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Question : Problem: How and what to manage on a managed switch... ??? Help???
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I need advice and direction on configuring our managed Switches.
Previously I have been working with MS, Linux, and Lotus Notes. No Cisco routing or Switching experience.
Somehow when I was hired they got the impression I was the guy for the Switching and Routing stuff. (it was not on my resume)
I have been doing general tech support for the last several months, but recently was told that I need to manage our Switches.
After he sees my ability to Manage the Switches, then he will give me a few Servers to work on, but he believes if I can not Manage the Switches then I will not be able to Manage the Servers. (Which is what I was doing in my last job) OK enough about the circumstance.
Most sites I have searched on people say that they just set the Switches up and let them go.
They configure and maintain the Routers but do not really do anything with the Switches.
I have read many times that SNMP is more of a hassle then it is worth.
There seems to be a lot of features built into the Switches, but I can not find any sites or books dealing with managed switch configurations and what advantage they have. And there are tons of sites and books on Router configurations.
Current setup.
We have a small business WAN.
2 Dell Powerconnect 3348 Managed Switches linked together as VLAN1. (48 ports to each Switch)
1 Dell Powerconnect 5212 Managed Switch. ** Gigabit ** ( 12 ports ) ( 2 unused )
9 Dell Blade Servers.
1 1700 Cisco Router used as a Gateway to our Quest WAN connecting through a T1 line.
90 Windows XP workstations.
15 Full size printers (we do tons of printing to all locations)
Locally there are 3 buildings, side by side, all 1 story.
The main bldg. houses the Server/Switch rack.
The other 2 adjoining buildings have 8 PCs and 1 large printer in each unit.
They each have a single 16 port un-managed switch in them.
They connect to our main switch from a Fiber-optic cable with a single Ethernet cable.
1 end is connected to our 3348 Switch then to a media converter that converts to 2 Fiber lines to each building, then to another media converter on each end and into the unmanaged Switch in each building.
Most of our Servers have 2 NICs, 1 going to the GB 5212 Switch, and the other going to the 3348 Switch.
I believe (but need to confirm) that the Gateway Router is connected to the Dell Powerconnect 5212.
I hope this information was not to long winded, but has enough information to get started.
Thanks in advance
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Answer : Problem: How and what to manage on a managed switch... ??? Help???
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Hard to add to kbc and lrmoore.
So, is everything up and running right now, and since it ain't broke, your boss wants you to fix it?!?!
Well, you could add a couple of vlans - you could make each building a vlan and then one vlan for the servers. I don't think this really counts as "managing" switches.
The main thing to manage on switches is putting an IP on them, putting SNMP on them, setting the approrpriate passwords and access restrictions. You might do some DHCP snooping to prevent rogue DHCP servers. You might want to do some port authentication - or disallowing multiple MACs from any single port. Like lr said, look for duplex mismatches and you might want to set servers to 100 Full on both sides.
Second the nod for Solar Winds Orion.
HTH
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