6500 switchport is up, line protocol is down (notconnect)

jamesl0112 · ‎07-24-2008

On a 2950, if I look at the output of show interface for a switchport with nothing connected to it, the result is:

FastEthernet0/1 is down, line protocol is down (notconnect)

As you might expect.

Why is it, if I look at the status of an L2 switchport on a 6500, the interface is up/down when nothing is connected to it?

FastEthernet3/1 is up, line protocol is down (notconnect)

Edison Ortiz · ‎07-24-2008

Replace the cable

Also, if you decided to use speed/duplex setting in the switchport config, remember to use xover cable as the 'auto-mdix' feature is disabled when forcing the speed/duplex.

Auto-mdix only works in auto/auto.

__

Edison.

jamesl0112 · ‎07-24-2008

Hi,

The ports all work when something is connected - I was wondering why the status for a 6500 L2 port that has *nothing* connected to it shows as up/down. I was assuming it was some platform-specific thing.

Edison Ortiz · ‎07-24-2008

The ports all work when something is connected

Like a workstation?

A workstation will work with a normal patch cable.

Switch-to-Switch connection requires a crossover cable. You can use a regular cable but both switches must be configured for auto/auto on their speed/duplex setting and they must support auto-mdix.

Please get yourself a crossover cable and try the inter-switch connection again.

__

Edison.

jamesl0112 · ‎07-26-2008

Sorry, I'm not really explaining this very well!

I'm not worried about connecting a switch to a switch or a switch to a workstation or anything like that.

I'm looking at the state that a switchport is in when nothing is connected to it at all. It is a general query - I don't have a specific problem.

For instance, if a port (on two unrelated switches) has a basic configuation like this:

2950:

switchport mode access

switchport access vlan 10

6509:

switchport

switchport mode access

switchport access vlan 10

And - while there is nothing plugged into either - the status of the port on a low-end switch like a 2950 will be down/down (notconnect), and the status of the port on a high-end switch like a 6500 will be up/down (notconnect).

I was just wondering whether there was a general reason for that.

Edison Ortiz · ‎07-26-2008

And - while there is nothing plugged into either - the status of the port on a low-end switch like a 2950 will be down/down (notconnect), and the status of the port on a high-end switch like a 6500 will be up/down (notconnect).

I haven't seen that issue here with the 6500s.

If nothing is connected, it shows down/down.

__

Edison.

jamesl0112 · ‎07-27-2008

Oh right - thanks for checking.

I Googled it just now - the only thing I found was this:

cisco@groupstudy.com/msg43889.html')">http://www.mail-archive.com/cisco@groupstudy.com/msg43889.html

> > I don't think it's just Fast Ethernet. I've seen "Slow" Ethernet report

> > that the interface is up, down when nothing was attached. It seems to

just

> > be an indication that the interface passed a hardware check.

> >