[c-nsp] Cisco WS2960-X - Are these switches lemons or is there a stable release?

[Steve Mikulasik]

My recent experiences with TAC suggested releases has not been good when it comes to switches. I have been doing a lot more reading into the release notes to figure out the most suitable release.



From: Hagen AMEN [mailto:hagen.a.amen at multco.us]
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2015 8:38 AM
To: Steve Mikulasik <Steve.Mikulasik at civeo.com>
Cc: Nick Cutting <ncutting at edgetg.co.uk>; cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
Subject: Re: [c-nsp] Cisco WS2960-X - Are these switches lemons or is there a stable release?

Certainly, we saw the issue happen running 15.0(2)EX5, but we've also seen it happen on 15.2(2)E, 15.2(2a)E1, as well as ES releases from TAC (which were supposed to fix the issue).

We're running 15.2(3)E1, for the last couple of months (July timeframe). So far, no recurrence.

On Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 6:57 AM, Steve Mikulasik <Steve.Mikulasik at civeo.com<mailto:Steve.Mikulasik at civeo.com>> wrote:
I think that was a bug in 15.0.2EX5. 15.0.2aEX5 has been working fine for me since it came out in Feb.


-----Original Message-----
From: cisco-nsp [mailto:cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net<mailto:cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net>] On Behalf Of Hagen AMEN
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2015 11:29 AM
To: Nick Cutting <ncutting at edgetg.co.uk<mailto:ncutting at edgetg.co.uk>>
Cc: cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net<mailto:cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net>
Subject: Re: [c-nsp] Cisco WS2960-X - Are these switches lemons or is there a stable release?

Indeed, not only do they stop forwarding on the copper SFPs, the SFP tends to drop off entirely (just generates that lovely HULC error when you query the ethernet-controller phy detail).

And, for extra fun, some iterations of the hardware will also (when the SFP
fails) start generating:

"%ILET-1-AUTHENTICATION_FAIL: This Switch may not have been manufactured by Cisco or with Cisco's authorization..."

Which causes the switch to stop forwarding all traffic. Requires a full power cycle to restore.


On Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 10:20 AM, Nick Cutting <ncutting at edgetg.co.uk<mailto:ncutting at edgetg.co.uk>>
wrote:

> I've never got over the bug that plagues copper SFP's in this model of
> switch.  They just stop forwarding traffic randomly.
>
> They keep promising a fix - I still haven't seen anything rock solid.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cisco-nsp [mailto:cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net<mailto:cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net>] On Behalf
> Of Ian Hiddleston
> Sent: 12 October 2015 17:29
> To: cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net<mailto:cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net>
> Subject: [c-nsp] Cisco WS2960-X - Are these switches lemons or is
> there a stable release?
>
> Hi guys,
>
> For reasons best left alone, I’ve ended up with a pair of Cisco
> 2960-X’s (WS-C2960X-48TD-L to be precise). I’ve had nothing but
> trouble with them so far, hence asking the list. Does anyone know if
> there is a stable software image for them that doesn’t crash when you
> SSH to it or drop the stack module offline and split brain for fun?
>
> Thanks,
> Ian