From owner-freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Apr 8 10:42:40 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B65A216A4CE for ; Thu, 8 Apr 2004 10:42:40 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail.sandvine.com (sandvine.com [199.243.201.138]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1177643D31 for ; Thu, 8 Apr 2004 10:42:40 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from don@sandvine.com) Received: by mail.sandvine.com with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2657.72) id ; Thu, 8 Apr 2004 13:42:39 -0400 Message-ID: From: Don Bowman To: "'Marc G. Fournier'" , Don Bowman Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004 13:42:37 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2657.72) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" cc: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Subject: RE: Stupid question about managed switches X-BeenThere: freebsd-net@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Networking and TCP/IP with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2004 17:42:40 -0000 From: Marc G. Fournier [mailto:scrappy@hub.org] > On Thu, 8 Apr 2004, Don Bowman wrote: > > > From: Marc G. Fournier [mailto:scrappy@hub.org] > > > > > > Please excuse this, but my experience with them is zilch ... > > > am going with > > > the HP Procurve 2826(?) Layer2/Layer3 switch, as was > > > suggested, but I'm > > > curious as to how they work ... > > > > > > For instance, I know when I setup a router, I have an IN IP > > > and an OUT IP > > > configured ... but, with a managed switch, what do I have? > > > > > > For instance, right now, I have a default gateway on the > > > providers switch > > > of 200.46.204.1 ... and my servers are .2, .3, .4 and .5 ... > > > if I put a > > > managed switch, vs the unmanaged we have now, between the > > > providers switch > > > and the servers, does my default route then change to be > the switch > > > itself? Or is the 'login part' of the switch thought of the > > > same way as > > > adding just another server to the network, for > connectivity purposes? > > > > > > As I said, stupid question, but for someone whose never > played with a > > > managed switch before ... :( > > > > > > Thanks .. > > > > In layer-2 mode, its nothing but a hub. It doesn't change your > > default route or anything. Pretend its not there. > > > > you will need a router connected to this switch, and its > > IP will remain your default route (likely). > > 'k, but I want to use the managed aspect of it to be able to > hard code the > port rates (ie. to fix this full-duplex issue initially) as well as be > able to access SNMP so that I can do bandwidth monitoring of external > traffic ... I have SNMP setup on the FreeBSD boxes right now > so that I can > see network load per server, but I want to be able to isolate the > 'external' traffic from 'internal', by monitoring the > specific port that > is connected to the providers switch ... > > So, in both cases, I need to assign an IP somewhere, correct? Assign the switch an IP address on the same subnet as the router port its connected to, and on same subnet as the PC's. The procurve has a really nice serial interface that auto-baud rate detects. Slap a cable in, hit space twice, and its obvious from there. Assign it a management IP and route, an SNMP community. In the switch, you can create complete isolation using vlans. This makes complete virtual switches. Although you can assign a management IP on each vlan, i never bother. It doesn't sound like this is what you are looking for. also on this management interface (available via telnet after you set the ip) you can set the params for each port (duplex, speed). You can also connect a browser to it to see some basic stats etc. Now run something like 'mrtg' cfgmaker against the management IP of the switch, and you'll have a chart per port. --don