Cisco Small Business Managed Switches (Linksys Business Series)

There are many reasons why computers behind the switch are getting intermittent connection. It might be caused by the firmware of the switch or redundant links especially if you are cascading switches.

To avoid this ensure that you are using the updated firmware for the SRW224P. For instructions on how to upgrade the firmware of the switch click here.

Ensure as well proper connections and status of the switch LED lights, for instructions click here.

If have done the firmware upgrade for the switch, check bandwidth requirements of the network. If the bandwidth requirements are enough to cater the network setup, try to configure Spanning Tree in the SRW224P to eliminate redundant links.

The Spanning Tree Algorithm (STA) can be used to detect and disable network loops, and to provide backup links between switches, bridges or routers. This allows the switch to interact with other bridging devices (that is, an STA-compliant switch, bridge or router) in your network to ensure that only one route exists between any two stations on the network, and provide backup links which automatically take over when a primary link goes down.

The Spanning Tree tab includes links to the following screens.

- Information
- Configuration
- Port Info
- LAG Info
- Port Conf
- LAG Conf

Information

You can display a summary of the current bridge STA information that applies to the entire switch using the Information screen.

This screen displays the following information.

Spanning Tree State - Shows if the switch is enabled to participate in an STA-compliant network.

Designated Root - The priority and MAC address of the device in the Spanning Tree that this switch has accepted as the root device.

Bridge ID - A unique identifier for this bridge, consisting of the bridge priority and MAC address (where the address is taken from the switch system).

Root Port -The number of the port on this switch that is closest to the root. This switch communicates with the root device through this port. If there is no root port, then this switch has been accepted as the root device of the Spanning Tree network.

Max Age - The maximum time (in seconds) a device can wait without receiving a configuration message before attempting to reconfigure. All device ports (except for designated ports) should receive configuration messages at regular intervals. Any port those ages out STA information (provided in the last configuration message) becomes the designated port for the attached LAN. If it is a root port, a new root port is selected from among the device ports attached to the network. (References to "ports" in this section mean "interfaces," which includes both ports and lags.)

Root Path Cost - The path cost from the root port on this switch to the root device.

Hello Time - Interval (in seconds) at which this device transmits a configuration message.

Configuration Changes - The number of times the Spanning Tree has been reconfigured.

Forward Delay - The maximum time (in seconds) the root device will wait before changing states (i.e., discarding to learning to forwarding). This delay is required because every device must receive information about topology changes before it starts to forward frames. In addition, each port needs time to listen for conflicting information that would make it return to a discarding state; otherwise, temporary data loops might result.

Last Topology Change - Time since the Spanning Tree was last reconfigured.

Configuration

Step 1:
Configure the global settings for STA using this screen. Global settings apply to the entire switch.

Step 2:
Modify the required attributes for STA.

Step 3:
Click Submit to save the changes.

Port/LAG Info

The Port Information and LAG Information screens display the current status of ports and lags in the Spanning Tree.

Port/LAG Conf

Step 3:
You can configure RSTP attributes for specific interfaces, including port priority, path cost, link type, and edge port. You may use a different priority or path cost for ports of the same media type to indicate the preferred path, link type to indicate a point-to-point connection or shared-media connection, and edge port to indicate if the attached device can support fast forwarding. (References to "ports" in this section means "interfaces," which includes both ports and lags.)

Step 4:
Modify the required attributes.

Step 5:
Click Submit to save the changes.