You correctly intrepreted most of my comments. I will
note that you are one of few that control the revision
number - most environments just go to a switch and
make the changes. Even in a primary, backup, client
model I could see areas for concern, and I just
haven't seen a need to have a 'backup.' If the
'server' dies I will likely not be making VTP changes,
but should I need to I can easily promote a client.
Yes, I would have concerns about using a very small
switch for the VTP server, however, the CPU and other
requirements are so small that the original poster, I
believe, overstated the need to 'use the biggest,
baddest switch in the network.' It just doesn't matter
that much, although I would use a redundant Supervisor
5500 over a 1900, for example. I did not mean to imply
core of the network, per se, but rather center of the
VTP domain. My words did not preference distribution
layer versus core, however, it would normally seem
that a three-tier design would lend itself to a VTP
domain in each distribution layer independent of the
others. This is the model we use at a number of large
customer sites, and it allows a little sloppyness in
VLAN numbers, etc. Of course, this is not introduced
by moi <g>...
Excellent points overall - including VTP v2. The
typical issue here is that, if the entire switch
domain supports it, someone will come along in a VTP
v1 domain and say, 'Ah, let's turn on VTP v2 on this
switch because it must be better.' (This is usually a
bad reason to do things...) ;)
--- Paul Werner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I was very tempted to address this post, but I
> wanted to see if
> others would catch the problem. I think what exists
> here is
> confusion about abilities of a switch versus best
> recommended
> design practices. Any switch that is capable of VTP
> is capable
> of using one of three modes: transparent, server, or
> client.
> Which one you use is driven by your design
> requirements.
>
> If you do not want dynamic creation of VLANs to
> occur within a
> switching domain, you probably want to use
> transparent mode on
> all switches. If you want an automated method of
> creating,
> modifying, and deleting VLANs, than you need to use
> either
> client or server mode. Unlike the original poster,
> I will
> recommend that you have a "primary server" and a
> "backup
> server." Both are configured as a VTP server, but
> only the
> primary is used unless it is brought down for
> maintenance, in
> which case the secondary is used. All other
> switches in the
> domain should be VTP clients and any switch that
> joins the
> domain should have its configuration revision number
> set to
> zero first before joining the domain (along with a
> number of
> other configuration steps!). As the original poster
> did
> mention, VTP domains are case sesitive. As a
> convention, I
> always stick to lower case characters whenever
> possible in
> networking.
>
> I would also take exception with the design
> requirements/capabilities of the VTP server. My
> recommendation
> would be to use one of your two distribution
> switches as a
> primary and use the other as a secondary. I make
> this
> recommendation for several reasons. If your
> switching domain
> has a lot of VLANs, you don't want to overwhelm a
> CAT 1900 with
> this responsibility. Secondly, if you lose the
> trunk to an
> access switch which is your VTP server, you may have
>
> discontinuities in your domain due to the fact that
> your access
> switches are single points of failure(this assumes
> that you
> wrongfully attempt to add VLANs via VTP from another
> switch).
> OTOH, if your disribution switch goes down, your
> layer 2
> connectvity is only briefly interrupted while
> spanning tree
> reconverges. You can easily continue VTP operations
> on your
> secondary server while you troubleshoot, repair, and
> bring your
> primary VTP server back on line.
>
> As far as using VTP versions 1 or 2, you may not
> have a
> choice. If you have legacy switches in your network
> that do
> not use VTP version 2, you will need to revert to
> VTP version
> 1. You may want to give this link a checkout to see
> when you
> might want to use VTP version 2 an when you *have*
> to use
> version 2:
>
>
http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/lan/cat5000/rel_
> 4_2/config/vlans.pdf
>
> here for the IOS based stuff:
>
>
http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/lan/c2900xl/29_3
> 5xu/scg/kivlan.pdf
>
> HTH,
>
> Paul Werner
>
>
>
> > Subject: RE: VTP Domain, (again)
> >
> > Incorrect. All switches in a domain can act as
> servers.
> > Where did you get your info?
> >
> > - -----Original Message-----
> > Subject: Re: VTP Domain, (again)
> >
> >
> > Only one switch in a domain can act as the server.
> All
> > others must be clients. The recommendation to set
> up
> > the 'biggest' switch as a server is OK, however,
> it is
> > not really necessary. If it works out, the server
> > should be the switch closest to the center of the
> VTP
> > domain. This will usually have the best/most
> > connections to the rest of the domain, which will
> > provide the best, central administration point. I
> > would also recommend that you standardize on all
> lower
> > case or all upper case for the VTP domain name,
> and
> > that you actively set version two assuming that
> all
> > devices in the domain support it.
> >
> > I will note that I know quite a few administrators
> who
> > have just gone to transparent mode and forgo VTP.
> This
> > seems to be because they've been burned,
> especially in
> > the 3.x version of CatOS, which did have some
> bugs.
> > I'd recommend using it, but make sure you follow
> the
> > rules.
>
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