Switching

Oct 18 2009   6:09AM GMT

CCIE Routing and Switching Official Certification Guide to be released in November 2009

Posted by: Yasir Irfan
CCIE Routing and Switching Official Certification, CCIE, Routing, Switching, Cisco Press, Rough Cuts, LAN Switching, CCNA, CCNP Books, CCNP, Cisco Press authors, Wendell Doman, Rus Healy, Denise Donohue, Cisco, Cisco Press Books, CCIE Routing and Switching Official Certification Guide, OSI model, bridging, IP and IP Routing protocols, Add new tag

I was just accessing the rough cuts for the Cisco CCIE Routing and Switching Official Certification Guide, 4^th Edition. I had a great first impression. I had a chance to read “LAN Switching” part. It was a great firsthand experience. This segment is organized well and the approach is similar to CCNA, CCNP books, starts with a brief introduction and then the most useful section of Cisco Press Books “Do I Know This Already?” Quiz followed by “Foundation topics and “Foundation Summary”.

 

Pic Courtesy: Cisco Press

 

The Cisco Press authors Wendell Odom, Rus Healy and Denise Donohue did a credible job; I liked the way they presented the topics, since I spent most of my time on Switching I really enjoyed the “LAN Switching” part. Though I am familiar with most of the things they were talking but it was great experience to refresh my info.

 

The CCIE Routing and Switching Official Certification Guide 4^th Edition is to be released on 19^th of November 2009 by Cisco Press, they are offering great discount do check Cisco Press web site for more details, but make sure you registered yourself to Cisco Press website to get more discount. Once the book released I will try to write a review on this book.

 

Sep 5 2009   8:07AM GMT

Review for CCNP BCMSN Official Exam Certification Guide (4th Edition)

Posted by: Yasir Irfan
CCNP, CCNP BCMSN, CCNP Books, Cisco BCMSN (642-812) exam, CCNP BCMSN Official Exam Certification Guide, CCNP Official Certification Library, Cisco Press, Review for CCNP BCMSN Official Exam Certification Guide, Yasir, Boson Exams, HSRP, GLBP, David Hucaby, Router, Supervisor and Power redundancy, Switching, Switches, Router Supervisor and Power redundancy, Cisco Exams, CCNP Preparation

 

Hi folks, as I received a CCNP Official Certification Library, fifth edition thanks to Cisco Press (Jamie) for the great support lending on me all the time. To brief about the CCNP Official Certification Library, fifth edition is a comprehensive package for the four Cisco CCNP exams BCMSN, BSCI, ISCW and ONT. Starting from this post I will try my best review all the four Certification books comes with the CCNP Official Certification Library, fifth edition thanks. To start with I will go with the CCNP BCMSN Official Exam Certification Guide, fourth edition.

The CCNP BCMSN Official Exam Certification Guide, fourth edition is a true guide for preparing for the Cisco BCMSN (642-812) exam. The author David Hucaby did a wonderful job by the explaining the material in short concise way that facilitates easy learning.

The CCNP BCMSN Official Exam Certification Guide, fourth edition is divided into six parts , each part is well written and  more over its easy to understand. The most liked chapter for me is the Router, Supervisor and Power redundancy. Thanks to David Hucaby, I was able to migrate our network from HSRP to GBLP succefully. He explained the concept very well like I said it’s really easy to understand.

The CCNP BCMSN Official Exam Certification Guide, fourth edition does have the Scenarios for final preparations  There are nine scenarios covering wide range of concepts and are helpful not only from the exam point of view but also it can be used to troubleshoot the problems in real networks faced by some folks.

One more amazing thing I liked in the CCNP BCMSN Official Exam Certification Guide, fourth edition is the practice exams which are handful for the folks who has little exposure to real world networks, but it’s always recommend to have some hands on experience with Switches configuration and analysis.

Overall an excellent guide which can leads you to taste the success of passing Cisco BCMSN (642-812) exam. I would rate this guide 4.5 out of 5.

Jul 22 2009   6:13AM GMT

Review for CCNA 640-802 Network Simulator

Posted by: Yasir Irfan
CCNA, Cisco Learning, CCNA Network Simulator, CCNA 640-802, software, CENT, CCENT, Switch Navigation, LAN Switching, IP addressing, IP Routing, Switching, WAN, STP, VLANS, Network Troubleshooting, CCNA Labs, Cisco Certifications, Cisco Press, Pearson Education, CCNA ICND2 640-816, ICDN2, ICDN1, 640-802 CCNA Exam, Real Network, Review for CCNA Network Simulator, CCNA 640-802 Network Simulator

 

If you are preparing for the CCNA 640-802 Certification exam and you are not willing to invest on hardware to setup you own lab, then the CCNA 640-802 Network Simulator released recently by Cisco Press  is the right Simulator for you.

The CCNA 640-802 Network Simulator  is a state of the art, interactive simulation software, which allows you to practice your networking skills with more than 250 labs, specifically designed strengthen CCNA and CCENT exam topics, including router and switch navigation and administration, LAN switching, IP addressing, routing, WANs, Spanning Tree Protocols,  VLANs and trunking, IP routing protocols, scaling IP, and troubleshooting.

 

The CCNA 640-802 Network Simulator will surely allow you to discover the realistic network device response as you work through each of the labs developed by the bestselling author and an expert instructor Wendell Odom.

 

 

  Continued »

Feb 18 2009   9:33AM GMT

Cisco Etherchannel Overview and how it can be configured in Cisco Catalyst Switches – Series 9

Posted by: Yasir Irfan
Cisco, Cisco Systems, Cisco Tips, Etherchannel, Etherchannel configuration, Etherchannel restrictions, Switches, Switching, Layer3 EtherChannel Configuration, PAGP EtherChannel Configuration, LACP, Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch, Cisco online learning module, layer-2-design

Dear Friends

 Here we go,we are coming to the conclusion of the Ether channel series, I my self learned a lot and enjoyed while writing posts. Hope some of you are benifited from this series. Just before concluding this series,  I would stongly recommend you guys to check this wonderful quick learning module from Cisco Systems. which foucses on layer-2-design which might be helpful to you guys.

Feb 7 2009   5:52AM GMT

Cisco Etherchannel Overview and how it can be configured in Cisco Catalyst Switches – Series 8

Posted by: Yasir Irfan
Cisco, Cisco Systems, Cisco Tips, Etherchannel, Etherchannel configuration, Etherchannel restrictions, Switches, Switching, Layer3 EtherChannel Configuration, PAGP EtherChannel Configuration, LACP, Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch

Now we are reaching towards the end of this series, one more post to go.  

Let’s proceed further and we will see how to configure a Layer 3 Etherchannel using the PAgp Protocol (Port Aggregation Protocol) in Cisco Catalyst Switches.

Here is the scenario which we will follow

 

From the above diagram we have two Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switches named ITKESW01 and ITKESW02.

We will configure a Layer 3 Etherchannel between the Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switches  ITKESW01 and ITKESW02. The  Giga Ethernet ports 0/45, 0/46/,0/47 & 0/48 on a Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switches  ITKESW01 are connected to Giga Ethernet ports 0/1,0/2,0/3 and 0/in Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch  ITKESW02.

 

The configuration is as follows

 

Configuration in the Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch  ITKESW01

 

ITKESW01#config t

ITKESW01(config)# interface port-channel 1

ITKESW01(config-if)# no switchport

ITKESW01(config-if)# no shutdown

ITKESW01(config-if)# ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0

ITKESW01(config-if)# end

 

ITKESW01#config t

ITKESW01(config)# interface range gigabitEthernet 0/45 – 48

ITKESW01(config-if-range)# no switchport

ITKESW01(config-if-range)# no ip address

ITKESW01(config-if-range)# channel-group 1 mode desirable

ITKESW01(config-if-range)#end

Note: This example shows how to configure Gigabit Ethernet ports 0/45 – 0/48   into port channel 1 with PAgP mode desirable

Note: The “no switchport” command is required to change interface from layer2 to layer3 mode.

 

Configuration in the Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch  ITKESW02

ITKESW02#config t

ITKESW02(config)# interface port-channel 1

ITKESW02(config-if)# no switchport

ITKESW02(config-if)# no shutdown

ITKESW02(config-if)# ip address 192.168.1.2 255.255.255.0

ITKESW02(config-if)# end

 

ITKESW02#config t

ITKESW02(config)# interface range gigabitEthernet 0/1 – 4

ITKESW02(config-if-range)# no switchport

ITKESW02(config-if-range)# no ip address

ITKESW02(config-if-range)# channel-group 1 mode auto

ITKESW02(config-if-range)#end

Note: This example shows how to configure Gigabit Ethernet ports 0/1 – 0/4   into port channel 1 with PAgP mode auto

 

Note: The “no switchport” command is required to change interface from layer2 to layer3 mode.

 

Do use  “show etherchannel” command to display port-channel information after configuration and remember to save the configuration.

Jan 19 2009   5:49AM GMT

Cisco Etherchannel Overview and how it can be configured in Cisco Catalyst Switches – Series 7

Posted by: Yasir Irfan
Cisco, Cisco Systems, Cisco Tips, Etherchannel, Etherchannel configuration, Etherchannel restrictions, Switches, Switching, Layer 2 EtherChannel Configuration, LACP EtherChannel Configuration, LACP, Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch

Here we go, I will continue the series of Etherchannel overview, in my last post related to Etherchannel I showed how to configure a Layer 2 Etherchannel using the Cisco’s proprietary a PAGP (port aggregation protocol) Protocol in Cisco Catalyst Switches.

Now it’s the time to proceed further and we will see how to configure a Layer 2 Etherchannel using the LACP Protocol (Link Aggregation Protocol) in Cisco Catalyst Switches.

Here is the scenario which we will follow

From the above diagram we have two Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switches named ITKESW01 and ITKESW02.

We will configure a Layer 2 Etherchannel between the Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switches  ITKESW01 and ITKESW02. The  Giga Ethernet ports 0/45, 0/46/,0/47 & 0/48 on a Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switches  ITKESW01 are trunk ports  and they are connected to Giga Ethernet ports 0/1,0/2,0/3 and 0/4 (also trunk ports in desirable mode) in Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch  ITKESW02.

 

The configuration is as follows

 

Configuration in the Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch  ITKESW01

 

First run the command “Show interfaces trunk

 

ITKESW01#sho interfaces trunk

 

Port        Mode             Encapsulation  Status        Native vlan

Gi0/45      desirable                n-isl         trunking            1

Gi0/46      desirable                n-isl         trunking            1

Gi0/47      desirable                n-isl         trunking            1

Gi0/48      desirable                n-isl         trunking            1

 

Port        Vlans allowed on trunk

Gi0/45        1-4094

Gi0/46        1-4094

Gi0/47        1-4094

Gi0/48        1-4094

 

Port        Vlans allowed and active in management domain

Gi0/45        1

Gi0/46        1

Gi0/47        1

Gi0/48        1

 

Port        Vlans in spanning tree forwarding state and not pruned

Gi0/45       1

Gi0/46       1

Gi0/47       1

Gi0/48       1

 

ITKESW01#

 

Second Step configure the Giga Ethernet ports 0/45 to 0/48 in the Etherchannel

 

ITKESW01#config t

ITKESW01(config)# interface range gigabitEthernet 0/45 – 48

ITKESW01(config-if-range)# channel-protocol lacp

 

Note: LACP protocol is configured to be used in this channel

 

ITKESW01 (config-if-range)# channel-group 1 mode active

Note: A logical port-channel interface is automatically created when ports are grouped into a channel group.

Configure the mode active to be used in LACP

Configuration in the Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch  ITKESW02

 

ITKESW02#sho interfaces trunk

 

Port        Mode             Encapsulation  Status        Native vlan

Gi0/1      desirable            n-isl         trunking            1

Gi0/2      desirable            n-isl         trunking            1

Gi0/3      desirable            n-isl         trunking            1

Gi0/4      desirable            n-isl         trunking            1

 

 

Port        Vlans allowed on trunk

Gi0/1        1-4094

Gi0/2        1-4094

Gi0/3        1-4094

Gi0/4        1-4094

 

 

Port        Vlans allowed and active in management domain

Gi0/1        1

Gi0/2        1

Gi0/3        1

Gi0/4        1

 

 

Port        Vlans in spanning tree forwarding state and not pruned

Gi0/1       1

Gi0/2       1

Gi0/3       1

Gi0/4       1

 

ITKESW02#

 

Second Step configure the Giga Ethernet ports 0/1 to 0/4 in the Etherchannel

 

ITKESW02#config t

ITKESW02(config)# interface range gigabitEthernet 0/1 – 4

ITKESW02(config-if-range)#channel-protocol lacp

 

Note: LACP protocol is configured to be used in this channel

 

ITKESW02 (config-if-range)# channel-group 1 mode active

Note: A logical port-channel interface is automatically created when ports are grouped into a channel group.

Configure the mode active to be used in LACP

Now run show command to display the Etherchannel configurations on the Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switches  ITKESW01 and ITKESW02

ITKESW01#sho etherchannel 1 summary

Flags:  D - down        P - in port-channel

        I - stand-alone s - suspended

        H - Hot-standby (LACP only)

        R - Layer3      S - Layer2

        u - unsuitable for bundling

        U - in use      f - failed to allocate aggregator

        d - default port

 

Number of channel-groups in use: 1

Number of aggregators:           1

 

Group  Port-channel  Protocol    Ports

——+————-+———–+———————————————–

1      Po1(SD)          LACP      Gi0/45 (P)   Gi0/46 (P)  Gi0/47 (P)  Gi0/48 (P)  

ITKESW01#

 

ITKESW02#sho etherchannel 1 summary

Flags:  D - down        P - in port-channel

        I - stand-alone s - suspended

        H - Hot-standby (LACP only)

        R - Layer3      S - Layer2

        u - unsuitable for bundling

        U - in use      f - failed to allocate aggregator

        d - default port

 

Number of channel-groups in use: 1

Number of aggregators:           1

 

Group  Port-channel  Protocol    Ports

——+————-+———–+———————————————–

1      Po1(SD)          LACP     Gi0/1 (P)   Gi0/2 (P)  Gi0/3 (P)  Gi0/4 (P)  

ITKESW02#

 

Jan 6 2009   6:11AM GMT

Cisco Etherchannel Overview and how it can be configured in Cisco Catalyst Switches – Series 6

Posted by: Yasir Irfan
Cisco, Cisco Systems, Cisco Tips, Etherchannel, Etherchannel configuration, Etherchannel restrictions, Switches, Switching, Layer 2 EtherChannel Configuration, PAGP EtherChannel Configuration, LACP, Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch

In the previous five posts I was talking about the Etherchannel  , types of protocols used , rules and restrictions applied to an Etherchannel  . Now it’s the time to see how an Etherchannel   can be configured in a Cisco Catalyst Switch.

An Etherchannel in a Cisco IOS can be defined as Layer 2 Etherchannel or a Layer 3 Etherchannel.

For a Layer 2 Etherchannel, physical ports are placed into an Etherchannel group.

For a Layer 3 Etherchannel, layer 3 SVI (Switch Virtual Interface) is created, and then the physical ports are placed into an Etherchannel group which is bound to the L3 SVI.

 

Now let’s see how to configure a Configure a Layer 2 Etherchannel in a Cisco Catalyst Switch using a PAGP (port aggregation protocol) Protocol. In my previous posts I did discussed about the PAGP protocol, it’s a Cisco proprietary protocol, can be applied only in Cisco Catalyst Switches.

Here is the scenario which we will follow

From the above diagram we have two Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switches named ITKESW01 and ITKESW02.

We will configure a Layer 2 Etherchannel between the Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switches  ITKESW01 and ITKESW02. The  Giga Ethernet ports 0/45, 0/46/,0/47 & 0/48 on a Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switches  ITKESW01 are trunk ports  and they are connected to Giga Ethernet ports 0/1,0/2,0/3 and 0/4 (also trunk ports) in Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch  ITKESW02.

 

The configuration is as follows

 

Configuration in the Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch  ITKESW01

 

First run the command “Show interfaces trunk

 

ITKESW01#sho interfaces trunk

 

Port        Mode             Encapsulation  Status        Native vlan

Gi0/45      on                        802.1q         trunking            1

Gi0/46      on                        802.1q         trunking            1

Gi0/47      on                        802.1q         trunking            1

Gi0/48      on                        802.1q         trunking            1

 

Port        Vlans allowed on trunk

Gi0/45        1-4094

Gi0/46        1-4094

Gi0/47        1-4094

Gi0/48        1-4094

 

Port        Vlans allowed and active in management domain

Gi0/45        1

Gi0/46        1

Gi0/47        1

Gi0/48        1

 

Port        Vlans in spanning tree forwarding state and not pruned

Gi0/45       1

Gi0/46       1

Gi0/47       1

Gi0/48       1

 

ITKESW01#

 

Second Step configure the Giga Ethernet ports 0/45 to 0/48 in the Etherchannel

 

ITKESW01#config t

ITKESW01(config)# interface range gigabitEthernet 0/45 – 48

ITKESW01(config-if-range)#channel-protocol pagp

 

Note: PAgP protocol is configured to be used in this channel

 

ITKESW01 (config-if-range)# channel-group 1 mode desirable

Note: A logical port-channel interface is automatically created when ports are grouped into a channel group.

Configure the mode desirable to be used in PAgP 

 

Configuration in the Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switch  ITKESW02

 

 

ITKESW02#sho interfaces trunk

 

Port        Mode             Encapsulation  Status        Native vlan

Gi0/1      on                        802.1q         trunking            1

Gi0/2      on                        802.1q         trunking            1

Gi0/3      on                        802.1q         trunking            1

Gi0/4      on                        802.1q         trunking            1

 

 

Port        Vlans allowed on trunk

Gi0/1        1-4094

Gi0/2        1-4094

Gi0/3        1-4094

Gi0/4        1-4094

 

 

Port        Vlans allowed and active in management domain

Gi0/1        1

Gi0/2        1

Gi0/3        1

Gi0/4        1

 

 

Port        Vlans in spanning tree forwarding state and not pruned

Gi0/1       1

Gi0/2       1

Gi0/3       1

Gi0/4       1

 

ITKESW02#

 

Second Step configure the Giga Ethernet ports 0/1 to 0/4 in the Etherchannel

 

ITKESW02#config t

ITKESW02(config)# interface range gigabitEthernet 0/1 – 4

ITKESW02(config-if-range)#channel-protocol pagp

 

Note: PAgP protocol is configured to be used in this channel

 

ITKESW02 (config-if-range)# channel-group 1 mode auto

Note: A logical port-channel interface is automatically created when ports are grouped into a channel group.

Configure the mode auto to be used in PAgP 

Now run show command to display the Etherchannel configurations on the Cisco 3560 Catalyst Switches  ITKESW01 and ITKESW02

ITKESW01#sho etherchannel 1 summary

Flags:  D - down        P - in port-channel

        I - stand-alone s - suspended

        H - Hot-standby (LACP only)

        R - Layer3      S - Layer2

        u - unsuitable for bundling

        U - in use      f - failed to allocate aggregator

        d - default port

 

Number of channel-groups in use: 1

Number of aggregators:           1

 

Group  Port-channel  Protocol    Ports

——+————-+———–+———————————————–

1      Po1(SD)          PAgP      Gi0/45 (P)   Gi0/46 (P)  Gi0/47 (P)  Gi0/48 (P)  

ITKESW01#

 

ITKESW02#sho etherchannel 1 summary

Flags:  D - down        P - in port-channel

        I - stand-alone s - suspended

        H - Hot-standby (LACP only)

        R - Layer3      S - Layer2

        u - unsuitable for bundling

        U - in use      f - failed to allocate aggregator

        d - default port

 

Number of channel-groups in use: 1

Number of aggregators:           1

 

Group  Port-channel  Protocol    Ports

——+————-+———–+———————————————–

1      Po1(SD)          PAgP      Gi0/1 (P)   Gi0/2 (P)  Gi0/3 (P)  Gi0/4 (P)  

ITKESW02#

 

In upcoming posts I will show how to configure a Layer 2 Etherchannel  using LACP protocol

Jan 3 2009   6:47AM GMT

Cisco Etherchannel Overview and how it can be configured in Cisco Catalyst Switches – Series 5

Posted by: Yasir Irfan
Cisco, Cisco Systems, Cisco Tips, Etherchannel, Etherchannel configuration, Etherchannel restrictions, Switches, Switching

Dear Friends,

 Hope it’s going to be a good beginning in the year 2009 and lest hope to see the peace and harmony all over the world.

Now let’s see what options are available for load balancing in an Etherchannel  bundle.  How does the Cisco Catalyst Switch determines which physical link in the Etherchannel  bundle to use to forward the data?

The answer is the Cisco Catalyst Switch uses a polymorphic algorithm taking key fields from the header of the packet to generate a hash to a physical link in the Etherchannel group.

Data sent across an Etherchannel is not load-balanced equally between all interfaces. Etherchannel  utilizes a load-balancing algorithm, which can be based on several forms of criteria, including:

Dec 29 2008   8:00AM GMT

Cisco Etherchannel Overview and how it can be configured in Cisco Catalyst Switches – Series 4

Posted by: Yasir Irfan
Switches, Cisco, Switching, Cisco Tips, Cisco Systems, Etherchannel, Etherchannel configuration, Etherchannel restrictions

Automating and Creating of an Etherchannel.

The automate creation of an Etherchannels group can occur only when the Cisco Switches are running same Etherchannel protocols. Using different Etherchannel protocols at each end will not work. One more important criterion for the automated creation of the Etherchannel  is the links must share the similar physical characteristics.   

Configuration of ports into an Etherchannel  are based on pre defined Etherchannel  modes that are assigned as a default or modified via user configuration to an Ethernet port. There are five Etherchannel modes, which can be used for automated creation of an Etherchannel  .

Dec 27 2008   6:19AM GMT

Cisco Etherchannel Overview and how it can be configured in Cisco Catalyst Switches – Series 3

Posted by: Yasir Irfan
Networking, Switches, Cisco, IEEE, Switching, Cisco IOS, Cisco 2960, Cisco 2950, Cisco 6500, Cisco Tips, Cisco 3560, Cisco Learning, Cisco 3750-E, Cisco Systems, Etherchannel, Cisco 6500 Series Catalyst Switch, 802.3ad, Etherchannel configuration, Etherchannel restrictions, Protocol, PAGP, LACP, Port Aggregation Protocol, Link Aggregation Control Protocol

Dear Friends, hope everyone is having great holidays, have fun. In my previous post  I was focusing on some of the limitations of Etherchannel. Now let’s proceed a step ahead and figure out about the Etherchannel negotiation protocols. Etherchannels can be negotiated between two Cisco Catalyst Switches  to provide some dynamic link configuration.

 Basically there are two types of protocols are available, which can be used to bundled the automated creation of an Etherchannel in the Cisco Catalyst Switches.

In upcomming post I will try to concentrate on automating the creation of an Etherchannel . Have fun and happy new year 2009.