ASK THE EXPERT- CATALYST 6500 SERIES SWITCHES

[ciscomoderator]

Welcome to the Cisco Networking Professionals Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to discuss Catalyst 6500 Series switches with Cisco expert Jeff Raymond. Jeff is a Technical Marketing Engineer for the Catalyst 6500 Series of switches. His focus is on switching architectures and performance testing. Feel free to post any questions relating to Catalyst 6500 series switches.

Jeff may not be able to answer each question due to the volume expected during this event. Our moderators will post many of the unanswered questions in other discussion forums shortly after the event. This event lasts through January 18. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other community members.

[vsahagian]

You would think the bootldr would need to load first?

[jeraymon]

Hi,

This is just syntax. The order that you type them is not important.

Jeff Raymond

Catalyst 6500 Product Team

[bfetzer]

Hello, I would like to know what is the best way to implement the following solution.

We have 2 6509's running a collapsed core setup. #1 has redundant MSFC's. The other has a single MSFC(planned upgrade to 2 msfc's for 2k2). Both are running the set based IOS. At the access layer we implement clusters of 3534xl switches. We have 4 VLAN's at this location.

Here is the way I currently am setup.

1. Set vtp root for vlan10/50 on 6509 #1

2. Set vtp root for vlan60/70 on 6509 #2

3. Setup HSRP so that MSFC#1 in 6509 # 1 is routing traffic for subnets in relation to vlan10/50.

4. Setup HSRP so that MSFC#1 in 6509 # 2 is routing traffic for subnets in relation to vlan60/70.

----6509#1 MSFC#2 is HSRP backup for everything.

5. Each 3524xl cluster has 1 connection to 6509 #1 and 6509 # 2 via 1000bsx fiber connection.

My question is, is this the correct way to go about doing this, and what would be the correct way to physically connect the 2 6509's together to provide adequate speed between the two. The main reason for the separation is an attempt to load balance. I am placing half of the servers on one 6509 and half on the other... ANY RECOMMENDATIONS APPRECIATED!!!

[jeraymon]

Hi.

Yes - your description is the correct way to configure for L2/L3 load-balancing out of the access layer. (I assume you meant to say "Set the STP root", etc).

You can read more about this Campus Design recommendations here:

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/largeent/design/campus_index.html

Specifically, this paper...

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/so/neso/lnso/cpso/gcnd_wp.htm

Thanks.

Jeff Raymond

Catalyst 6500 Product Team

[kmuthukamu]

As you are enableing HSRP You can physically connect 2 6509s back to back. But This will increase the process overhead as it's collapsed core. Adequate speed is not guaranteed at all times.

Instead You can go for dual core which provides both load balancing & good failover capability.

Also it drastically reduces the processing overhead.

Hope it helps ....

[kohlson]

What CiscoWorks LMS tools do you recommend for monitoring the performance of the Catalyst 6500? Do any of the other CiscoWorks products provide additional visibility into switch performance?

[jeraymon]

Hi.

There are three tools provided in the LMS bundle that provide performance monitoring capability. (1) CiscoView provides a device GUI that gives real time port and system parameters like utilization, error rate, CPU util, temp, backplane util, etc.

(2) Device Fault Manager provides alerting when above parameters pass thresholds, etc.

(3) Real Time Monitor provides up to 31 days of performance data from Catalyst switch ports.

Hope this answers your question.

Jeff Raymond

Catalyst 6500 Product Team

[jackanderson1]

Jeff, Are there plans on a firewall module for the 6500 ?

[jeraymon]

Hi Jack,

Yes, there are plans for a Firewall module for the 6500. It is targeted for release in the middle of 2002.

Jeff Raymond

Catalyst 6500 Product Team

[c.chunxia]

I connect two 6509 with two 100M fastethernet using etherchannel.But the port of one 6509 will report

errdisable.It can work normal if I reenable it. But after a while,console will report:

%SPANTREE-2-CHNMISCFG: STP loop - channel 3/1-2 is disabled in vlan 11.

and the port will become errdiable.

So I verify the configuration of the port 3/1-2:

1.all port belong to vlan1

2.etherchannel mode is set to on

3.the UTP 5 is correct.

I don't know why,pls help me,thanks!

[jeraymon]

Hi.

Take a look at the following document:

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/473/20.html

EtherChannel Misconfiguration

For EtherChannel to work, the ports involved must have consistent configurations; the same VLAN, same trunk mode, same speed, same duplex, and so on. Most of the configuration differences within a switch will be caught and reported when you create the channel. In some situations, usually when you are using the on mode (as opposed to auto or desirable), everything may be consistent on one switch so that switch will start channeling. But, the connected neighboring switch may not be set the same and can cause the first switch to become error-disabled. If both of the switches support Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP), you can avoid this problem by configuring the channel modes on each switch to be desirable instead of on.

Hope this helps.

Jeff Raymond

Catalyst 6500 Product Team

[c.chunxia]

Hi

I set the channel modes on each switch to be desirable instead of on ,but the result is same

(%SPANTREE-2-CHNMISCFG).Following is output of two switch 6509a and 6509b,pls help me! thanks!

6509A> (enable) sh channel 833 sta

Port Channel PAgP Pkts PAgP Pkts PAgP Pkts PAgP Pkts PAgP Pkts PAgP Pkts

id Transmitted Received InFlush RetnFlush OutFlush InError

----- ------- ----------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------

3/1 833 82 81 0 0 0 0

3/2 833 53 28 0 0 0 0

6509A> (enable) sh port channel

Port Status Channel Admin Ch

Mode Group Id

----- ---------- -------------------- ----- -----

3/1 connected desirable silent 188 833

3/2 connected desirable silent 188 833

----- ---------- -------------------- ----- -----

6509B> (enable) sh channel 833 sta

Port Channel PAgP Pkts PAgP Pkts PAgP Pkts PAgP Pkts PAgP Pkts PAgP Pkts

id Transmitted Received InFlush RetnFlush OutFlush InError

----- ------- ----------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------

3/1 833 116 116 0 0 0 0

3/2 833 107 57 0 0 0 0

6509B> (enable) sh port chan

Port Status Channel Admin Ch

Mode Group Id

----- ---------- -------------------- ----- -----

3/1 connected desirable silent 420 833

3/2 connected desirable silent 420 833

[jeraymon]

Hi,

Hmm. The configuration looks correct. You might want to do a 'clear trunk mod/port 1-1000' on all ports individually and then do a 'set trunk mod/port ' and see if the channel is forming with 'desirable' mode. There may be an entry that needs to be cleared.

If that doesn't work, the next step would be to open a TAC case. They would be able to provide more direct feedback on your problem than I am able to in this forum.

Thanks.

Jeff Raymond

Catalyst 6500 Product Team

[kmuthukamu]

Hi,

The port *errdisable* condition may be coz. of the flg. facts.

1. Mismatching configurations like duplex,speed,autonegotiation on both sides.

[ You can very well notice that the error message is shown as %SPANTREE-2-CHNMISCFG gives the info that *Channel misconfiguration*.

This caused the spantree loop & forces the port to *errdisable state*. ]

2. Caused by a cable that is not to specification (too long, wrong type, defective), a bad network interface card (NIC) card (with physical problems, or driver problems).

3. More collisions. Only half-duplex connections should ever have collisions in a LAN; due to the Carrier-Sense Multi-Access (CSMA) nature of Ethernet, collisions are normal for half-duplex, as long as they do not exceed a small percentage of traffic

Please check all the above conditions. To refer more follow the flg. link

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/473/20.html

Hope it helps...

Thanks,

-Kanchi

[fernando_paul]

How do I tell on the 6509 what session number the MSFC is on and what version the MSFC is. I would also like to know how to upgrade an IOS on a switch or router (I have 2 to play with) and I would like to know what pre-requistes are along the way. Like how to setup a tftp server to download the image from....etc.....thank you....

THANKS VERY MUCHLY!!!