Connecting non-Cisco managed / unmanaged switches

[gautamzone]

Hi friends,

With regards to connecting non-Cisco managed / unmanaged switches like Linksys and D-Link to a Cisco core switch 4506, is there any problem with regards to VLAN assignment?

Lets say for example that I dont want to configure anything on the non-Cisco switch and I want to configure only on the 4506 switch, can I make the port of 4506 connecting to non-Cisco switch as an access port (instead of a trunk port) belonging to a particular VLAN X? Then I can configure a Layer 3 VLAN interface for the same VLAN X in 4506 and define other things like ip address, ip-helper address etc. Is that kind of solution workable?

Thanks a lot

Gautam

[glen.grant]

If you make the port an access port in a particular vlan then connect to a non managed switch it should work fine . Most nonmanaged switches know autonegotiate only so make sure the 4506 port is auto/auto for speed and duplex. Your idea should work fine just make sure not to get any physical loops in your unmanaged switch as it does not run spanning tree , the 4506 should protect itself as long as spanning tree is enabled .

[gautamzone]

Glen,

Thanks a lot for your valuable inputs. Will ensure that spanning tree is enabled.

Thanks a lot

Gautam