Computer Certification

CCNA and CCNP candidates are well-versed in Spanning-Tree Protocol
and one of the great things about STP is that it works well with little or no additional configuration. There is one situation where STP works against us just a bit while it prevents switching loops
and that is the situation where two switches have multiple physical connections.

You would think that if you have two separate physical connections between two switches
twice as much data could be sent from one switch to the other than if there was only one connection. STP doesn't allow this by default
however in an effort to prevent switching loops from forming
one of the paths will be blocked.

SW1 and SW2 are connected via two separate physical connections
on ports fast0/11 and fast 0/12. As we can see here on SW1
only port 0/11 is actually forwarding traffic. STP has put the other port into blocking mode (BLK).


SW1#show spanning vlan 10


(some output removed for clarity)


Interface Role Sts Cost Prio.Nbr Type


Fa0/11 Root FWD 19 128.11 P2p

Fa0/12 Altn BLK 19 128.12 P2p


While STP is helping us by preventing switching loops
STP is also hurting us by preventing us from using a perfectly valid path between SW1 and SW2. We could literally double the bandwidth available between the two switches if we could use that path that is currently being blocked.

The secret to using the currently blocked path is configuring an Etherchannel. An Etherchannel is simply a logical bundling of 2 - 8 physical connections between two Cisco switches.

Configuring an Etherchannel is actually quite simple. Use the command "channel-group 1 mode on" on every port you want to be placed into the Etherchannel. Of course
this must be done on both switches if you configure an Etherchannel on one switch and don't do so on the correct ports on the other switch
the line protocol will go down and stay there.

The beauty of an Etherchannel is that STP sees the Etherchannel as one connection. If any of the physical connections inside the Etherchannel go down
STP does not see this
and STP will not recalculate. While traffic flow between the two switches will obviously be slowed
the delay in transmission caused by an STP recalculation is avoided. An Etherchannel also allows us to use multiple physical connections at one time.

Here's how to put these ports into an Etherchannel:

SW1#conf t

Enter configuration commands
one per line. End with CNTL/Z.

SW1(config)#interface fast 0/11

SW1(config-if)#channel-group 1 mode on

Creating a port-channel interface Port-channel 1


SW1(config-if)#interface fast 0/12

SW1(config-if)#channel-group 1 mode on



SW2#conf t

Enter configuration commands
one per line. End with CNTL/Z.

SW2(config)#int fast 0/11

SW2(config-if)#channel-group 1 mode on

SW2(config-if)#int fast 0/12

SW2(config-if)#channel-group 1 mode on


The command "show interface trunk" and "show spanning-tree vlan 10" will be used to verify the Etherchannel configuration.


SW2#show interface trunk (some output removed for clarity)


Port Mode Encapsulation Status Native vlan

Po1 desirable 802.1q trunking 1


SW2#show spanning vlan 10 (some output removed for clarity)


Interface Role Sts Cost Prio.Nbr Type


Po1 Desg FWD 12 128.65 P2p


Before configuring the Etherchannel
we saw individual ports here. Now we see "Po1"
which stands for the interface "port-channel1". This is the logical interface created when an Etherchannel is built. We are now using both physical paths between the two switches at one time!

That's one major benefit in action let's see another. Ordinarily
if the single open path between two trunking switches goes down
there is a significant delay while another valid path is opened - close to a minute in some situations. We will now shut down port 0/11 on SW2 and see the effect on the etherchannel.

SW2#conf t

Enter configuration commands
one per line. End with CNTL/Z.

SW2(config)#int fast 0/11

SW2(config-if)#shutdown

3w0d: %LINK-5-CHANGED: Interface FastEthernet0/11
changed
state to administratively down


SW2#show spanning vlan 10


VLAN0010

Spanning tree enabled protocol ieee

Interface Role Sts Cost Prio.Nbr Type


Po1 Desg FWD 19 128.65 P2p



SW2#show interface trunk


Port Mode Encapsulation Status Native vlan


Po1 desirable 802.1q trunking 1

The Etherchannel did not go down! STP sees the Etherchannel as a single link therefore
as far as STP is concerned
nothing happened.

Building an Etherchannel and knowing how it can benefit your network is an essential skill for CCNA and CCNP success
and it comes in very handy on the job as well. Make sure you are comfortable with building one before taking Cisco's exams!

CCNA and CCNP candidates who have their own Cisco home labs often email me about an odd situation that occurs when they erase a switch's configuration. Their startup configuration is gone
as they expect
but the VLAN and VTP information is still there!

Sounds strange
doesn't it? Let's look at an example. On SW1
we run show vlan brief and see in this abbreviated output that there are three additional vlans in use:

SW1#show vlan br


10 VLAN0010 active

20 VLAN0020 active

30 VLAN0030 active

We want to totally erase the router's startup configuration
so we use the write erase command
confirm it
and reload without saving the running config:

SW1#write erase

Erasing the nvram filesystem will remove all configuration files! Continue?

[confirm]

[OK]

Erase of nvram: complete


00:06:00: %SYS-7-NV_BLOCK_INIT: Initalized the geometry of nvram

SW1#reload

System configuration has been modified. Save? [yes/no]: n

Proceed with reload? [confirm]

The router reloads
and after exiting setup mode
we run show vlan brief again. And even though the startup configuration was erased
the vlans are still there!

Switch#show vlan br


10 VLAN0010 active

20 VLAN0020 active

30 VLAN0030 active

The reason is that this vlan and VTP information is actually kept in the VLAN.DAT file in Flash memory
and the contents of Flash are kept on a reload. The file has to be deleted manually.

There's a little trick to deleting this file. The switch will prompt you twice to ask if you really want to get rid of this file. Don't type "y" or "yes"; just accept the defaults by hitting the return key. If you type "y"
the router attempts to delete a file named "y"
as shown here:

Switch#delete vlan.dat

Delete filename [vlan.dat]? y

Delete flash:y? [confirm]

%Error deleting flash:y (No such file or directory)



Switch#delete vlan.dat

Delete filename [vlan.dat]?

Delete flash:vlan.dat? [confirm]


Switch#

The best way to prepare for CCNA and CCNP exam success is by working on real Cisco equipment
and by performing lab tasks over and over. Repetition is the mother of skill
and by truly erasing your VLAN and VTP information by deleting the vlan.dat file from Flash
you'll be building your Cisco skills to the point where your CCNA and CCNP exam success is a certainty.