Speed problems with novell v.s. catalyst 3750 switch

[mnieuwendijk]

I there any one with an communication problem using servers running gigabit and an catalyst 3750 gig switch ?

Our site have an rare problem with the following devices: Compaq servers running novell 5, thy connect to an 3750 gig switch placed over several sites. At gig speed

When the novell boys add an user in their nds an communication problem accours.

Their find problem is an communication error.

The strange thing is that all of their servers are in cync. Healt cheqs are also good.

An thougt of one of them was: is an speed of 1 gig over all off the path through the whole netwerk an problem.

Is it possible that the nds get responses to soon !.

The novell site reports nothing, also i can't find anyting at the cisco site.

So i think i give it a shot here.

Grtz.

Marc.

[pflunkert]

Hi Marc,

in this case i can recommend to update you network card driver and perhaps you cat software. When you have furthermore the problem i would sniffer the connection

regards

Peter

[mnieuwendijk]

We snifferd the network many time's and the funny part of it is that one time there are no problems and the other time it has a delay up to 10 min before the object is created.

The sniffer trace showed that the server got an replay from the root server that the object name does not excist.

The novell site indicates that there is an problem between bounderies, that meens that there is an communication problem in the tree of our nds.

but again there is no cync delay in de nds or in our netwerk.

thats why i think it is maby an speed issue.

But correct me if i am talkin bull shit.

it is an creepy problem.

By the way all of the nds servers are running the same config and the latest nic drivers.

The network is up en running for 3/4 year now.

7 sites connected by 1 gig routed by eigrp

Using the 3750 as l3 switch

grtz marc

[pflunkert]

Hi Marc,

you must prove that the Cisco equipment is not responsible for the error. One way is to place two notebook (or PCs) in the same vlan as the novell servers. The notebooks are conncted to the same switches as the server. Then transponse big files between the notebooks. In the same moment add a new users to the nds. When the file transfer still going, the catalyst should not the problem. Now can identfy the error on the servers or on the catalyst.

Regards

Peter

[mnieuwendijk]

Yes that's what i am trying to tell the nds boys alrady.

it isn't the network's error.

Becouse the nds servers are in sync at that moment.

But whe try to figure it out what the problem is than.

they alrady placed an call by novell. but it is an huge problem.

And i whant to figgure it out as soon as possible.

But what do you think can it be a problem of speed (1 gig) that the nds servers couses the problem or is that not the problem ?

[pflunkert]

The problem can't the spead. The problem is the interaction between NIC driver and the switch. Try to set the speed and duplex value to 1000GBit/s / Full duplex. When you manually set speed and duplex, no interaction between switch and NIC driver is required. You should also search for a new NIC driver for the novell servers.

Regards

Peter

[stuartj]

We had to hard set the speed on the Novell Servers to get it to work with the 3750's. The 3750's were set to AUTO speed and duplex, and then we hard set the Novell servers to 1000 FULL. This corrected the problems with the errors we were seeing.

Have your "novell boys" check the NIC statistics under Monitor for signs of errors.

[mlak]

HI,

- try to investigate if there is no duplex mismatch. If there is a duplex mismatch, you will see a lot of errors. Look at the specific port in the cat 3750 switch and also look at Novell server side.

You should have both side configured as AUTO, or you can hard set both side to 1000M FD if is possible (many new servers do not have option in NIC driver to set 1GB/FD.) If so, it is better to leave NIC and the switch port set to AUTO

- We support a lot of Novell servers (now mainly NOVELL 6) but we did not encouter such problem as you describe.

Do you have instaled the latest Service pack for Novell 5 (SP6a)? That might solve the problem if there is no network problem.

- Is the same error happens if you set NIC and port on the switch to 100M FD?

regards

[mnieuwendijk]

Hello

I solved the problem.

There was no problem with the duplex and port configuration.

But an problem with the well disigned acl's.

The problem was that the novell servers try to send an message to the client, but the acl blocked that traffic.

I was putt on the wrong idee about the speed because, the novell servers between themselfs could communicate.

And the novell site say that there was an communication problem. so it was indeed.

But nowbody saw that way of communicating whith the client.

Thanks for the response.

Grtz Marc

Also a note.

Our best way to confiugure port speed is:

With novell : server and switch auto.

With W2k : server fixed and switch auto.

In this way we get the viewest problems.

And whe had problems with that issue :-(

[Kevin Dorrell]

Hello,

In your W2K configuration, with the server fixed and switch auto, you will get some problems with the duplex mismatch. The switch will get the speed right, because it can see the clock. But the switch cannot guess the duplex. Since the server is fixed, the switch will go to the default setting, which is half-duplex. This is fine if the server has been fixed half-duplex. But if the server has been fixed full-duplex, you will have the switch doing half- and the server doing full-. You will see lots of collisions and late collisions on the switch. On the server, you will see lots of runts as the switch truncates its packets prematurely. The heavier the traffic, the worse will be the problem.

Kevin Dorrell

Luxembourg.