Cisco Systems CGS252016S8PC manual Switch Performance, Spanning Tree Loops, Cabling Distance

Chapter 4 Troubleshooting

Diagnosing Problems

Spanning Tree Loops

STP loops can cause serious performance issues that look like port or interface problems.

A unidirectional link can cause loops. It occurs when the traffic sent by the switch is received by the neighbor, but the traffic from the neighbor is not received by the switch. A broken cable, other cabling problems, or a port issue could cause this one-way communication.

You can enable UniDirectional Link Detection (UDLD) on the switch to help identify unidirectional link problems. For information about enabling UDLD on the switch, see the “Understanding UDLD” section in the switch software configuration guide on Cisco.com.

Switch Performance

Speed, Duplex, and Auto-Negotiation

Port statistics that show a large amount of alignment errors, Frame Check Sequence (FCS), or late collisions errors, might mean a speed or duplex mismatch.

A common issue occurs when duplex and speed settings are mismatched between two switches, between a switch and a router, or between the switch and a workstation or server. Mismatches can happen when manually setting the speed and duplex or from auto-negotiation issues between the two devices.

To maximize switch performance and to ensure a link, follow one of these guidelines when changing the duplex or the speed settings.

•Let both ports autonegotiate both speed and duplex.

•Manually set the speed and duplex parameters for the interfaces on both ends of the connection.

•If a remote device does not autonegotiate, use the same duplex settings on the two ports. The speed parameter adjusts itself even if the connected port does not autonegotiate.

Auto-Negotiation and Network Interface Cards

Problems sometimes occur between the switch and third-party network interface cards (NICs). By default, the switch ports and interfaces autonegotiate. Laptops or other devices are commonly set to autonegotiate, yet sometimes issues occur.

To troubleshoot auto-negotiation problems, try manually setting both sides of the connection. If this does not solve the problem, there could be a problem with the firmware or software on the NIC. You can resolve this by upgrading the NIC driver to the latest version.

Cabling Distance

If the port statistics show excessive FCS, late-collision, or alignment errors, verify that the cable distance from the switch to the connected device meets the recommended guidelines. See the Cables and Adapters, page B-4.

Cisco CGS 2520 Hardware Installation Guide

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