Mailing List Archive

Brocade RX-4 to Cisco - Light but no link
While this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen this issue, it is the first time that I’ve posted to try to resolve it rather than work around it.

We have a Brocade/Foundry RX-4 with (2) 24 port fiber cards (RX-BI-24F) and (2) 24 port copper cards (RX-BI-24C). One of our transit providers is NTT, with whom we have a single GigE circuit delivered over single mode fiber. It is a multi-km run, from 800 South Hope to One Wilshire, then on to 900 North Alameda in LA, but well within normal LX transceiver range. While we see light (neg 11 received) in optical monitoring, we cannot get a link to establish. No combination of auto-negotiate / manual speed settings on our side or NTT’s has been able to get a link up.

If we use the same optic in a FESX424, the link comes up immediately. In fact, any non generic optic works in the FESX424, but will not generate a link on the RX. Other links come up without a problem on the RX, including over SMF and MMF, and using the same optic. The link also fails to come up in a CES2048F.

We previously had the same issue on a Cogent circuit in Phoenix using a CER2024F-RT and on a Cogent circuit in Philadelphia using a RX-4. Like NTT, they were running Cisco on their end. In each of those cases, we had to work around the issue by inserting a basic Layer 2 Cisco device in between and doing either a MMF or copper connection between. This, however, is not really a solution.

Does anyone have any insight as to what we can do here? NTT is running Champion One optics. While we asked them to try switching out optics, they only had optics from the same manufacturer, so it didn’t help. We’ve tried using genuine Brocade, Approved Optics coded to Brocade, and Finisair on our end. None of them have made any difference at all. The next effort will be to try to find some optics of the same manufacturer as NTT (Champion One), though this shouldn’t be necessary unless I am missing something.

Thanks!
Re: Brocade RX-4 to Cisco - Light but no link [ In reply to ]
On Mi, Sep 06, 2017 at 07:53:57 +0000, Derek Maxwell <derek.maxwell@chosentechgroup.com> wrote:
>
> We have a Brocade/Foundry RX-4 with (2) 24 port fiber cards
> (RX-BI-24F) and (2) 24 port copper cards (RX-BI-24C). One of our
> transit providers is NTT, with whom we have a single GigE circuit
> delivered over single mode fiber. It is a multi-km run, from 800 South
> Hope to One Wilshire, then on to 900 North Alameda in LA, but well
> within normal LX transceiver range. While we see light (neg 11
> received) in optical monitoring, we cannot get a link to establish.
> No combination of auto-negotiate / manual speed settings on our side
> or NTT’s has been able to get a link up.

When light levels are OK but there is no link this can be because of
speed mismatch. Are both sides fixed on the same speed (1000 in this
case)?


_______________________________________________
foundry-nsp mailing list
foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp
Re: Brocade RX-4 to Cisco - Light but no link [ In reply to ]
Hello Franz,

Yes, we have verified speed and auto-negotiate settings on both ends and tried every combination to no avail.

Thank you.


On 9/11/17, 5:21 AM, "foundry-nsp on behalf of Franz Georg Köhler" <foundry-nsp-bounces@puck.nether.net on behalf of lists@openunix.de> wrote:

On Mi, Sep 06, 2017 at 07:53:57 +0000, Derek Maxwell <derek.maxwell@chosentechgroup.com> wrote:
>
> We have a Brocade/Foundry RX-4 with (2) 24 port fiber cards
> (RX-BI-24F) and (2) 24 port copper cards (RX-BI-24C). One of our
> transit providers is NTT, with whom we have a single GigE circuit
> delivered over single mode fiber. It is a multi-km run, from 800 South
> Hope to One Wilshire, then on to 900 North Alameda in LA, but well
> within normal LX transceiver range. While we see light (neg 11
> received) in optical monitoring, we cannot get a link to establish.
> No combination of auto-negotiate / manual speed settings on our side
> or NTT’s has been able to get a link up.

When light levels are OK but there is no link this can be because of
speed mismatch. Are both sides fixed on the same speed (1000 in this
case)?


_______________________________________________
foundry-nsp mailing list
foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp

_______________________________________________
foundry-nsp mailing list
foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp
Re: Brocade RX-4 to Cisco - Light but no link [ In reply to ]
Light at your side is -11?  What is the other side?  Your receive may be
okay but what about their receive?  Unless this is a BIDI then you have
to check both fibers.

Aaron



On 9/11/2017 12:03 PM, Derek Maxwell wrote:
> Hello Franz,
>
> Yes, we have verified speed and auto-negotiate settings on both ends and tried every combination to no avail.
>
> Thank you.
>
>
> On 9/11/17, 5:21 AM, "foundry-nsp on behalf of Franz Georg Köhler" <foundry-nsp-bounces@puck.nether.net on behalf of lists@openunix.de> wrote:
>
> On Mi, Sep 06, 2017 at 07:53:57 +0000, Derek Maxwell <derek.maxwell@chosentechgroup.com> wrote:
> >
> > We have a Brocade/Foundry RX-4 with (2) 24 port fiber cards
> > (RX-BI-24F) and (2) 24 port copper cards (RX-BI-24C). One of our
> > transit providers is NTT, with whom we have a single GigE circuit
> > delivered over single mode fiber. It is a multi-km run, from 800 South
> > Hope to One Wilshire, then on to 900 North Alameda in LA, but well
> > within normal LX transceiver range. While we see light (neg 11
> > received) in optical monitoring, we cannot get a link to establish.
> > No combination of auto-negotiate / manual speed settings on our side
> > or NTT’s has been able to get a link up.
>
> When light levels are OK but there is no link this can be because of
> speed mismatch. Are both sides fixed on the same speed (1000 in this
> case)?
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundry-nsp mailing list
> foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
> http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundry-nsp mailing list
> foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
> http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp

--
================================================================
Aaron Wendel
Chief Technical Officer
Wholesale Internet, Inc. (AS 32097)
(816)550-9030
http://www.wholesaleinternet.com
================================================================

_______________________________________________
foundry-nsp mailing list
foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp
Re: Brocade RX-4 to Cisco - Light but no link [ In reply to ]
Hi Aaron,

Thanks for responding. They showed us at -12.2 on the last optic we had installed.


On 9/11/17, 11:08 AM, "foundry-nsp on behalf of Aaron" <foundry-nsp-bounces@puck.nether.net on behalf of aaron@wholesaleinternet.net> wrote:

Light at your side is -11? What is the other side? Your receive may be
okay but what about their receive? Unless this is a BIDI then you have
to check both fibers.

Aaron



On 9/11/2017 12:03 PM, Derek Maxwell wrote:
> Hello Franz,
>
> Yes, we have verified speed and auto-negotiate settings on both ends and tried every combination to no avail.
>
> Thank you.
>
>
> On 9/11/17, 5:21 AM, "foundry-nsp on behalf of Franz Georg Köhler" <foundry-nsp-bounces@puck.nether.net on behalf of lists@openunix.de> wrote:
>
> On Mi, Sep 06, 2017 at 07:53:57 +0000, Derek Maxwell <derek.maxwell@chosentechgroup.com> wrote:
> >
> > We have a Brocade/Foundry RX-4 with (2) 24 port fiber cards
> > (RX-BI-24F) and (2) 24 port copper cards (RX-BI-24C). One of our
> > transit providers is NTT, with whom we have a single GigE circuit
> > delivered over single mode fiber. It is a multi-km run, from 800 South
> > Hope to One Wilshire, then on to 900 North Alameda in LA, but well
> > within normal LX transceiver range. While we see light (neg 11
> > received) in optical monitoring, we cannot get a link to establish.
> > No combination of auto-negotiate / manual speed settings on our side
> > or NTT’s has been able to get a link up.
>
> When light levels are OK but there is no link this can be because of
> speed mismatch. Are both sides fixed on the same speed (1000 in this
> case)?
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundry-nsp mailing list
> foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
> http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundry-nsp mailing list
> foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
> http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp

--
================================================================
Aaron Wendel
Chief Technical Officer
Wholesale Internet, Inc. (AS 32097)
(816)550-9030
http://www.wholesaleinternet.com
================================================================

_______________________________________________
foundry-nsp mailing list
foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp

_______________________________________________
foundry-nsp mailing list
foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp
Re: Brocade RX-4 to Cisco - Light but no link [ In reply to ]
On the cisco side try "switchport nonegotiate" assuming their end is a
cisco switch or layer 2/3 router (and not a regular router port).

Note this has NOTHING to do with speed / duplex negotiation, it has to do
with the DTP (dynamic trunk protocol) Cisco uses to automatically put a
port into trunk mode if two cisco devices in default configurations are
connected. This (DTP) can prevent Foundry/Brocade stuff properly linking
up.

On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 12:02 PM, Derek Maxwell <
derek.maxwell@chosentechgroup.com> wrote:

> Hi Aaron,
>
> Thanks for responding. They showed us at -12.2 on the last optic we had
> installed.
>
>
> On 9/11/17, 11:08 AM, "foundry-nsp on behalf of Aaron" <
> foundry-nsp-bounces@puck.nether.net on behalf of
> aaron@wholesaleinternet.net> wrote:
>
> Light at your side is -11? What is the other side? Your receive may
> be
> okay but what about their receive? Unless this is a BIDI then you have
> to check both fibers.
>
> Aaron
>
>
>
> On 9/11/2017 12:03 PM, Derek Maxwell wrote:
> > Hello Franz,
> >
> > Yes, we have verified speed and auto-negotiate settings on both ends
> and tried every combination to no avail.
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> >
> > On 9/11/17, 5:21 AM, "foundry-nsp on behalf of Franz Georg Köhler" <
> foundry-nsp-bounces@puck.nether.net on behalf of lists@openunix.de> wrote:
> >
> > On Mi, Sep 06, 2017 at 07:53:57 +0000, Derek Maxwell <
> derek.maxwell@chosentechgroup.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > We have a Brocade/Foundry RX-4 with (2) 24 port fiber cards
> > > (RX-BI-24F) and (2) 24 port copper cards (RX-BI-24C). One of
> our
> > > transit providers is NTT, with whom we have a single GigE
> circuit
> > > delivered over single mode fiber. It is a multi-km run, from
> 800 South
> > > Hope to One Wilshire, then on to 900 North Alameda in LA, but
> well
> > > within normal LX transceiver range. While we see light (neg 11
> > > received) in optical monitoring, we cannot get a link to
> establish.
> > > No combination of auto-negotiate / manual speed settings on
> our side
> > > or NTT’s has been able to get a link up.
> >
> > When light levels are OK but there is no link this can be
> because of
> > speed mismatch. Are both sides fixed on the same speed (1000 in
> this
> > case)?
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > foundry-nsp mailing list
> > foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
> > http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > foundry-nsp mailing list
> > foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
> > http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp
>
> --
> ================================================================
> Aaron Wendel
> Chief Technical Officer
> Wholesale Internet, Inc. (AS 32097)
> (816)550-9030
> http://www.wholesaleinternet.com
> ================================================================
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundry-nsp mailing list
> foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
> http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundry-nsp mailing list
> foundry-nsp@puck.nether.net
> http://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/foundry-nsp
>