[ale] Ethernet info/question

[David Tomaschik]

You've discovered the purpose of the spanning tree protocol.[1]  Any
modern managed switch should support this with no problem, and it is not
vendor-specific if implemented properly.  There are some VLAN-related
extensions to STP that make the situation a little cloudy in some cases,
and this can lead to problems.  For example, (to my understanding) it's
possible to connect 2 switches with access-mode ports on separate VLANs
that are then leading to a loop.

Knowing more about your situation would help to give any input on what
might have been occurring.  Generally speaking, network loops or other
MAJOR networking issues will bring a host/interface/network down
entirely rather than just causing mild intermittent problems.

--David


[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanning_tree_protocol


On 05/06/2010 09:05 AM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
> All,
>
> I've been sporadically fighting a series of sporadic issues with my 3
> samba file servers.  Installing latest patches, updated one OS, etc.
>
> I came to the conclusion it had to be a network issue, not a server
> issue and got serious about troubleshooting it and I think I found the
> culprit to be a 24-port switch.  It will take a couple days to be
> sure.
>
> ==> Info
> I found a 48-port managed distribution switch at Amazon for $320 or
> so.  (Cisco SRW248G4 48-port 10/100 + 4-port Gigabit Switch - WebView;
> on sale for a couple more days)
>
> I did not realize you could get a managed switch that cheap, so I
> thought others may find it useful to know.
>
> ==> 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.
>
> Thanks
> Greg
>   
 

--
David Tomaschik, RHCE
Moderator, LinuxQuestions.org
http://www.tuxteam.com
david at tuxteam.com [GPG: 0x6D428695]


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