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%C4K_EBM-4-HOSTFLAPPING
Aug 26th
This means loop!
A coworker came to me with an issue today. He asked if I’d ever seen this before and showed me:
.Aug 25 22:44:29 UTC: %C4K_EBM-4-HOSTFLAPPING: Host 00:00:85:DE:15:61 in vlan 54 is flapping between port Gi2/4 and port Gi2/2 .Aug 25 22:44:59 UTC: %C4K_EBM-4-HOSTFLAPPING: Host 00:00:85:DE:15:61 in vlan 54 is flapping between port Gi2/4 and port Gi2/2 .Aug 25 22:47:42 UTC: %C4K_EBM-4-HOSTFLAPPING: Host 00:00:85:DE:15:61 in vlan 54 is flapping between port Gi2/4 and port Gi2/2 |
I said “it means there’s a loop, give me the switch IP”. Then I began the mission of tracking down the loop. This was a pretty large site, but luckily I only had to go through a couple switches. Unfortunately this happened a couple hours ago and I didn’t save my work so we won’t be able to go through the real steps.
To track down a loop, you start with the “show mac-address-table address [flapping mac]” command:
SW1#sh mac-add add 0000.85de.1561
Unicast Entries
vlan mac address type protocols port
-------+---------------+--------+---------------------+--------------------
1 0000.85de.1561 dynamic ip GigabitEthernet2/2
54 0000.85de.1561 dynamic ip GigabitEthernet2/4 |
We see that the MAC is coming in on port gi2/2 and gi2/4. One port will lead us to where that MAC is plugged in and the other will lead us to the loop. Pick a port and start working through. This is where CDP comes in handy:
HSRP Tutorial
Aug 21st
Today’s topic is HSRP (Hot Standby Routing Protocol). HSRP is a Cisco proprietary “First Hop Redundancy Protocol”. It is typically used for redundancy at the first hop from a client segment. It is used with two or more routers in a group who share a virtual IP address. One router is active at a given time and will reply to ARP requests. In this example, we have R1 and R2 in standby group 100 with a virtual IP of 192.168.100.1. This IP will be the default gateway for all hosts in VLAN 100. Here is the topology:

This is a basic topology, both R1 and R2 have connections to the internet. They are running HSRP on their FastEthernet 0/0 interfaces. Here’s the basic HSRP config:
R1(config)#interface fa0/0 R1(config-if)#ip address 192.168.100.2 255.255.255.0 R1(config-if)#standby 100 ip 192.168.100.1 R2(config)#interface fa0/0 R2(config-if)#ip address 192.168.100.3 255.255.255.0 R2(config-if)#standby 100 ip 192.168.100.1 |
Very simple so far. We use the “standby [0-255] ip [virtual ip address]” command.
Let’s verify the config:
IOS Macros
Aug 16th
Here’s another short (but hopefully useful) post. We’ll be going through IOS Macros.
I’ve never used IOS Macros before, but I was asked about a problem today, and a macro seems to be an ideal solution. A friend of mine is an engineer for a service provider with a very large network. He has been tasked with implementing passive interfaces as the default for OSPF across the network. Most of the devices which will be modified rely on OSPF for management connectivity. When he runs the “passive-interface default” command, he will lose connectivity before he is able to run “no passive-interface [interface]” to restore connectivity. Macros tell the router to run the predetermined commands for us, which will save us from getting locked out.
The topology is simple and not worth a diagram. R1 and R2 are connected via their FastEthernet0/0 interfaces. They are running OSPF on this interface.
Secondary IP Addresses
Jul 25th
This is going to be a short post. I feel guilty for neglecting my blog (stupid ITIL), so I’m throwing this one together real quick.
There was a thread on Tech Exams recently, the poster was trying to figure out how to connect two subnets to a single Ethernet interface on a router. This was due to changing the address scheme within his company. Here’s what it looked like:

Very simple topology. The PC is part of the new address scheme and the printer is using a static IP from the old scheme. One of the easiest solutions here is to use a secondary IP on the Fa0/0 interface of R1. Here’s how it works:
EDGE(config)#int fa0/0 EDGE(config-if)#ip add 192.168.10.1 255.255.255.0 EDGE(config-if)#ip add 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0 secondary |
Very simple commands. Let’s verify:
interface FastEthernet0/0 ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0 secondary ip address 192.168.10.1 255.255.255.0 |
It worked, the interface now has two IPs. Now we would just configure the IPs on the hosts (or DHCP server) using the proper subnet and gateway. Once the hosts are configured, everything will work as desired.
Spanning VLANs Across the WAN
Jun 29th
A thread on Networking Forum led to some interesting conversation and a little mini-lab on my part. If you’re interesting in seeing a use for AToM in the real world, check out the thread.
This is the topology I ended up with:

To summarize, basically we ran a GRE tunnel across the WAN, then LDP and an xconnect across that. It was pretty fun to play with. So if you’re interested, check out the thread.
OSPF Summarization
Jun 18th
This post is about OSPF Summarization. We’ll be using a familiar topology and going over two ways to summarize with OSPF.
There are two conventional ways to summarize networks in OSPF, we can use the “area range” command and the “summary-address” command. “Area range” is used on the ABR to summarize networks between areas. The “summary-address” command is used on the ASBR to summarize external networks.
Here’s the topology:

I’m not going through the basic OSPF config, so assume everything is configured as the diagram suggests. On R1 I’ve added Lo11-14 and used “ospf 100 area 0″ under the respective interfaces. On R2 I’ve added Lo15-18 and used “redistribute connected subnets”. Let’s look at the RIBs on a couple routers:
First we’ll check out “sh ip route” on R1:
R1#sh ip route
...
1.0.0.0/32 is subnetted, 1 subnets
C 1.1.1.1 is directly connected, Loopback0
2.0.0.0/32 is subnetted, 1 subnets
O E2 2.2.2.2 [110/20] via 10.1.123.2, 01:13:32, FastEthernet0/0
3.0.0.0/32 is subnetted, 1 subnets
O E2 3.3.3.3 [110/20] via 10.1.123.3, 01:12:38, FastEthernet0/0
4.0.0.0/32 is subnetted, 1 subnets
O E2 4.4.4.4 [110/20] via 10.1.123.3, 01:03:47, FastEthernet0/0
172.30.0.0/24 is subnetted, 4 subnets
O E2 172.30.6.0 [110/20] via 10.1.123.2, 00:06:11, FastEthernet0/0
O E2 172.30.7.0 [110/20] via 10.1.123.2, 00:06:11, FastEthernet0/0
O E2 172.30.5.0 [110/20] via 10.1.123.2, 00:06:11, FastEthernet0/0
O E2 172.30.8.0 [110/20] via 10.1.123.2, 00:06:11, FastEthernet0/0
C 192.168.4.0/24 is directly connected, Loopback14
10.0.0.0/24 is subnetted, 2 subnets
O IA 10.1.34.0 [110/74] via 10.1.123.3, 01:12:39, FastEthernet0/0
C 10.1.123.0 is directly connected, FastEthernet0/0
C 192.168.1.0/24 is directly connected, Loopback11
C 192.168.2.0/24 is directly connected, Loopback12
C 192.168.3.0/24 is directly connected, Loopback13 |
Lots of routes here. The ones to note are the 172s showing as External Type 2, which are R2′s loopbacks. Also notice our connected loopbacks.
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