3Com 3CB9LG9MC, 3CB9LF36T, 3CB9LF36R, 3CB9LF36RL, 3CB9LF36TL User Manual

CoreBuilder® 9000

Release Notes

Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet Layer 2

Switching Modules, Release 3.0

■20-port 10/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet Layer 2 Switching Module (3CB9LF20R)

■36-port 10/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet RJ-45 Layer 2 Switching Module (3CB9LF36R)

■36-port 10/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet Telco Layer 2 Switching Module (3CB9LF36T)

■36-port 10/100BASE-TX Desktop Switching Module (RJ-45 Connectors) (3CB9LF36RL)

■36-port 10/100BASE-TX Desktop Switching Module (RJ-21 Telco Connectors) (3CB9LF36TL)

■10-port 100BASE-FX Fast Ethernet Layer 2 Switching Module (3CB9LF10MC)

■20-port 100BASE-FX (MT-RJ) Fast Ethernet Layer 2 Switching Module (3CB9LF20MM)

■9-Port 1000BASE-SX Gigabit Ethernet Layer 2 Switching Module (3CB9LG9MC)

http://www.3com.com/

Part No. 10013497

Published January 2000

3Com Corporation 5400 Bayfront Plaza Santa Clara, California 95052-8145

Copyright © 2000, 3Com Corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be reproduced in any form or by any means or used to make any derivative work (such as translation, transformation, or adaptation) without written permission from 3Com Corporation.

3Com Corporation reserves the right to revise this documentation and to make changes in content from time to time without obligation on the part of 3Com Corporation to provide notification of such revision or change.

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If there is any software on removable media described in this documentation, it is furnished under a license agreement included with the product as a separate document, in the hard copy documentation, or on the removable media in a directory file named LICENSE.TXT or !LICENSE.TXT. If you are unable to locate a copy, please contact 3Com and a copy will be provided to you.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT LEGEND

If you are a United States government agency, then this documentation and the software described herein are provided to you subject to the following:

All technical data and computer software are commercial in nature and developed solely at private expense. Software is delivered as “Commercial Computer Software” as defined in DFARS 252.227-7014 (June 1995) or as a “commercial item” as defined in FAR 2.101(a) and as such is provided with only such rights as are provided in 3Com’s standard commercial license for the Software. Technical data is provided with limited rights only as provided in DFAR 252.227-7015 (Nov 1995) or FAR 52.227-14 (June 1987), whichever is applicable. You agree not to remove or deface any portion of any legend provided on any licensed program or documentation contained in, or delivered to you in conjunction with, these Release Notes.

Unless otherwise indicated, 3Com registered trademarks are registered in the United States and may or may not be registered in other countries.

3Com, the 3Com logo, CoreBuilder, LANsentry, PACE, SuperStack, and Transcend are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. 3Com Facts is a service mark of 3Com Corporation.

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All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

CONTENTS

1	OVERVIEW
	Important Notices		7
	Supported Modules			8
	System Requirements			9
	Boot Code and Operational Code 9
	Optional Switch Fabric Module Redundancy							10
	Optional Management Redundancy						10
2
	RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS
	Web-based Management				12
	ISO Date and Time Format				13
	New Modules	13
	IGMP 14
	10/100 Mbps Ethernet Port Monitoring						14
	RMON Monitoring Applications					15
	802.1p CoS	15
	Loop Detection		15
	Bridge Address Learning Limits					19
	Secure Address Learning Mode					20
	Configuring One Untagged System VLAN						22
	Broadcast, Multicast, and Flood Rate Limiting							23
	Module Packet-egress Rate Limiting						23
	Port Multicast Packet-ingress Rate Limiting							25
	How Port Rate Limits and Thresholds Work							26

3 RELEASE ISSUES

Corrected Problems		27
System	27
Management		27
Ethernet	27
Bridging	28
VLANs	29
System Issues 29
Staging	29
System	29
Management		30
Web-based Management			30
SNMP	30
Ethernet	30
Bridging	31
Resilient Links		32
IGMP	32
Trunking	32
VLANs	32
Known Problems		34
System	34
Management		34
Ethernet	37
Bridging	38
Trunking	38
Documentation Changes 40
Ethernet	40
Web-based Management			40

4	SOFTWARE INSTALLATION
	How to Obtain Software Image Files				41
	Installation and Upgrade Prerequisites				41
	Verifying and Updating Modules for an Existing Chassis					42
	Verifying and Updating Modules for a New Chassis 43
	Downloading Software		44
	Downloading Release 3.0 Software				44
	Update Emergency Download Parameters 46
	Downgrading Switching Modules to Software Release 2.1.0					48
5
	REFERENCE
	Identifying Modules in the Switch			49
	Applicable Documents		51
	MIB Files 51
	3Com Enterprise MIBs		52
	Entering Commands	53
	Understanding Autonegotiation			53
	Year 2000 Compliance		54
6
	TECHNICAL SUPPORT
	Online Technical Services		55
	World Wide Web Site		55
	3Com Knowledgebase Web Services 55
	3Com FTP Site	56
	3Com Bulletin Board Service			56
	Access by Analog Modem			56
	Access by Digital Modem			57
	3Com Facts Automated Fax Service				57
	Support from Your Network Supplier				57
	Support from 3Com	57

Returning Products for Repair

59

OVERVIEW

1

These release notes summarize operational requirements and issues for

CoreBuilder® 9000 Layer 2 switching module software Release 3.0.

Important Notices Read these important notices before you begin.

For the most up-to-date release notes for the CoreBuilder 9000 management modules, switch fabric modules, Layer 3 interface modules, and other Layer 2 interface modules, visit the 3Com Web site:

http://support.3com.com/nav/switches.htm

CAUTION: CoreBuilder 9000 software Release 3.0 requires that the Enterprise Management Engine (EME) have 20 MB of CPU RAM. To determine the CPU RAM size, enter show eme from the EME command line interface. The CPU Ram Size(MB) field on the left side of the screen indicates the amount of CPU RAM: 8 or 20.

If your EME has 8 MB of CPU RAM, you must replace the 4 MB DRAM card in your EME with a 16 MB DRAM card. Contact your network supplier or 3Com representative for information about how to obtain a 16 MB DRAM memory card.

CAUTION: Except for the Enterprise Management Controller (EMC) boot file, you must upgrade all the modules in the CoreBuilder 9000 chassis, including the EME module, to major software Release 3.0. You cannot run Release 3.0 software on some modules and not on other modules. See Table 1 in this chapter for more information about the software version that each CoreBuilder 9000 component requires.

The EMC boot file remains at software Release 2.1.0.

8 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW

See “Installation and Upgrade Prerequisites”, in Chapter 4 “Software Installation”, for information about how to determine the software release on each module in the chassis.

CAUTION: Before you attempt to download any module software, save the configuration file for the release that you are currently running to an external device using the EME upload command. See the

CoreBuilder 9000 Enterprise Management Engine User Guide for an explanation of how to use the EME upload command.

Supported Modules Software Release 3.0 applies to the following 3Com CoreBuilder 9000 Layer 2 switching modules:

■20-port 10/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet Layer 2 Switching Module (Model Number 3CB9LF20R)

■36-port 10/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet RJ-45 Layer 2 Switching Module (Model Number 3CB9LF36R)

■36-port 10/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet Telco Layer 2 Switching Module (Model Number 3CB9LF36T)

■36-port 10/100BASE-TX Desktop Switching Module (RJ-45 Connectors) (Model Number 3CB9LF36RL)

■36-port 10/100BASE-TX Desktop Switching Module (RJ-21 Telco Connectors) (Model Number 3CB9LF36TL)

■10-port 100BASE-FX Fast Ethernet Layer 2 Switching Module (Model Number 3CB9LF10MC)

■20-port 100BASE-FX (MT-RJ) Fast Ethernet Layer 2 Switching Module (Model Number 3CB9LF20MM)

■9-port 1000BASE-SX Gigabit Ethernet Layer 2 Switching Module (Model Number 3CB9LG9MC)

These Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet Layer 2 switching modules are intelligent LAN interface modules with embedded management agents that support standard Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

Management Information Bases (MIBs).

System Requirements

9

System	Each CoreBuilder 9000 Enterprise Switch has these minimum system
Requirements	requirements:
	■ One switch fabric module installed in the CoreBuilder 9000 chassis
	with appropriate software:
	■ For all CoreBuilder 9000 chassis: One 24-port Gigabit Ethernet
	Switch Fabric Module (Model Number 3CB9FG24 or Model
	Number 3CB9FG24T)
	■ For the 7-slot chassis and 8-slot chassis: One 9-port Gigabit
	Ethernet Switch Fabric Module (Model Number 3CB9FG9)
	■ One Enterprise Management Engine (Model Number 3CB9EME)
	installed in the CoreBuilder 9000 chassis with appropriate software
Boot Code and	Table 1 lists the minimum compatible software releases for the switch
Operational Code	fabric modules and management modules that are required for operation
	with any Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet Layer 2 switching module that
	has software Release 3.0 installed.
	CAUTION: Except for the EMC boot file, you must update all module
	software to Release 3.0.

Table 1 Software Compatibility Requirements for Layer 2 Switching Modules

Module Name	Model Number	Minimum Software	Filename
		Requirements
20-port 10/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet	3CB9LF20R	3.0.0	lf20r30000.all
Layer 2 Switching Module
36-port 10/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet	3CB9LF36R	3.0.0	lf36r30000.all
RJ-45 Layer 2 Switching Module
36-port 10/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet	3CB9LF36T	3.0.0	lf36t30000.all
Telco Layer 2 Switching Module
36-port 10/100BASE-TX Desktop	3CB9LF36RL	3.0.0	lf36rtl30000.all
Switching Module (RJ-45 Connectors)
36-port 10/100BASE-TX Desktop	3CB9LF36TL	3.0.0	lf36rtl30000.all
Switching Module (RJ-21 Telco
Connectors)
10-port 100BASE-FX Fast Ethernet	3CB9LF10MC	3.0.0	lf10mc30000.all
Layer 2 Switching Module
20-port 100BASE-FX (MT-RJ) Fast	3CB9LF20MM	3.0.0	lf20mm30000.all
Ethernet Layer 2 Switching Module

10 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW

Table 1 Software Compatibility Requirements for Layer 2 Switching Modules (continued)

Module Name	Model Number	Minimum Software	Filename
		Requirements
9-port 1000BASE-SX Gigabit Ethernet	3CB9LG9MC	3.0.0	lg9mc30000.all
Layer 2 Switching Module
24-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch Fabric	3CB9FG24	3.0.0	fga2430000.all
Module, 4 trunks
24-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch Fabric	3CB9FG24T	3.0.1	fga24t30001.all
Module, 12 trunks
9-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch Fabric	3CB9FG9	3.0.1	fg930001.all
Module
Enterprise Management Engine (EME)	3CB9EME	Management boot code 3.0.0	eme30000.bt
		Management operational code	eme30000.op
		3.0.0
		Controller boot code 2.1.0	emcv20100.bt
		Controller operational code 3.0.0	emc30000.op
Enterprise Management Controller	3CB9EMC	Controller boot code 2.1.0	emcv20100.bt
(EMC)		Controller operational code 3.0.0	emc30000.op

Optional Switch In the CoreBuilder 9000 8-slot chassis and 16-slot chassis, you can install Fabric Module a second Gigabit Ethernet Switch Fabric Module for redundancy.

Redundancy

CAUTION: If you install a second Gigabit Ethernet Switch Fabric Module for redundancy, it must be the identical type of module as the one that is currently installed. For more information about switch fabric module redundancy, see the 9-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch Fabric Module Quick Start Guide for the CoreBuilder 9000 Enterprise Switch, and the 24-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch Fabric Module Quick Start Guide for the CoreBuilder 9000 Enterprise Switch.

Optional The required Enterprise Management Engine (EME) provides both Management management and controller functions in the chassis. To have redundant Redundancy management and controller functions in any chassis type (7-slot chassis,

8-slot chassis, and 16-slot chassis), install a second EME. To have only redundant controller functions in any chassis type, install an Enterprise Management Controller (EMC).

RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS

2

Software Release 3.0 includes the following changes:

■Web-based Management

■ISO Date and Time Format

■New Modules

■IGMP

■10/100 Mbps Ethernet Port Monitoring

■RMON Monitoring Applications

■802.1p CoS

■Loop Detection

■Bridge Address Learning Limits

■Secure Address Learning Mode

■Configuring One Untagged System VLAN

■Broadcast, Multicast, and Flood Rate Limiting

12 CHAPTER 2: RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS

Web-based	Software Release 3.0 supports the Web Management suite of features,
Management	which consists of embedded Web Management applications and
	installable tools:
	■ Embedded Web Management applications — Use the embedded
	Web Management applications, which are part of the system software
	image, for most of your device configuration and management tasks.
	You can manage a single port or device, or, using multiple windows,
	you can manage multiple devices. This software contains:
	■ WebConsole — An HTML-based set of configuration forms.
	■ DeviceView — A Java-based application that displays a real-time
	image of the device. You can manage each port or module, or the
	entire system, by clicking the part of the image that you want to
	manage.
	■ Help — Access to the configuration form on which you set up the
	installable Help, as well as access to links to support information on
	the 3Com Web site.
	■ Installable tools — The following optional tools are available from
	the Software CD:
	■ DeviceView accessories — To set up e-mail notification for
	Status Logging.
	■ WebManage Framework — To group your access links to the
	devices that you manage.
	■ Filter Builder — To create filters for packets on your Layer 3
	switching modules only.
	■ Form-specific Help — To access hypertext information about the
	fields in the WebConsole and DeviceView applications.
	For information about how to install and use the Web Management
	applications, see the Web Management User Guide for the
	CoreBuilder 9000 Enterprise Switch.

	ISO Date and Time Format 13
ISO Date and Time	The format for date and time has changed for Release 3.0 to the
Format	following syntax and now complies with ISO 8601:
	YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss
	Table 2 Date and Time

Format	Description
YYYY	Year (1999 – 2098)
MM	Month (01 – 12)
DD	Day (01 – 31)
T	Time designator (the literal character “T”)
hh	Hour (00 – 24)
mm	Minute (00 – 59)
ss	Second (00 – 59)

	Example: 2000-02-05T03:25:34
New Modules	Software Release 3.0 supports the following new modules:
	■ The 20-port 100BASE-FX (MT-RJ) Fast Ethernet Layer 2 Switching
	Module (Model Number 3CB9LF20MM). The module has twenty 100
	Mbps Ethernet fiber-optic ports with MT-RJ connectors on its front
	panel and two 1-Gigabit port for connection to the chassis backplane.
	It occupies a single interface module slot in the CoreBuilder 9000
	7-slot, 8-slot, and 16-slot chassis.
	■ The 36-port 10/100BASE-TX Desktop Switching Module (RJ-45
	Connectors) (Model Number 3CB9LF36RL). The module has thirty-six
	10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports with RJ-45 connectors on the front panel
	and one 1-Gigabit port for connection to the chassis backplane. It
	occupies a single interface module slot in the CoreBuilder 9000 7-slot,
	8-slot, and 16-slot chassis.
	■ The 36-port 10/100BASE-TX Desktop Switching Module (RJ-21 Telco
	Connectors) (Model Number 3CB9LF36TL). The module has three
	RJ-21 connectors on the front panel. Each RJ-21 connector contains
	12 switched 10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports, for a total of 36 switched
	ports. The module has one 1-Gigabit port for connection to the
	chassis backplane. It occupies a single interface module slot in the
	CoreBuilder 9000 7-slot, 8-slot, and 16-slot chassis.

14 CHAPTER 2: RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS

IGMP	The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) ensures that multicast
	traffic is forwarded from the local router to multicast group members on
	directly attached subnetworks. The Snooping function monitors IGMP
	packets to ensure that multicast traffic is only forwarded to areas of the
	network that contain multicast group members. Unlike the Distance
	Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP), IGMP functions do not relate
	to multicast packet delivery between routers. IGMP functions include:
	■	Querying
	■	Snooping

10/100 Mbps

Ethernet Port

Monitoring

This feature, which is enabled by default, is designed to:

■Monitor 10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports for excessive collisions, multiple collisions, late collisions, runts, and FCS errors.

■Compare these error counters against predetermined thresholds.

■Disable a port that reaches an error threshold.

■Report the reason that a port is disabled to the Administration Console, MIB databases, and SNMP traps.

■Reenable the port after an initial backoff time interval.

■Continue monitoring.

See “Port Monitoring” in Chapter 5 “Ethernet” in the CoreBuilder 9000 Implementation Guide for information about the new Ethernet port monitoring feature.

RMON Monitoring Applications 15

RMON Monitoring New versions of LANsentry® Manager are being released. You can use Applications LANsentry Manager to monitor traffic and error rates for hosts on a

network, along with traffic flows between these hosts. When you set up LANsentry Manager with the CoreBuilder 9000, take these factors into consideration:

■To access a CoreBuilder 9000 module, use the community string plus extension format as follows:

<community string>@slot_<slot>.<subslot>

	For switch fabric modules use this format:
	<community string>@fabric
	For example, to access a module in slot 4 using the read/write
	community string of “private”, enter private@slot_4.1
	■ If you have any problems connecting to the CoreBuilder 9000 using
	LANsentry Manager, increase the SNMP timeout values.
	See “Remote Monitoring (RMON)” in Chapter 21”Device Monitoring” of
	the CoreBuilder 9000 Implementation Guide for more details.
802.1p CoS	802.1p Class of Service (CoS) focuses on traffic class and dynamic
	multicast filtering services in bridged LANs. It addresses separate queuing
	of time-critical frames to reduce the jitter caused by multicast flooding.
	802.1p uses the same tag format as 802.1Q, but uses three additional
	bits of the tag control information for setting a user priority level.
Loop Detection	The 36-port 10/100BASE-TX Desktop Switching Modules (Model
	Numbers 3CB9LF36RL and 3CB9LF36TL) recognize Spanning Tree packets
	but these modules do not participate in Spanning Tree. Instead, the
	modules can implement a separate loop-detection algorithm on all of
	their front-panel ports.

This algorithm acts only on the 36-port 10/100BASE-TX Desktop Switching Module front-panel ports, and does not act on other Layer 2 modules in the CoreBuilder 9000 system.

16 CHAPTER 2: RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS

You configure the front-panel ports to participate in this algorithm using three options in the bridge loopdetectmode menu:

■disable — This default setting disables the module’s port-based algorithm.

■enable — When you configure the module using the bridge loopdetectmode enable option, the module searches for traffic loops by comparing Spanning Tree Bridge Protocol Data Unit (BPDU) packets that enter its backplane port with BPDU packets that enter its front-panel ports. If the module detects the same BPDU packet coming through both its backplane port and any front-panel port, the module:

■Disables the front-panel port where the BPDU packet entered.

■Sends a trap to the EME.

■Displays loop detect for the port status in the bridge port summary and bridge port detail displays.

■immediate — When you configure the module using the bridge loopdetectmode immediate option, the module searches for any Spanning Tree BPDU packets that are received on its front-panel ports. If the module detects that a BPDU packet is received on any front-panel port, the module:

■Disables the front-panel port where the BPDU packet entered.

■Sends a trap to the EME.

■Displays bpdu detect for the port status in the bridge port summary and bridge port detail displays.

Loop Detection 17

When the module disables a front-panel port to eliminate a loop, you must bring the port back online manually.

Example:

CB9000@slot 5.1 [36L-E/FEN-TX-L2] (): bridge

Menu options (CoreBuilder 9000-10AD6C):

----------------------------------------

display	- Display bridge information
agingTime	- Set the bridge address aging time
cos	- Administer COS priority queues
port	- Administer bridge ports
multicast	- Administer multicast filtering
vlan	- Administer VLANs
loopDetectMode	- Set Loop Detect mode
learnMode	- Set the bridge learning mode

CB9000@slot 1.1 [36L-E/FEN-TX-L2] (bridge): loopdetectmode

Enter new value (disable,enable,immediate) [disable]: enable

CB9000@slot 1.1 [36L-E/FEN-TX-L2] (bridge): display

agingTime	mode	addrTableSize
300	bridgeRepeater	138
addressCount	peakAddrCount	learnMode
2	4	normal
multicastLimit	broadcastLimit	floodLimit
50000	50000	50000

loopDetectMode loopDetectSrcAddress

enable 08-00-8f-75-48-86

CB9000@slot 1.1 [36L-E/FEN-TX-L2] (bridge/port): summary 1

rxFrames	rxDiscards	txFrames
5301100	0	2688802
portNumber	loopDetectStatus
1	loop detect
learnStatus	addressLimit
active	4

18	CHAPTER 2: RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS
	CB9000@slot 1.1 [36L-E/FEN-TX-L2] (bridge/port): detail 1
	rxFrames		rxSameSegDiscs
	5301100		0
	rxNoDestDiscs	rxErrorDiscs	rxMcastLimitType
	0	0	BcastOnly
	rxMcastLimit	rxMcastExcDiscs	rxMcastExceeds
	4000	0	0
	rxSecurityDiscs	rxOtherDiscs	rxForwardUcasts
	0	0	13202
	rxFloodUcasts	rxForwardMcasts	txFrames
	0	2675600	2688802
	portNumber	loopDetectStatus	learnStatus
	1	loop detect	active

addressLimit 4