cc/td/doc/product/lan/cat2600
hometocprevnextglossaryfeedbacksearchhelp
PDF

Table of Contents

Catalyst 2600 Release 3.6.1 Release Note

Catalyst 2600 Release 3.6.1 Release Note

These Release Notes provide specific information regarding this release of the Cisco Catalyst 2600 Token Ring Switch. These Release Notes document important operating environment considerations and known problem areas. References to the User Guide refer to the "Catalyst 2600 Token Ring Switch User Guide" (part # 78-3209-01) shipped with the Catalyst 2600.

Caution If your Catalyst 2600 is currently at Release 2.x.x, Release 3.2.3 of the Catalyst 2600 software must be downloaded to your switch using the serial port only. You cannot use TFTP to download this release of software. See your Catalyst 2600 Token Ring Switch User Guide for information about how to perform a serial port download.

Known Problems

This section describes any known problems, anomalies, or design points.

ARI and FCI Status Indicators

The ARI and FCI status indicator bits are not set for frames that include an RI field. Customers with applications that depend on A and C bits should contact their vendor for information on whether or not a patch/fix is available.

Symptoms of possible ARI/FCI problems are:

The following is a list of drivers known to be affected by this problem. This list is provided for your information only and is not intended to be a complete list of affected drivers.

Driver Name Product Fixed Level
NETBEUI.OS2 OS/2 NetBIOS 5.00.0
DXMCOMOD.SYS DOS LSP (and DXMC1MOD) 1.38p
DXMJ0MOD.SYS DOS JetBEUI 1.38p

IFNDIS.SYS

TCP/IP v2.0 for OS/2 APAR pn77766
TCP/IP v3.0 for Warp Connect APAR ic11795
LANDD.OS2 OS/2 5.00.02
LANDD.NIF OS/2 5.00.02
NET.EXE DLS (DOS LAN Services)

A package called TRDRVFIX.EXE includes ALL the updated IBM drivers. This package is available from the following sources:

For IBM technical support: 1-800-426-7299 Call path 4, 6, 3

Serial Port Connections and the Console

On some emulators, console sessions through the serial port may drop after an extended period of time, if hardware flow control has been enabled on the switch. The connection is usually re-established by disconnecting and reconnecting the serial port cable. To avoid this problem, * be sure the hardware flow control is disabled in the switch's Serial Link Configuration and that your emulator configuration conforms to the set up recommendations that are documented in the Catalyst 2600 Token Ring Switch User Guide.

Changing an SRB Bridge Number

The SRB must be in the disabled state when the bridge number is changed to ensure the proper functioning of SRB spanning tree.

Token Ring Adapter for the IBM 9221

The Token Ring adapter for the IBM 9221 (ES/9000) Processor will not open when directly attached to a Catalyst 2600 port. You must use a multistation access unit or a controlled access unit.

Full-Duplex

This release of the Catalyst 2600 software does not support the capability of configuring a port to be full-duplex (FDX) only. All ports support the option (as defined by the 802.5R IEEE committee) of FDX protocol with an automatic drop-back to half-duplex (HDX) support. If a directly attached station attempts to open in HDX mode, the Catalyst 2600 ports will allow this and make the connection in HDX mode.

Maximum Frame Length

The maximum frame length supported by the Catalyst 2600 is 4540 bytes (including the Frame Control [FC] and the Frame Check Sequence [FCS] characters). Be sure to configure all network software, interconnecting products, workstations, and user applications to send frames no larger than 4540 bytes.

High Traffic Conditions

Ports can stop receiving frames under high traffic conditions. When this happens, Spanning-Tree Protocol may not function correctly, causing loops to form. The port hang conditions can be detected by monitoring the Frames Received counter on the Switch Statistics menu under Status/ Statistics. The port hang conditions can be cleared by using the Port Reset function on the Reset/Diagnostics menu.

Upgrading the Port Solo Code

If you fail to upgrade the port solo code when you update to this release level, all of your ports will be placed into Store and Forward mode to help the main code coexist with the old port solo code.

Reverting to an Earlier Code Release

If you want to migrate from a Release 3.X level of the code back to a Release 2.X level of the code, you must do the following:

Incorrect Interpretation of Octet Strings

MIB browsers display errors of OCTET STRING objects. Under certain conditions, some MIB Browsers including the IBM NetView/6000 MIB Browser, will incorrectly interpret the value of an OCTET STRING. The OCTET STRING may be printable ASCII characters. For example, the hexadecimal value of "41" is displayed as an "A".

This can affect the following objects:

Problems Creating New MIB Table Entries

Most SNMP MIB browsers cannot create a new MIB table entry. This can impact the following tables:

MAC filter entries can be created using a native SNMP SET request, a network management application, a console session, or a Telnet session.

Connection Failures When Using IEEE 802.1d

When IEEE 802.1d spanning tree is active, a port within that domain will require several seconds to make the transition from the blocking state to the forwarding state when the port is initially activated (e.g., joins an existing ring or activates a dedicated link). Some client or server applications may attempt to establish session activity during this time, resulting in error messages indicating a connection failure. These applications should be configured to wait at least 30 seconds after the LAN link is active before attempting to establish session activity. This delay can be reduced by modifying the 802.1d spanning tree default parameters.

Error in MIB Description

The dtrc.mib DESCRIPTION for the dtrCRFPortEnable object should be changed to: The enable/disable status of the CRF Port. This control can be used to disable a port.

Changes and Problems Fixed

This section provides information about changes made and problems fixed in each release of the Catalyst 2600. The most recent release is listed first.

Release 3.6.1, code level 3.6.1

Release 3.2.3, code level 3.2.3 (from Release 3.2.2, code level 3.2.2)

Release 3.2.2, code level 3.2.2 (from Release 3.2.1, code level 3.2.1)

Release 3.2.1, code level 3.2.1 (from Release 3.1.2, code level 3.1.2)

Some of these switch reset problems are listed below:

  • An Invalid Port Access condition can lead to a box reset. Some invalid port access conditions related to the access of adapter memory have been resolved. There is still some Invalid Port Access conditions under investigation.

  • During a boot-up with diagnostics if a port was disabled by diagnostics on a 4-port Token Ring feature card then it was possible for the switch to reset during the rest of the diagnostic tests.

  • An SNMP request that asked for multiple fields associated with all of the Addresses in a Port could cause the switch to reset.

The code that handles this request has been changed to much more efficient.

  • There where several changes made to the Route Table (IP) processing. The size of the table was doubled and the age out time was decreased to five minutes. The switch no longer saves routes for frames that our IP stack does not need. A memory leak associated with a table free condition also has been fixed.

This memory leak could lead to a switch reset.

  • A memory leak related to a failure to free acquired memory for scheduling timer tasks has been fixed. The memory leak could lead to a failure to be able to Telnet to the switch, "Available memory insufficient for download" message, or a switch reset.

  • A stack overflow condition leading to a switch reset. The problem that was fixed by changing how the storage is acquired.

The functions now request storage from the heap instead of from the stack.

  • If a port reset during Congestion control on a switch the switch could reset.

  • Numerous locations in the code were found to have potential memory leaks because the success of the memory allocation request was not checked. The memory leak could lead to a failure to be able to Telnet to the switch, "Available memory insufficient for download" message, or a switch reset.

  • The congestion handling for Source-Route Bridging has been improved. A burst of specifically routed frames that the switch with unlearned route descriptors could have lead to a switch reset.

The code has been corrected to save all of the changes entered.
The code has been corrected to not reset the Port Path Cost or the Port Path Priority when the Switch Priority is changed.
This could cause connection problems across the secondary ports of TokenChannels.

Release 3.1.2, code level 3.1.2 (from Release 2.3.4, code level 2.3.4)

Release 2.3.4, code level 2.3.4 (from Release 2.3.3, code level 2.3.3)

Release 2.3.3, code level 2.3.3 (from Release 2.3.2, code level 2.3.2)

Release 2.3.2, code level 2.3.2 (from Release 2.2.4, code level 2.24)

Release 2.2.4, code level 2.24 (from Release 2.2.1, code level 2.21)

The following is a list of fixes in release 2.2.4 of the Catalyst 2600:

Release 2.2.1 code level 2.21 (from Release 2.1, code level 2.06)

The following is a list of fixes in release 2.2.1 of the Catalyst 2600:

Step 1 Using a Web browser, access http://www.cisco.com/kobayashi/Library_root.shtml (accessing this URL requires a valid CCO userid and password).

Step 2 Under Network Management, click on CiscoView Upgrade Planner

Step 3 Click on CiscoView 3.1.1 Software Update Packages

Step 4 Click on Cat2600.cv311.P1-1.tar

Step 5 Click on Execute

Step 6 Click on Cat2600.readme

Step 7 Click on Execute

The device package contains two versions of the enterprise MIBs for the Catalyst 2600 device:

If using a MIB browser tool, the user will see the MIB variables defined in each of the above (under different branches at the same time).



hometocprevnextglossaryfeedbacksearchhelp
Copyright 1989-1998 © Cisco Systems Inc.