Network Admin Life - Called in to work because of this?

In this week's video I talk about a problem that knocked a building's network offline after hours. I got called in to work, and tell you what the simple fix ultimately was.

[@Cookie82772]

Just randomly got recommended this. The algorithm smiles upon you.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Good to know. God bless!

[@piotrgraczyk786]

Same here !

[@spaphy]

I'm thankful jobs like this still exist.I'm a young guy and the amount of garbage I have to climb over in devops and software is obnoxious. These videos remind me of my sysadmin days. If I encountered this back in my sysadmin days my IT Director would have me updating every switch to have that auto-on disabled configured in the post mortem.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

And THAT is why I tell our CIO very LITTLE about what the fixes actually are. I generally don't like to "fix" links that are not broken. God bless!

[@P8860]

Thanks for these videos. You actually walking us through the steps on how to troubleshoot is great learning material for students like me who are getting into this networking field. God Bless!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Glad to help! Best of luck in your studies! God bless you as well!

[@vladislavkaras491]

Well, darn, I studied it, but completely forgot about it! Thanks for the video!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Yeah, as time has gone on and I've checked my notes since this video, it has definitely happened to me before! Dang this old brain! God bless!

[@OmarYaShamar]

I typed in Network Admin and your channel popped up! I'm glad to be here. I serve the same King as you do! 🙏 I just started in a Network Engineering program and one of the first labs I had was lldp neighbors, auto and manual duplex settings. It immediately made me think of your video. I was excited to know just a little bit about what the lesson was talking about. Look fwd to more of your videos.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Thank you so much! Welcome to the channel. God bless!

[@PostalBound]

Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge. I have a new job managing an Extreme Networks environment while also on a personal journey coming to terms with faith. I really don't know much about either one but honestly seek answers. I find it curious that my searching led me to the one channel covering both topics. Not a coincidence. God bless.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Could it be time to stop and ask what it is God is trying to show you? Enjoy the journey brother! To God alone be the glory. God bless!

[@leasj2012]

I've been studying for my CCNA. Really enjoy watching your vids. Keep it up!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Awesome! Thank you! Best of luck and God bless!

[@theNeWo1]

Cheers, I have 2 switches from different vendors, sfp+ in one switch will not come up on the other switch, but looping each switch on itself with the same cable allows the link to go up. Was speaking with sfp vendor without help, this may be my resolution. This video has probably helped me in its first hour of being live.

[@theNeWo1]

Yep, just checked my switch, I had to set the speed and duplex on a sfp+ port with ten gigabit module. Never had to do this in the past, would have never thought of trying this. Thanks.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Imagine that! Glad it helped you. God bless!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I actually have had to do this before... but I forgot about it. On my switch it was due to licensing the first time. This switch does not have the license applied so still not sure why I had to do this. God bless!

[@jeremyoglesby2141]

I had almost the exact same issue between a Cisco and Juniper switch. Link was up on one side and down on the other, had to statically set the speed and duplex to get the link up. Great content as always, thanks for sharing.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I guess we are not alone in our link negotiation troubles. God bless!

[@Capriceii]

I too have come across this issue a couple times over my last 2 1/2 decades of networking. Works one day, need reconfigured the next. Really think this is an OS bug, but it is easily enough fixed. Set your speed and duplex settings between switches and only leave auto for the client nodes.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Thanks for sharing, God bless!

[@shakmic]

Amen! Thanks for you time and videos

[@NetworkAdminLife]

You are so welcome! God bless!

[@jfkastner]

Could have been some automatic firmware / license check or update ...Insane ...BUT that they found it quickly either means it happens a lot - or those Guys scan their logfiles for those events. Thanks for Sharing!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I'm suspecting another firmware bug... er... I mean... feature! I've actually seen this behavior before but completely forgot about it. Adding it to my notes... again! God bless!

[@nightwing09x]

Bless you man, thanks for the content!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

You're welcome. God bless you too!

[@corstian_]

I’ve had the same issue with a Cisco nexus on one side, and a fortiswitch on the other side. Duplex and speed was on auto, but to get the link active we had to set the duplex and speed manually. Very weird issue indeed

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Glad I'm not the only one to see this. The weird thing is; it was working one day, and not the next. Crazy network hardware. God bless!

[@vikrambhatia7421]

Thanks for giving practical experience of network engineer life. Sir, I m learning networking and want to request you to create full networking course on KZbin.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I would be the absolute worst teacher for networking. I learned everything as I went along and I don't even know what I don't know. I appreciate the compliment. God bless!

[@PDMCGEEJR]

i knew the answer the moment i seen your problem lol. i immediately thought speed/dup to look at. I did network engineering for 5 years and mainly used cisco switches and seen that before on a switch same issue; even had an issue with a cloud-managed switch recently for a different brand which it came down to speed/dup.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I know a lot of network guys would spot the problem immediately. God bless!

[@ux7188]

God bless you brother

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Thank you, God bless you as well!

[@wiziek]

Isn't auto-duplex or auto speed a must for any speed over 1gb, according to rfc or other standard?

[@NetworkAdminLife]

That's why I didn't set speed and duplex initially. Never needed to on this particular uplink. But... well... you saw the video. God bless!

[@user-ml5qi4sk5q]

I was curious as to what software you are using in this video on the laptop. Thanks

[@NetworkAdminLife]

You're in luck. There is a video that answers your question. God bless! kzbin.info/www/bejne/aoeWlKJmjNJ3ftU

[@gueroloco8687]

So are you saying the switch cannot be run in Auto for the duplex mode? That is strange, but I did see this with a Dell N2048P switch once where the switch would not auto negotiate the speed down to 10Mbps. Very cool video, God Bless you Brother and keep up the good work!

[@NetworkAdminLife]

That's the thing; it CAN be run that way. It was running that way the day before. But whatever fixes the issue... God bless!

[@yihadsamir1368]

so if for ever reason one of the port is damage you need to purchase the licence for the good ones? But how do you know that they are not licensed any error?

[@NetworkAdminLife]

These switches come with 2 licensed 10G ports, and 2 unlicensed. You can determine the licensing status by doing a show license. God bless!

[@johng.1703]

I've a similar behaviour with copper connections where one side is set to auto and the other is set to a specific speed and duplex.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I have a bunch of medical devices that, even though they are relatively new (5 years old or so) they will not auto negotiate and I have to manually set speed and duplex on the copper connections to 100-Full before they will communicate. Medical companies using old network hardware and software stacks in their NICs. I guess because they are proven. God bless!

[@johng.1703]

@@NetworkAdminLifethe funny thing is, they can work for ages without problem or issues, then just drop off the network. when there is that mixed fixed / auto negotiation going on. especially when one side is set to a slower speed than the connection can support. like 100 mbs on gigabit equipment.

[@webluke]

This may be common in "enterprise" hardware, but paying an extra license to use the already bought and paid for SFP hardware should be a red flag not to use their equipment. I also know many older IT guys love busting out the terminal cable and typing in a long command, but changing settings with a drop-down and poking the save button on your phone is nice.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

True, but what if you can't get to the switch? How do you save the changes you made from your phone? Genuinely curious. God bless!

[@webluke]

@@NetworkAdminLife The catch-22, in your case with this, is because there is a software bug when you pay to have the privilege to use all the ports you lost remote access when the configuration failed. I would say in a controller-based environment with a visual display. You would have caught the missing configuration on adoption when preconfiguring or on deployment. In the controller systems, you can make changes if the device is not responding, and then if you have to reset it onsite, it would look to be re-adopted to the network pulling the new configuration. The system wants to be able to continue to communicate with the controller. Your individually configured switches do their own thing until they don't. My point was that it's much of what you know, so stick with it. I used to like having all the control over things, but the ability to change settings fast for a lot of equipment from an iPad was way more useful than the fluke time you lost connection and had to change the settings onsite.

[@wiziek]

not really, this is way for having one hardware version but allowing client to buy cheaper or expensive device. it seems you don't really have a lot of experience working at bigger scale.

[@webluke]

@@wiziek Lol, you are defending manufacturers spending the money to add the more expensive hardware to devices but artificially hobbling them if you don't pay more. No matter the scale, you shouldn't buy products from companies participating in this practice, especially at a multi-thousand-dollar price. And yes, working on multiple large networks with the ability to pull my phone out, configure a port and pop a patch cable in is super convenient. Technology changes, and being stuck in the legacy only lasts so long.

[@wiziek]

ah also license, it seems to be pretty common ,heard something familiar for cisco or huawei like you get half of 10g ports for free and additional ones need licenses, otherwise they work as 1gb only. Guess it is way of having different prices with only single hardware model.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Yes, it was because of licensing. I learned this lesson once before but apparently after 3 years forgot it. I'll probably have to learn it AGAIN in 3 more years. God bless!

[@samjones4327]

Hey! Grace & Peace 2 U from sunny and Hot NC Hope all is well! Thanks once again for a great diagnostic/troubleshooting video! You gotta love it when those 2 hour diagnostic journey's are crushed down to 5 minutes by another set of eyes scenarios Thanks for showing us your process once again and for demonstrating with the hardware, these videos are super valuable to me as I don't get to go into MDF/IDF closets much anymore. So thanks for everything you do for us! Please continue to pray for my health issue to turn around and thanks to all of our brothers and sisters in Christ for their prayers and know I'm praying for you and your family! Be well, be safe and God Bless!🙏🏽

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Yeah, the funny part of it is, I've actually run into this problem before and forgot about it! I've updated my notes... again. God bless brother!

[@CMD_Line]

Auto sensing doesn’t always work. Interesting test for you on that switch. Turn off duplex full and the speed, then on one switch take the fibre out and remove the little tab. Swap the tx and rx around and plug back in. With a good amount of confidence I am sure it’ll come back up. Maybe that license “feature” disables auto negotiation, which would be silly. But sometimes the fibres are wired RX to RX and TX to TX and well, sfp and switches don’t always get it right. Anyway swapping the tab over resolves this issue and you end up with TX to RX and then you’ll find the speed etc will work after the port comes up in full as you’ve just done the switches job. You’ll probably find the switch one end was sending light down the fibre it’s receiving it on , things just get stuck sometimes don’t they and kinda quit 😂 *just take make this make more sense, remember when you had to use straight or crossover cables in the right situation for ports to come up, then auto mdx came along and the switches would swap the pins automatically to resolve that issue, so now more people just plug and play with cat5/6/7 and don’t think about that too much. Also peace and blessing, how cool to mention God and reach others who may need prayer through your networking channel.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Great take on the situation. The licensing really only effects the port speed. I'm pretty sure I swapped fibers a couple of times. I just wish things would work after you set them up the first time! God bless!

[@bryanb30]

13:32 Amen Brother 👍🏿

[@NetworkAdminLife]

And no need to put anything in the plate when it comes by. Give your offerings to God! God bless!

[@ganeryhyperion8386]

wooow dang, those switch had build in micro transaction

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I'm not sure I follow but God bless!

[@ganeryhyperion8386]

@@NetworkAdminLife i mean they sort a limit the hardware by those so called lisences to use a port on a switch, 😁

[@klkiley2922]

Isn't it best practice to hardcode full duplex?

[@NetworkAdminLife]

Normally I just let the switch and the end device work it out. To me that is the best practice. But then you come across certain devices that just can't work out their speed and duplex settings with the switch and in those cases we have to hard code it. The problem comes when someone moves the device and then doesn't tell you. Then you have to manually set things up on that port. If the device supports auto speed and duplex it's best to leave your port settings on auto. God bless!

[@klkiley2922]

@@NetworkAdminLife Couldn't remember. Just going over things for my CCNA lol

[@afnDavid]

Flip the cripple-bit.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

I wish the CLI had a "stop it" command. Or "set port make-it-work". God bless!

[@drryljoh10]

i never understand a network administrator and network engineer?

[@NetworkAdminLife]

A network engineer is more into the design and build-out of a network. A network administrator generally maintains existing networks. And yes, there are always exceptions. God bless!

[@codelessunlimited7701]

​@@NetworkAdminLifeis there's a big difference when it comes to salary?

[@ovvon6481]

🙃 sometimes hardware is just a mystery

[@NetworkAdminLife]

It's only a mystery until you find the solution. God bless!

[@SB-qm5wg]

On-call really stinks.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

On a day when you don't get called, it's great! When you get called at 2am to do something that the Help Desk already has instructions on, yes, it really stinks. God bless!

[@MoseleyJaguar]

welcome to I.T. You whine a lot! I've been doing this for 27 years so far.

[@NetworkAdminLife]

And yet, you watched me whine. God bless!

[@MoseleyJaguar]

@@NetworkAdminLife LOL, I just like watching others suffer. Espically the FNG.