Table of Contents

Usage Guidelines
Limitations
Cisco Connection Online

Release Notes for the
Catalyst 1900 Series Enterprise Edition Switches, Version 8.00

May 8, 1998

Use the following publications in conjunction with this document:

• Catalyst 1900 Series Installation and Configuration Guide

• Catalyst 2820 Series and Catalyst 1900 Series Enterprise Edition Software Configuration Guide

• Catalyst 2820 Series and Catalyst 1900 Series Command Reference

These release notes describe the usage guideline and limitations for the Catalyst 1900 Series Enterprise Edition switches (hereafter referred to as the Catalyst 1900 switches) using firmware version 8.00.

Usage Guidelines

• If you connect a 100BaseTX port of a Catalyst 1900 switch that is configured for autonegotiation to a device that is not configured for autonegotiation, there could be problems establishing a link. To work around this problem, configure the high-speed port for either half or full duplex to match the configuration of the other device.

• After you select Auto-negotiate as the 100BaseT port duplex mode on the web console Port Management page and click Apply, the duplex state displayed in the Actual field is Auto-negotiate while the switch and the other device negotiate on the duplex mode. Click the Port option from the web console action bar to display the final duplex state of the port. [CSCdk03911]

• For the web console, make sure that JavaScript is enabled. From the Netscape 4.xx Preferences menu, click Advanced, and select Enable JavaScript. JavaScript is enabled by default on Internet Explorer.

• For the web console, make sure the web console page is updated whenever you visit the page. From the Netscape 4.xx Edit menu, click Preferences, click Advanced, click Cache, and select Every time. From the Internet Explorer View menu, click Internet Options, click Settings from the General folder, and select Every visit to the page.

• For the web console, if you want to bookmark the Basic System Configuration page, make sure you either:

  • From the Netscape 4.xx Communicator menu, select Bookmarks, and click Add Bookmark.

  • From the Internet Explorer Favorites menu, click Add to Favorites.

Using the right mouse button to bookmark the web console only saves the specific frame (image) of the web console.

• If the switch is directly connected to a terminal or terminal emulator rather than to a modem connection, you must configure the switch to the same baud rate and character format as the terminal or emulator.

If the switch is dialing out, the configured baud rate of the switch does not change. The Match Remote Baud rate option (auto baud) applies only when the switch is answering an incoming call, and the switch matches a rate less than or equal to the configured rate. Upon disconnecting from a call, the switch reverts to the last configured baud rate.

• Make sure that the port monitoring feature (used for diagnostics) remains disabled during normal operation. Enabling the port monitoring feature can degrade the performance of the switch.

• Bridge group configuration is supported on the menu console and the command-line interface, not the web console.

• When you have bridge groups enabled, the web console displays information for bridge group 1 only.

• Do not connect a port that belongs to more than one bridge group to another port in any of those bridge groups; this will cause a network loop.

• VLAN configuration is supported on the menu console and command-line interface, not the web console.

• Fast EtherChannel configuration is supported on the web console and command-line interface, not the menu console.

• When you have VLANs enabled, the web console displays information for
  VLAN 1 only.

• The switch resets when you change from using VLANs to bridge groups and vice versa.

In addition, when you change from VLANs to bridge groups and vice versa, all options that have been configured are reset to their default settings. You will need to reconfigure the options that you need for VLANs or bridge groups.

Use the System Configuration menu, command-line interface, or SNMP to change from VLANs to bridge groups and vice versa.

• When the switch initializes after a reset or when a port is assigned a different VLAN membership, the port experiences the complete Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP) transition, as specified by IEEE 802.1D, even if Port Fast mode is enabled. Once the transition is complete, the Port Fast mode setting is enforced. This process ensures that no temporary loop is formed after a reset and allows STP to safely discover the topology of the network.

• If trunking mode is enabled after the switch initializes, the switch can take up to
  5 minutes to automatically learn VTP information from the network.

• To prevent the formation of undetected loops, nontrunk ports assigned to different VLANs must not be connected to each other. Use routers to connect devices residing on different VLANs.

• When the trunking capability is enabled on a high-speed port, the port configuration on the following features is ignored, and the default configuration is used:

  • VLAN membership configuration for that port.

  • STP Port Fast mode (default: disabled on high-speed ports).

  • Flooding of unknown unicast and unregistered multicast packets
    (default: Enabled).

  • Network port configuration (default: no network port is configured). When trunking is disabled, these port configurations will function as configured.

• Make sure the management VLAN is not pruned if VTP pruning is enabled. You cannot use IP to manage the switch if the management VLAN is pruned. [CSCdj34652]

• When Fast EtherChannel is enabled, remember the following:

  • Spanning-tree state for the port channel is shown as N/A on the Port Configuration menu for port A or port B. To find out the actual state of the port channel, use the Fast EtherChannel Management page on the web console, command-line interface, or SNMP Bridge MIB.

  • VTP pruning statistics on the VTP Statistics screen apply to the port channel as a whole, not specifically to port A or port B. [CSCdj92968]

• Switch configuration changes take effect immediately. However, the switch requires 30 seconds to write changed parameters to permanent storage. If you turn off the switch before the changed parameters are written to permanent storage, the change does not take effect the next time the system is restarted.

• While performing a software upgrade, the switch might not respond to commands for as long as 1 minute. This is normal and correct. If you interrupt the transfer by turning the switch off and on, the firmware could be corrupted. If this happens, follow the procedure described in "Using the Diagnostic Console" in the "Troubleshooting" chapter of the Catalyst 1900 Series Installation and Configuration Guide.

Limitations

• When using Netscape 4.xx on Sun workstations, minimized and maximized pages of the web console might not refresh properly. Click Reload to refresh the page.

In addition, when using Netscape 4.xx on PCs and Sun workstations, resized pages of the web console might not refresh properly. Click Reload to refresh the page. [CSCdj85607]

• Clicking Reload from any web console page displays a fresh copy of the Basic System Configuration page, not the currently displayed page.

• When using Netscape 4.xx on Windows 95, clicking Apply after making changes to the Port Security Table page sometimes displays a blank page. Click Stop to redisplay the Port Security Table page with your changes saved. [CSCdj95153]

• The web console does not check parameter values that are outside the value range. If you enter an invalid parameter value, the web console redisplays the console page with the original value. Parameter value ranges are shown in the menu console and in the Catalyst 1900 Series Installation and Configuration Guide.

• Do not use the following settings for the console port when upgrading the switch through the XMODEM protocol: 9600 baud, 7 data bits, 2 stop bits, and
  Even parity. Use other settings or the default settings (9600 baud, 8 data bits,
  1 stop bit, None parity) of the console port. [CSCdj87375]

• If you use bridge groups and Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP) is disabled on a bridge group, the switch does not forward the bridge protocol data units (BPDUs) received on any ports in the bridge group to other members of the bridge group. If you are running STP on the rest of your network, this might result in network loops if the switch connects to other switches. [CSCdk01665]

If the problem occurs and you want to use bridge groups with STP disabled, you must disable STP on all bridge groups to allow the switch to forward received BPDUs. To do this, assign at least one port to all bridge groups, and then disable STP for each bridge group, using the Bridge Group Spanning Tree Configuration menu (or command-line interface or SNMP). You can then reassign the ports to whichever group you wish.

• When using the Fast EtherChannel feature with VLAN trunking between two Catalyst 1900 or Catalyst 2820 switches, changing the active link might cause flooding. You can change an active link either by changing the PAgP port priority or by disconnecting one of the high-speed links and reconnecting it. It is recommended that you disconnect both ports to change the active link. [CSCdj89498]

• If you use VLAN Trunk Protocol (VTP) pruning with Fast EtherChannel, a loss of link on one high-speed link prevents pruning from working properly. This does not cause connectivity problems, but flood traffic will be sent to the neighboring switch (which should drop such traffic, resulting in minimal degradation to network performance). Pruning still works in the neighboring switches. Disconnect the remaining link, and then reconnect both links to restore proper operation of VTP pruning. [CSCdk01961]

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