two cisco 2960 connected togethor

[stangdude]

I have two Cisco 2960 switches that are connected at the gigabit ports and have a couple of questions. The first switch has an ip address assigned to vlan1. So here are my questions.

1. How do I assign an address to the second switch? Or do I really need to?

2. How do I manage both switches? Can they be managed independently or should I stack them and manage them as one switch?

3. Is there a preferred way to connect and manage them?

Thanks for any help.

 

[globalchicken]

First I am assuming that since you approached the idea of stacking them they are in a location close enough to utilize the stackwise technology?

So are these 2 switches connected with one uplink or 2?
Are you only using the one vlan or are you using mulitple vlans with ports in those vlans?

To assign an address to a pure L2 switch you need to put an IP address on interface vlan 1 or the management vlan of your choosing. I would reccomend staying on 1 because you have little knowledge of L2 switching. I would reccomend you apply an ip to both switches for ease of management. You would also have to open up your vty lines for some type of remote access as well..(telnet, ssh, ect)
switch#(config)int vlan1
switch#(config-int)ip add x.x.x.x x.x.x.x
don't forget no shut on interface....!

If there is only 2 switches I would not bother with the stackwise, but thats just me. its just as easy to configure both for management.

When you say manage, are you talking in the sense of NMS (network management system) or just basic configuration...??? There are products out there such as HP Openview, CiscoWorks, or WhatsUpGold, that allow you to see the "big Picture" but they can be costly. If you only have 2 switches then there are free tools that are available if you look.

As far as preferred method, there are more than one way to skin a cat. How many users do you have on either switch, fully populated? You can trunk the 2 switches together using a L2 etherchannel to maximze the size of your pipe if the need is there but if not then a redundant connection between the 2 switches will be sufficient. If you can not afford the time that STP will take to converge then you could start looking into things like uplinkfast.

As many details as you could give about your network without revealing too much then post it.

 

[stangdude]

globalchicken wrote:
So are these 2 switches connected with one uplink or 2?

Currently they are connected via one uplink but I could connect them via two if needed.

globalchicken wrote:
Are you only using the one vlan or are you using multiple vlans with ports in those vlans.

Currently have two vlans but for the most part would just use vlan1.

globalchicken wrote:
To assign an address to a pure L2 switch you need to put an IP address on interface vlan 1 or the management vlan of your choosing. I would recommend staying on 1 because you have little knowledge of L2 switching. I would recommend you apply an ip to both switches for ease of management. You would also have to open up your vty lines for some type of remote access as well..(telnet, ssh, ect)


I applied an address to vlan1 on the first switch so is that all I need to do to the second switch? I wanted to assign an address to both for manageability. Telent lines are open for management.

globalchicken wrote:
If there is only 2 switches I would not bother with the stackwise, but that’s just me.

Currently just two but I expect that number to grow. Not really a reason to implement stackwise at this point.


globalchicken wrote:
When you say manage, are you talking in the sense of NMS (network management system) or just basic configuration...??? There are products out there such as HP Openview, CiscoWorks, or WhatsUpGold, that allow you to see the "big Picture" but they can be costly.


Right now mostly just basic configuration. I will probably have to implement some other vlans for voice and do some QOS at some point. I have been using the Cisco network assistant but it does not seem to be that good of a tool.

globalchicken wrote:
As far as preferred method, there are more than one way to skin a cat. How many users do you have on either switch, fully populated? You can trunk the 2 switches together using a L2 etherchannel to maximize the size of your pipe if the need is there but if not then a redundant connection between the 2 switches will be sufficient. If you can not afford the time that STP will take to converge then you could start looking into things like uplinkfast.

Currently have about 50 users and adding more every week. both switches are 48 port. One is completely full and the other is about 3/4 full. Plan is to add a 3750 or a 3560 at a later date as finances allow.


globalchicken wrote:
As many details as you could give about your network without revealing too much then post it.

I can post a config of either or both switches if that would help.

globalchicken thanks for your help.

 

[vipergg]

I would manage separately like global said . Also use your first 2960 as the agregation switch and "star" any future switches off that . Give them each unique addresses in vlan if thats what you want use for the management and also give them the default gateway of the subnet for the layer3 device doing the routing . Also take some time and just learn the CLI , its better and more robust at configuring the switches and don't bother with the NW assistant.

 

[stangdude]

thanks vipergg.
I had added a address to the second switch on vlan and then took it out when I thought it was not responding. Quess I will add it back in so I can do something with it.

 

[globalchicken]

viper, he said he plans to purchase a 3750 or 60 when finances allow. Would it be better to star off of that in the future? I think so.. Especialy with the L3 capability of that switch he could point everything back using SVIs. I do second vipergg on his opinion of the CLI. Get used to it!!LOL

Back up your configs I can not stress that more...Its much easier to recover if you have backups... copy run start or wr are 2 commands to save your config to nvram.

 

[vipergg]

Yes that would be better as those give you the option to route if you so choose or you can use them as an expensive l2 switch . Those would make an ideal aggregation switch , they allow you a lot options config wise.

 

[stangdude]

The plan is to have it do some routing because I need to setup some vlans for some security reasons. Again thanks for all your help.