Newbie trying to get 2 switches to talk to each other

[alanraczek11]

Hi,

I have been a Systems Administrator for over 20 years so the network admin stuff is a bit challenging for me. I have two switches, a Cisco 2960 and a Cisco 3750. I wiped out the 2960 switch and configured it from scratch. Configured a hostname, IP address for VLAN 1, and a trunk port (mode trunk, switchport nonegotiate,trunk allowed vlan 34,110). I configured a trunk port on the 3750 in a similar way, allowing said vlans. On vlan 110 (3750) there is an ip address of 10.16.16.4. From my 2960 switch I cannot ping that address. Admittedly I am a little confused, I know I am missing something. I just want to know these 2 switches are talking. Essentially I want o be able go through our dev network through the 3750 to the 2960. And be able to manage the 2960 from our dev network on 10.16.16.x,

What could I be missing?

[LaurentRA]

Hello,

If I am not mistaking, you have configured the layer 3 part of the Vlans (with command (config)# interface vlan x and give an IP address) but you have not declared the Vlans at Layer 2 level (command (config)# vlan x).

I would suggest first to disable as well VTP on both switches, if you are not familiar with it, which is normally set as VTP server by default (command (config)# vtp mode transparent ).

And as indicated previously, have one IP for Vlan 110 on both Switch if it's with that vlan you want to manage and ping the switches.

[alanraczek11]

Good news! It's working!

So as I did a 'sho vlan' I did not see my 110 vlan in the output which seemed strange to me even though I gave the vlan

an IP address. At the suggestion of LaurentRA I declared the vlan and gave it a name. Sure enough the port the'test' laptop is hanging off of went green instead of amber. Thank you!

So I went through the messages and this is my summary, tell me if I am wrong or if you can elaborate that would be great:

Switch Changes

2960
- Had the IP address on vlan1 (10.16.16.55), removed IP from vlan1 and put IP on
    vlan 110
- #sho ip interface brief <--- to show STATUS and PROTOCOL (had both showing down down)
- defined vlan 110 with a name as 'sho vlan' did not show a layer 2 vlan
config# vlan 110
conf-if# name PALADIN

3750
- added ip gateway 10.16.16.1

I can also ping the 2960 test switch through the network from my 10.16.16.xxx desktop. Also from my VM where I am evaluating network management software to manage this test switch.

THANK YOU ALL for your persistence in helping me. Really paid off and I DO appreciate it!

...alan