how to connect switch to another switch

masteredison

how to connect switch to another switch

this is the configuration:

there is 1 server and 1 switch connected to it then 10 computers connected to that switch

then there is another 1 server and 1 switch connected to it then 10 computers connected to that switch..a total of 4 server, 4 switches and 40 computers

please...help..thnx Y_Y..

all us in the class are confused how to make this design...

/usr

I'm not sure if I fully understand what you are asking here.

Are you simply asking how to connect two switches together to allow all of these devices to talk? If so, you just use a standard patch cable and hook them together.

Fugazi1000

The fact that you are asking on a Cisco CCNA forum, you ought to use the 'official' type of cable which is considered to be a 'crossover' although connecting switches supporting MDI-X with standard patch cables (known as straight-through) will work.


Although your description does not sound like you have 4 switches, and it might not be the best design (more info is required), but connecting switch 1 to switch 2, switch 2 to switch 3, switch 3 to switch 4 and switch 4 to switch 1 will allow everything to communicate with each other, assuming common subnet and no conflicting addresses, and the use of crossover cables. Spanning Tree will come into play and block traffic passing over 1 of the link unless a single switch becomes unavailable.

As I said, perhaps not a really good design, and is unlikely to scale. It also uses a total of 8 physical ports.

HTH

mikej412

What are you currently learning about in class?

At one point you learn about cross-over cables to directly connect "like devices" together and straight through cables to connect "different devices" together (with PCs and Routers being similar type devices, 2 switches are similar type devices, and a router/switch pair or PC/switch connection being different type devices). Is your design exercise to learn about proper cabling?

Are you learning about broadcast storms when you create loops in your network (with bridges)? Have you learned about STP to stop the routing loops, and still have backup redundant links standing by? Is one of your requirements to have backup redundant links while preventing network routing loops?

If your past that and learning about VLANs, then you may need to create trunks between the switches to pass the network traffic between members of the same VLAN on different switches. But if you haven't learned about trunks yet but are using VLANs, you may need at least one link per switch per VLAN to finish your design -- which sets you up for learning about why you want to learn about and use trunks.

If everyone is confused about the design and hasn't figured out what they are supposed to be learning by the exercise, it may be time to ask your instructor for more information or a clear explanation of the learning objective.

mamono

mikej412 wrote:

What are you currently learning about in class?

At one point you learn about cross-over cables to directly connect "like devices" together and straight through cables to connect "different devices" together (with PCs and Routers being similar type devices, 2 switches are similar type devices, and a router/switch pair or PC/switch connection being different type devices). Is your design exercise to learn about proper cabling?

Are you learning about broadcast storms when you create loops in your network (with bridges)? Have you learned about STP to stop the routing loops, and still have backup redundant links standing by? Is one of your requirements to have backup redundant links while preventing network routing loops?

If your past that and learning about VLANs, then you may need to create trunks between the switches to pass the network traffic between members of the same VLAN on different switches. But if you haven't learned about trunks yet but are using VLANs, you may need at least one link per switch per VLAN to finish your design -- which sets you up for learning about why you want to learn about and use trunks.

If everyone is confused about the design and hasn't figured out what they are supposed to be learning by the exercise, it may be time to ask your instructor for more information or a clear explanation of the learning objective.

The crossover cables were probably the answer. masterdison also posted here: http://www.techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39342

masterdison> In future posts, it would be helpful if we knew what the scenario and objective. Limited info just leads to guessing and shots in the dark. Pretty common issue when going out onsite as a consultant without knowing all the facts and information. Very scary, IMHO, as I've gone out onsite a few times like that and I'm sure that everyone has had the wonderful experience of almost having their head chopped off due to not knowing all the facts. The more information and details that are provided, the easier it is. So as a rule of thumbs in the IT world, document everything and be detail oriented. It saves a lot of time and headaches in the long run.

Best of luck with your lab.