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December 21st, 2021 20:00
Needle in a haystack on two 6248s
Hello,
I have 2 6248s stacked, 14 hypervisors running between 6-20 VM (on each hypervisor) and noticed I'm not getting decent traffic bandwidth to the ISP or over VPN or the SSH servers behind the firewalls. We have 100/100, but my speed tests plugged directly into the switch on my laptop give me 45/90. I really do not know what to look for on these old switches that I can use as data to go to the manager and say "these are the problems".
Speed tests from the ISP RJ45 drop give us 100/100. Speed tests from the 4 VLAN switch that the ISP and firewalls + LAN of the firewalls are plugged into give me 45/90. We have HA WatchGuards and HA Palo Altos that are plugged into each switch in the event of a failure. Speed test directly attached to each firewall device give us the same 45/90, making it seem that the problem is NOT with any of the firewalls and the switches directly. I just don't have a "smoking gun" and my manager is very head strong, seeing as he's the one that built out this network configuration before I was employed here, however, since I've gotten everyone using the VPN the people that never used it before are complaining that it's slower than performing SCP transfers with the SSH servers using firewall forwarding policies. I was trying to get all servers behind the firewall via VPN/2FA so we don't constantly have to worry about things like log4j (if they aren't publicly accessible). He told me to look into it, I have, and it's my sneaking suspicion that the switch just cannot keep up with the packet forwarding rates of all the servers+VMs. Unfortunately it's not my dime, so I can't just ask him to "trust me" either. Similar situations, newer switches with higher forwarding rates and more switch fabric bandwidth have solved my problems. The 6248s are 186GBps total fabric bandwidth, but I don't see us using anywhere near that amount of bandwidth leading me to think it's the amount of total packets being sent through the switch stack?
It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack - so what should I be looking for on the 6248s? I do see high dropped transmit and received packets. The only thing that's stood out to me in the specs of the switches is the forwarding rate is 143Mpps - how can I tell if this is enough for our current operation?
Thanks,
Lost Admin
DELL-Erman O
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December 22nd, 2021 06:00
Hi, Could you update the thread when finding anything for everyone, and What version of firmware running on the switch?
DELL-Erman O
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December 22nd, 2021 01:00
Hello,
I review your thread and I might be suspicious it could be related flow control feature. It's just an idea, Could you try to check flow control is enabled or not. In some FWs, this feature may be disabled by default. If it is not enabled you can try to enable it as below. Beyond that, it would really become a needle in a haystack. And please check switches firmware are up to date https://dell.to/32qUP5Y;
pg292 https://dell.to/3Fghtwy
you can enable like this "console(config)# flowcontrol"
Hope that helps!
hpcTech
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December 22nd, 2021 05:00
Hello,
I checked under Switching > Ports > Global parameters and Flow Control is enabled.
Uh oh, guess I better get my hunting magnifying glasses for this needle!
hpcTech
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December 22nd, 2021 06:00
Switch 1 is running 3.3.16.1
Switch 2 is running 3.3.16.1
I've checked and there is a 3.3.18.1 version, so I'm wondering if I should get that one applied? On support.dell.com, it shows that version for the 6200 series.
Dell- Maria J
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December 22nd, 2021 07:00
Hello hpcTech,
Firmware version v 3.3.18.1 applies to:
PowerConnect 6224
PowerConnect 6224F
PowerConnect 6224P
PowerConnect 6248
PowerConnect 6248P
You can use link, which Erman provided you and update a firmware.
Please ask me if you have any questions.
hpcTech
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December 22nd, 2021 07:00
Unfortunately there are not going to be firmware update tasks until Q1 2022. This is a production environment and requires a certain change management procedure to be followed. I will update this ticket when the firmware upgrade has been achieved. What about the later firmware A16 4.4.0?
hpcTech
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December 22nd, 2021 07:00
Oh wow, I actually found a 4.4.0.21 A16 one released later. I definitely should get that updated.
DiegoLopez
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December 22nd, 2021 08:00
Hello @hpcTech,
For the PowerConnect 6248 I cannot see this A16 4.4.0 version. Only the one provided by our colleague.
Regards.
hpcTech
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December 22nd, 2021 10:00
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=x4rv7
Thoughts? The only difference I see would be the "P" denotation at the end of the model number.
Dell-DylanJ
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December 22nd, 2021 13:00
Hello,
If your switch is not the 6248P model, I would not use the 6248P firmware. Updates can include model verification checks, so if the model doesn't match, they can fail.