Not receiving BPDUs on all VLANs

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tatbaird

135 posts

Master Geek

# 177107 22-Jul-2015 17:09

Hi,

I'm starting to think this is a bug, or some physical issue. There are 8 Cisco 2960SC 8 port switches as edge POE switches for phones.

7 of them are working fine, 1 is not.

The core switch stack is the STP root for all VLANs, but this one edge unit is not receiving any BPDUs for any of its VLANs except VLAN 1. The upstream switch is sending BPDUs. Entire network is running PVST and the configuration is consistent across all of the 8 2960SCs.

VTP is running, and is also consistent throughout. Native VLAN is 1 everywhere.

No pruning, all of the requisite VLANs are allowed on anything that should be trunking. Also not a priority issue, nor is there any BPDU filtering or ACLs anywhere.

Tim

Jeeves

281 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1350181 23-Jul-2015 08:49

It's been almost 4 years since I left my networking job so this advice is a bit...rusty - but there aren't any bpdu guards on any of the ports? Also the vlans are active in the vlan DB on all switches (VTP should take care of that if i remember correctly...but best check anyway)? You sound like you know whats up so you've probably checked that.

I'd swap out this dodgy switch with one of the working ones to see if it's the switch or the trunk to the core switch.

tatbaird

135 posts

Master Geek

# 1350186 23-Jul-2015 08:54

Thanks mate, no bpdu filtering or guards anywhere. Yeah, that was the next move. Replace that one out and see what the story is...

Cheers

Mattmannz

456 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1350220 23-Jul-2015 09:43

Sounds like a VTP issue on that switch with the vlan's not being present on the switch other than Vlan1 which is setup by default.

Have you checked the software versions on the switches?

tatbaird

135 posts

Master Geek

# 1350226 23-Jul-2015 09:53

Yes, VTP is consistent right through the network. All running version 2. All Vlans are present on all switches. The faulty one thinks it is the root for all Vlans except Vlan 1 because it's only receiving BPDUs for Vlan 1. There are different IOS versions around as there are different model switches (all Cisco), but I would have thought that shouldn't matter.

Mattmannz

456 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1350256 23-Jul-2015 10:37

What does the spanning tree status show on the core switch for the port that links to the naughty switch?

Can you port mirror the uplink port on the naughty access switch and use wireshark to capture the traffic, disconnect the uplink, confirm the spanning tree status is okay on the core then reconnect it and see what traffic you get? Repeat on the core switch mirroring the downlink to the naughty switch.

Cheers
Matt.

Sounddude

I fix stuff!
1758 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Vocus

Subscriber

# 1350267 23-Jul-2015 10:50

Check you are running the correct spanning tree version. Some spanning-tree literations don't support spanning-tree per vlan. (STP for eample)

You want to be running PVST on all switches to support spanning-tree per vlan.

tatbaird

135 posts

Master Geek

# 1350270 23-Jul-2015 10:52

There is a distribution layer between the core and edge. The bad switches upstream switch is sending BPDUs but they are not being received, except for Vlan 1. Wiresharking is a good idea, but I'll have to go out to the site

tatbaird

135 posts

Master Geek

# 1350271 23-Jul-2015 10:53

Yes, PVST is running everywhere.

tatbaird

135 posts

Master Geek

# 1351172 24-Jul-2015 14:07

So I go out to the site and replace the "faulty" switch with one exactly the same, paste in the config and bam........

Same result.

So go, OK, must be the upstream unit that's got something amiss. Go to the cabinet where that resides and find a blimmin 3Com switch in between the edge and distro switches. Passes CDP traffic so you think the Ciscos are directly connected, but does not support per Vlan STP. It's just sitting on Vlan 1 and that is the only traffic that is moving through it. Apparently they had had some re-cabling recently and the electrician had mis-patched it back up with uplinks through the 3Com instead of Cisco to Cisco.

I guess there's a lesson here somewhere.

Tim

xontech

256 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1351212 24-Jul-2015 15:43

tatbaird: I guess there's a lesson here somewhere.

Yep, not all Electricians understand Networking, just like how not all Network Engineers understand Electricity.

tatbaird

135 posts

Master Geek

# 1351214 24-Jul-2015 15:46

One person supports this post

I was thinking more of a lesson for myself, but thanks for contributing.