Fixing Loopy Networks Using Low-tech Methods

[Svarog891]

Regards from a fellow school sysadmin!

Had a fair share of network loops too ^^

those kids sometimes do some stupid things :)

[kukkapurkkiteam]

i so love putting pins 1&2 to 3&6

[Solado]

i head but the switch untill it works.

[sskokan]

Nice HP Procure. You can use STP to stop looping only turn it off on your trunk ports.

[bng44270]

Procurve. YOU GO BOY!!!!!!!!

[benbur69]

So... Troubleshooting. Thanks for posting. Keep 'em coming please.

[iainirv]

I love this tip of the day; its cool to see a little bit outside the box. thanks

[alifaan]

Hey Shawn, like axel1973w said STP is the best way to prevent loops. Cisco routers by default have STP on, but I don't know which type of switches you are using in this server lab. Try enter in CLI on switch and see if they have STP on and if not try turn it on.

[trunkboy]

See my reply to axel1973w -- yeah, we have cheap switches in the room, which is the root of the problem.

[axel1973w]

you should go for "spanning tree protocol" to avoid ethernet loops like this. its not fool proof, but then you can have redundant links between locations (meshed) and loops and the whole thing still keeps up. in some situations if might be a good idea to switch off STP (spanning tree protocol) on "leaf ports" to prevent some crazy end-user equipment to send in STP packets into your network. but i agree... these "packet floods" sometimes can be a pain in the arse...

[trunkboy]

The problem with my network is that our classrooms don't have enough drops, so in the rooms are cheap switches that don't support STP. So my "good" switches just see a broadcast storm, which they happily try to pass to every port in the district. :)

[axel1973w]

sad! and not even your core switch cant stop broadcast storms ? maybe try a firmware update to the manageable switches. sometimes this might help. dumb switches as leaf devices should be ok anyway. however smart switches would be most recommended on large professional networks as u surly know. how can we make our bosses to buy "the real stuff" instead of the cheap? you should make a tech tip of that shaun :)

[CiphersSon]

keep the good vids coming bro ..5 stars

[lensboel]

We had a costumer who made a loop, and then called us yelling at us for ruining his network. He was soooooo embarrassed when we told him what had happened :P

[frvfilms]

i used to thik u were a teacher assistant, :)

gota meat my schools mis

[Exzi]

Do the computers at that school run on Linux? :O

[ramoj02]

Of course. My friend's school's using Edubuntu.

[Exzi]

Well, at my school we run Windows. *ugh* I wish we could use Edubuntu at my school.

[Syckful]

My schools runs Windows XP

[lonnmaj15]

we use ubuntu in our school. but in some cases there is a "bring your own OS policy" so we have to bring our own live OS (e.g. debian live, knoppix...)

[Exzi]

That would be so sweet! :O

[mmmikeey]

Shawn - this is great. You should have more network/server tips.

[MagnusVideos]

I would like to see more videos like this please.

[arthursucks]

Is that a Mame cabinet?!

[grimtube]

lol, it looks like the mame logo doesnt it?

[trunkboy]

It's a MAME cabinet. It's the cover story on Linux Journal's August 2007 issue. :)