Saturday, October 31, 2009

Configure Dell PowerConnect Switches

I had to configure a Dell PowerEdge 5448 switch the other day... the syntax is a little different to that of a Cisco. First lets give the switch an IP address by using a console cable on the main vlan:

enable
configure
interface vlan 1
ip address 100.1.1.1 255.255.255.0
exit

Easy enough? Now lets configure a console and telnet password... because you cannot access the switch over telnet without a password:

Console Password:

enable
configure
aaa authentication login default line
aaa authentication enable default line
line console
login authentication default
enable authentication default
password yourpassword

Telnet Password:

enable
configure
aaa authentication login default line
aaa authentication enable default line
line telnet
login authentication default
enable authentication default
password yourpassword

Once this is done you can now walk away and configure the switch from the comfort of your desk. One site I found very useful while configuring the dell switch was:

http://systems.cs.colorado.edu/Manuals/Dell/Dell%20Power%20Connect%206024/Dell%20Power%20Connect%206024%20Users%20Guide/configur.htm

It contains most of the every day switch configuration options you will need when setting up a dell switch.

5 comments:

  1. I'd recommend applying the following config too if you want to avoid DHCP and domain logon errors.

    console> enable
    console# configure
    console(config)# port jumbo-frame
    console(config)# spanning-tree mode rstp
    console(config)# interface range ethernet g1-48
    console(config-if)# spanning-tree portfast
    console(config-if)# exit

    Make sure to write the working config when you are done so that it remains in place after a reboot.

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  2. quick Q- what if you are uplinking on port 44 to another 5448 switch ?

    Anything to adjust on the spanning tree protocol ? forward ?

    THX
    Ari

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  3. Sorry Ari I don't know the answer to your question. I'll ask a mate at work however.

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  4. Hi Ari

    While Spanning-tree is an entire topic in and of itself, I will take you through a super quick Spanning-tree tutorial

    Ethernet uses ARP to MAP mac addresses to IP's, these ARP frames have a destination address of all 1's (broadcast) and are flooded out every port.. the problem is, if there is a loop in your network, the ARP frame will be flooded out every single port and loop around the network eventually crashing the switch. So this means you can only have one connection between switches

    The thing is though, you probably want more than one connection between switches! For Redundancy alone!

    Enter spanning-tree, spanning-tree was a technology developed where by switches will detect other switches using something called BPDU (its a bit more complicated than that but i am simplying as best i can) and when they realise tehy have more than two links to each other, they will "BLock" all frames received on a particular port.

    That way that port can be used as a backup in the event the other link fails while still preventing loops because all frames are 'blocked' on that port.



    Now, to cut a very long story short, if you do not plan to have more than one link between your switch, you can safely turn spanning-tree off on both switches, but bare in mind if you introduce a loop the switches will crash, if you DO decide to run spanning-tree on both switches you have to make sure they are running teh same spanning-tree "protocol"

    Finally, make sure you do NOT configure "spanning-tree portfast" on any interface facing another switch as this will turn the port off as this command basically says (again i am simplifying) "there is no switch on this port and if you see a switch turn the port off"

    so make sure you do not put that command on any interface facing another switch

    I hope this helps

    Peter Revill
    CCIE #18371
    http://ccierants.blogspot.com

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  5. You guys have been AWESOME - this is the first time I am "bloggin"

    from what I am reading from Peter's post ... I think I need "NO spanning-tree portfast"


    I am not sure why but I am putting these 2 Qty 5448 switches at a clients place and it has kicked my a$$ - I wish I got a couple of low end cheapos and called it a day...
    I ran the wizard on both - assigned then IP addresses 192.168.1.77 and 192.168.1.78 respectively -with GW - 192.168.1.254

    When I introduce the second switch into the mix (just uplink it) -- my pings to the GW become very unpredictable - missing time out every few pings...
    I actually copied the code from Clint's blog to see if it'd help... .. NO cigar ... is it because the below makes all of the 1-48 portfast "ON " ?

    console> enable
    console# configure
    console(config)# port jumbo-frame
    console(config)# spanning-tree mode rstp
    console(config)# interface range ethernet g1-48
    console(config-if)# spanning-tree portfast
    console(config-if)# exit

    but then - again it was not working before I put the above code in either...

    in every interface I have a hub or switch I should have "no spanning-tree portfast" according to your VERY helpful tip

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