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Q: Is 10/100 Mbps auto-negotiation the same as Plug-n-Play?
No. The RJ-45 ports on the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 are configured as "Auto". That is, when connecting to attached devices, the switch will operate in one of two ways to determine the link speed and the communication mode (half duplex or full duplex):
- if the connected device is also configured to Auto, the switch will automatically negotiate both link speed and communication mode
- if the connected device has a fixed configuration, for example 100 Mbps, at half or full duplex, the switch will automatically sense the link speed, but will default to a communication of half duplex
(For Gigabit Ethernet over fiber optic auto-negotiation, please see the FAQ "Is auto-negotiation for Gigabit Ethernet over fiber optic the same as Plug-n-Play?")
Because the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 behave in this way in compliance with the IEEE 802.3u standard, if a device connected to the RJ-45 port of the switch has a fixed configuration at full duplex, the device will not connect correctly to the switch. The result will be high error rates and very inefficient communications between the switch and the device.
Make sure that all devices connected to the RJ-45 ports on the Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 are configured to auto negotiate, or are configured to connect at half duplex (all hubs are configured this way, for example).
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Q: Is auto-negotiation for Gigabit Ethernet over fiber optic the same as Plug-n-Play?
No. By the time the IEEE issued the 802.3z specification, they knew about the 10/100 Mbps auto-negotiation problem (please see the FAQ "Is 10/100Mbps auto-negotiation the same as Plug-n-Play?").
To prevent it, 802.3z auto-negotiation requires that, if one side of a connection is configured to auto-negotiate, the other side must also auto-negotiate if the connection is to come up. In other words, if a switch is configured to auto-negotiate and its attached end node is configured to, say, 1000 Mbps/full-duplex, the 803.2z spec requires that the switch NOT allow the link to come up
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Q: How does the HP Auto-MDIX feature work? Do the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 support this feature?
The switch automatically detects the signaling on the cable from the connected device and operates as either an MDI or MDIX port. As a result, a "straight-through" twisted-pair cable can be used; you no longer have to use "crossover" cables, although "crossover" cables can also be used for any of the connections. Both the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 support the HP Auto-MDIX feature.
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Q: What type of twisted pair cables and lengths can I use with the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108?
The following types and lengths of cables can be used:
- For ports operating at 10 Mbps, the maximum length is 100 meters using category 3, 4, or 5, 100 ohm differential unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) or shielded twisted-pair (STP) cable.
- For ports operating at 100 Mbps, the maximum length is 100 meters using category 5, 100 ohm differential UTP or STP cable.
- For ports operating at 1000 Mbps, the maximum length is 100 meters using category 5E or better, 100 ohm differential UTP or STP cable.
Note: Since the 10Base-T operation is through 10/100/1000Base-T ports, if you ever want to upgrade the ports to 100Base-TX, it would be best to cable the ports initially with category 5 cable. For 1000Base-T, category 5E, or better, cable should be used.
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Q: Why does my HP ProCurve Switch 2650 or Switch 6108 not automatically reboot after I TFTP new software to it?
For greater control and flexibility, the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 will not automatically reboot when you TFTP new software to either the primary or secondary flash. Use the command boot system flash <primary/secondary> to boot the switch up with the new switch software.
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Q: Why does my HP ProCurve Switch 2650 or Switch 6108 boot into the primary flash image after I lose power to the switch?
Primary flash is the default storage location for the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108. Following a switch reset (button on front brow) or loss of power, the switch will boot from this default storage location.
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Q: Why can't I TFTP or XMODEM software into the secondary flash image using the menu interface on the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108?
As the default user interface on the switch, the Command Line Interface (CLI) provides access to all configurable features on the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108. The menu interface supports TFTP and XMODEM to primary flash only.
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Q: How do I know what version of software I am currently running on my HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108? How do I get information about the contents of the flash images?
To determine version information about the software the switch is currently running, use the show version command from the CLI. To get information about the contents of flash and current boot image, use the show flash command from the CLI.
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Q: Where can I find feature comparison information about the HP ProCurve Switch 2650, Switch 6108, and other HP ProCurve Switches?
The latest edition of the HP ProCurve Software Features matrix is available in PDF format and can be downloaded at http://www.hp.com/go/hpprocurve (click on software). This document shows the minimum version of software required for each major feature supported on each product.
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Q: What mini-GBICs are supported in the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 uplinks? Are the supported mini-GBICs "hot-swappable"?
The following mini-GBICs are supported on the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108:
- ProCurve Networking by HP Gigabit SX-LC mini-GBIC (J4858A)
- ProCurve Networking by HP Gigabit LX-LC mini-GBIC (J4859A)
- ProCurve Networking by HP Gigabit LH-LC mini-GBIC (J4860A)
These supported mini-GBICs are hot-swappable, but please remove the fiber-optic cable prior to removing the mini-GBIC from the switch. All HP supported mini-GBICs have LC connectors. If you currently have SC-connector patch panels, a different patch-cable (LC-SC) might be required.
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Q: When I start a console session on my new HP ProCurve Switch 2650 or Switch 6108, I get the prompt "HP ProCurve Switch 2650#" or "HP ProCurve Switch 6108#", respectively. How do I access the menu interface?
The default interface for the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 is the Command Line Interface (CLI). The CLI is a full-featured interface that can be used to get status information (show commands) and perform configuration changes (configuration context). To access the menu interface, issue the command "menu" from the CLI. Also, using the "setup" command from the CLI or menu interface allows you to configure most of the basic options on the switch such as IP addressing and passwords.
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Q: What routing functionality exists on the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108?
Here is a summary of Layer 3 features on the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108:
- IP Static Routes
- IRDP
- DHCP Relay
- Multi-netting
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Q: How many static routes do the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 support?
The HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 support up to 16 static routes.
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Q: Can I route traffic on a VLAN that gets its IP address from DHCP?
No. The user is prohibited from changing an interface to DHCP if a static route is using that interface. Conversely, the user is prohibited from adding a static route to an interface that has a DHCP IP address.
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Q: With routing enabled, is the default gateway used to route traffic?
No. The default gateway on the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 is used when the products are configured as Layer 2 switches and the traffic is destined off-subnet. When routing is enabled, the default gateway is not used, and will not be displayed when using the "show ip" command from the Command Line Interface (CLI).
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Q: With routing enabled on the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108, how can I prohibit a VLAN from routing traffic?
With routing enabled on the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108, any VLAN that has an IP address configured will be a routed VLAN. If you do not wish to have traffic routed on a particular VLAN, do not configure an IP address on that VLAN.
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Q: Can I configure multiple IP addresses on the same VLAN?
Yes. The number of IP addresses you can configure on an individual VLAN interface is 8.
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Q: How can I optimize routing performance on the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108?
Note: In the following discussion, route summarization is the grouping of multiple smaller subnets into a single larger one. In other words, it is the collapse of multiple routes with a long mask to form another route with a shorter mask.
The HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 have a network route table with 16 entries and a host route table with 128 entries.
The network route table gets populated by the static routes configured in the switch (up to 16 static routes).
The information in the host route table consists of a packets' destination IP address and the next hop MAC address.
The host route table gets populated in one of the two ways described below. The aging time of the entries is 20 seconds.
- When using the default network route.
Example:
ip route 0.0.0.0/0 10.10.1.253
- When route summarization is NOT used.
Example:
ip route 10.29.0.0/16 10.10.1.252
ip route 10.30.0.0/16 10.10.1.252
Notice how in example "b" there is a static route for each subnet, although these routes could be collapsed to form a single route with a shorter mask as shown in example "c" below (summarization).
The host route table does not get populated if full summarization is used.
- Example with summarization:
ip route 10.0.0.0/8 10.10.1.252
To optimize routing performance, HP recommends that you configure summarized static routes to frequently accessed subnets rather than relying on the default network route alone. The adoption of this practice will keep the host route table at or below 128 entries.
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Q: When I connected my new HP ProCurve Switch 2650 or Switch 6108 to my HP ProCurve Switch 4000m using a Gigabit-SX or Gigabit-LX connection, the link did not come up. Why?
The ProCurve Networking by HP Gigabit-SX and Gigabit-LX modules used in the HP ProCurve Switch 4000m, 8000m, 1600m, 2424m, and 2400m are set by factory-default to "1000 Fdx" whereas the factory-default setting for the ProCurve Networking by HP Gigabit SX-LC and LX-LC mini-GBIC used in the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 is "Auto". The configuration must be set to match on both ends to provide Gigabit connectivity.
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Q: How can I troubleshoot problems when my Apple devices (iMac, PowerMac, MacII, etc.) cannot access the network through my ProCurve Networking by HP switch?
Refer to "Troubleshooting ProCurve Networking by HP-Apple Setups" in the ProCurve Networking by HP Information Library
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Q: What do the following event log messages on my HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108 mean?
"IP host route table is nearing max capacity"
"Unable to learn HW IP host routes, table FULL"
Please see the FAQ "Q: How can I optimize routing performance on the HP ProCurve Switch 2650 and Switch 6108?"
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Q: Why does the switch web agent become unresponsive when my web browser uses Sun's Java Virtual Machine (JVM) 1.3 or 1.4?
The HP Procurve web browser interface supports the following combinations of browsers and virtual machines:
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