[KLUG Members] New Switch

[Green Proc]

Lunitix wrote:
> I'm new to dealing with "switches".  I just installed a Linksys
> Etherfast 10/100 8-port Workgroup switch (EZXS88w).  I am using Mac OS X
> Finder to see the SMB shares and NFS shares on the Linux File Servers in
> my network.  Before the switch was added to the network, all Computers
> connected thru a router, wired and wireless, and all connecting to the
> shares was seamless.


Quick Answer:  Make sure you have connected your router to your switch
using the uplink port on the switch, and try power cycling the router
and the switch -- more information needed.

What did you do?  Meaning, what is your network setup exactly, now that
you have added a switch?  My assumption would be that you left your
existing router alone, and ran an ethernet cable from a free port on
your router, to a port on your switch, and then connected your Linux
File Servers with their existing ethernet cables into your switch?
Please give specifics.  Which computers (if any) are using wireless?
What kind of router do you have?

> Now that the Linux File Servers are connected to
> this switch, I cannot see the shares in anyway shape or form.

We'll assume that the LED's on your new switch indicate a good
connection. Make sure you have connected the switch to the router using
the uplink port on the switch, and place the file servers on the other
'end' of the switch. Sometimes switches are dead on arrival, or maybe
just certain ports -- try different ports, because some of them may be bad.

What kind of connectivity do you have to and from your file servers from
computers connected to the router, and in addition between the file
servers themselves?

Do some pings by IP address to see what kind of connectivity you do
have.  If you can ping from a computer connected to your router, to a
computer connected to the switch, then your problem is not with the
switch.  Can you ping from your Mac OS X (which I am guessing is your
wireless) to any of the file servers?  Maybe your problem lies in
something weird with wireless -- if you can ping the file servers from
your wireless (OS X?), then can you telnet to the SMB and NFS service
ports?.  Do a 'netstat -lptn' to make sure that the SMB and NFS daemons
are running and listening, if you seem to have the required IP connectivity.

Hopefully that gives you enough things to check out and solve the
problem, but it's hard to tell without knowing your exact setup.

> There is
> no software that came with the switch.  I'm confounded.

A switch such as the one you just bought will never need software in
order to operate.  It is purely a layer 2 device. All it does is
remember hardware addresses (in other words, which network card(s) are
connected to which port) and switch ethernet frames between its ports.
That allows for computers on ports 2 and 4 to communicate during the
same time that, say, computers on ports 3 and 5 are communicating.  A
hub will not do this -- it simply repeats frames on all ports, and every
network device connected to the hub has to share 'slices of time' --
only one computer can transmit at the same time on an ethernet hub
making it very inefficient.

> 
> Minding of Madness
> Jon
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