Catalyst 5000 Series Release Notes for FDDI Software Release 2.1(2)

Documentation

New Features in FDDI Software Release 2.1(2)

Differences Between FDDI Software Releases 1.5 and 2.1(2)

FDDI Software Release 2.1(2) Caveats

These release notes describe the features, modifications and caveats for the Catalyst 5000 Series FDDI software release 2.1(2).

Documentation

The following documents are available for the Catalyst 5000 Series switch:

Catalyst 5000 Series Installation Guide
Catalyst 5000 Series Configuration Guide and Command Reference

These documents are available on the Cisco Connection Documentation, Enterprise Series CD, or in print.

New Features in FDDI Software Release 2.1(2)

This section lists the Catalyst 5000 Series FDDI software release 2.1(2) new features. Refer to the Catalyst 5000 Series Installation Guide and Catalyst 5000 Series Configuration Guide and Command Reference publications for implementation instructions.

Caution To run the 802.10 features of Catalyst 5000 Series FDDI software release 2.1(2), you must use NMP Catalyst 5000 Series software release 2.1(2) or above.

802.10 protocol on FDDI---Catalyst 5000 Series software release 2.1(2) multiplexes multiple VLANs between switches and routers using 802.10 protocol on FDDI.
Rejecting MAC address learning (fddicheck)---An FDDI interface can reject the learning of MAC addresses that it previously learned from an Ethernet interface using the fddicheck user-configurable option. This feature prevents FDDI modules from incorrectly learning MAC addresses when the following two conditions simultaneously exist:
- Spurious VOID frames are present on the FDDI ring.
- The MAC addresses have previously been learned by Ethernet interfaces.
Disabling Automatic Packet Recognition and Translation (APART)---To increase throughput performance, you can disable the software content-addressable memory (CAM) of the FDDI module. The CAM stores Internet packet exchange (IPX) translation information to support automatic packet recognition and translation (APART). The Catalyst 5000 EARL CAM continues to provide packet forwarding functionality after APART is disabled using default IPX translations. Note that there are some drawbacks to disabling the FDDI software CAM, as described in the chapter "Defining the Catalyst 5000 Series Switch" of the Catalyst 5000 Series Installation Guide.

Differences Between FDDI Software Releases 1.5 and 2.1(2)

This section describes the software release 1.5 caveats that were resolved in Catalyst 5000 supervisor engine module software release 2.1(2):

In FDDI software releases prior to 2.1, the FDDI module drops and does not forward IP frames that have a physical MAC length greater than 1525 bytes and an IP packet length less than or equal to 1500. In FDDI module software release 2.1 and above, this problem is corrected---the IP length is checked and if it is less than or equal to 1500 bytes the packet is forwarded. (CSCdi58989)
If you upgrade the Catalyst 5000 with supervisor engine module software releases 2.1 or 2.1(2) while the FDDI software is a release prior to 2.1 (such as FDDI software release 1.5), the FDDI module might fail to come online. To recover from this error, reset the module using the command reset mod_num. In FDDI software release 2.1(2), this problem has been corrected.(CSCdi60282)

FDDI Software Release 2.1(2) Caveats

This section describes possible, unexpected behavior and other miscellaneous caveats for Catalyst 5000 Series FDDI software release 2.1(2). The caveats listed here describe only serious problems.

The clear cam dynamic command may fail to delete some entries in the FDDI cam table. As a workaround, use the command clear cam mac-addr to delete these entries. (CSCdi60839)
If an FDDI port is configured as a trunk, under high traffic conditions the supervisor engine module may not be able to access some FDDI module parameters and an error such as "Unable to access the FDDI counters" may appear. (CSCdi63030)
The FDDI cam table only supports one agingtime value regardless of the number of Ethernet VLANs configured on the FDDI port. To ensure the consistency of the FDDI cam table agingtime, set an equivalent agingtime for all Ethernet VLANs on an FDDI port. (CSCdi63099)
Catalyst 5000 Series Software Release 2.1(2) does not support the translation of IP frames with 60-byte IP headers. These packets are dropped by the FDDI interface. (CSCdi63784)
If an FDDI module fails to come online, the command show test mod_num may indicate that the module has been removed. (CSDdi64564)
If an FDDI module fails to come online, try resetting it. However, if the module fails to come online multiple times, replace it. (CSCdi64572)
When you insert or replace FDDI modules, clear the module configuration information, using the command clear config mod_num, to obtain the correct spanning tree parameters for the modules.
IP packets with IP lengths greater than 4352 bytes are not supported in Catalyst 5000 Series Software Release 2.1(2). These packets are dropped by the FDDI interface.

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