Conference 7.286::fddi

1750.0. "DECconcentrator500 and CISCO DAS cards" by GIDDAY::POPPINS () Wed Jul 19 1995 04:43

    
            DECconcentrator 500 and CISCO
    
    Hi all,
            a customer of our's has a configuration of a FDDI ring with
    some of our gear and some of CISCO's, let me give a brief idea of the
    configuration and the problem and then some questions.
    
    
            The ring has five devices in the dual-ring.
    
            1) DECconcentrator 500  FDDI-1
            2) DECconcentrator 500  FDDI-2
            3) DECconcentrator 500  FDDI-3
            4) CISCO 7000 with a FDDI Interface Processor
            5) Catalyst (CISCO) WS-C1202 FDDI DAS to ethernet
    
    On the DECconcentrators there are a number of COMPAQ PROLIANT 200 5/66
    file servers. These have CISCO EISA-FDDI DAS cards installed (I dont know 
    a model number at this stage). FDDI-2 and FDDI-3 are currently running
    V3.4A the FDDI-1 is running and older version, I have asked the customer 
    to do this upgrade as soon as possible.
    
    
    PROBLEM: The problem is that with the COMPAQ in dual-homing mode, 
    connected between FDDI-2 and FDDI-3, the LEDs in the backup leg connected 
    to the DECconcentrator 500 do not show the blinking red/green status. Most 
    times the backup port shows a blinking Green indication (connection in 
    progress) and sometimes they get a blinking red/green status, which is the 
    correct status. There is NO problem functionally, the backup path comes 
    into operation if the primary fails, it is just the status which is wrong.
    
    Questions:
    1) Has anyone seen this configuration espically the CISCO DAS cards
    connected dual-homed on the DECconcentrator 500's and did the status
    LED's on the DECconcentrator's show the correct status all the time?
    2) Will the problem go away when the the third DECconcentrator is
    upgraded to version 3.4A?
    3) I assume the Digital EISA-FDDI DAS card will work and get the correct
    flashing LED pattern is this true?
    
    thanks in advance
    Chris Poppins
    CSC- System Support Engineer
                  

Chris,

I won't go into the details here, but yes, the issue of inaccurate LED
indicators has been seen before, and it will NOT be fixed.  The short answer
is that the DEFCN was designed to an earlier version of the FDDI RFC.  To
"fix" the LEDs would require that we update the firmware to compliance with
the new RFC and that is more effort than can be justified.  Incidentally,
you are correct that the issue is OBNLY with the LEDs.  The box functions
correctly and in-band management will report the correct port status.

/mj

    >>3) I assume the Digital EISA-FDDI DAS card will work and get the correct
    >>flashing LED pattern is this true?
    
    The DEFEA-DA does flash red-green to indicate the standby connection
    (port A) on a dual-homing configuration.  The primary (active)
    connection (port B) would be solid green.  If the primary port goes
    down, its LED would be blinking green and the standby connection would
    go to solid green.
    
    The DEFPA cards follow the same LED sequencing as the DEFEA's, except
    rather than use the color red, we opted for amber.
    
    The DEFEA/DEFPA LED sequences is documented in the owner's manuals:
    
    	KALI::PCDRIVERS:[DEFEA.DOCS]DEFEA-OM.PS
    	KALI::PCDRIVERS:[DEFPA.DOCS]DEFPA-OM.PS
    
       - Larry
             

    I have a case where in a dual homing configuration with a
    Gigaswitch/FDDI, the A port on the concentrator is flashing red/green, 
    then switches to blinking red for quite some time, and then come back 
    to red/green.
    
    	Has this been seen before ?
    
    Walter.

        Which ports are connected where?  (I'm guessing that you have
    GIGAswitch/FDDI M ports connected to some type of DEC concentrator A/B
    ports, is this true?)  What type of line cards are being used, and what
    rev of firmware on each end?
    
    MDL

    FGL-2 A/B connected to M port on two different concentrators; rev on FGL-2 
    is 2.2; rev of concentrator is 3.1 (yes I hear you !!! upgrade .....).
    
    Walter.