Can anyone explain?

akisbouza · ‎09-17-2008

I have connected 2 cisco 2960 switches using access ports (not trunking) and i configured one management ip for each.

The first one

interface vlan1

ip address 10.10.10.1 255.255.255.0

The second one

interface vlan5

ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0

No default gateway is configured.

The 2 ports connecting the switches are configured to be in vlans 1 and 5 respectively.

The two management ips belong to different subnets and the switches are layer 2. There is no Layer 3 device between them however ping is successful from both sides.How is this possible?

Shouldnt ping be working only if management ips were in the same subnet and ports belonging in the same VLAN?

paul.matthews · ‎09-17-2008

As the link is set to access port on both, the VLAN info is moot - by using an access port link, and putting one in VLAN1 and the other in VLAN5 you have joined the VLANs. There is not tagging/encapsulation on an access link.

Put it into trunk mode, and you won't ping.

I am less certain about the subnet bit. I have a nagging memory that if you don't have a default gateway the switch will ARP for anything, so as neither have a default gateway, they will both find each other.

akisbouza · ‎09-18-2008

I debuged arp and you were right.

Thanks a lot

paul.matthews · ‎09-18-2008

Thanks - always nice to get confirmation.

Paul.