
interface FastEthernet0/2
!
interface FastEthernet0/3
!
interface FastEthernet0/4
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/5
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/6
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/7
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/8
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/9
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/10
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/11
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/12
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/13
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/14
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/15
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/16
!
interface FastEthernet0/17
!
interface FastEthernet0/18
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/19
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/20
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/21
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/22
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/23
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/24
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/25
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/26
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/27
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/28
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/29
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/30
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/31
!
interface FastEthernet0/32
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/33
!
interface FastEthernet0/34
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/35
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/36
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/37
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/38
!
interface FastEthernet0/39
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/40
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/41
 spanning-tree portfast
!
interface FastEthernet0/42
!
interface FastEthernet0/43
!
interface FastEthernet0/44
!
interface FastEthernet0/45
 description _Etherchannel to SW1 in bldg10_
 duplex full
 speed 100
 port group 2
 udld enable
!
interface FastEthernet0/46
 description _Etherchannel to SW1 in bldg10_
 duplex full
 speed 100
 port group 2
 udld enable
!
interface FastEthernet0/47
 description _Etherchannel to SW5 in bldg7_
 duplex full
 speed 100
 port group 1
 udld enable
!
interface FastEthernet0/48
 description _Etherchannel to SW5 in bldg7_
 duplex full
 speed 100
 port group 1
 udld enable
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
!
interface VLAN1
 ip address 192.168.1.242 255.255.255.0
 no ip directed-broadcast
 no ip route-cache
!
ip default-gateway 192.168.1.1
snmp-server engineID local 000000090200000532EC83C0
snmp-server community private RW
snmp-server community public RO
!
line con 0
 transport input none
 stopbits 1
line vty 0 4
 password **********
 login
line vty 5 15
 password **********
 login
!
end

 

[Bubbalouie]

Brilliant!

The ethernet cable was heck to fish up the wall and thru the ceiling and across two offices so I went over and cut the factory molded ends off off the ethernet cable. Bought some crystals, a crimper and downloaded the pinouts off the ethernet.

You can probably see where this is going...

Once I put the new rj-45's on the link came right up.

 

[vipergg]

Yup physical layer issue .........

 

[pctech64]

...and that no simulator can simulate or emulate...that is why i stick with my rack even when I don't know what the hell I'm doing !! LOL
I will some day!!