Fiber connection between c4503 and c2960x not working

[Bernd Ziller]

I just tried to establish a fiber connection between a c4503 and a c2960x using glc-lh-sm modules on both sides, but with no success.

Link comes up on the c2960x but not on the c4503.

I tried "speed nonegotiate" on both sides: link comes up on both sides, but no data received on both sides.

A connection between a c2960-24LC-S and the c2960X-24PD-L works fine, as does a connection between the c2960-24LC-S and the c4503.

All on the same ports and modules and also different ports an modules per switch.

Any suggestions on why a connection between the c4503 and the c2960X doesn't work?

[Reza Sharifi]

According to the data sheet the c2960X-24PD-L need SFP+ (10Gig)

see table-21 in this link:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps12995/data_sheet_c78-728232.html

HTH

[Bernd Ziller]

Thank you for your reply, but indeed the 2960x is capable of using 1G SFPs. SFP+ ports can be used both with 1G SFPs and 10G SFP+ modules.

1G connection over single mode fiber with GLC-LH-SM works between two 2960x or a 2960x and an older 2960 or the 2960 and the 4503, but _not_between the 2960x and the 4503.

Currently I have to use a work-around: Instead of the direct fiber connection between the 4503 and the 2960x, I have 4503 connected over 1000base-T to another 2960x and then with 1000base-LH to the remote 2960x.

[matthew-frederick]

When you say it's not coming up - is it disabling it or just staying notconnect?

Does it recognize that you inserted a GBIC?

Any logs happening on either switch when you plug it in?

[Bernd Ziller]

Mixing tx and rx was the first I tried :) As changing patch fibers and fiber modules :)

> When you say it's not coming up - is it disabling it or just staying notconnect?

The 2960x logs an int-up event. The 4503 reports nothing. Just like there's nothing connected.
Unless i set 'speed nonegotiate'. Then both sides report int-up, but no data is received on both sides, receive counter stay at zero while send counters increase.

> Does it recognize that you inserted a GBIC?

Yes these are Cisco GLC-LH-SM SFPs. 'show idprom' and logs look fine. Also these SFPs work if I connect a old 2960 and the 4505.

Just not with the new 2960x and the 4505.

I guess the 4503 supervisor module or it's IOS is just to old, but it's phased out in the next months anyway, so thank you all for your ideas.
I will just have to use my above mentioned work around.

Regards,
Bernd

[Mark Vaillancourt]

Having the exact same issue between our new 2960Xs and a 4507R in one building and a 6509 in another location... 2960X gets a connection light, 4507 and 6509 show 'notconnect'.

The existing 2960G 48 port edge switches with 1Gb SFP modules work fine. We've got the same config on the new and old switches, tried the new Cisco SFP modules we got as well as the old ones, etc. 2960X to 2960G over fiber works perfectly (which is our work-around for now). I even tried a 1M fiber patch cable from the 4507R to a 2960X direct and got no connection on the 4507R unless I set nonegotiate, but as above no data is received.

4507R has older 1Gb gbics while the 6509 has newer 1Gb SFPs. 4507R is running the latest version of ios 15 it can, while the 6509 has a version of 12 that is a couple of years old. It's really bizarre... the only common factor I can find is the 2960Xs themselves. I have a TAC case in, but no luck yet.



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[Leo Laohoo]

You guys are doing this right.  I have a warm fuzzy feeling this is an IOS bug with the 2960X.

[andrei]

We have  the same issue between  Cat 6509 1000BASE-SX GBIC (shows  notconnected) and 2960X GLC-SX-MM SFP (shows connected) 

If anyone at Cisco is looking  at this issue?

thanks,

Andrei

[NPT_2]

Has anyone found a solution for this issue?  I'm having the same problem between a new 2960-X stack and a 4503 Switch.  I have tried the newer 1000LX SFP's and the older ones too (all Cisco Branded) and they link in on the 2960-X side but not at all on the 4503 side. 

[Reza Sharifi]

Can you try swapping the strands on one side and test again?
You maybe connecting tx to tx instead of tx to rx

HTH

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[Richard Primm]

Hello,

Has anyone opened a tac case on this yet? If not, I would recommend doing so.  Thanks

nevermind, I see Mark did above.

[Mark Vaillancourt]

Just an update for anyone watching...

Had a remote session with a support rep and we tried a few different connections so he could see what I described above. I setup a couple of test uplinks on the 6509 (since I was in that building) with new-->new SFP, old-->old SFP and new-->old SFP to a 2960X and had the same connection issues. I'm working on scheduling another session to see if they've come up with anything new.

Just for kicks I'm going to try the new EX3 release (even though it makes no mention of my issue) and a single-mode uplink this afternoon.

[NPT_2]

I already tried the EX3 release myself and it didn't change anything.  For now I'm using a 2960-CG switch as an expensive media converter to link a 4503 Copper Gig port to the fiber going to the 2960-X switch fiber port (using the 1000-LH-SMD SFP's.  This is working but is a waste of a full switch for 2 ports.  I'm thinking of trying a standard 1000LX media converter in place of the 2960-CG but I don't have one in stock and am not sure if that will even work. 

Jim

[Mark Vaillancourt]

I was able to get the LX/single mode connection between the 6509 and the 2960X up for a bit until I swapped ports while testing, lost the connection and couldn't get it back up. This happened on two ports: worked and then stopped. EX3 didn't help here either, but I didn't expect anything based on the release notes.

Anyway, here's the problem: no one tested connecting the 2960X to various modular switch line cards (or such basic functionality wasn't considered a priority). Once the support rep suggested we try the uplinks on the supervisors, it immediately worked. I have dual 1G 720s on the 6509, so four out of five of our data closets are now successfully uplinked directly between that and the 2960Xs. I have to try the same with the 4507R this afternoon, but I'm expecting (or hoping for, rather) similar results.

The TAC rep suggested we might have a working ios release in 6-8 months...

[runedstrom]

We are seeing the same issue between 2960X switches and 6506-E's using WS-X6724-SFP and WS-X6516-GBIC cards.  (But not between the 2960X and 2960G's.)

For the SFP's we've tried various combinations of GLC-SX-MM=, GLC-LH-SM=, GLC-SX-MMD, and GLC-LH-SMD on either side.

We haven't tried connecting the 2960X to the ports on the supervisor yet.  We're also planning to try various other combinations of 3rd party SFP's and other Cisco and 3rd party switches.

We also have a TAC case open that hasn't gotten much useful back yet.