[ale] Ethernet info/question

[Michael Trausch]

On Thu, 2010-05-06 at 09:05 -0400, Greg Freemyer wrote:
> ==> Question
> In my troubleshooting it seemed that I had a Ethernet loop somehow.
> ie. switch1 -- switch2 -- switch3 -- switch1
> 
> How bad is that?  Could it have be the real source of my problems, and
> not my existing distribution switch like it seems to me?
> 
> How can I easily figure out where the loop is?  (ie. I have a
> relatively small setup, but still about 75-100 end-points and 10 or so
> switches, with over half of those being in labs or under peoples desk,
> etc.  I doubt I even know where they all are. 

I have had loops between switches result in a completely unusable pair
of LAN segments.  That said, I _thought_ switches could detect loops and
work around them.  But if you have a loop, get rid of it before further
troubleshooting, because IME it may well be the problem.

As far as easily determining where the loop has occurred, I know of no
other way than to look at all the interconnects.  A loop is likely to be
an accident, so it's not like you're likely to have the culprit wire
being labled "switch3 to switch1" next to "switch1 to switch2" (which
you could follow back to switch3).  :-)

	--- Mike

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