Table of Contents
Release Notes for the
Catalyst 2820 Series Enterprise Edition Switches, Version 8.01
Release Notes for the
Catalyst 2820 Series Enterprise Edition Switches, Version 8.01
December 17, 1998
These release notes provide information on the Catalyst 2820 series enterprise edition Ethernet switches (hereafter referred to as the Catalyst 2820 switches) using firmware version 8.01.
Note This document describes the problems resolved in version 8.01.01.
The tracking numbers for some items in this document are added for your convenience.
The Catalyst 2820 switches are now shipped with firmware version 8.01.01. Depending on the hardware board revision of your switch, the minimum firmware releases listed in Table 1 are required.
The "System Revision" field on the System Configuration menu displays the board revision of your switch. When you use the show version command from the command-line interface (CLI), the "Hardware Board Revision Is" field displays the board revision.
The Firmware Configuration Menu and the Console and Upgrade Configuration page display the firmware version in use.
The following information is for FCC compliance of Class A devices: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio-frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference, in which case users will be required to correct the interference at their own expense.
These are the problems resolved in version 8.01.01:
- A module port, assigned as a monitor port, is enabled when you reset the switch. [CSCdk00208]
- During start up, IPX packets sent by PCs with certain network interface card (NIC) cards are no longer dropped. [CSCdk34767]
- The switch is now able to configure the TFTP server IP address in BOOTP replies. [CSCdk41022]
- The performance problems caused by unterminated or dangling IBM Type 1 cabling have been fixed. However, see the "Limitations" section about using IBM Type 1 cabling in your network. [CSCdk49136 and CSCdk57978]
- The VTP MIB object, vtpVlanDot10Said, now returns the correct value for VLANs created via SNMP. [CSCdk45738]
- After removing or inserting a module, click Reload to display a fresh copy of the switch image on the Basic System Configuration page.
- When using Netscape Communicator 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 Communicator 4.xx on PCs and Sun workstations, resized pages of the web console might not refresh properly. Click Reload to refresh the page. [CSCdj85607]
- Click Reload from any web console page to display a fresh copy of the Basic System Configuration page, not the currently displayed page.
- When using Netscape Communicator 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 2820 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 console port default settings (9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and no parity). [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, network loops might result 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 so that the switch forwards received BPDUs. 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.
- RMON statistics gathering has the following maximum limits:
- 27 rows in these tables: etherStatsTable, historyControlTable, alarmTable, and eventTable.
- 20 history buckets per historyControlTable entry.
- If you are logging events, you can have 10 entries per event, and the list is circular.
- Networks that use IBM Type 1 cabling can have the following problems if the cable becomes unterminated or dangles:
- Ports configured as monitor ports in an environment wired with IBM Type 1 cabling should be configured for half-duplex operation because the switch will not detect a loopback if the hermaphroditic connector on the cable is disconnected. [CSCdk66781]
- In a full-duplex configuration with Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP) disabled, the switch will not detect a loop if an IBM Type 1 cable is disconnected. Therefore, configure ports for half-duplex operation if you must have STP disabled. [CSCdk57978]
- If a 100-Mbps switch port has a disconnected IBM Type 1 cable, a change to the Port Fast mode does not take effect until you reset the switch. [CSCdk67260]
- If a full-duplex port is assigned to more than one bridge group and an IBM Type 1 cable is disconnected, the switch might not detect a loopback. [CSCdk67219]
- If a nonroot switch is bridged to a root switch via full-duplex ports using IBM Type 1 cabling, the root port on the nonroot switch might take longer to reach the STP blocking state if the cabling is disconnected and creates a loopback. [CSCdk67682]
- If a dynamic port that is assigned to a VLAN is disconnected and reconnected to a different station, the VLAN of the port is not rediscovered. Change the port to half duplex so that the switch assigns the port to a new VLAN. [CSCdk67157]
- If there are two or more Catalyst 1900 or Catalyst 2820 switches connected to a Catalyst 5000 switch via Fast EtherChannel---and if there are two stations communicating through the Catalyst 5000 switch---the switches learn the addresses of both stations from the broadcast packets sent from those stations. Flooding of unknown unicast packets can occur if one of the stations becomes disconnected from the Catalyst 5000 switch and the other station continues to send packets to that station. The flooding stops when the switches reach the specified aging time for retaining the address of the disconnected station.
- Use the port-channel preserve-order command to preserve the frame transmission order on the switch port. [CSCdk69024]
- When using the Fast EtherChannel feature with VLAN trunking between two Catalyst 2820 switches, changing the active link might cause flooding. You can change an active link either by changing the Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP) port priority or by disconnecting one of the high-speed links and reconnecting it. We recommend that you disconnect both ports to change the active link. [CSCdj89498]
- If you use VTP pruning with Fast EtherChannel, losing one connection 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]
- The Catalyst 2820 switches now ship only with the RJ-45-to-DB-9 female DTE
(labeled PC) and RJ-45-to-DB-25 male DCE (labeled Modem) adapters. Disregard text in the Catalyst 2820 Series Installation and Configuration Guide that refer to the supplied RJ-45-to-DB-25 female DTE adapter. You can order this adapter from Cisco (order number CAB-500DTF).
- The RPS LED description in the Catalyst 2820 Series Installation and Configuration Guide should state that the RPS LED blinks green, not amber, when both the redundant power system (RPS) and the internal power supply are powered up.
- If you try to upgrade the module firmware from the web console and the Module (Slot A or B) TFTP Upgrade button is not on the Console and Upgrade Configuration page, the module firmware is corrupted. Do not continue the upgrade attempt from the web console. Use the menu console to upgrade the module firmware. [CSCdj92758]
- If your attempt to upgrade the ATM module firmware fails while the module is operating normally, the expansion slot LED on the switch turns amber. The module continues operation, but the module image in Flash memory is corrupted. When you reset the ATM module, it will not find a valid Cisco IOS image, and the ATM module will not pass the power-on self-test (POST). To correct this problem, repeat the firmware upgrade procedure to download a new firmware image on the ATM module.
- If you connect an autonegotiating 100BaseTX switch module port of a Catalyst 2820 switch to a device that does not autonegotiate, there could be problems establishing a link. To work around this problem, configure the module port for either half or full duplex to match the configuration of the other device.
- After you select Auto-negotiate as the 100BaseTX switch module port duplex mode from the Module Management page and click Apply, "Auto-negotiate" displays in the Actual field while the switch and the other device negotiate the duplex mode. Click the Module option on the web console action bar to display the final duplex state of the port. [CSCdk03911]
- Be sure that JavaScript is enabled. From Netscape Communicator 4.xx, select Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Enable JavaScript. JavaScript is enabled by default on Microsoft Internet Explorer.
- Be sure the web console page is updated whenever you visit the page. Set the caching of pages to Every time on Netscape Communicator or Once per session on Microsoft Internet Explorer.
- You can bookmark the switch IP address to easily retrieve the web console for later use.
- If you are using Netscape Communicator, choose the Communicator menu option, and select Bookmarks > Add Bookmark.
- If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, choose the Favorites menu option, and select Add to Favorites.
- Do not use the right mouse-button to bookmark the switch IP address; doing so only saves the specific frame (image) of the web console page.
- 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 matches a rate less than or equal to the configured rate. When the call is over, the switch reverts to the last configured baud rate.
- Be sure that the port monitoring feature (used for diagnostics) is 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, but not the web console.
- When you have bridge groups enabled, the web console displays information only for bridge group 1.
- 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 the command-line interface, but not on the web console.
- Fast EtherChannel configuration is supported on the web console and the command-line interface, but not on the menu console.
- When you have VLANs enabled, the web console displays information only for VLAN 1.
- The switch resets when you change from using VLANs to bridge groups and vice versa, and any configured options revert to the 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. When 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 VLAN Trunk Protocol (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, the port configurations will function as configured.
- Be 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, the command-line interface, or the SNMP Bridge MIB.
- VTP pruning statistics on the VTP Statistics Report 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 too soon, the change does not take effect the next time the system is restarted.
- While performing a firmware 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 2820 Series Installation and Configuration Guide.
Use the following publications with this document:
- Installing the Cisco Catalyst 1900/2820 Enterprise Edition Software
- Catalyst 2820 Series and Catalyst 1900 Series Enterprise Edition Software Configuration Guide
- Catalyst 2820 Series and Catalyst 1900 Series Command Reference
- Catalyst 2820 Series Installation and Configuration Guide
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