Setting up Trunks and exec banners

I had to set up a lapsafe in the library this week. I had to configure the link between the lapsafe switch to one of the other switches in the cabinet by creating a trunk link and making sure only certain vlans were on the trunk port.

I also wanted a way to be able to tell which room these switches were going to be so manage to put in a useful command:

lapsafe_switch(config)#exec banner
Enter TEXT message. End with the character '^'
This lapsafe switch is in Classroom 102
^

Now I am able to log on to the various lapsafe switches knowing which room they are in.

Troubleshooting network problems

Went to one of the offsite this week to troubleshoot some network problems. In the end it turned out one of the PC's was in the wrong vlan, faulty network cables, faulty port panels and possibly faulty switch interfaces. One thing I've learnt when going anywhere to troubleshoot problems make sure I've got my network toolkit, tester and screwdriver and some spare network leads.

Since the interface for the PC was a normal access port, the command was easy enough changing it to vlan 20:

Switch1(config-if)#switchport access vlan 20