VLAN in Boson netsim

optimus

Hi everyone,

Has anyone used the BOSON Netsim, and set up some VLANs across some switches? I make one switch a server, and the other two clients. Anyway, after setting up 3 VLANs on the server switch, and adding the interfaces to the appropriate VLANs, I then set the other two switches up. Then the other two switches after confgiured get the VLANs from the server switch, but lo and behold, it also configues its own interfaces to the VLANs, the same as on the server switch!!! Does this make any sense? Seems like a bug in the program. Anyone see this before? When I pass CCNA, I will be buy the real equipment. Can't have this.

- Optimus

mikej412

A lot of times with the Boson Simulator you have to save your configurations and then reload (and reconfigure the PCs if you have a version that loses the PC configs).... then it may work.

If you load and use the labs that come with the product (and don't stray too far off the written instructions) it will usually work. If you create your own networks.... a lot of time the results will be inconsistant.

Creating a simple network and loading working configs from real routers does not work a lot of the time.

With VLANs... sometimes it just takes multiple pings before it will work..... or multiple pings until it stops working (seperate vlans with no routing).

You are right -- the other 2 switches should not be assigning their ports to vlans based on the "server switch." The port assignments are per switch and have nothing to do with VTP - which just keeps the VLANS consistant between switches in the VTP Domain.

This could be a "new bug," and if those wrong port assignments show up in the running config, they may be saved and reloaded, so that old "save and reload fix" may not work. Someone else did post once something similar -- thinking if you assign FA0/0 to VLAN 100 on the server switch, all switches in the VTP put FA0/0 into VLAN 100. I guess we now know where they got that idea from.

optimus

Thanks for the info. All I know now is that when I go for the CCNP, I am getting the real stuff. The simulator will be nice to test run things or just do some down and dirty configs really quick, but there is just no time to be haggling over correct configs that don't work right because of simulator bugs. I sit here scratching my head for hours, pulling out the Odum book, the Lammell book, etc. looking for the mistake in my config, when there is none. A sim is good, but not perfect. I already got my eyes on a 2950, hee hee.

- Optimus :P