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AC and/or DC Power Safety Warning (AC and/or DC Powered Units)124
Rack Mount Enclosure Safety..............................................................124
Revision History
DateRevisionDescription
December 6, 200100.2Made technical corrections.
November 14, 200100.1aAdded agency approvals.
November 9, 200100.1First draft.
8ZT8101 User’s Ma nual
Introduction1
The ZT8101 board is a high performance managed switch that supports both Layer 2 and Layer 3
features. For fast connection speeds and flexibility, it has 24 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet ports and 2
gigabit Ethernet ports in a 6U CompactPCI* form factor board. The in-chassis switch minimizes
external wiring and needs no extra rack height, thus improving density and reliability.
You can manage the switch from a termi nal, with Teln et, from a Web bro wser, or through IPMI via
the Chassis Management Module (ZT7101). The ZT8101 routes and switches at full wire speed
with its non-blocking architecture, and it has sophisticated multicast protocol s to limit unnecessary
traffic. It provides an in-chassis switch fabric that you can configure to operate in a redundant
configuration.
Highlights
• Full wire speed on all ports
• VLAN ID tagging and priority queues
• Port aggregation
• Port mirroring
• Packet filtering
• Multicast and broadcast storm control
• DHCP/BOOTP packet forwarding
• RIP (v1 and v2), DVMRP, PIM-DM
• Low port latency
• Hot-swappable board with LED indicator
Ethernet Features
Layer 2 Switching Functions
• 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, and 1000BASE-T port functions
— 22 10/100 Fast Ethernet ports to the mid-plane connectors
— 2 10/100 Fast Ethernet ports (RJ45) on the font panel
— 2 100/1000 Ethernet ports (RJ45) on the front panel
• Auto-negotiation function for speed (10 MB/100 MB/1000 MB), duplex (full/half), and flow-
control
• Back pressure flow control for half-duplex mode
• IEEE 802.3x compliant flow control for full-duplex mode
ZT8101 User’s Manual 9
Introduction
• Per device packet buffer: 512 KB
• 8.8 Gbps switching fabric capacity
• Store and forward switching forwarding mode
• 8 KB Layer 2 MAC address
• Broadcast and multicast storm control
• Port mirroring
• Port aggregation
• IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol
• IEEE 802.1Q tagged VLANs
• GVRP (GARP VLAN Registration Protocol) for automatic VLAN configuration
• IEEE 802.1p priority support with 4 priority queues
This chapter provides installation and initial setup information for the switch .
Installing the Board
These instructions explain the mechanical aspects of installing a ZT8101board. The board should
be installed in a PICMG* 2.16 compliant fabric slot.
1. System power does not need to be off to insert a ZT8101 board.
2. Prepare the board by opening the injector/ejector mechanisms.
Injector/Ejector Operation s
Open
Closed
3. Carefully align the edges of the board with the left and right card guides in the appropriate slot.
It may be helpful to look into the enclosure to verify correct alignment of the rails in the
guides.
4. Taking care to keep the board aligned in the guides, slide the board in until the injector/ejector
mechanisms engage the retention bars.
5. Simultaneously push in the board and rotate the injector/ejector mechanisms to their closed
positions (rotate inward) to seat the backplane connectors. When the board is in place, it will
boot if the system power is on.
6. Make the desired connections at the faceplate and configure the board.
ZT8101 User’s Manual 13
Installation and Initial Setup
Power on
After the power switch is turned on, the LED indicators should respond as follows:
• All LED indicators will momentarily blink, which represents a reset of the system.
• The board status LED indicator will blink while the switch loads onboard software and
performs a self-test. After approximately 20 seconds, the LED will light again to indicate the
switch is in a ready state.
• The hot-swap LED indicator will be off.
• The port LED indicators will be off if there is no Ethernet connection and on if there is an
Ethernet connection.
Uninstalling the Board
These instructions explain the mechanical aspects of removing a ZT8101 board from a system.
1. You do not need to turn off the system power to remove a ZT8101 board.
2. Disconnect connections at the faceplate (Ethernet and serial ports).
3. The board should be in a “safe” state to be removed or data may be lost. Signal the system that
a board is about to be remo ved by parti ally unlatchin g the ejectors on the board to be remov ed.
Do not fully open the ejectors, as this levers the board out of the enclosure and prematurely
breaks its backplane connection.
4. Wait for the blue hot swap LED on the board's faceplate to light; this indicates that board
processes have finished and the board is safe to extract. If the hot swap LED fails to light after
30 seconds, re-latch the ejectors and unlatch them again. In this case, the board is safe to
extract (though the hot swap LED may not light).
5. Once the hot swap LED lights, open the injector/ejector mechanisms fully, rotating the handles
outward until the board disengages from the backplane (refer to “Injector/Ejector Operations”
on page 13).
6. Slide the board evenly out of the enclosure.
7. Install a replacement board or cover the empty slot with a filler panel to maintain the
enclosure's shielding and cooling performance.
14ZT8101 User’s Manual
Identifying External Components
This chapter describes the front panel and the LED indicators of the ZT-8101switch. The front
panel consists of LED indicators, a management serial port, a toggle button, two 10/100 Ethernet
ports, and two 100/1000 Ethernet ports.
Management Serial Port
12
34
56
78
910
1112
1314
1516
1718
1920
2122/f
2324
26
25
Ethernet Channel LEDs
(Activity/Speed)
Front Panel Ethernet Port LEDs
(Activity/Speed)
Installation and Initial Setup
LINK
ACT
23
24
25
26
STATUS
HOT SWAP
SPEED
Toggle Activity/Speed LEDs Pushbutton
10/100 Ethernet Ports
100/1000 Ethernet Ports
Board Status
Hot Swap
ZT8101 User’s Manual 15
Installation and Initial Setup
Status LEDs
The two LEDs at the bottom of the font panel are status LEDs. The top LED indicates the overall
status of the board and the bottom LED indicates the hot swap status of the board.
Health Status LED
StatusMeaning
OffNot powered.
GreenPowered and functioning normally.
Amber
Hot Swap LED
StatusMeaning
OffSwitch is active or in the process of shutting down; do not remove it.
BlueSafe to remo ve th e sw i tch.
Attention needed due to one of the following conditions:
• Over temperature
• Backend supplies exceeding voltage limits
• IPMB time outs
Port LEDs
The LED array on the front panel displays inf ormati on abou t all the Ethe rnet l inks on t he bo ard. A
green/amber two-color LED is used for each of the 26 Ethernet port connections (24 10/100 + 2
Gigabit). A push-button switch just below the array toggles th e LED display from Link /Activity
mode to Link / Speed mode. The default LED mode is Link /Activity. When you depress the switch
button, the LEDs are in Link/Speed mode.
Link / Activity LED Mode
StatusMeaning
OffNo Ethernet connection.
Solid GreenGood connection, link present.
Blinking GreenPort is transmitting or receiving packets (activity is on going).
Port is not forwarding packets. The port has been disabled by management, an
address violation has occurred, or the port is being blocked by STP.
Solid Amber
Note: After a port is reconfigured, the port LED can remain amber for as long as
30 seconds while STP checks the switch for loop paths. When the STP checking
is completed, the port then resumes displaying its current connection status.
16ZT8101 User’s Manual
Link / Speed LED Mode
Port TypeStatusMeaning
10/100Off10 Mb/s
Solid Green100 Mb/s
100/1000Solid Green100 Mb/s
Solid Amber1000 Mb/s
Getting Started with Management
The switch contains the following components:
• A CPU
• Memory for data storage
• Flash memory for configuration data, operational programs, and SNMP agent firmware.
These components allow you to manage and monitor the switch from either the board’s serial port
or the network itself. You can configure and manage the switch from these locations:
Installation and Initial Setup
• A terminal or a workstation running terminal emulation software and connected to the switch
via the RS-232 port.
• A workstation connected to the network and running Telnet.
• A workstation connected to the network and running a Web browser.
To access the switch via Telnet or a Web browser, you must assign the switch an appropriate IP
address for your network. To do this, you must access the switch using the RS-232 port via the
Local Console.
This section explains how to
• Set up access to the Local Console
• Configure the switch’s IP address
Once you complete these tasks, you can access the switch from any of the three locations. Since the
Local Console and the Telnet Console use the same interface, chapter 4 explains how to access the
switch using Telnet and then explains all the configuration and management options in this
interface. Chapter 5 explains the Web Console. Both the Web and the Telnet/Serial interfaces
expose the same functionality. Chapter 3 describes some basic concepts that you should be familiar
with before configuring the switch.
Accessing the Local Console
The Local Console is a terminal or a workstation running a terminal emulation program that is
connected directly to the switch via the RS-232 console port on the front of the switch. Such a
connection is referred to as an “Out-of-Band” connection because the console is connected to the
switch using a different circuit than the circuit used for normal network communications. The
Local Console can be used to set up and manage the switch even when the network is down.
ZT8101 User’s Manual 17
Installation and Initial Setup
The serial port on the front panel uses Cisco* cable kit (Order Number: ACS-DSBUASYN). This
kit includes a DB25 terminal adapter, a DB-9 terminal adapter, and RJ-45 rollover cable.
A terminal (such as a VT-100) or a computer running a terminal emulation program (such as
HyperTerminal, which is automatically installed with Windows*) is connected to this cable.
The serial port is set at the factory for the following configuration:
• Baud rate:9600
• Data width:8 bits
• Parity:None
• Stop bits:1
• Flow Control:None
Make sure the terminal or computer you are using to make this connection is configured to match
these settings.
If you are having problems making this connection on a computer, make sure the emulation is set
to VT-100. If you still don’t see anything, press CTRL+R to refresh the screen.
To log in to the switch the first time
The usernames and passwords used to access the switch are case sensitive; therefore, “S” is not the
same as “s.”
When you first connect to the switch, you will be presented with a login screen.
1. Use the Arrow keys or the Tab key to move to the Username field. Leave the field blank and
press Enter. There is no initial username.
2. Move to the Password field. Leave the field blank and press Enter. There is no initial
password. The Main Menu appears.
The first created user automatically gets administrator privileges. One of your first configuration
tasks should be to create at least one Admin-level user for the switch to protect it from
unauthorized users.
Press CTRL+R to refresh the screen. This command can be used at any time to force the console
program in the switch to refresh the console screen.
Setting the IP Address
You use the Basic Network Setup menu to set the boot-up operation for obtaining an IP address or
to manually assign the IP address for the switch. The switch needs a valid IP address for your
network to access the switch via Telnet or the Web.
To configure the IP address
1. From the Main Menu, select Basic Network Setup and press Enter.
18ZT8101 User’s Manual
Installation and Initial Setup
2. To configure the IP address, use the Arrow keys or the Tab key to modify the settings in the
New Switch IP Settings column.
ParameterDefaultDescription
Get IP FromManual
IP Address10.90.90.90Specifies the IP address assigned to the switch.
Subnet Mask255.0.0.0
Default Gateway0.0.0.0
VLAN Namedefault
Specifies the method for assigning the switch an IP address.
Use the spacebar to toggle to Manual, DHCP, or BOOTP.
Specifies the subnet mask assigned to the switch and to the
other devices on this segment of the network.
Specifies the IP address of the device that routes to different
networks. A gateway must be defined if the workstation you
are going to use for switch management is located on a
different IP segment than the switch.
Specifies the name of the VLAN that contains the
workstations that you will use to manage the switch. This
VLAN must already exist.
3. To configure a name and contact information for the switch, enter information in the following
fields.
ParameterDescription
Name
LocationSpecifies the physical location of the switch.
ContactSpecifies the name of the person responsible for the switch.
Specifies the name assigned to the switch. If you are installing multiple
switches, you should give each a unique name.
4. Highlight APPLY and press Enter.
5. Press Escape to return to the Main Menu.
6. To save your changes to NV-RAM, highlight Save Changes and press Enter .
To continue configuring the switch, see chapter 4 for information on this interface. See chapter 5
for information about using the Web Console.
Upgrading Firmware through Zmodem
Generally, TFTP is the first choice to use to upgrade firmware. The Telnet Console and the Web
Console both have options for upgrad i ng the fi rmware us i ng a TFT P ser ver (see chapt ers 4 and 5).
However, you can also use Zmodem to upgrade the firmware from the serial port.
Note:If FLASH becomes corrupted because you lose power when upgrading the firmware, you must use
Zmodem to fix the problem.
To upgrade the firmware using Zmodem
1. Obtain the runtime firmware.
2. Using Windows HyperTerminal*, log in to the switch through the serial port.
3. From the Main Menu, select Reboot and press Enter.
ZT8101 User’s Manual 19
Installation and Initial Setup
4. When the power on self test message appears, press the # key and wait for the following
message:
Please change your baud rate to 115200 for the Zmodem upgrade, or
press CTRL+C to go to the BOOT Menu.
If you press CTRL+C, you can configure the baud rate to a different value.
5. Change HyperTerminal’s baud rate to match the target’s setting.
6. Use t he Send File function of HyperTerminal to upgrade the firmware.
When the download is completed, Zmodem will display a message indicating that it is done
and then a message about loading the Runtime image.
7. Change the baud rate of HyperTerminal back to 9600 bps.
8. Disconnect and reconnect.
9. Log in to the switch.
10. From the main menu, select Switch Information and press Enter. Verify the firmware
version.
20ZT8101 User’s Manual
Switch Management and Operating
Concepts3
This chapter describes many of the concepts you need to understand to configure and manage the
switch. It also describes many of the features available for managing the switch. The instructions
for configuring the switch are in chapter 4 (Telnet Console) and chapter 5 (Web Console).
Managing the Switch
The ZT8101 switch has th ree methods for configurin g switch p arameters and vi ewing switch status
and statistics:
• Serial—The switch’s serial port on the front panel allows a terminal or a PC running terminal
emulation software to be connected to the switch and configure the switch. It uses the same
application that is used over Telnet. The serial port is usually used only for initial set up, such
as configuring the switch’s IP address, or when the network is down. It can also be used to
upgrade the switch’s firmware with Zmodem.
• Telnet—The switch's embedded Telnet server allows users from remote systems, which are
running a Telnet application over TCP/IP, to log in to the switch, configure it, and view the
status of and statistics from the ports. The current implementation allow eight 8 Telnet sessions
to be active at the same time.
• Web—The switch's embedded Web server allows users from remote systems, which are
running a Web browser, to log in to the switch, configure it, and view the status of and
statistics from the ports. The current implementation allows five HTTP sessions to be active at
the same time.
The switch also contains the following utilities:
• Ping—The Ping utility invokes the ICMP echo request and echo reply messages. A host or
gateway sends an ICMP echo request message to a specified destination. Any computer that
receives an echo request formulates an echo reply and transmits it to the original sender. The
echo request and associated reply can be used to test whether a destination is reachable and
responding. Five ping sessions can be supported simultaneously.
• TFTP—This protocol is used to transfer files without any kind of authentication. It runs on
top of UDP, using timeout and retransmission to ensure that data arrives. The switch's TFTP
client allows users to copy files from and to a remote system that is running the TFTP server
protocol. The TFTP client allows only one user to access it and transfer files.
You can use the TFTP client to do the follo wing:
— Download firmware.
— Download or upload a switch configuration file.
— Upload the switch's history log.
Some TFTP servers cannot determine when a transaction is aborted. In these cases, you must
reboot the switch, which restarts the TFTP server and re-initializes the TFTP transaction.
ZT8101 User’s Manual 21
Switch Management and Operating Concepts
• Switch diag nost ics —The PROM loader automatically runs memory diagno stics each time the
switch is booted.
• Reset to factory defaults—The switch includes an option that allows you to reset the
configuration to the factory defaults. You can select to reset the IP address or save your
configured IP address.
Switch IP and MAC Addresses
Each switch must be assigned its own IP Address. The switch's default IP address is 10.90.90.90.
You can change the default switch IP address to meet the specification of your networking address
scheme.
The switch is also assigned a unique MAC address by the factory. You cannot change this MAC
address.
In addition, you can also set an IP address for a gateway router. This becomes necessary when the
network management station is located on a different IP network from the switch, making it
necessary for management packets to go through a router to reach the network manager, and vice
versa.
For security, you can list the IP addresses of the network management stations that you want to
manage the switch. If you list IP addresses, only those workstations have access; all others will be
denied.
You can also configure a VLAN for the network that the management stations are on, and then
configure the switch for this VLAN.
Port Configurations
By default, the switch is configured to use auto-negotiation to determine each port's speed and
duplex setting. The user can modify this and configure a port to use a specified configuration. The
Ethernet ports have the following characteristics:
Ethernet Por tLink SpeedDuplex
Fast Ethernet (10/100)10/100 MbpsHalf, Full
Gigabit Ethernet100/1000 MbpsFull
Flow Control
All ports have a traffic limit because they have a limited buffer space to receive incoming frames.
Upon reaching the limit, a port either starts dropping packets or triggers fl ow contr ol. The ZT8101
switch uses the following methods for flow control:
• 802.3x flow control—The switch sends PAUSE frames, which request remote ports to delay
sending packets for a period of time. Sending ports suspend further frame transmission until
the specified time period has elapsed.
• 802.3x compliant flow control —The switch does not send PAUSE frames, but it does
respond to them.
22ZT8101 User’s Manual
Switch Management and Operating Concepts
• Back pressure—The switch fakes a collision and then transmits a jam sequence to ensure all
stations are notified of the “collision.” This causes the sending ports to trigger their back-off
routines and reduces the amount of traffic on the port.
The port type and duplex mode determine which type of flow control is used. The following table
lists the port types and their flow control methods.
Port TypeDuplex ModeFlow Control
Fast Ethernet (10/100)HalfBack pressure
Fast Ethernet (10/100)Full802.3x compliant
Gigabit EthernetFull802.3x
Port Security and MAC Address Learning
For security purposes, you can disable MAC address learning on one or more ports. When MAC
address learning is disabled, a port cannot discover MAC addresses. The port receives only
broadcast traffic and packets with destination MAC addresses that match the port's MAC address.
The default value for each port is learning enabled.
SNMP
The switch has an embedded Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) agent which is
compliant with SNMPv1. This agent monitors the status of the board’s hardware and the traffic
passing through its ports. A computer attached to the network, called a management station, can
access this information. The switch uses the following features to control access to its information:
• Community strings—You can configu re up to four comm unity strings so that on ly authorized
management stations can access the agent. You can set each string to grant either read only or
read/write access.
• IP address—You can restrict access to specified IP addresses. You can enter up to three IP
addresses which restricts access to these specified management stations.
You can also specify which management agents receive the trap messages generated by the SNMP
agent. These trap messages are status messages that alert you of events such as authentication
failure, STP topology changes, and link status changes on the port.
BOOTP/DHCP Relay
BOOTP and DHCP allow stations to obtain boot and TCP/IP information dynamically. The relay
agent allows them to obtain this information when the BOOTP/DHCP server is not on the same IP
interface as the end station. You can configure the switch so that the messages are forwarded from
one interface to the appropriate server on another interface.
ZT8101 User’s Manual 23
Switch Management and Operating Concepts
DNS Relay
The Domain Name System (DNS) is used to map names to IP addresses. DNS relay enables the
switch to act as a DNS cache or proxy. It forwards DNS requests to DNS servers only if it can’t
resolve the name from its cache.
If you enable DNS relay on the switch, you can specify a primary and secondary DNS server to
forward requests that the switch cannot resolve. You can also specify that requests destined for
specific DNS servers should be first serviced by looking in the switch’s table.
Packet Forwarding
The switch maintains a forwarding table. This table contains the relationship between a destination
MAC or IP addresses and the Ethernet port or gateway router the destination resides on. This
information is then used to forward packets. This reduces the traffic congestion on the network,
because packets, instead of being transmitted to all ports, are transmitted to the destination port
only. For example, if Port 1 receives a packet destined for a station on Port 2, the switch transmits
that packet through Port 2 only, and transmits nothing through the other ports. This process is
referred to as “learning” the network topology.
You can configure forwarding rules for the following:
• MAC address aging
• MAC address forwarding
• IP address to a specified gateway
• IP address to a specified MAC address
MAC Address Aging Time
The aging time affects the lea rning p roces s of the switch. Dynamic forwarding table entries, which
are made up of the source and destination MAC addresses and their associated port numbers, are
deleted from the table if they are not accessed within the aging time.
The aging time can be 10 — 1,000,000 seconds with a default value of 300 seconds. A very long
aging time can result in dynamic forwarding table entries that are out-of-date or no longer exist.
This may cause incorrect packet forwarding decisions by the switch.
If the aging time is too short, however, many entries may be aged out too soon. This will result in a
high percentage of received packets whose source addresses cannot be found in the forwarding
table, in which case the switch will broadcast the packet to all ports, negating many of the benefits
of having a switch.
Static forwarding entries are not affected by the aging time.
MAC Address Forwarding
The switch allows you to configure how unicast and multicast packets are forwarded.
24ZT8101 User’s Manual
• For unicast packets, you specify the MAC address and then either select the port that they will
be forwarded to or have them dropped (called “BlackHole”).
• For multicast packets, you specify the MAC address and then select the ports they can be
forwarded to.
Storm Control
You can also set th res hold s to contr ol broadcast and multicast storms. When the threshold is
exceeded, the switch drops the multicast or broadcast traffic. When traffic levels drop below the
threshold, the switch resumes forwarding the traffic again.
The thresholds are applied to all Ethernet ports and cannot be set for indivi dual ports. The threshold
specifies in thousands the number of broadcast or multicast packets per second a port can receive
before triggering a storm control response. The possible range is 0 — 255 KB packets per second.
This threshold can be configured to apply to broadcast packets, to multicast packets, or to both.
Traffic Control
You can also set thresholds for the amount of traffic a port can handle before triggering flow
control. The flow control threshold sets the limit for the maximum amount of memory a port can
use to hold packets. When a port reaches this limit, the port sends a signal to slow down the packets
coming in:
Switch Management and Operating Concepts
• Ports in half-duplex mode assert a jamming signal.
• Ports in full-duplex mode send PAUSE frames.
You can set the flow control thresholds for individual ports and then monitor the status.
IP Forwarding
You can configure how packets are forwarded, based on t heir IP ad dress, by configuri ng entr ies fo r
the ARP table and the routing table.
ARP Table
The ARP table maintains the mappings from Internet addresses (IP) to hardware addresses (MAC).
There are two types of ARP entries: dynamic and static.
When a static ARP entry is added to the switch’s ARP table, the switch does not send an ARP
query to the configured IP address. This allows the switch to connect to devices that have not
implement ARP.
The ARP table has the following characteristics:
• Static entries have higher precedence th an dynamic entries. Ther efore, a static entry will not be
overwritten by a dynamic entry.
• The aging time for dynamic entries is 20 minutes. This value is not configurable.
• The table can be up to 2 KB in size.
• Up to 32 static entries are allowed in the table.
ZT8101 User’s Manual 25
Switch Management and Operating Concepts
Router Ports
Router ports allow multicast packets to be propagated throu gho ut the network. Router ports can be
either static or dynamic. Static router ports are special routes that you manually enter into the
switch’s routing table. Usually it is a port that has a router attached to it, and the router has a
connection to a WAN or to the Internet. Static router ports should be used sparingly, because when
a network failure occurs, they do not change. However, they can reduce network traffic by
eliminating the need for a routing protocol on a local network. For ex ample, a local network, wh ich
has only one link to the network, is an ideal candidate for a static route. You can also use them to
restrict the transmission path a datagram must follow, based on the datagram's destination address.
You can add up to 32 static entries into the routing table.
Dynamic router ports are added by the switch. The switch monitors each port for UDP multicast
packets and IGMP multicast group membership reports. When these packets are detected on a port,
that port is dynamically assigned as a router port.
Priority
MAC address priority is a Layer 2 Class of Service. It allows certain frames, based on their MAC
address, to receive special handling.
Filtering
The frames can be prioritized based on where the MAC address appears:
• The source only
• The destination only
• Both the source and destination
Frames that match the criteria are given a priority tag. The switch supports only four hardware
priority levels per egress port, so the eight levels are mapped to four as listed in the table below.
Priority in FramesPriority Queue of ASIC
0 - 1 0
2 - 3 1
4 - 5 2
6 - 7 3
After an Ethernet frame has been prioritized, the switch forwards the Ethernet f rame using the s trict
priority-based scheduling algorithm. With this policy, any packets residing in a higher priority
queue are always transmitted first. Only when these queues ar e empty are packets in lower p riority
queues transmitted.
A filtering database is used to segment the network and control communication between segments.
It can also filter packets off the network for intrusion control. Static filtering entries can be made by
MAC or IP addresses.
26ZT8101 User’s Manual
Switch Management and Operating Concepts
Each port on the switch is a unique collision domain, and the switch filters (discards) packets
whose destination lies on the same port as where it originated. This keeps local packets from
disrupting communications on other parts of the network.
The switch does some filtering automatically:
• Dynamic filtering—The switch automatic learns and ages MAC addresses and their location
on the network. Filtering occurs to keep local traffic confined to its segment.
• Filtering done by the Spanning Tree Protocol—STP filters packets based on topology,
ensuring that signal loops don't occur.
• Filtering done for VLAN integrity—The switch filters packets from a member of a VLAN
(VLAN 2, for example) destined for a device on another VLAN (VLAN 3).
You can also manually configure the switch to drop packets from specified MAC and IP addresses.
Whenever a switch encounters a packet originating from, or destined to, a MAC address or an IP
address entered into the filter table, the switch discards the packet.
MAC Address Filtering
When filtering by MAC address, you have two options:
• Static—This option allows you to specify which port handles the packets from the specified
MAC address.
• BlackHole—This option allows you to have the switch drop the packets from, or to, a
specified MAC address.
IP Address Filtering
When filtering by IP address, you have three options. You can have the switch drop the packet
based on where the IP address appears:
• In the source
• In the destination
• In both the source and destination
The table can contain 32 entries, and two table entries are needed to configure a bi-direction filter.
Port Mirroring
Port mirroring allows the traffic on a particular port to be monitored by sending copies of the
packets to a target port. You can then attach a logic analyzer or a RMON probe to the target port
and study the traffic crossing the source port in a completely unobtrusive manner. You can
configure only one port to be a target port, but you can select multiple ports to be mirrored to this
target port. For optimum performance, you should mirror three or fewer ports at any given time.
You can select which traffic is mirrored. For a given mirrored port (or source port), you can select
to mirror only incoming traffic, only outgoing traffic, or both.
When mirroring ports, remember the following:
• The source port cannot be the target port.
ZT8101 User’s Manual 27
Switch Management and Operating Concepts
• The target port cannot belong to a link aggregation group.
• The target port should be operating at the same or higher speed than the source port. If the
target port is operating at a lower speed than the source port, packets will be lost.
Spanning Tree Protocol
The IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol allows for the blocking of links between switches that
form loops within the network. When multiple links between switches are detected, a primary link
is established. Duplicated links are blocked from use and become standby links. The protocol
allows for the duplicate links to be used in the event of a failure of the primary link.
It is possible to cause serious degradation of network performance if the Spanning Tree is
incorrectly configured. The switch’s default global setting should be used by the majority of
installations.
The ZT8101 switch performs the following functions:
• Creates a single spanning tree from any combination of switching or bridging elements.
• Creates multiple spanning trees from any combinatio n of ports contained within a single
switch, in user-specified groups.
• Automatically reconfigures the spanning tree to compensate for the failu re, addi tion, or
removal of any element in the tree.
• Reconfigures the spanning tree without operator intervention.
STP Levels and Parameters
The ZT8101 switch allows for two levels of operation: the switch level and the port level. The
switch level forms a spanning tree consist ing of links bet ween one or more switches. The po rt level
constructs a spanning tree co nsis ting of grou ps of one or more por ts. The STP op erates in much t he
same way for both levels.
• On the switch level, STP calculates the Bridge Identifier for each switch and then sets the Root
Bridge and the Designated Bridges.
• On the port level, STP sets the Root Port and the Designated Ports.
The factory default settings should cover the majority of installations. Setting up STP using values
other than the defaults can be complex. Therefore, we recommend that you keep the default factory
settings, and STP will automatically assign root bridges/ports and block loop connections.
Influencing STP to choose a particular switch as the root bridge using the Priority setting, or
influencing STP to choose a particular port to block using the Port Priority and Port Cost settings
is, however, relatively simple.
For example, if all switches have STP enabled with default setting s, the switch with the lowest
MAC address in the network becomes the root switch. By increasing the priority (lowering the
priority number) of the best switch, STP can be forced to select the best switch as the root switch.
28ZT8101 User’s Manual
Switch Management and Operating Concepts
STP Parameters for the Switch Level
The following are the user-configurable STP parameters for the switch level.
ParameterDescriptionDefault Value
Specifies the combination of the user-set priority and
Bridge Identifier
Priority
Hello Time
Max Age
Forward Delay
the switch’s MAC address. The bridge identifier
consists of two parts: a 16-bit priority and a 48-bit
Ethernet MAC address. The only portion that a user
can configure is the priority.
Specifies the relative priority for each switch. Lower
numbers specify a higher priority and a greater chance
of a given switch being elected as the root bridge
Specifies the length of time between broadcasts of the
hello message by the switch. It can be set from 1 — 10
seconds. This interval is not used until the switch
becomes (if ever) the root bridge.
The Hello Time parameter cannot be longer than the
Max Age parameter.
Measures the age of a received BPDU for a port, and
ensures that the BPDU is discarded when its age
exceeds the value of the Max Age parameter.
It can be set from 6 — 40 seconds.
Specifies the time a port can remaining in the listening
state while moving from the blocking state to the
forwarding state.
It can be set from 4 — 30 seconds.
32768 + MAC address
32768
2 seconds
20 seconds
15 seconds
Use the following formulas when setting these parameters:
• Max Age = 2 x (Forward Delay -1second)
• Mag Age = 2 x (Hello Time + 1 second)
STP Parameters for the Port Level
The following are the user-configurable STP parameters for the port or port group level.
VariableDescriptionDefault Value
Port Priori ty
Port Cost
A relative priority for each port. Lower numbers specify
a higher priority and a greater chance of a given port
being elected as the root port
A value used by STP to evaluate paths. STP calculates
path costs and selects the path with the minimum cost
as the active path.
32768
• 100 for 10 Mbps Fast
Etherenet ports
• 19 for 100 Mbps Fast
Ethernet ports
• 4 for 1000 Mbps Gigabit
Ethernet ports
ZT8101 User’s Manual 29
Switch Management and Operating Concepts
Link Aggregation
Link aggregation allows several ports to be grouped so that they can act as a single port. This is
done to either increase the bandwidth of a network connection or to ensure fault recovery. The
group has the following assignments:
• Master port—This port is the Ethernet port with the lowest port number. All member ports
are configured to use its port settings and become members of its VLAN.
• Anchor port—This port is in charge of sending control packets, such as spanning tree
BPDUs, and also the flooding of multicast frames. When a link change event occurs in the
group, the anchor port may be re-elected.
When a link aggregation group is deleted or disabled, the ports retain their reassigned port settings.
They do not recover their original port settings. For example, suppose that Port 1 belongs to
VLAN1 and Port 2 belongs to VLAN2. When you create a group with a starting poi nt of Port 1 and
a width of 2, Port 2 will be added to VLAN1 and removed from VLAN2 automatically. If you
delete or disable the group later, the Port 2 will still be assigned to VLAN1.
The switch also assigns the group a anchor port. This port is in charge of sending control packets
and also the flooding of multicast frames. When a link change event occur s in the group , the anchor
port may be re-elected.
The ZT8101 supports six link aggregation groups, which may include from 2 — 8 switch ports
each, except for a gigabit link aggregation group, which consists of the two gigabit Ethernet ports
on the front panel.
Remember the following guidelines when creating a link aggregation group:
• The ports used in a group must all be of the same media type (10/100 Mbps fiber or 100/1000
Mbps fiber).
• The ports used for each group must all be on the same switch.
• The ports in a group must be contiguous (they must have sequential port numbers).
• Ports can only be assigned to one link aggregation group.
• None of the ports in a group can be configured as a mirror source port or a mirror target port.
• All of the ports in a group must be treated as a whole when added to or deleted from a VLAN.
• STP will use the port parameters of the base port in the calculation of port cost and in
determining the state of the link aggregation group. The following formula is used to calculate
the path cost:
path cost of master port - the number of ports in the group
• STP treats all ports in a link aggregation group as a single port and will block the entire group
if it is a redundant link.
• Data transmitted to a specific host (destination address) will always be transmitted over the
same port in the group. This allows packets in a data stream to arrive in the same order they
were sent.
• The configuration of the lowest numbered port in the group becomes the configuration for all
of the ports in the aggregation group. This port is called the base port of the group, and all
configuration options—including the VLAN configuration—that can be applied to the base
port are applied to the entire link aggregation group.
30ZT8101 User’s Manual
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