From: Scott Vermillion (scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com)
Date: Mon Dec 03 2007 - 18:55:21 ART
Hey Rik,
LOL, I would never thump my chest around you ol' buddy! I consider you a
friend. Besides, although I am definitely a Colorado resident after all
these years, we Buckeye natives have to hang tight.
And you nailed it; we were interpreting "unused" differently. My assumption
is that there are inter-switch ports that are unused but physically
connected just because of the variations from one lab scenario to another.
And since I wouldn't necessarily want to spend a bunch of time trying to
figure out which ones those might be, it just seems somewhat easier to shut
down all ports and then enable as you configure. I dunno, maybe I'm making
a mountain out of a mole hill on this one?? Truthfully, in my home lab,
it's as simple as modifying the initial config files provided with the
vendor practice labs with an 'interface range fa0/0-8' followed by a 'shut'
(and then the same thing for my single gig port on the 3560-8PCs).
Following that, the ports connecting to routers are enabled one by one in
the initial config file, so I don't have to worry about enabling those
manually. So when I start my lab, I only have to 'no shut' inter-switch
ports as I configured them as trunks or what have you. I always figured I
would manually do this interface range shut in the real lab to be sure there
was nothing going on that wasn't specifically called for in the lab
scenario. I certainly understand the school of thought that says "don't do
anything they don't tell you to." From my perspective, not enabling
unnecessary ports falls within that philosophy, even if paradoxically it
means taking the action to shut the ports, in spite of the fact taht they
didn't tell you to do so!
Cheers,
Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: Guyler, Rik [mailto:rguyler@shp-dayton.org]
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 2:38 PM
To: M_A_Jones@Dell.com; scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com; fchanwh@gmail.com;
ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: shutdown unrelated switch ports
But the original post was about unused ports so that doesn't really
apply. I interpret unused ports to be those ports with no connection
and are down/down even though they may be administratively up. It's
also possible that your scenario has a purposeful speed mismatch to
induce some troubleshooting and you may inadvertantly turn down a port
that doesn't show active and then have to spend more time tracking the
problem down as a result. Maybe we're interpreting the "unused" part of
this differently?
Of course you have to do what you feel most comfortable with. It's
refreshing to know we can agree to disagree on this list without it
becoming a chest thumping contest like it does elsewhere... ;-)
Rik
-----Original Message-----
From: M_A_Jones@Dell.com [mailto:M_A_Jones@Dell.com]
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 4:09 PM
To: scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com; Guyler, Rik; fchanwh@gmail.com;
ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: shutdown unrelated switch ports
I completely agree with you, its like configuring port channels while up
up, it just dosent make sense, Id rather eliminate any other variables
that don't coincide with my tasks.......
That's just me, the less confusion the better.
Especially while debugging....
Michael Jones
Network Engineer
Global Network Operations
Dell Inc. | Information Technology
W. 512.723.3268 | C. 512.966.6908
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Scott Vermillion
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 11:50 AM
To: 'Guyler, Rik'; 'Frederick Chan'; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: shutdown unrelated switch ports
I'm gonna offer a different view on this one guys. Using the interface
range command, shutting ports is not terribly time consuming. I
personally don't want any STP BPDUs or anything else for that matter
flying around my network. In fact, I start each and every practice lab
with every single switchport shut (except the ones that tie to routers)
and then I enable them as I configure. I can't possibly see this as a
measurable impact on your overall time management strategy, and it seems
to me it potentially save you from some confusion (which could impact
your overall time management strategy).
I'm surprised everyone's saying "no" on this one?
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Guyler, Rik
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 7:09 AM
To: Frederick Chan; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: shutdown unrelated switch ports
Why would you take the time to do this if it isn't a requirement? I
can't see any benefit in doing this since an unused port is just
that...unused, so it won't interfere with anything. In production maybe
you would do this (we do in my network) but I wouldn't do this in your
lab.
Rik
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Frederick Chan
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 1:16 AM
To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: shutdown unrelated switch ports
Hi group,
Is it good to shutdown unrelated switch ports in the lab?
Thanks,
FC
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