Issue with time clocks on the network

[ciscokidjt]

My company purchased time clocks that were intended to run on our LAN via IP.. only problem is that they never involved the network group, and now we have Kronos time clocks all over the building that will not allow for configuration of a default gateway. This is bad mostly because our core switches are non-Cisco devices that will not support 802.1Q trunking. The Kronos people have suggested putting static arps in. What is a static arp, and would it go in the core or in the edge switch?

 

[jgercken]

If the clocks can't use a default gateway then they will rely on arp-requests for IP communication. This shouldn't be a big deal if your network is flat (1 broadcast domain).

Most devices will either send an arp-request or forward the request depending on if the destination address is in the same subnet. An arp-request is simply a broadcast requesting for the destination to reply so the device can discover the destination's MAC address.

Possible avenues:
edge switch
set a static arp entry mapping the other clocks' IP to MAC addresses

edge router
Proxy ARP (router will respond w/ own MAC to any destinations not on source's broadcast domain)

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[CorruptedLogic]

Did they tell you why you couldn't set a default gateway? What model clocks are they?..I use 4500 clocks on my network and can set default gateways no problem, just swipe your maintenance card and hit Comm Settings, from there its pretty self explanatory. Of course, you may be trying to set the gateway via DHCP, i've never tried this as i dont want the potential problem of my clocks IP changing and messing up the DCM. According to popular myth, gateways can be set via DHCP so long as your DHCP server is configured to supply one. Hope this might help in som way!