From: Scott Morris (swm@emanon.com)
Date: Wed Mar 24 2004 - 10:50:23 GMT-3
Well... Depending on what switch you're using, it's possible!
Some switches will have an "uplink" port set aside, and with that, they will
have an MDI/MDI-X button so that nobody has to think about whether the cable
is crossover or straight-through.
You could use this as your On/Off button for the uplink to the network!
Just a thought, but it seems simple enough for everyone involved!
Scott Morris, CCIE4 (R&S/ISP-Dial/Security/Service Provider) #4713, CISSP,
JNCIS, et al.
IPExpert CCIE Program Manager
IPExpert Sr. Technical Instructor
swm@emanon.com/smorris@ipexpert.net
http://www.ipexpert.net
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Daniel Sheedy
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 12:47 AM
To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: OT: network... switch? (like a light switch)
G'day,
I have a little problem, and thought I would toss it in here. It seems
basic but I can't seem to find any product like it on the market.
At the moment we have a project reconstructing a network for a local
college/education centre. They do courses about everything from Management
through to CCNP. One of the requirements is that each computer room is
capable of being seperated from the network, in the event that they wish to
do something not particularly network friendly. (like run their own domain
in a MCSE course.)
At the moment, each room is its own VLAN, and contains 1 * 24 port switch.
This switch is feed by a cable which goes like this...
Access switch uplink port -> to wall socket A -> small .5 metre cable from
wall socket A to wall socket B -> wall socket B to distribution switch.
So, the trainer/teacher can just disconnect this small cable, and the uplink
is suddenly gone, seperating the room from the network. However, sometimes
when they go to reconnect it, it goes into the wrong two sockets. (or maybe
it is student monkey busines...)
So, is it possible to implement some other idea to be able to seperate a
room or a vlan, without physically removing a cable?
The users would have to be able to do it themselves ideally.
I was thinking, wouldnt it be great if there was some type of switch that
you could put in between two cat5 cables, and it made it on/off. Like the
little uplink button of Switches of yore. Press the button... link... press
the button again... no link!
The layer 3 switches at the moment are Extremenetwork switches, and they
will be replaced in the near future, as they are only leased. So if the
idea involves some idea that must be implemented on a central switch, than
this could be taken into consideration too.
The cable idea seems too primative, but if Im barking up the wrong tree
thinking there is a better idea... please tell me so.
Thanks fellas!
Dan Sheedy
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