HP 4108GL Problem - Lottery of Death

[MCSDmike]

Ok here is the rundown on the design and setup of my network

(if you want a visio topology map i will be re-creating one in short order)

 

internet

|

Pix---Untangle Filter

|

HP 4108--------(Fiber to 4 other buildings)

| |

| --------------------------------|--------------------------|

Highschool Networked Clients DNS/AD/DHCP MAIL

 

there are subsequent switches below the clients and in the other buildings but for the matter at hand i do not believe they are relevant.

 

what is occurring is that the Main 4108 is electing mac address's at random to block transmittance.

 

the phenomenon manifests it self as a complete loss of network usability, no internet or email. When i ping the 4108 it replies with no route to host. I am able to receive a DHCP assigned address from the server that crosses the switch, I have also tried manual assignments without any modification of the problem. This leads me to believe that it is a mac address issue. if I switch from one interface (assume Ethernet and wireless cards) to the other the machine resumes normal operation. both cards are assigned valid ip addresses at all times. now for the kicker eventually the working interface will get the same problem and simply switching back will return it to normal operation.

 

there is no rhyme or reasoning to the glitch.

 

Any thoughts or comments appreciated.

[teejay]

Is this happening on one particular client, one block of clients or everywhere at random?

It could be a dodgy cable/fibre somewhere as the switch may be set to block a port that is receiving too many errors. You need to look at the logs on the switch and see if there are any patterns.

[MCSDmike]

its globally, except for the building on in which the switch resides.

 

I will be adding a global Topology map for reference.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/Got2xlr8/mcsdtopology.jpg

Edited September 25, 2008 by MCSDmike