RSTP - Message Age

Question:

Someone knows, in RSTP, when one Cisco 1900 switch receive a BPDU, how does the switches manipulate the message age timer in RSTP? Does it modify the message age?

Answer:

In RSTP, each non-root switch receives a BPDU on its Root Port with the Message Age set to N, N>=0. As a result, the switch itself will send out its own BPDUs with the Message Age set to N+1. A root swich sends its BPDUs with the Message Age set to 0. Cisco3925E

WIC-4ESW upgrade on 1700 series router

Question:

For years I've had Cisco 3560V2 a simply NAT-based routing set up with the ISP  coming into the 10BT WIC card on my 1700 and then sharing that  connection out to my LAN via the integrated FastEthernet port.

I've found that that my ISP has increased my  connection speed much greater than 10 mbps (varying 15-60 mbps) and my  router has actually been bottlenecking my potential speeds in/out to the  internet in this setup.

I've been thinking about purchasing a  WIC-4ESW 4-port  10/100 switch interface for the router and swithing up the config so  that the ISP connection now comes into the integrated FastEthernet port  and then sharing all 10/100 ports of the switch out to my LAN which  should increase my limit to 100 mbps through my router to my ISP.    I'd  also be able to plug my network devices directly into switch instead of  an el-cheapo I currently have on my LAN.

I know just  enough to be dangerous, but I think I should be able to tweak my config  to make this change.  I just wanted to confirm that the WIC-4ESW would  be compatible with the 1700 and my plan will work (with a more recent  IOS).    Any suggestions or shortcomings I may not of thought of before I  make this purchase?

Thank you!

EDIT:  I've been seeing some mixed information  that across interfaces on the router, a 1700 series might limit the  bandwidth.   Would I be able to transmist say 15-60 mbps through  integrated FastEthernet0 to the WIC-4ESW and vice versa or would speeds  near 100mpbs only beable to be transmitted within the 4 ports of the  WIC-4ESW but not through the rest of the router?

Answer:

The routing performance of 1700 series is strongly below the speed of your connection. Its throughput is somewhere around 6 Mbps for 64-byte IP packets according to an internal PDF document by Cisco, and it will not go much better.

While the WIC-4ESW should be supported in your router according to the following product page:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps221/products_data_sheet09186a00801c749d.html

you are not going to get any more routing performance from your router, I am afraid. This card itself is capable of high-performance Layer2 switching between its own ports but as soon as packets must be routed, the router itself will become the bottleneck.

So with this card plugged into your router, communication between the ports of this card in the same VLAN will be switched on the usual 100Mbps throughput. However, if the ports are in different VLANs and the traffic between them will need to be routed, or if the traffic needs to exit through any built-in interface of the router, the throughput will dramatically fall down.

I am not sure if this helps... but please feel welcome to discuss this further.

For more Cisco Switch news about Price ans Specification, you can click here.

Routing information protocol

Question:

I would like to know about Cisco 3560 Switch timeout timer in RIP can any body explain this.....

Answer:

Update:how often the update for a specific route must be sent.  (30 seconds)

Invalid: states that once an update is received for a route how long to wait until the route is considered invalid or non-reachable (180 seconds)

Hold Down: If a route gets a worse metric and is updated, the hold down timer is started. During this time no other metric for the route is accepted which is equal or worse than the current metric  (180 seconds)

Flush: how many seconds, since the last valid update, until delete route (240 seconds)

invalid and Flush timer will start/reset every time an update comes in.

When you get an update the Invalid Timer starts to count to 180 and the Flush Timer to 240 seconds. They start at the same time!

After 180 seconds of the Invalid Timer have passed, the Holddown Timer will start for 60 seconds (Until the route is flushed). When this Holddown Timer run for 60 seconds it will ignore any (even better) routes it get advertised with, to give the network to properly converge/stabilize.

For Cisco Catalyst 3560 more info http://blog.ine.com/2010/04/15/how-basic-are-rip-timers-test-your-knowledge-now/

Load Balancing across GRE Tunnels, EIGRP

Question:

First post here and cisco ios commands I did do a search, but didnt come up with much.

I have two GRE tunnels across 2 seperate WAN links. One link is 45 Mbps and the other link is 6Mpbs. I was thinking the Variance command would be the choice here(well only choice)  since we are running EIGRP.

Below are the (Edited)configs on the spokes

First tunnel

INTERFACE TUNNEL 10500

DESCRIPTION 45Mbps

DAMPENING

BANDWIDTH 45000

IP ADDRESS X.X.X.X

TUNNEL SOURCE X.X.X.30

TUNNEL MODE IPSECIPV4

TUNNEL DESTINATION X.X.X.29

SERVICE POLICY OUTPUT SHAPING-45000

Second Tunnel

INTERFACE TUNNEL 10501

DESCRIPTION 6Mbps

DAMPENING

BANDWIDTH 6312

IP ADDRESS X.X.X.X.

TUNNEL SOURCE SERIAL 0/0/0

TUNNEL DESTINATION X.X.X.46

SERVICE POLICY OUTPUT SHAPING-6312

This is my first project for my new job, so I obviously want to get it right. If I am missing some critical information or you need clarification on something, please do not hesitate to request it.

Thanks in advance



Answer:

If you do a sh ip route eigrp  at present their should be only on path for all routes in the rib table.

Now when you apply a variance value this will install another path into the rib, meaning you will then have two paths showing in the routing table.

The variance calculation can be done by the metric extracted from the Eigrp topology table:

P 10.170.9.24/30, 1 successors, FD is 1345280

       via 10.170.2.50 (1345280/65280), Tunnel10500, serno 72548

       via 10.170.2.56 (1688576/65280), Tunnel10501, serno 72568

1345280/1688576 =1.25 round out the highest value =  variance 2

@Richard/Joseph

I think what I am trying to get at, is with or without the variance, CEF will default to forward via per destination anyway. I agree deterministically if the variance is applied and a new path is now availble, another scr/dst could use this new path, BUT wouldnt this other scr/dst always use that same path, and not load share between the two without per-packet...correct???

(by the way in my testing Cisco Switches Price i used a variance of 9)

Still on MPLS VPN

Question:

I am trying simulate WS-C3560X-48P-S a simple VPN network.  Find below, the contents of one of the vrf tables.  My challenge here is that I am unable to redistribute the BGP routes in the VPN table back into the CE's routing table.  Command such as:

PE1(config-router)# redistribute bgp xxx route-map yyy has not had any effect.   Please, give advice on how to implement this.  Thanks.

*************************************************************************************************************

PE1#show ip bgp vpnv4 vrf orange

!

!

   Network          Next Hop            Metric LocPrf Weight Path

Route Distinguisher: 10000:10 (default for vrf orange)

*>i10.0.0.4/32      10.0.0.2            156160    100      0 ?

*> 10.0.0.6/32      10.255.1.2          156160         32768 ?

*> 10.255.1.0/30    0.0.0.0                  0         32768 ?

*> 10.255.2.0/24    10.255.1.2           30720         32768 ?

*>i10.255.3.0/30    10.0.0.2                 0    100      0 ?

*>i10.255.4.0/24    10.0.0.2             30720    100      0 ?

!

PE1#

**********************************************************************************************************

PE1#show ip route vrf orange

!

!

     10.0.0.0/8 is variably subnetted, 6 subnets, 3 masks

D       10.0.0.6/32 [90/156160] via 10.255.1.2, 00:15:12, FastEthernet0/1

B       10.0.0.4/32 [200/156160] via 10.0.0.2, 00:14:20

B       10.255.4.0/24 [200/30720] via 10.0.0.2, 00:14:20

C       10.255.1.0/30 is directly connected, FastEthernet0/1

B       10.255.3.0/30 [200/0] via 10.0.0.2, 00:14:20

D       10.255.2.0/24 [90/30720] via 10.255.1.2, 00:15:12,

Answer:

"PE1(config-router)# redistribute bgp xxx route-map yyy has not had any effect"

Did you use this command under eigrp address family? Because from config-router it looks like you did not. Also add metric statement.

So try:

router eigrp 10000

address-family ipv4 vrf orange

redistribute bgp 50000 metric 1500 100 255 1 1500 WS-C3560X-48P-S Price

Load Balancing across GRE Tunnels, EIGRP

Question:

First post here Cisco 1900 and I did do a search, but didnt come up with much.

I have two GRE tunnels across 2 seperate WAN links. One link is 45 Mbps and the other link is 6Mpbs. I was thinking the Variance command would be the choice here(well only choice)  since we are running EIGRP.

Below are the (Edited)configs on the spokes

First tunnel

INTERFACE TUNNEL 10500

DESCRIPTION 45Mbps

DAMPENING

BANDWIDTH 45000

IP ADDRESS X.X.X.X

TUNNEL SOURCE X.X.X.30

TUNNEL MODE IPSECIPV4

TUNNEL DESTINATION X.X.X.29

SERVICE POLICY OUTPUT SHAPING-45000

Second Tunnel

INTERFACE TUNNEL 10501

DESCRIPTION 6Mbps

DAMPENING

BANDWIDTH 6312

IP ADDRESS X.X.X.X.

TUNNEL SOURCE SERIAL 0/0/0

TUNNEL DESTINATION X.X.X.46

SERVICE POLICY OUTPUT SHAPING-6312

This is my first project for my new job, so I obviously want to get it right. If I am missing some critical information or you need clarification on something, please do not hesitate to request it.

Thanks in advance



Answer:

If you do a sh ip route eigrp  at present their should be only on path for all routes in the rib table.

Now when you apply a variance value this will install another path into the rib, meaning you will then have two paths showing in the routing table.

The variance calculation can be done by the metric extracted from the Eigrp topology table:

P 10.170.9.24/30, 1 successors, FD is 1345280

       via 10.170.2.50 (1345280/65280), Tunnel10500, serno 72548

       via 10.170.2.56 (1688576/65280), Tunnel10501, serno 72568

1345280/1688576 =1.25 round out the highest value =  variance 2

@Richard/Joseph

I think what I am trying to get at, is with or without the variance, CEF will default to forward via per destination anyway. I agree deterministically if the variance is applied and a new path is now availble, another scr/dst could use this new path, BUT wouldnt this other scr/dst always use that same path, and not load share between the two without per-packet...correct???

(by the way in my Cisco 1900 router testing i used a variance of 9)

2911 Router crashes after i set the ATM interface

Question:

We bought a cisoc WS-C3560V2-48TS-S Price 2911 Router with an EHWIC-VA-DSL-A Card. I did the Dialer Setup without any problem but if i set the ATM interface with the commands:

pvc 8/35

  pppoe-client dial-pool-number 1

The Router crashes after some seconds. I didn't connceted the phone line to the DSL card.

Does you guys have any clue ?

Thanks in advance patrick

The DSL setup:

controller VDSL 0/0/0

interface ATM0/0/0

no ip address

no atm ilmi-keepalive

!

interface Ethernet0/0/0

no ip address

shutdown

!

interface Dialer1

ip address negotiated

ip mtu 1492

ip nat outside

ip virtual-reassembly in

encapsulation ppp

shutdown

dialer pool 1

dialer-group 1

ppp authentication chap callin

ppp chap hostname xxx@xxx.ch

ppp chap password 7 xxxxxx

And here the relevant part of the crash file:

CMD: 'interface atm 0/0/0' 12:31:10 UTC Mon Feb 4 2013

CMD: ' pvc 8/35' 12:31:17 UTC Mon Feb 4 2013

CMD: '  pppoe-client dial-pool-number 1' 12:31:18 UTC Mon Feb 4 2013

CMD: 'exit' 12:31:19 UTC Mon Feb 4 2013

CMD: 'exit' 12:31:20 UTC Mon Feb 4 2013

CMD: 'exit' 12:31:22 UTC Mon Feb 4 2013

*Feb  4 12:31:22.927: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by admin on vty0 (192.168.10.225)

CMD: 'conf t' 12:31:38 UTC Mon Feb 4 2013

CMD: 'exit' 12:31:40 UTC Mon Feb 4 2013

*Feb  4 12:31:40.439: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by admin on vty0 (192.168.10.225)

CMD: 'sh run' 12:31:42 UTC Mon Feb 4 2013

*Feb  4 12:31:43.487: %LINK-3-UPDOWN: Interface ATM0/0/0, changed state to down

validblock_diagnose, code = 15

current memory block, bp = 0x30E14F4C,

memorypool type is Processor

data check, ptr = 0x30E14F7C

next memory block, bp = 0x30E14FA0,

memorypool type is Processor

data check, ptr = 0x30E14FD0

previous memory block, bp = 0x30E14EF8,

memorypool type is Processor

data check, ptr = 0x30E14F28

*Feb  4 12:32:15.219: %SYS-3-BADFREEPTRS: Bad tail pointer 31645FCC at 2BBBB94C (head = 2BBBB960)

-Traceback= 23BB3280z 23BB3658z 23B829BCz 23B829A0z

*Feb  4 12:32:15.219: %SYS-6-MTRACE: mallocfree: addr, pc

3213D5D0,2272FE5C 3213D5D0,40000294 330232B4,2272FE34 330232B4,4000020A

33825FAC,60000042 33825EBC,23BC6E90 33825EBC,23BC67BC 33825EBC,40000060

*Feb  4 12:32:15.219: %SYS-6-MTRACE: mallocfree: addr, pc

31F06B2C,6000004E 31F06A3C,23BC6E90 31F06A3C,23BC67BC 31F06A3C,40000060

31F881E4,6000004E 31F880F4,23BC6E90 31F880F4,23BC67BC 31F880F4,40000060

*Feb  4 12:32:15.219: %SYS-6-BLKINFO: Head does not correspond to tail in empty free list blk 30E14F4C, words 18, alloc 23411344, Free, dealloc 23414C74, rfcnt 0

-Traceback= 23BB08A4z 23BB3280z 23BB3658z 23B829BCz 23B829A0z

*Feb  4 12:32:15.223: %SYS-6-MEMDUMP: 0x30E14F4C: 0xAB1234CD 0xFFFE0000 0x0 0x27DD23D4

*Feb  4 12:32:15.223: %SYS-6-MEMDUMP: 0x30E14F5C: 0x23411344 0x30E14FA0 0x30E14F0C 0x12

*Feb  4 12:32:15.223: %SYS-6-MEMDUMP: 0x30E14F6C: 0x0 0x23414C74 0x1000001 0x2C8D5414

%Software-forced reload

Softwareversion:

Cisco IOS Software, C2900 Software (C2900-UNIVERSALK9-M), Version 15.2(4)M1

Cisco CISCO2911/K9 (revision 1.0) with 483328K/40960K bytes of memory.

Processor board ID FCZ16337DX5

1 DSL controller

1 Ethernet interface

3 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces

1 ATM interface

1 terminal line

DRAM configuration is 64 bits wide with parity enabled.

255K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.

250880K bytes of ATA System CompactFlash 0 (Read/Write)

License Info:

License UDI:

-------------------------------------------------

Device#   PID                   SN

-------------------------------------------------

*0        CISCO2911/K9          FCZ16337DX5

Technology Package License Information for Module:'c2900'

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Technology    Technology-package           Technology-package

              Current       Type           Next reboot

------------------------------------------------------------------

ipbase        ipbasek9      Permanent      ipbasek9

security      None          None           None

uc            None          None           None

data          datak9        Permanent      datak9

Answer:

While I have not yet been dealing with this issue before, based on the output I assume that the most probable cause of this problem is either an IOS bug or a faulty RAM module - hopefully, it's the IOS. Can you perhaps try moving to a different IOS version,WS-C3560V2-48TS-S either downgrading to 15.1(4)M2 or upgrading to 15.2(4)M2?