Network and VLAN Problems with Cisco 2950's

Thanks, ill go and give it a try now...

Hmm... I think you might be missing the encapsulation type on the trunk connections.  

Try:

 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

sorry no i've done that... forgot to mention it...

Ignore me - I'm not sure that is actually needed!  :)

If the text to the right are the commands that have been issued, that could be your problem.

On all switches, use the commands:

conf t
vtp mode trans
vlan 5
int range f0/1 -8
 switchport mode access
 switchport access vlan 1
int range f0/9 -24
 switchport mode access
 switchport access vlan 5
int g0/1
 switchport mode trunk
int g0/2 ! switch 2 only
 switchport mode trunk
                                              

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Looking at your diagrams, I see a few problems (unless it wasnt noted)

You need to run a trunk link from the HP to the Cisco switches (either cascade or a link to each). if anything is critical on that HP switch, i advise you dont cascade as everything below the beak point will lose connectivity.

That said...

on each Cisco trunk port,
conf t
switchport
switchport trunk enc dot1q
switchport mode trunk
switch trunk allowed vlan x,y,z (only if you have more VLANS you dont need to allow)


on the access (non-tagged) port

conf t
sw
sw mode access
sw acc vlan x (or Y or Z)
spanning-tree portfast (only if you are sure they will nto be connected to another switch!!!!!) ~ removes the spanning tree process from the port.

make sure the Trunk port on the HP is configured the same way (Dot1q etc).

You will be ready to go from that point.

>You need to run a trunk link from the HP to the Cisco switches

If there are only two VLAN's and you're willing to run two separate links, there's no "need" to run a trunk.

>switchport trunk enc dot1q
This is an invalid command on 2950 switches as 802.1q is the only encapsulation they support.

>switch trunk allowed vlan x,y,z (only if you have more VLANS you dont need to allow)
Not required. Optional... but recommended.

>removes the spanning tree process from the port.
Portfast does not remove spanning tree from a port. It simply bypasses the Listening/Learning stage.

It's been said above,  Here's a working trunk interface.

interface FastEthernet0/2
 
 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
 switchport mode trunk
 duplex full
 speed 100

I was also under the impression that because I was running 2 separate links from the HP that I would not need to use Tagging or a trunk link...

and I take it the more i restrict the allowed VLAN;s the quicker it would be?

I have just been out to each switch and put the new commands up, I will post the new configs up now...

hostname Switch
ip subnet-zero
vtp domain CZOO
vtp mode transparent
!
spanning-tree mode pvst
no spanning-tree optimize bpdu transmission
spanning-tree extend system-id
!
vlan 2
 name VLAN2
!
vlan 4
 name VLAN4
!
vlan 5
 name VLAN5
!
interface FastEthernet0/1
!
interface FastEthernet0/2
!
interface FastEthernet0/3
!
interface FastEthernet0/4
!
interface FastEthernet0/5
!
interface FastEthernet0/6
!
interface FastEthernet0/7
!
interface FastEthernet0/8
!
interface FastEthernet0/9
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/10
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/11
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/12
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/13
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/14
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/15
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/16
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/17
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/18
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/19
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/20
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/21
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/22
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/23
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface FastEthernet0/24
 switchport access vlan 5
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1
 switchport mode trunk
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/2
!
interface Vlan1
 no ip address
 no ip route-cache
 shutdown
!
interface Vlan5
 ip address 192.168.5.254 255.255.255.0
 no ip route-cache
!
ip http server
                                              

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>I was also under the impression that because I was running 2 separate links from the HP that I would not need to use Tagging or a trunk link...

This is correct. As long as you don't have more than 2 VLANs.

Config looks okay to me... But where did VLAN 2 and 5 come from?

That config looks fine.  I assume the others are the same?

How are you testing?  From a 192.168.5.x machine, you should be able to ping 192.168.5.1 or another 192.168.5.x machine on a different Cisco switch.

If still not working, can you post a "show vlan" and "show int trunk".

how come you can't have more than 2 vlans?

they were manually setup for future use...

the problem seems to be when pinging from switch to switch the first packet drops out, its seems like a slow/failed arp request.

You can have as many vlans as the switch will handle.

If your Duplex or speed settings are off, you could have packet loss resulting in slower response times.

Im testing by logging into the top cisco switch and pinging the gateway (192.168.5.1 - HP6108 port 5)

the cisco switch has 192.168.5.252 255.255.255.0 assigned to the VLAN5 Interface.

it drops the first packet and then pings <1ms forever after that... bloody weird!

the problem is, my tills that are sitting on that VLAN 5 are having problems with the chip and pin failing on the first few attempts... when pinging off the till the first couple of pings fail and then it seems alright after that.

If i put a static arp entry in, it seems to work fine...

from the 6108 i get 10 succesful pings to each switch... but from switch to switch it drops out!

Are the tills communicating to another VLAN5 host or to something on VLAN1?

As a side note, configure the top switch in the diagram (the one that has the HP plugged into it) as the STP root:

conf t
spanning-tree vlan 1-4094 root primary

Then connect the bottom switch (Gig0/2) in the diagram to the top switch (Gig0/2) in the diagram.  This will provide some redundancy.

Unfortunately I cant do that as there is about a 1km between the switches, they are connecting over GB Fibre.

And the tills are communicating with the Server that is on VLAN5 and its plugged into the Last Cisco Switch.

What's a "till"?

What switch is the server connected to?

Are there tills on the last Cisco switch (the same switch as the server)?  Any issues with those if there are?  Can you post a "show interface g0/1" from the last switch.  Which switch is the till on that you are working with?  Post a show int on the gig interface from that switch as well.

I can only get to the first Cisco switch and the first HP at the moment.

There are tills on all of the switches.

So ill post a show int g0/2 from the first switch, thats the interface that goes to switch 2, I got the drawing ever so slightly wrong...

CedarHouse2950#show int gig 0/2
GigabitEthernet0/2 is up, line protocol is up (connected)
  Hardware is Gigabit Ethernet, address is 000f.24a6.dcda (bia 000f.24a6.dcda)
  MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1000000 Kbit, DLY 1000 usec,
     reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 2/255
  Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set
  Keepalive set (10 sec)
  Full-duplex, 1000Mb/s, link type is auto, media type is SX
  output flow-control is off, input flow-control is off
  ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00
  Last input 00:00:01, output 00:00:06, output hang never
  Last clearing of "show interface" counters never
  Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0
  Queueing strategy: fifo
  Output queue: 0/40 (size/max)
  5 minute input rate 9255000 bits/sec, 2316 packets/sec
  5 minute output rate 5769000 bits/sec, 2300 packets/sec
     2370685535 packets input, 2831787528 bytes, 0 no buffer
     Received 210674360 broadcasts (0 multicast)
     0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles
     0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 73459 ignored
     0 watchdog, 39734267 multicast, 0 pause input
     0 input packets with dribble condition detected
     3566208645 packets output, 2136037758 bytes, 0 underruns
     0 output errors, 0 collisions, 2 interface resets
     0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred
     0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier, 0 PAUSE output
     0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out

                                              

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heres the show vlan and show int trunk

CedarHouse2950#show vlan
 
VLAN Name                             Status    Ports
---- -------------------------------- --------- -------------------------------
1    default                          active    Fa0/1, Fa0/2, Fa0/3, Fa0/4
                                                Fa0/5, Fa0/6, Fa0/7, Fa0/8
                                                Fa0/9, Fa0/10, Fa0/11, Fa0/12
                                                Fa0/13, Fa0/14, Fa0/15, Fa0/16
                                                Fa0/18, Fa0/19, Fa0/20, Fa0/21
2    VLAN2                            active    Fa0/24
4    VLAN4                            active    Fa0/17
5    VLAN5                            active    Fa0/22, Fa0/23
1002 fddi-default                     act/unsup
1003 token-ring-default               act/unsup
1004 fddinet-default                  act/unsup
1005 trnet-default                    act/unsup
 
VLAN Type  SAID       MTU   Parent RingNo BridgeNo Stp  BrdgMode Trans1 Trans2
---- ----- ---------- ----- ------ ------ -------- ---- -------- ------ ------
1    enet  100001     1500  -      -      -        -    -        0      0
2    enet  100002     1500  -      -      -        -    -        0      0
4    enet  100004     1500  -      -      -        -    -        0      0
5    enet  100005     1500  -      -      -        -    -        0      0
1002 fddi  101002     1500  -      -      -        -    -        0      0
1003 tr    101003     1500  -      -      -        -    -        0      0
1004 fdnet 101004     1500  -      -      -        ieee -        0      0
1005 trnet 101005     1500  -      -      -        ibm  -        0      0
 
Remote SPAN VLANs
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
Primary Secondary Type              Ports
------- --------- ----------------- ------------------------------------------
 
CedarHouse2950#show int trunk
 
Port        Mode         Encapsulation  Status        Native vlan
Gi0/1       on           802.1q         trunking      1
Gi0/2       on           802.1q         trunking      1
 
Port      Vlans allowed on trunk
Gi0/1       1-4094
Gi0/2       1-4094
 
Port        Vlans allowed and active in management domain
Gi0/1       1-2,4-5
Gi0/2       1-2,4-5
 
Port        Vlans in spanning tree forwarding state and not pruned
Gi0/1       1-2,4-5
Gi0/2       1-2,4-5

                                              

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Reply to Don,

a till is just basically a PC with Retail Point of Sale software running on it... and the server is in the Bottom Cisco

Cheers for all of your help guys!

From the till, ping the server and post the output.

ping <server ip> -n 10

C:\Documents and Settings\epos>ping 192.168.5.51 -n 10

Pinging 192.168.5.51 with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.5.51: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.5.51: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.5.51: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 192.168.5.51:
    Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 3, Lost = 7 (70% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

Which switch does the till you pinged from reside on?

Is there a till on the bottom switch that has the server connected to it?   If so, do the same ping from that till to the server.

This was on a till that sits in the same VLAN and on the same Switch as the server...

C:\Documents and Settings\groves>ping 192.168.5.51 -n 10

Pinging 192.168.5.51 with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.5.51: bytes=32 time=285ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.5.51: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 192.168.5.51:
    Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 2, Lost = 8 (80% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 285ms, Average = 142ms

Im also going to attach a new visio drawing which shows the bits you might need!

So I was just pinging from EPOS31 to EPOS Server.  All on Cisco3.

Thanks

Give me half an hour, ill have to physically walk over to the switch and console into it...

I think i will enable telnet connections whilst im there! :)

Cheers