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Endpoint ports: best practice
Hi,
We are a small company, with a few Dell switches (5324, 5448 & 5548). These were installed a long time ago by previous IT staff and without any setup, just powered up and stuff plugged into it.
There is a mix of servers, endpoints and smaller switches plugged in. I have recently gained access to the WebUI on these switches after creating a management IP address etc.
I noticed on the STP Port settings page, that all ports had 'Fast Link' disabled. I have enabled this for all ports which have an endpoint device plugged in, to speed up network access, which was preventing some GPO's being applied.
Having looked at the other settings on this page and others, I'm wondering what the best practices are for ports which have endpoints configured.
Should I disable STP altogether on these ports, or is enabling 'fast link' enough?
What are the suggested best practices for ports for endpoints?
Thanks
dell-richard g
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December 16th, 2017 22:00
Every network is different and has different requirements. However, here are some basic tips that you could consider:
1. The use of spanning tree would be needed if there are multiple switches configured in such a way that a loop condition could occur.
2. Enabllng portfast so that the switch port goes immediately into forwarding state without waiting for listening/learning phase to complete..etc
3. Enabling jumbo frames (mtu 9216) - useful if you have storage devices
4. Enabling storm control (check port stats first to see if needed)
But if there are no current network problems, and everything already runs smoothly, maybe best to leave as is.
DDITP
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December 18th, 2017 00:00
Thanks very much. I understand about 1, 2 & 3.
4 is new to me so I will read up on that.
On a related topic, I'm struggling to find a good explanation online of why enable portfast when STP could just be turned off per port. If you can help answer that, it would be appreciated.
Regards
dell-richard g
605 Posts
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December 20th, 2017 00:00
That is my understanding as well with portfast. If STP is disabled, then enabling just portfast may not be of any significance since its main purpose would be for the port to go into immediate forwarding state upon linkup with STP enable.
Still a good idea to enable it just it case someone later adds another switch to the network.
Another port setting you may want to use and is now common with newer switches is to enable LLFC/PFC storm control (i.e. link level flow control or PFC). Prevents flow control from flooding your switch and knocking down your network due to a rogue edge device. This storm control feature will neutralize a port. This type of storm control is different from broadcast storm control.