Reduce Convergence Time?

[brianchernicoff]

I have a Catalyst 6509-E acting as my core switch. During some maintenance the LC - SC fiber cable was pulled and is literally hanging by a spring. It has so little contact with the GBIC that the slightest touch will cause us to lose connectivity. This was just discovered this morning and I have a spare cable.

My local loop is fully redundant and I want to do this during off hours to reduce any business impact. My question is what commands (if any) can be run to speed up network convergence? Please pardon my ignorance, I just want to make sure I keep downtime to a minimum. Thank you.

[vmiller]

What sort of routing is being done?

If this is a core level switch with lots of routes, its going to take a while.

Generally how you implement a routing protocol will determine how fast you reonverge.

[brianchernicoff]

Thanks for responding. While it is my "core" switch, it has a total of 5 routes as our WAN is managed by ATT. So basically all routed traffic goes through the ATT onsite router, of which I have no visibility.

[vmiller]

Convergence should not be an issue.

Being the soul of caution, I would:

     1.  Have one more spare.

     2.  Fiber cleaning kit. always clean the ends before installing.

     3.  Tag the cable at both ends, make sure you have not patch panel suprises waiting for you.

     4.  Give yourself an hour change window. No, it won;t take that long, but Murphey is alive and well.

[brianchernicoff]

Thanks for all the info, I've ordered 2 additional cables from my supplier, going to definitely look into a fiber cleaning kit. Thanks again, much appreciated!