Cisco Stacking 3750 Switches

KB ID 0001205 

Problem

You can stack Cisco 3750-X Switches in groups of up to 9 switches, and they can then be managed as one switch. Here I’ve got 2 switches.

 

Solution

Removing 3750-X Switches Stack Configuration

One of my switches had already been in a stack, so I needed to remove its stack configuration. It thought it was switch 4 in the stack so I issued the following commands;

[box]

Switch(config)# no switch 4 provision 
Switch(config)# wr mem 

[/box]

Cisco 3750-X Configure Stacking

Don’t connect any stacking cables yet, decide which switch is going to the the ‘master’ and log onto that switch, and issue the following commands;

[box]

Switch#configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
Switch(config)#switch 1 priority 15
Changing the Switch Priority of Switch Number 1 to 15
Do you want to continue?[confirm] {Enter}
New Priority has been set successfully
Switch(config)#do write mem
Building configuration...
[OK]

Switch(config)#do reload
Proceed with reload? [confirm] {Enter}
[/box]

When the switch reloads you will see.

[box]

Waiting for Stack Master Election...
SM: Waiting for other switches in stack to boot...
###############################################################

[/box]

At this point you can connect the stack cables and power on the second switch. With multiple switches connect each stack port one, to the switch below’s stack port two. Then on the last switch connect its stack port one back to stack port two on the top switch, (so there is a ‘ring’.)

If you have more than two switches you can set their priority (as you did above) priority 15 will always win the ‘elections’ and be the master switch, number the rest accordingly. The default is ‘1’ so if you don’t then it works out the order based on MAC addresses, (which is not good!).

When all the switches are booted, check all is well;

[box]

Switch#show switch
Switch/Stack Mac Address : 74a2.e69a.0c00
                                           H/W   Current
Switch#  Role   Mac Address     Priority Version  State
----------------------------------------------------------
*1       Master 74a2.e69a.0c00     15     3       Ready
 2       Member 204c.9e5f.4000     1      3       Ready

Switch#show ip int brief
Interface              IP-Address      OK? Method Status                Protocol
Vlan1                  unassigned      YES NVRAM  administratively down down
FastEthernet0          unassigned      YES NVRAM  administratively down down
GigabitEthernet1/0/1   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
GigabitEthernet1/0/2   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
GigabitEthernet1/0/3   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
GigabitEthernet1/0/4   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
{----------------Output Removed For the Sake of Brevity---------------------}
GigabitEthernet1/1/1   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
GigabitEthernet1/1/2   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
GigabitEthernet1/1/3   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
GigabitEthernet1/1/4   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
Te1/1/1                unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
Te1/1/2                unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
GigabitEthernet2/0/1   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
GigabitEthernet2/0/2   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
GigabitEthernet2/0/3   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
{----------------Output Removed For the Sake of Brevity---------------------}
GigabitEthernet2/1/1   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
GigabitEthernet2/1/2   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
GigabitEthernet2/1/3   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
GigabitEthernet2/1/4   unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
Te2/1/1                unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
Te2/1/2                unassigned      YES unset  down                  down
Switch#

[/box]

Make sure your stack cabling is OK;

[box]

Switch# show switch stack-ports summary

Switch#/  Stack   Neighbor   Cable    Link   Link   Sync      #         In
 Port#     Port              Length    OK   Active   OK    Changes   Loopback
          Status                                          To LinkOK
--------  ------  --------  --------  ----  ------  ----  ---------  --------
  1/1     OK         2      50 cm     Yes    Yes    Yes        1        No
  1/2     OK         2      50 cm     Yes    Yes    Yes        1        No
  2/1     OK         1      50 cm     Yes    Yes    Yes        1        No
  2/2     OK         1      50 cm     Yes    Yes    Yes        1        No

Switch# show switch stack-ring speed

Stack Ring Speed        : 32G
Stack Ring Configuration: Full
Stack Ring Protocol     : StackWisePlus
Switch#

[/box]

If you are also using XPS redundant power cables remember that’s only supported for up to four switches, (without an extra XPS-2200 rack power unit). I power off the switches before I fit these.

Why do they have green and yellow ends: If you look on the switch you will see the ‘socket’ is marked with a yellow and a green ‘semi-circle’. that means a green end or a yellow end can be plugged into that socket.

That makes no sense, so anything can plug into anything, why colour code them? That’s because there is a different cable that has a ‘red’ end on it for plugging into an XPS-2200 rack power supply, like this;

Then to test your XPS Power  Cables.

[box]

Switch>show env power all
SW  PID                 Serial#     Status           Sys Pwr  PoE Pwr  Watts
---  ------------------  ----------  ---------------  -------  -------  -----
1A  C3KX-PWR-350WAC     LIT18410MD4 OK              Good     Good     350/0
1B  Not Present
2A  C3KX-PWR-350WAC     LIT18410JJ3 OK              Good     Good     350/0
2B  Not Present

Switch#show stack-power neighbors
Power Stack           Stack   Stack    Total   Rsvd    Alloc   Unused  Num  Num
Name                  Mode    Topolgy  Pwr(W)  Pwr(W)  Pwr(W)  Pwr(W)  SW   PS
--------------------  ------  -------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ---  ---
Powerstack-2          SP-PSS  Ring     700     320     380     0       2    2

    Power Stack           Port 1  Port 1             Port 2  Port 2
SW  Name                  Status  Neighbor SW:MAC    Status  Neighbor SW:MAC
--  --------------------  ------  ----------------   ------  ----------------
1   Powerstack-2          Conn    2:204c.9e5f.4000   Conn    2:204c.9e5f.4000
2   Powerstack-2          Conn    1:74a2.e69a.0c00   Conn    1:74a2.e69a.0c00

[/box]

Stack Power Profiles (Setting Up)

Stack Power Modes

Default (Power sharing Mode): All the power from all the power supplies, is aggregated together, and no power is reserved – if a power supply failed there is a chance that there might not be enough power.

Redundant Mode: The power supplied by the largest power supply in the stack, is taken away from the total power output in case there is an outage.

Stand Alone Mode: Stops a switch participating in a power stack completely.

Each mode can be configured to run strict, or non-strict, (with the exception of a stand alone mode).

Strict: If actual power drops below budgeted power, things may get powered down.
Non Strict: Actual power can run above budgeted power, if that extra power is available.

[box]

Switch(config)# stack-power switch 1 port 1 enable 
Switch(config)# stack-power switch 1 port 2 enable 
Switch(config)# stack-power switch 2 port 1 enable 
Switch(config)# stack-power switch 2 port 2 enable
Switch(config)# stack-power stack Power-Stack-1 
Switch(config-stackpower)# mode redundant
Switch(config-stackpower)# stack-power switch 1
Switch(config-stackpower)# stack-power switch 2
Switch(config-stackpower)# exit

[/box]

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Cisco Catalyst – Upgrading ‘Stacked’ Switches

Windows – Getting Drivers for ‘Unknown Device’ or ‘Base System Device’

KB ID 0000699 

Problem

There’s nothing more annoying, you have just rebuilt your PC and you are missing some drivers. Everything appears to be working but there’s one (or more) devices in Device Manager with a yellow exclamation mark over them called ‘Unknown Device’ or ‘Base System Device”.

Solution

This solution is not a ‘Fix All’ for all situations, but it will point you in the right direction. Even if you can find out that the device is an “Intel chip called EL-XYZ” for example, some Google searching will get you the correct driver when you know what you are looking for.

1. So in device manager (Windows Key+R > devmgmt.msc{enter}). Here are two devices I don’t have drivers for, open the properties for the first one and select ‘Details’ > Change the property to ‘Hardware ID’.

2. Locate the Vendor ID (looks like VEN_{this number}) > Locate the Device ID (looks like DEV_{this number}) > Write them down.

3. Go to PCIDatabase, and search for either, (though the Device ID is your best bet).

4. Progress! Now we know it’s a JMicron Card Reader that needs a driver > There is a link to click as well.

5. Here we are lucky, it’s giving us the direct download form the vendors FTP site, you may not be as lucky, but a Google Search for “{device name} + {version of Windows} + {x64 or x32 bit} + {Driver}” should get you there.

How to Tell if Windows is 32 or 64 bit

6. I went to that FTP site, and after a bit of clicking about I downloaded the newest driver, (I scientifically picked the one with the biggest number!) And installed it.

. Device Working.

6. The second device didn’t have a handy link, but it told me it was a device made by “Validity” so I guessed it was the finger print reader on my laptop, and got the driver straight from Hewlett Packards site.

Drivers I’ve Had to Look For

I will add any odd ones that have been difficult to find below, (Note: There are literally millions of drivers, these are just the ones I’ve ever had to search for.)

PCIVEN_197B&DEV_2391&SUBSYS_1619103C&REV_3

USBVID_138A&PID_003C&REV_0086 

If you want me to add any you’ve add a nightmare locating, click the contact link below and send me the details.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

Update Global Address List Error “WARNING: The recipient “xxxxxMicrosoft Exchange System Objects/xxxxx” is invalid and couldn’t be updated

KB ID 0000516 

Problem

Seen when manually trying to update the Global Address List, with the following powershell command:

[box]Update-GlobalAddressList -identity ‘Default Global Address List'[/box]

Error: WARNING: The recipient “{your domain name}/Microsoft Exchange System Objects/{A Public Folder Name}” is invalid and couldn’t be updated.

or

Error: WARNING: The recipient “{your domain name}/Microsoft Exchange System Objects/OAB Version 2” is invalid and couldn’t be updated. WARNING: The recipient “{your domain name}/Microsoft Exchange System Objects/OAB Version 3a” is invalid and couldn’t be updated. WARNING: The recipient “{your domain name}/Microsoft Exchange System Objects/Offline Address Book – /o={your domain name}V/cn=addrlists/cn=oabs/cn=123” is invalid and couldn’t be updated.

This is commonly seen when an Exchange environment has been migrated from Exchange 2003. And it happens because the Alias names for the particular public folders have spaces in them (or a character that Exchange does not like).

Solution

1. On your Exchange 2007/2010 Server Launch the Exchange Management Console > Toolbox > Public Folder Management Console.

2. If you error is about OAB / Address books skip to step 5, If it’s to do with a public folder that your organisation has created, expand default public folders and locate one of them that’s causing the error (In the example above I’ve highlighted one called “1045 – Greengairs” > Select its parent > Then select it (in the central pane) and open its properties.

3. As soon as you select the “Exchange General” tab, you will get an error popup which indicates the problem, there is a problem with the Alias name, in this example there’s spaces in it remove them.

Error: The properties on this object have invalid data. If you click OK, default values will be used instead and will be saved if you do not change them before hitting Apply or OK on the property page. If you click cancel, the object will be displayed read-only and corrupted values will be retained.

4. Once removed apply the changes.

5. If your error references OAB or address books, expand system Public Folders > OFFLINE ADDRESS BOOK > Check the properties of ALL its child objects > and on the Exchange General tab remove any spaces or unusual characters.

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA