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corsiKa
Asked: 2012-05-01 09:58:50 +0800 CST

testing ports on a Nortel Networks switch

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I'm trying to test a number of Nortel Networks BayStack 470-48T switches. I can connect a machine per port, but it's a 48 port switch. I have two machines, and my plan was to plug one in and move the other 'down the line' testing each one as I went with a constant ping. Unfortunately, once a machine has been plugged into one port, the switch won't accept that machine on any other port. How can I make the switch clear its information on disconnect so I can quickly test each port?

testing switch

1 Answers

  1. When your target machine responds to the ping, it's MAC address gets "registered" in the MAC address table of the switch to the port that the ping reply came from. When you move the target machine the switch still believes it to be connected to that port until the MAC address table cache expires. You could do two things to try and get around this:

    1. Establish a telnet session to the CLI of the switch and flush the MAC address table when you move the target machine.

    2. Reverse the test. Run the ping from the target machine to the "stationary" machine.

    As an FYI: Switches populate their MAC address tables by examining the source MAC address of frames, not the destination address.

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