This seems like a network loop or a spanning tree issue or both. Can you be more specific about how your network is connected? List all switch trypes and how they are connected to eachother. Are the 2848 switches in managed mode? Is there any chance there is a loop in your network or that someone is deliberately creating a loop?
The switch ICC Production is the area that seems to have the problem. Do you think the AP could be causing the problem? Not many Wireless devices though just a few Symbol hand scanners running RDP.
Did you use wireshark while the problem was occuring? Did you see anything that indicates a loop?
How is the AP configured?e Are wireless devices on the same IP subnet as the wired devices?
Is ther any chance someone with a laptop is connected wired and wireless at the same time on your network? Is there any chance someone is deliverately attacking the network?
Do you have more information on the problems you are seeing? Do wired and wireless connections to the ICC switch have problems or just one of them?
I noticed alot of STP packets around the time that the switch went down. One question should I disable STP on the port that the AP is plugged into? Is this just normal STP traffic. That MAC isn't the MAC of my Root switch, but the 8192 Bridge ID looks correct.
Wireless devices are on the same subnet as the wired devices. They all used the same Windows 2008 DHCP server. Everything on the ICC Production switch has problems because the uplink to the other 2848 switch is down and doesn't have a link light.
The problem just happened again now and I did have wireshark running and saved the caputre. I'm going through it now. Is there anything specific that I should be looking for?
Ran Wireshark on my PC for 2:55 Minutes - 12PM - 3PM (There is only one segment no VLANS, and filtered out my own IP's traffic). I see alot of NetBIOS Name packets looking for the same PC that is no longer online. We cleaned up on one machine by uninstalling a software app called bartender. Do you think this is a lot of ARP traffic?
We have replaced the switch in the problem area ICC Production but not the switch it is uplinked too. It's a cooper connection and we have replaced patch cables on both ends.. Dell recommended updating firmware on all the switches, so I'll try that as well. I'll try and get an extra switch to replace the front office also.
I thought I had this problem fixed with a firmware update but it re-occured. Although the problem is intermittent we have noticed that one things seems to fix the uplink issue immediately.
So If I cycle power to both switches I still get no link light between the two switches. But If I take a complete different switch and plug it in tempoarily the link comes back. I can than take the uplink patch cable and return it to its original port and everythign is fine. It's almost like it has to be plugged into a seperate switch to clear the problem.
Has anyone seen anything like this before? We have already tested all cables and drops and they certify as CAT5e with a Fluke meter. We are going to run another drop to another wiring closet to rule out interference on the line. We have all switches plugged into a UPS and even had our electrician move the power line to a different circuit.
One thing that I noticed is that the uplink ports on my ports are set to Auto Sense for MDI/MDIX and they are setting to MDI. If they are uplinked to other switches shouldn't they show as MDIX since it is connected to another switch? Could this cause my intermittent link problems?
bh1633
909 Posts
0
December 13th, 2010 10:00
This seems like a network loop or a spanning tree issue or both. Can you be more specific about how your network is connected? List all switch trypes and how they are connected to eachother. Are the 2848 switches in managed mode? Is there any chance there is a loop in your network or that someone is deliberately creating a loop?
NJDAVE70
11 Posts
0
December 13th, 2010 10:00
The switch ICC Production is the area that seems to have the problem. Do you think the AP could be causing the problem? Not many Wireless devices though just a few Symbol hand scanners running RDP.
NJDAVE70
11 Posts
0
December 13th, 2010 10:00
Does this help at all? All Dell Switches are Managed with static IPs and have STP enabled on all of their ports.
NJDAVE70
11 Posts
0
December 13th, 2010 10:00
Just noticed a small error on that diagram. The ICC production switch is a 2848 not a 2824.
bh1633
909 Posts
0
December 13th, 2010 11:00
Did you use wireshark while the problem was occuring? Did you see anything that indicates a loop?
How is the AP configured?e Are wireless devices on the same IP subnet as the wired devices?
Is ther any chance someone with a laptop is connected wired and wireless at the same time on your network? Is there any chance someone is deliverately attacking the network?
Do you have more information on the problems you are seeing? Do wired and wireless connections to the ICC switch have problems or just one of them?
NJDAVE70
11 Posts
0
December 13th, 2010 12:00
I noticed alot of STP packets around the time that the switch went down. One question should I disable STP on the port that the AP is plugged into? Is this just normal STP traffic. That MAC isn't the MAC of my Root switch, but the 8192 Bridge ID looks correct.
NJDAVE70
11 Posts
0
December 13th, 2010 12:00
Wireless devices are on the same subnet as the wired devices. They all used the same Windows 2008 DHCP server. Everything on the ICC Production switch has problems because the uplink to the other 2848 switch is down and doesn't have a link light.
The problem just happened again now and I did have wireshark running and saved the caputre. I'm going through it now. Is there anything specific that I should be looking for?
NJDAVE70
11 Posts
0
December 13th, 2010 17:00
I have some more information if it helps.
Ran Wireshark on my PC for 2:55 Minutes - 12PM - 3PM (There is only one segment no VLANS, and filtered out my own IP's traffic). I see alot of NetBIOS Name packets looking for the same PC that is no longer online. We cleaned up on one machine by uninstalling a software app called bartender. Do you think this is a lot of ARP traffic?
NetBIOS Name Service - 30.44% - 20,262 packets
ARP - 34.14% - 22,725 packets
STP - 7.93% - 5,281 packets
UDP - 47.32% - 31,497 packets
bh1633
909 Posts
0
December 14th, 2010 08:00
If you have no link light, this indicates a HW problem.
- first replace cables and then see if problem goes away.
- second replace the tranceivers, and see if problem goes away.
- third, replace switches and see if problem goes away.
NJDAVE70
11 Posts
0
December 14th, 2010 09:00
We have replaced the switch in the problem area ICC Production but not the switch it is uplinked too. It's a cooper connection and we have replaced patch cables on both ends.. Dell recommended updating firmware on all the switches, so I'll try that as well. I'll try and get an extra switch to replace the front office also.
NJDAVE70
11 Posts
0
January 14th, 2011 15:00
I thought I had this problem fixed with a firmware update but it re-occured. Although the problem is intermittent we have noticed that one things seems to fix the uplink issue immediately.
So If I cycle power to both switches I still get no link light between the two switches. But If I take a complete different switch and plug it in tempoarily the link comes back. I can than take the uplink patch cable and return it to its original port and everythign is fine. It's almost like it has to be plugged into a seperate switch to clear the problem.
Has anyone seen anything like this before? We have already tested all cables and drops and they certify as CAT5e with a Fluke meter. We are going to run another drop to another wiring closet to rule out interference on the line. We have all switches plugged into a UPS and even had our electrician move the power line to a different circuit.
Does anyone have any other ideas or suggestions?
NJDAVE70
11 Posts
0
January 15th, 2011 09:00
One thing that I noticed is that the uplink ports on my ports are set to Auto Sense for MDI/MDIX and they are setting to MDI. If they are uplinked to other switches shouldn't they show as MDIX since it is connected to another switch? Could this cause my intermittent link problems?