AT-S41 Version 1.1.7C Management Software for the AT-8326GB and AT-8350GB Series Fast Ethernet Switches. Software Release Notes

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1 AT-S41 Version 1.1.7C Management Software for the AT-8326GB and AT-8350GB Series Fast Ethernet Switches Software Release Notes Please read this document before you begin to use the AT-S41 management software. Supported Platforms AT-S41 Version 1.1.7C management software is supported on the following Allied Telesyn Fast Ethernet switches: AT-8326GB AT-8350GB Product Documentation For hardware installation instructions, refer to the following guides: AT-8326GB Installation Guide (PN ) AT-8350GB Installation Guide (PN ) For management instructions, refer to the following guides: AT-S41 Management Software User s Guide for the AT-8326GB Fast Ethernet Switch (PN ) AT-S41 Management Software User s Guide for the AT-8350GB Fast Ethernet Switch (PN ) The installation guides are provided on the documentation CDs included with the products. The user guides are available from the Allied Telesyn web site at 1 Allied Telesyn, Inc.

2 AT-S41 Version 1.1.7C Note: No new features were added to this release. Resolved Issues The following items were resolved in AT-S41 V1.1.7C software. You could not download or upload files using the web browser interface if the switch s IP address contained 255. (Reference Customer # ) In some situations, broadcast packets received on a port trunk were retransmitted out the same trunk. (Reference Customer # ) The switch would stop forwarding traffic if you used the -sv (version detection) or -A flag of the Nmap (Network Mapper) utility to probe the device. (Reference Customer # ) AT-S41 Version New Features In previous software versions, upgrading the management software on the AT-8326GB and AT-8350GB switches in a stack required taking the stack apart and upgrading each unit individually. This software release resolves this issue for future upgrades. Once you have upgraded the switches of a stack with this release, you can accomplish future upgrades by downloading the new management software onto just the master switch. The master switch will automatically push the new software down to the slave modules in the stack. (Reference Customer # ) Resolved Issues The AT-8326GB and AT-8350GB switches would occasionally generate a "TX DMA error." The error would result in the lose of IP connectivity and the switch would eventually stop forwarding traffic. (Reference Customer # ) The AT-8326GB and AT-8350GB switches would respond to IP RIP v2 packets by generating ARP traffic on all ports. The extra broadcast traffic would flood the network and cause degradation of network performance. (Reference Customer # ) The switches would not return the correct subnet mask when queried via SNMP. (Reference Customer # ) The backup IP option would pass the IP address but not the subnet mask or gateway address from a master switch of a stack to the first slave switch when the master was taken off-line. In this release, all three items are downloaded from the master switch to the first slave switch. (Reference Customer #'s and ) 2 Allied Telesyn, Inc.

3 In AT-S41 Version 1.1.5a, remote management of the switch was possible only from remote workstations that communicated with the device through the Default VLAN (VID 1). In this release, the switch allows remote management from any VLAN. However, you can configure the management software to only allow remote management via the Default VLAN for added security. (Reference Customer # ) The AT-8326GB and AT-8350GB switches would not respond to an "iflastchange" SNMP request. (Reference Customer # ) The convergence process of the spanning tree protocol would periodically fail in some network topologies during the election of a new root bridge. This could result in a network loop. (Reference Customer # ) The switch would send out ARP requests when attempting to reach a device outside its subnet even when its default gateway address was set to the default value This did not affect the operations of the switch, but did add unnecessary traffic to the network. (Reference Customer #106695) An SNMP Get operation on the MIB object OperStatus would return an incorrect value. (Reference Customer #104702) Operational Notes A configuration file contains only those switch parameter settings that have been changed from their default values. Consequently, downloading a configuration file onto a switch whose settings have already been adjusted can result in a merging of configurations, where the new configuration changes some, but not necessarily all, of the existing configuration. This may not always be desirable. To avoid this problem, it is recommended that you first return a switch to its factory default settings prior to downloading a new configuration file. The switches do not support port trunking of Gigabit Ethernet ports in a slave switch. However, port trunking of Gigabit Ethernet ports is supported on a master switch. The auto-mdi/mdix feature on a switch port is operable only when the port is using Auto- Negotiation to set speed and duplex mode. If a port s speed and duplex mode are set manually, the auto-mdi/mdix feature is disabled and the port s wiring configuration is set to MDI-X. This may require the use of a cross-over cable when connecting an end node to the port. If you manually configure a switch port to 100 Mbps, full-duplex, but the end node is operating at only 10 Mbps, the link LED on the switch port will be off, but the link LED on the end node might be on, erroneously indicating a valid link. To resolve the issue, always be sure to configure a switch port to the same speed and duplex mode as its end node, or configure the port to use Auto-Negotiation. The Port Based VLAN mode described in pages 106 to 111 of the AT-S41 User s Guide is not supported and has been removed from the software. 3 Allied Telesyn, Inc.

4 A dynamic MAC address learned on a tagged port will remain in the forwarding database until aged out by the aging timer, even when the port on which the address was learned is changed from tagged to untagged, the port is moved to another VLAN, or the VLAN containing the port is deleted. This means a port that was a tagged member of a VLAN may continue to forward tagged packets to a destination address in a VLAN to which the port is no longer a member. Once the address has timed out, the port stops forwarding the packets. The aging timer has a default value of 300 seconds. Allied Telesyn strongly recommends periodically backing up a switch's configuration via TFTP or Xmodem (Local Management session only) to an external file. The file can be used to restore a switch's configuration if the configuration is lost or you want to return a switch to an earlier configuration. Allied Telesyn recommends that all switches in a stack have the same version of the AT-S41 management software. With versions of AT-S41 software previous to Version 1.1.6, updating stack software required removing each switch from the stack, updating it as a standalone unit, and then adding it back to the stack. The master switch and first slave switch in a stack with both AT-8326GB and AT-8350GB switches should be AT-8326GB switches. AT-8350GB switches should come after any AT-8326GB switches in a stack. IGMP snooping might take up to twice the host/router age time to time out a host node that has stopped sending reports. A port trunk can contain up to four 10/100 Mbps ports. The default setting for priority weight of 1:0 (high:low) cannot be changed. Packets in the low priority queue are forwarded only when the high priority queue is empty. If you are unable to establish a remote management session with a switch and you see a TXDMA error message on your console, turn on the broadcast storm control feature on the switch. If you need to replace the master switch in a stack, note the following: - You must save the stack s current configuration to a TFTP server before removing the master switch. You must restore the configuration once the new master switch has been installed. - You must power down the entire stack before removing a master switch. - Prior to installing a new master switch in the stack, run it as an standalone switch and check to be sure that it has the most recent software. If it does not, upgrade it as necessary. - Once you have installed the new master switch in the stack, power up the stack and assign the master switch an IP address and subnet mask or activate DHCP. - Once the new master is installed and an IP address has been assigned, download the stack s configuration from the configuration file saved to the TFTP server. 4 Allied Telesyn, Inc.

5 If you need to replace a slave switch in a stack, note the following: - You should save the stack s current configuration to a TFTP server before removing the slave switch. You can use the file to restore the stack s configuration should it be lost when the new slave switch is installed. - You must power down the entire stack before removing a slave switch. - Prior to installing the new slave switch in the stack, you should run it as an standalone switch and check to be sure that it has the save version of software as the master switch in the stack. If it does not, upgrade it as necessary. - If the slave switch will function as a backup IP switch, you must assign it the subnet mask and, if appropriate, a gateway address before adding it to the stack. - Once you have installed the new slave switch in the stack, power up the stack and check the stack configuration settings. If necessary, restore the configuration settings using the configuration file you saved to the TFTP server.switch. Continuous probing of the Telnet or web port on an AT-8326GB or AT-8350GB switch would cause the switch to stop forwarding traffic in less than 4 hours. This issue has been partially resolved. The condition now takes more than 24 hours before traffic stops. Firmware will be released in the future when this issue is fully resolved. (Reference Customer #'s , , ) The switch may fail to learn blocks of MAC addresses if the addresses are consecutively numbered. This can result in low throughput and flooding of traffic. Since consecutively numbered MAC addresses are only likely to be seen in a lab environment and not in a "real world" network, where addresses are random and nonconsecutive, this should not prove to be a problem. Any time you connect an AT-8326GB or AT-8350GB switch into a network configuration where spanning tree protocol is active, you should either disable and then re-enable STP or reboot the switch. This is to insure that the switch generates BPDUs under all conditions. Setting the Broadcast Control to High on an AT-8326GB or AT-8350GB switch has the same effect as disabling Broadcast Control. The Port Statistics Packet counters on the AT-8326GB and AT-8350GB switches increment when packets in the ranges of 1024 to 1536 bytes are received. Any packet greater than 1536 bytes in length is counted as an oversized packet. You can reset port statistics on an AT-8326GB or AT-8350GB switch from a Telnet or Local console session, but not from a web browser session. The Xmodem option is not functional from the Telnet management interface. The option is only functional from the Local management interface. In a stacked configuration, pings to an AT-8326GB or AT-8350GB switch would be significantly slower if the ping was originated from a slave unit rather than the master unit. (Reference Customer # ) 5 Allied Telesyn, Inc.

6 Contacting Allied Telesyn This section provides Allied Telesyn contact information for technical support as well as sales or corporate information. Online Support You can request technical support online by accessing the Allied Telesyn Knowledge Base from the following web site: You can use the Knowledge Base to submit questions to our technical support staff and review answers to previously asked questions. and Telephone Support For Technical Support via or telephone, refer to the Support & Services section of the Allied Telesyn web site: Returning Products Products for return or repair must first be assigned a Return Materials Authorization (RMA) number. A product sent to Allied Telesyn without a RMA number will be returned to the sender at the sender s expense. To obtain a RMA number, contact Allied Telesyn s Technical Support at our web site: For Sales or Corporate Information You can contact Allied Telesyn for sales or corporate information at our web site: To find the contact information for your country, select Contact Us -> Worldwide Contacts. Obtaining Management Software Updates New releases of management software for our managed products can be downloaded from the Allied Telesyn web site: Allied Telesyn, Inc. 960 Stewart Drive, Suite B, Sunnyvale, CA USA Copyright 2003 Allied Telesyn, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from Allied Telesyn, Inc. 6 Allied Telesyn, Inc.