Doing a reconfigurable network for learning purpose

AlexanderOrt23 · Sep 23, 2020

Hello everyone.
I am currently doing a project to teach about ethernet topologies such as ring or bus. For example.

But instead of using an ethernet cables to port directly the EN2TR ports the AEN2TR ports and the ETAP ports to do a ring topology. I would connect all the ports to a Catalyst 2960 switch and use vlans to create a ring topology like this

For example to make this a bus topology i would delete vlan 3 and port AEN2TR2 to vlan 30 and ETAP 1 to vlan 31.
Is this something possible?
Thanks in advance

Picklemon · Sep 24, 2020

I don't think this will work.

The Catalyst 2960 switches I have used in the past did not support ring networks.
I never tried isolating the ports with VLANs, though.

All of the other devices you mentioned (EN2TR, AEN2TR, and ETAP) have a single MAC address and IP address. I think the switch would get confused by the same devices being on multiple ports. That's what happened to me when I first tried a ring network.

If you do try it, please let us know how it works out.

For what its worth, I can understand and demonstrate the network topology differences better with moving the cables around than trying to understand or teach the concepts of the VLANs.

AlexanderOrt23 · Sep 24, 2020

Picklemon said:
I don't think this will work.

The Catalyst 2960 switches I have used in the past did not support ring networks.
I never tried isolating the ports with VLANs, though.

All of the other devices you mentioned (EN2TR, AEN2TR, and ETAP) have a single MAC address and IP address. I think the switch would get confused by the same devices being on multiple ports. That's what happened to me when I first tried a ring network.

If you do try it, please let us know how it works out.

For what its worth, I can understand and demonstrate the network topology differences better with moving the cables around than trying to understand or teach the concepts of the VLANs.

Thanks a lot for the answer
I know moving cables would be easier to do and demostraste. What i want to do is remote controlling the switch in order to do network topologies. Doing a GUI to configure the switch. This is to remote teaching about topologies. Is there a way to reconfigure the network just porting everything to a single device like a switch or something else? And configure the device to only communicate two ports . Moving cable its not an option right now .
Thanks

Ken Roach · Sep 24, 2020

I understand what you would like to do: you want to use VLANs and other switch features to emulate physical network changes, so you can test or demonstrate how the connected equipment will behave when network changes are made.

I don't think you can do it with these technologies. I don't believe that a VLAN link can successfully emulate a physical Ethernet link for the purposes of Device-Level Ring beacon transmission.

It is my understanding that "Device-Level Ring" relies on ports that themselves support DLR. Catalyst 2960 is a mature and powerful switch, but it doesn't support DLR ports like Catalyst 3850 or 9300 does.

There are a couple of Rockwell + Cisco whitepapers that may appeal to you, especially if you teach networking and are familiar with the way VLANs and trunking work.

https://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/at/enet-at007_-en-p.pdf

https://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/td/enet-td015_-en-p.pdf

AlexanderOrt23 · Sep 24, 2020

Ken Roach said:
I understand what you would like to do: you want to use VLANs and other switch features to emulate physical network changes, so you can test or demonstrate how the connected equipment will behave when network changes are made.

I don't think you can do it with these technologies. I don't believe that a VLAN link can successfully emulate a physical Ethernet link for the purposes of Device-Level Ring beacon transmission.

It is my understanding that "Device-Level Ring" relies on ports that themselves support DLR. Catalyst 2960 is a mature and powerful switch, but it doesn't support DLR ports like Catalyst 3850 or 9300 does.

There are a couple of Rockwell + Cisco whitepapers that may appeal to you, especially if you teach networking and are familiar with the way VLANs and trunking work.

https://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/at/enet-at007_-en-p.pdf

https://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/td/enet-td015_-en-p.pdf

You want to use VLANs and other switch features to emulate physical network changes. This is exactly what i want to do. Is this even possible using a single switch like a Catalyst 3850?.Anyway, I was planning to use some rj45 female jacks and connect them to a single pcb and make a controllable routing between the ports using relays or any IC to provide connection between 2 of its pins.
Thanks for the answer

Phil Buchanan · Sep 24, 2020

I have done what you are trying to do which is teach different topologies to remote students but the only sucessful way to do it and have them learn properly is to have a network configured for each topology you wish to teach so that you can show each or have them remote into each.

The networks can be small with just a few devices to teach the principals.

I would not try to teach VLAN's with topologies anyway because that can be confusing to the student. Teach them topologies first and test them to make sure the understanding is there before adding the layer and complexity of advanced switchng and VLAN's

Just my 2 cents from experience in teaching networking concepts to remote students.

AlexanderOrt23 · Sep 24, 2020

Phil Buchanan said:
I have done what you are trying to do which is teach different topologies to remote students but the only sucessful way to do it and have them learn properly is to have a network configured for each topology you wish to teach so that you can show each or have them remote into each.

The networks can be small with just a few devices to teach the principals.

I would not try to teach VLAN's with topologies anyway because that can be confusing to the student. Teach them topologies first and test them to make sure the understanding is there before adding the layer and complexity of advanced switchng and VLAN's

Just my 2 cents from experience in teaching networking concepts to remote students.

Thanks for the input . But i would like to know if it's possible to do topologies using Vlans. I want to emulate physical network changes using vlans and other switch features.Like turning a ring into a bus without changing any physical cabling. I'm currently an student investigating about this topic.
Thanks for the answer

Phil Buchanan · Sep 24, 2020

AlexanderOrt23 said:
Thanks for the input . But i would like to know if it's possible to do topologies using Vlans. I want to emulate physical network changes using vlans and other switch features.Like turning a ring into a bus without changing any physical cabling. I'm currently an student investigating about this topic.
Thanks for the answer

It is a very simple answer. VLAN's make logical network changes. Topology is always a Physical network change. All networking equipment and devices that can be networked are designed on this principal.

VLAN's are for improving network security, Traffic management and overall network simplification for management and troubleshooting.

Since topology is "physical" a "physical" change has to happen to modify it.

Phil Buchanan · Sep 25, 2020

Thinking about you project a little more I may have something helpful for you.

These below are used primarily for DR and Failover on networks. I have used 2 port A/B units and 4 port A/B/C/D Units.

There are manual versions that won't work for your needs but other types have serial and Ip network access for management and switching.

My thoughts are depending on what functions you are trying to teach and how simple or complex your various topologies are you may be able to combine several of these in strategic locations to accomplish your goal.

https://itm-components.co.uk/produc...ork-switch-w-ip-ethernet-control-non-latching

https://www.electrostandards.com/ca...45-cat5e-4-position-switch-poe-interface.html

Doing a reconfigurable network for learning purpose

AlexanderOrt23

Member

Picklemon

Member

AlexanderOrt23

Member

Ken Roach

Lifetime Supporting Member + Moderator

AlexanderOrt23

Member

Phil Buchanan

Lifetime Supporting Member

AlexanderOrt23

Member

Phil Buchanan

Lifetime Supporting Member

Phil Buchanan

Lifetime Supporting Member

Similar Topics