Redundency

Things to be considered before upgrading an IOS in a Cisco 6500 Series Switch with SUP720- Series 3

In the second series I  was talking about the Compact flash memory, now let’s proceed further, one more key thing you must consider before starting an IOS upgrade for a Cisco Catalyst 6513 Switch with Supervisor Engine SUP720 is the redundant power supply.  Make sure the Cisco Catalyst 6513 Switch is installed with the redundant power supply and they are connected to two different power sources.  Suppose one power source fails then the other source can take care of the Cisco Catalyst 6513 Switch while the IOS upgrade is going on.

Good Documentation is must for Network troubleshooting

Dear Friends

Today after a good weekend when I came back to my office, I figured out two our switches has problems with the redundant links. It would have consumed more time if I had no proper documentation. With time and experience I learnt that it is must to have good documentation about the Network.

In order to monitor the links I simply use What’s Up Gold from IP Switch. I have documented our network using Microsoft Visio with interface details, IP address details for each Switch . Since all the connection details were documented it was pretty easy for me to identify the port number in the core switch and to check the log what happened.  One of the problems we faced was a defective fiber patch cord and other problem was a defective SFP module. Upon changing these two things we could able to fix this problem in matter of five minutes.